Closing Fantasy 14 has a little bit of an issue—it is made by Sq. Enix. Alright, possibly that is slightly harsh, however it’s type of bearing out within the financials 12 months after 12 months. Again in August, it was noticed that, even earlier than the launch of the MMO’s latest growth, Dawntrail, the sport was carrying the load of the corporate on its shoulders, conserving the corporate as worthwhile as it may be.
A latest set of monetary outcomes for the previous fiscal 12 months has continued to indicate that, sure—even with Dawntrail’s blended, bumpy reception, Closing Fantasy 14 (and Dragon Quest 10, to a lesser extent) continues to be the breadwinner, placing on its little tie and go well with earlier than going off to interrupt its again and fund the corporate’s different ill-advised initiatives and underperforming AAA video games (thanks, Automaton).
You may learn the report your self, which matches over the primary half of the fiscal 12 months 2025 (which’ll confusingly finish in March 2025 for Sq., however I do not make the principles) however here is the abstract: Whereas internet gross sales are down, working earnings’s up, due partially to “the growth pack launch within the MMO sub-segment”.
The “HD Video games” sub-segment, which incorporates these huge mainline releases like Closing Fantasy 16 and Closing Fantasy 7: Rebirth, was down ¥16.2 billion year-on-year when it comes to internet gross sales, whereas there was a ¥3.6 billion loss when it comes to working earnings. In the meantime, the “Video games for Good Gadgets/PC Browser” sub-segment was down ¥16.2 billion in internet gross sales, with a ¥4.9 billion loss when it comes to working earnings.
In saunters the MMO sub-segment, presumably sporting a glittering pair of shades and dumping a fats sack of cash on the desk, which had a ¥8.5 billion improve in internet scales, and an working year-on-year bump of ¥3.8 billion. The full numbers are additionally bonkers, too—whereas that HD video games section really misplaced Sq. Enix ¥1.2 billion, the MMO one raked in ¥13.1 billion in working earnings. With regards to cost-efficiency, Sq.’s MMOs are doing laps round the newest entries in Closing Fantasy.
This confirms a few issues. Firstly, if Dawntrail’s blended reception has harm Sq.’s backside line, any, it isn’t prone to present within the numbers for the subsequent six months. Secondly, FF14—alongside different MMOs—are nonetheless bankrolling the corporate’s currently-troubled state, which is a little bit of an issue for us catboy followers.
As I argued late final month, one among FF14’s largest challenges going ahead goes to be correctly funding it, and selecting up the tempo on an in any other case stale system. Whereas its patch cadence has been principally strong and dependable these previous few years—it is develop into so dependable and predictable that it is beginning to really feel rote and, pound for pound, is genuinely slower than its rivals. The great will from the genuinely admirable A Realm Reborn relaunch cannot final perpetually—and no matter Sq. is giving Artistic Studio 3, the MMO’s improvement crew, it is clearly not sufficient. The corporate’s different initiatives want to determine learn how to produce their very own gasoline, or they’re gonna sink the entire fleet.
