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[Draugoth]

​

Sales of Square Enix games have dropped compared to last year, despite the high profile release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. According to its latest earnings report, the company's overall net sales dropped by 18.4 percent year-on-year for the most recent quarter.

This is driven in part due to a decline in sales of new games. By comparison, the same quarter in 2023 saw the release of Final Fantasy 16 and the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters.

• Net Sales: -18.4%
• Operating income: +250.1%
• HD Games net sales down due to decline in sales of new titles compared to last year which had FF16 & FF Pixel Remaster
• But HD Games turned profitable due lower development and advertising

Mobile games, meanwhile, have also seen sales decline "due to weak sales of existing titles", presumably including last year's release of free-to-play gacha game Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis. However, profits have increased due to "optimisation of operational expenses".

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Basically Final Fantasy didn't sell as well as last year, because of Final Fantasy. ha!

 

[killatopak]

This is bad but it's not as bad as it looks. Every Japanese stock seems to have dropped. Not everything is SE's fault.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Can someone ELI5 how sales can drop 18.4% while operating income more than doubles?

That would really help me to spin these figures to suit my narrative.

J/K I am really curious what that means.

 

[Punished Miku]

Can someone ELI5 how sales can drop 18.4% while operating income more than doubles?

They just revised their graphical targets for FFVIIR-3 and it's going to be a lot more manageable now in terms of cost.

Leaked screenshot:

 

[AmuroChan]

Can someone ELI5 how sales can drop 18.4% while operating income more than doubles?

You can by having lower operating expense this year compared to last year.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Can someone ELI5 how sales can drop 18.4% while operating income more than doubles?

Aggressive advertising costs last year for FF16

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

You can by having lower operating expense this year compared to last year.

Aggressive advertising costs last year for FF16

Makes sense, kind of. Just seems like such a massive discrepancy.

 

[Nankatsu]

Microsoft to the rescue.

 

[adamsapple]

Microsoft to the rescue.

Always, baby.

 

[Fabieter]

Microsoft to the rescue.

Aquisition begging will never not be cringe.

 

[Pedro Motta]

Microsoft to the rescue.

Always, baby.

 

[adamsapple]

Basically Final Fantasy didn't sell as well as last year, because of Final Fantasy. ha!

FF14 is the one thing keeping Square profitable at the moment. Rebirth didn't do anything for them.

Non-MMO Console and PC sales are only 0.5% of the pie.

Might as well not exist.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

FF14 is the one thing keeping Square profitable at the moment. Rebirth didn't do anything for them.

Non-MMO Console and PC sales are only 0.5% of the pie.

Might as well not exist.

I remember the first thing i did when i got my first Paycheck, was to buy a Final Fantasy game.

That was also the LAST time I bought a Final Fantasy game. I didn't realize the entire FF team had pivoted to MMOs and FF13 played like a single player MMO. For someone who grew up through all the SNES titles and FF7, I realized the company had lost me. And I still insist they never recovered from becoming Square Enix. The company that made the first half a dozen FF is already dead and never to return.

 

[RoboFu]

I thought FF16 was a massive success?

 

[hemo memo]

FF14 is the one thing keeping Square profitable at the moment. Rebirth didn't do anything for them.

Non-MMO Console and PC sales are only 0.5% of the pie.

Might as well not exist.

68.4% of operating profit from MMO games
31.1% from mobile games

How I spend my money buying Square Enix products:
0% from MMO games
0% from mobile games
100% from non-MMO PC and console games

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

FF14 is the one thing keeping Square profitable at the moment. Rebirth didn't do anything for them.

Non-MMO Console and PC sales are only 0.5% of the pie.

Might as well not exist.

Man I’d be REALLY interested to see the breakdown of that “non-MMO PC and console games” category.

If the profits are that tiny, then most likely some games in that category are losing money. I wonder whether it’s the big AAA games or the smaller ones

 

[adamsapple]

Man I’d be REALLY interested to see the breakdown of that “non-MMO PC and console games” category.

If the profits are that tiny, then most likely some games in that category are losing money. I wonder whether it’s the big AAA games or the smaller ones

The smaller games are probably lesser of a risk, the bigger the game, the bigger its budget and the more it has to sell to recoup. The fact that they *still* haven't made any kind of PR about Rebirth selling 3 or 5 million units or thereabout like they did for VII Remake is telling.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

Is FFXIV still holding the company together?

 

[Perfo]

I thought FF16 was a massive success?

That’s what they’re saying… higher results last year cause of 16, lower now cause of rebirth. More or less

 

[Fabieter]

The smaller games are probably lesser of a risk, the bigger the game, the bigger its budget and the more it has to sell to recoup. The fact that they *still* haven't made any kind of PR about Rebirth selling 3 or 5 million units or thereabout like they did for VII Remake is telling.

Ofc its more risky but I don't think that they lost any money on big games the last few years besides forspoken. There is no way they didn't lose money on some of the AA games.

 

[skit_data]

 

[Mr Hyde]

Rebirth is so good it should've moved 10 million copies at least. There is no justice in this world.

 

[Dundar]

Rebirth is so good it should've moved 10 million copies at least. There is no justice in this world.

Sure buuut this is not about Rebirth if I understand it correctly. This is Q1 2024 for the fiscal year, so march onward with new releases. Which HD games were out? KH on steam? Last year they had FFXVI in june IIRC so.... I mean.... everything fits?

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Sure buuut this is not about Rebirth if I understand it correctly. This is Q1 2024 for the fiscal year, so march onward with new releases. Which HD games were out? KH on steam? Last year they had FFXVI in june IIRC so.... I mean.... everything fits?

Yup, this is correct. No major HD game releases during last quarter and they even highlighted this aspect in their results briefing for investors - https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/news/pdf/25q1slides.pdf

 

[Celcius]

Rebirth sales were down because many decided to wait for the PC version this time around like me lol

 

[leo-j]

unfortunate considering how good rebirth was/is.... probably their best game since the ps1 era.

 

[Musashipan]

 

[Goalus]

Non-MMO Console and PC sales are only 0.5% of the pie.

Might as well not exist.]

Not surprising at all.
Sony-exclusivity does that to you.

 

[Hudo]

So basically, FF14 is holding the company afloat. That's wild.

 

[Allandor]

Well, part one of the remake came when ps4 had many more sold units. This remake part on the other hand came just on PS5 while not everyone moved to the new system.
Also the story of the remake was so absurd they might have pushed away parts of the ffvii fan base.

So far part 2 of the remake seems to be good, but (I'm early in this game) so far, it is quite ... boring from time to time and the story changes so far don't make it better.
And I really hate that NPC that's talking to you through the gamepad. Nice at the first few locations but than just annoying.

 

[DaGwaphics]

Can someone ELI5 how sales can drop 18.4% while operating income more than doubles?

I assume that the development costs of the games were already paid for previously. The games in question have aged a bit and are selling less copies and/or selling at lower prices, but the costs associated with maintaining those titles for sale has dropped further than the dip in revenue. It would also hint to them spending less on whatever is next for them, which is probably a smart move since they seem to continually set expectations too high on their releases.

 

[CoreyFlawless]

I mean the income went up really high. Soo that’s a big plus

 

[CoreyFlawless]

Well, part one of the remake came when ps4 had many more sold units. This remake part on the other hand came just on PS5 while not everyone moved to the new system.
Also the story of the remake was so absurd they might have pushed away parts of the ffvii fan base.

So far part 2 of the remake seems to be good, but (I'm early in this game) so far, it is quite ... boring from time to time and the story changes so far don't make it better.
And I really hate that NPC that's talking to you through the gamepad. Nice at the first few locations but than just annoying.

Oh, I cut that shit off thru the gamepad. Didn’t really bother me coming thru my tv. But thru my controller. I hate it.

 

[Fabieter]

Rebirth is so good it should've moved 10 million copies at least. There is no justice in this world.

People will just wait for pc once they know that thr games are coming for sure. Sony will experience this next what's sqaure is suffering from.

 

[SHA]

FF14 is the one thing keeping Square profitable at the moment. Rebirth didn't do anything for them.

Non-MMO Console and PC sales are only 0.5% of the pie.

Might as well not exist.

Niche market numbers.

 

[Three]

Can someone ELI5 how sales can drop 18.4% while operating income more than doubles?

That would really help me to spin these figures to suit my narrative.

J/K I am really curious what that means.

Expenditure on marketing, development of games, maintenance dropped but they're still selling those games enough to boost profits this year vs last. I heard they got some deals on servers too.

 

[StereoVsn]

How I spend my money buying Square Enix products:
0% from MMO games
0% from mobile games
100% from non-MMO PC and console games

Same here. And I loved FFVII Rebirth. Not FFXVI, that sucked.

It’s so disappointing to see these figures. SE produces bunch of smaller titles like recent Visions of Mana and is fairly decent about porting their games catalog, minus some weird hangups.

I am going to blame Gen Z, because why not!

 

[Zephyranthes]

unfortunate considering how good rebirth was/is.... probably their best game since the ps1 era.

Rebirth released in FY 2024 Q4, this report covers FY 2025 Q1.

 

[Woopah]

I thought FF16 was a massive success?

That released last year.

 

[SenkiDala]

Well... Release the FF games everywhere on day one. Sad to see 7 Rebirth and 16 didn't sell well.

FFVII Remake and Rebirth on Xbox SOON.

Or not. If the leaks saying that Sony asked specificaly that those games don't release on Xbox.

 

[RoboFu]

Rebirth released in FY 2024 Q4, this report covers FY 2025 Q1.

So it was suppose to stop selling after dec?



I personally think that FF16 caused a downward spiral of disappointment and mistrust that people just skipped rebirth altogether even though it is the greatest thing FF has put out in years.

 

[Zephyranthes]

So it was suppose to stop selling after dec?

Rebirth launched on February 29, and the Japanese fiscal year ends on March 31. Rebirth sales from April-June would be included in the HD Games figure discussed in this report, but the overwhelming majority of sales since launch would have occurred in the February-March window, and therefore wouldn't count towards this quarter's earnings.

 

[kazuyamishima]

Well... Release the FF games everywhere on day one. Sad to see 7 Rebirth and 16 didn't sell well.

FFVII Remake and Rebirth on Xbox SOON.

Or not. If the leaks saying that Sony asked specificaly that those games don't release on Xbox.

They adjusted their output to be more Multiplatform oriented, but I doubt this will solve their problems, this is not the late 90’s and early 2000s anymore. As a matter of fact they lack the games, going Multiplatform won’t solve their problems when their output is mediocre in terms of number of big games. All of the “just put the games day one in everything and they’ll sell millions” is possible not true at all.

So it was suppose to stop selling after dec?



I personally think that FF16 caused a downward spiral of disappointment and mistrust that people just skipped rebirth altogether even though it is the greatest thing FF has put out in years.

Their accounting is a bit strange since they put development cost when they release a game.

As for FF Games, the “trust from fans of the series” has been lost long time ago since they released FFXIII, blaming FFXVI, one of their decent FF games in years, is disingenuous.

 

[Metnut]

Rebirth released in FY 2024 Q4, this report covers FY 2025 Q1.

Financial literacy has never been Neogaf’s strong point.

 

[cash_longfellow]

Microsoft to the rescue.

Why…so they can sell even less than they are now? Try harder

 

[Labadal]

I think there are a few reasons why FFVII Rebirth might not have done as well as S-E hoped.

They should have probably gone PS5/PC. Not because I think I know better than them, but the previous game came to PC, so some people are probably waiting for that version. No PS4 probably hurt sales, but I guess at some point, they want to move on. When other games get multi generational releases, people seem to get pissed.

The first game, while alright didn't feel great to me. I wasn't a fan of many changes, and I think that I am not alone. A lot of padding, backtracking, and boring sections. New characters weren't great, either. Not sure what people thought about how they changed the personalities of some main characters.

The main reason for why I am waiting to get the game is if they release the "Intergrade" version for Rebirth. I'd like to play the complete version of the game, and not miss out, like the first. (Once they released the DLC, I was done with the game, and had no desire to return to it. I am probably not the only one waiting. Until they go out with a message that something like that is not planned, I will wait.

 

[asdasdasdbb]

but the previous game came to PC, so some people are probably waiting for that version.

The game is so front loaded, Square is already sorta talking about Part 3.

Square has said that they aren't doing any DLC for Rebirth.

 

[CityHunter1981]

Perhaps it’s a generation thing, I feel like FF XVI appeals more to Gen Z, while Rebirth is more popular with Gen x and Millennials.

I am 42 and didn’t like XVI, I finished it, but it was just an okay game in my opinion. Rebirth on the other hand, I think my game of the decade…

 

[MikeM]

Microsoft to the rescue.

MS would shut SE within two years with their track record

FF14 is the one thing keeping Square profitable at the moment. Rebirth didn't do anything for them.

Non-MMO Console and PC sales are only 0.5% of the pie.

Might as well not exist.

It blow my mind that exclusives still exist in today’s dev cost environment. I guess that truck load of Sony cash was on previous earnings?