According to Square Enix, major releases such as 2023's Final Fantasy XVI and this March Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth failed to meet the publisher's sales projections.
President Takashi Kiryu admitted this during a financial briefing recently made public (and identified by Eurogamer). In that briefing, Kiryu said that initial sales for Rebirthand February Foam stars, “they were not as strong as expected.”
While Square's HD gaming sub-segment posted net sales of 99.2 billion yen in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023-24 (up 20.7 billion yen from the previous year), a “write-down” of the content production account resulted in an operating loss of 8.1 billion yen, more than double the previous year.
Square Enix has been vague about Rebirth commercial performance but previously indicated Final Fantasy XVI underperformed to some extent. This briefing highlights the decision made in May to move away from timed console exclusives to focus on Multi-platform titles and “unforgettable experiences”.
It also puts the shift from outsourcing to in-house development into perspective, making fewer games (but better quality) overall and turnaround Foam stars in a free-to-play title in October.
While both Final Fantasy games performed poorly at the time, they appear to have done well in Square Enix's merchandising department. It cited those two as part of the reason the company posted 18.9 billion yen in net sales, up 3.3 billion yen from last year.
THE second quarter of the 2024-2025 fiscal year ends on September 30, which means Kiryu will provide new comments on Rebirth AND Final Fantasy XVI (the latter released on PC this week) and whether sales have improved since May.