One brings shadow, one brings the light, but Shadowbringers itself brings great financial results. The results for the first quarter of the financial year for Square-Enix have been posted, and the company’s year-over-year sales have risen by 19% and its operating income by an astonishing 85%.
So what is the company highlighting as the cause of this spike? You guessed it, the impending release of the third Final Fantasy XIV expansion and associated enthusiasm for the product. Yes, we said impending, the report covered up to the end of June and technically the expansion didn’t release until July 2nd. The company specifically cited strong fan engagement (like the sort of thing leading to fan gatherings) along with porting the company’s classic titles to new platforms, such as the Final Fantasy XII ports for Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.
“In the area of massively multiplayer online role-playing games, subscription revenue was strong ahead of the release of the FINAL FANTASY XIV expansion pack, driving net sales and operating income higher than in the same period of the prior year.”
It remains to be seen what sort of impact the expansion will have on the second quarter financial results, but given the reception to said expansion, we’re going to go ahead and say that it’s probably just a win all around.
