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Square Enix Reports Dip in Smartphone/Browser Game Revenue

Video game publisher Square Enix on Monday published its financial results briefing for the six-month period ending on September 30, reporting that it saw a decrease in sales and operating income for smart device and browser games compared to the same period last year.

The report noted that the company had little success with new titles; most of its key titles (listed below) were from previous years. As a result, the company plans to slow down the pace of its release of new smart device and browser games. It will instead focus more on advertisements for fewer titles.

Furthermore, the company is restructuring its development teams and hopes to see positive impacts by the second half of the fiscal year beginning in March 2020.

Square Enix's list of major smart device or browser titles (and their release times) includes:

• Dragon Quest Monsters: Super Light (Jan. 2014)
• Schoolgirl Strikers (Apr. 2014)
• Final Fantasy: Record Keeper (Sep. 2014)
• Kai-Ri-Sei Million Arthur (Nov. 2014)
• Mobius Final Fantasy (Jun. 2015)
• Kingdom Hearts Union χ [Cross] (Sep. 2015)
• Hoshi no Dragon Quest (Oct. 2015)
• Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (Oct. 2015)
• Star Ocean: Anamnesis (Dec. 2016)
• Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia (Feb. 2017)
• Bravely Default: Fairy's Effect (Mar. 2017)
• SINoALICE (Jun. 2017)
• Toji no Miko: Kizamishi Issen no Tomoshibi (Mar. 2018)

Square Enix also said in the report that it has high hopes for the upcoming Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe game, which does not yet have a release date.

Business news website Bloomberg reported last month that the Japanese mobile game market is growing, but Japanese games are losing market share to Chinese and South Korean games.

Source: Square Enix (English version) via Yaraon!