Details of a recently released Square Enix investor financial briefing have revealed that the company has high hopes for the performance of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail amid a tepid 2023. The briefing, which took place on Nov. 7, 2023, but details of which were revealed on Jan. 15, featured a basic outline of Square Enix’s financials and a question and answer portion with company president Takashi Kiryu.
Commenting on the MMO sub-segment, Kiryu stated that while the results from 2023 saw sales fall, this represented a “lull in our operating cycle.” He hinted that this would mean better performance upon the release of FFXIV’s Dawntrail expansion: “We unveiled a lot of information at our Las Vegas and London Fan Festival events and expect that the gradual build-up of excitement ahead of the expansion pack’s release will translate into a good performance for the sub-segment going forward.”
Replying to a question on upcoming profits in the first two quarters of 2024/5 (Square Enix’s financial years run April-April), Kiryu described the potential of both Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Dawntrail, but hailed FFVII Rebirth as a make-or-break title: “We believe that sales of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth are the greatest variable on which our ability to achieve our full-year operating income target of ¥55.0 billion hinges.” FFVII Rebirth, which launches on Feb. 29, releases in Q4, 2023/4 for Square Enix, but the company clearly expects sales of all FFVII titles to run well into the following financial year.
Kiryu confirmed as much later in his answer: “We expect sizable earnings contributions in Q4 not only from our HD Games sub-segment but also from our Games for Smart Devices/PC Browser sub-segment thanks to Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis which we launched in September.”
Talking on FFXIV, the president explained that the then-upcoming Fan Festival in Tokyo was a core part of their strategy: “We also hope to see a stronger performance from the MMO sub-segment in Q4 and beyond because we will be holding our Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival at the Tokyo Dome in January 2024, which we expect will gradually build up excitement ahead of the expansion pack’s release of Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail in the summer of 2024.”
As a result, it seems that Square Enix has a lot riding on the success of these two games. To this end, the report also highlighted a need to diversify their portfolio. The company president admitted that outside of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, their list of strong IP’s was limited. As a result, the president outlined two strategies. One, bizarrely, was a focus on their more niche IPs, explicitly pointing to Powerwash Simulator as a prime example.
Secondly, and perhaps more exciting, was the idea to leverage the Final Fantasy franchise into “cross-media adaptations.” This could mean films, TV shows, comics. This idea also seemingly went hand-in-hand with Kiryu’s idea to begin “slimming down our lineup.” In effect, it could be interpreted that Square Enix wants to make fewer games but expand its IP into a wider variety of products. It’s an interesting strategy that could result in more content for fan-favorite franchises.
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