Square Enix had a tough quarter as sales for the nine months ending December 31st 2018 fell 4.8 cent year-on-year to ¥179 billion ($1.62 billion).

Operating income for the period also fell by 65.3 per cent to ¥11.7 billion compared to the year prior ($106m).

Digital entertainment revenue, which includes the company’s mobile games, fell 9.1 per cent to ¥130,482 million ($1.18bn). Operating income for the division dropped 59.3 per cent to ¥14,803 million ($134m).

Mobile decline

In its financials, Square Enix noted that many of the mobile and browser titles launched in the prior fiscal year have performed below expectations and were unable to build on previous successful titles in its portfolio.

Overall net sales for the company’s smart device and browser business fell to ¥18.8 billion ($170.3m) in Q3 2019 for the three months ending December 31st 2018, the lowest of the year. No quarter in the 2019 financial year has been able to match FY2018. It suggests that legacy titles are also on the decline.

Despite declining sales across its mobile and browser games portfolio, Square Enix highlighted one game, Romancing SaGa Re; univerSe, as making a good start. Sales from this were not recognised in Q3, however.

Moving forward, the publisher said it aims to focus on selected games and releasing new titles under existing IPs.

It also plans to “rebuild our development and operation organisations, and strive to create new hit titles”.