Despite declining results, Square Enix plans new games in 2023

Last December, Square Enix declared that it had no planned release on Xbox for 2023, but that does not mean that the Japanese giant is not working on new projects. Indeed, Square Enix has just unveiled its financial results for the first nine months of the 2022-2023 financial year, enough to know more about the situation of the group and its projects.

Overall declines in financial results...

So Square Enix released its financial results today and we learn first that revenue is down 6.6% year over year for the current fiscal year. For the operating result, this decrease amounts to 17.6%. The resale of Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal still allowed Square Enix to hold its head high by reaping a not insignificant profit.

In the Digital Entertainment division (including video games), sales fell 12.9％ year-on-year with operating income of 38,735 million yen, which was down 21.6％ year-on-year.

As for HD games, excluding service games, the results are also down and this is explained by the absence of major releases. The previous year, NieR Replicant, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and Outriders were major releases allowing Square Enix to have a good year. Ditto on the MMO side even if it was "predictable" since the Q3 of the previous year had benefited from the success of the Endwalker extension for Final Fantasy XIV.

...but new projects and a new IP already under consideration

Despite these lackluster results, Square Enix has announced that it has "several new titles planned, including titles featuring new intellectual property". Square Enix “will focus on user retention through various operational initiatives.

On the side of the market for online games and mobile games, the results of the last nine months have not been so brilliant and the Japanese group would have “additional titles planned for the launch in the fourth quarter and beyond. »

It now remains to be seen how Square Enix intends to articulate its long-term game development strategy and how the group could save the furniture between now and the next three, which will be decisive for the 2022-2023 financial year.