Square Enix declared 343,267 million yen ($2.5 billion) in net sales in the 2022-2023 fiscal year, according to its latest financial report. This represents a 6% decline from 365,275 million yen ($2.7 billion) in the preceding year
The company also saw significant declines in operating income, which stood at 54,709 million yen ($325 million), declining 22.6% from the 2021-2022 fiscal year.
The digital entertainment segment, which incorporates gaming including mobile games, generated 245,548 million yen ($180.4 million) in net sales, representing a 12.2% decline from the prior financial year. The company notes that this decline is due, in part, to a comparative lack of high profile releases compared to previous years. Although Square Enix released several games in the 2022-2023 fiscal year, including Forspoken and Octopath Traveler II, the preceding twelve months saw the releases of several major titles which proved more successful, such as OUTRIDERS and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Gamesindustry.biz reports that mobile and PC browser games accounted for 113.6 billion yen ($840 million) during the fiscal year, representing a 13% decrease from the preceding twelve months. This makes the segment the most successful of the period, followed by HD games (78.5 billion yen, or $580 million) and MMO’s (53.3 billion yen, or $394 million.) This highlights once again the remarkable strength of mobile devices.
Looking forward
Despite seeing year-on-year declines in several key metrics, 2023 will see the release of several high-profile releases, including three releases in its flagship Final Fantasy franchise. These releases include Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis, a mobile exclusive retelling of the various games and other forms of media in the Compilation of FInal Fantasy VII series. Notably, this will include Before Crisis, a mobile prequel which has previously only been released in Japan.
Driven in part by these releases, Square Enix forecasts that net sales in the current fiscal year will reach 360,000 million yen ($2.6 billion), representing a 4.9% increase. The company also anticipates to generate 55,000 million yen in ($404 million) in operating income, an increase of 24.1%.
In March, the Square Enix board called for president Yosuke Matsuda to step aside, to be replaced by Web3 gaming expert Takashi Kiryu.
