Square-Enix saw MMO profits from FFXIV and FFXI dip in 2016

Now is the time for all good companies to report profits and losses for the previous year, and at first glance Square-Enix’s report looks pretty rosy. What looks less happy for readers who are heavily invested in the company’s online titles such as Final Fantasy XIV is the fact that operating revenue and net sales have seen a sharp decline year-over-year. That’s enough to bring a raised eyebrow or two, possibly even some panicked posting about the future of the futures of the titles.

It’s probably not worth the panic, however, as the same report also notes that revenues from operation have held very steady.

“In the area of massively multiplayer online role playing games, revenues from operation has been showing steady performance while net sales and operating income declined significantly compared to the same period of the prior fiscal year mainly due to the absence of expansion disk releases during the nine-month period ended December 31, 2016.”

In other words, it looks like the titles are still keeping subscribers happy, but the company’s online offerings have been in a bit of a slump in terms of attracting new subscribers. One would think that this would serve as a prime time to release a new expansion this year, then. That should earn some impressions.