FFXIV Holds Firm Despite a 15% Drop In Sales
Final Fantasy XIV has evolved from a poor Square Enix release over a decade ago into one of the major titles that keep the publisher afloat. The company has released its financial earnings reports for the three months ending June 30, 2022. Net sales fell 15.5% from last year’s same period, falling from Y=88.6 Billion ($656 Million) to Y=74.8 Billion ($554.6 M).
Although income was up 48.7%, it was at Y=26.2billion ($194.5m). Square Enix points out that this decline can be partially attributed to the weakening of the Japanese yen and foreign exchange rates. (Most of the company’s sales are from North America and Europe.
While the publisher acknowledged that no new titles in the period led to the drop in sales, he also pointed out FFXIV as a key driver for revenue. The publisher stated that net sales increased in the MMO Games sub-segment due to an increase in monthly paying subscribers for Final Fantasy XIV.
A set of slides was included with the earnings release. It highlighted a sharp drop in sales for its Digital Entertainment section, which accounts for more of the sales of its games. The company’s “HD Games,” which include most of its AAA releases, saw a decrease in sales to Y=12billion ($88.9m) for the quarter compared to Y=25.1billion ($186m) last year. Even mobile games suffered a slight decline. The MMO segment, however, saw a slight increase of Y=14.1 trillion ($104.4 million) over the previous year.
Although the slides mention that no expansion packs are planned for this year’s game, it’s not surprising to anyone who has been following FFXIV for any time. Endwalker was released in December last year. The game has a fairly consistent two-year release schedule. HTMLXIV tends not to pass the baton to World of Warcraft. Blizzard’s MMO will get its new expansion Dragonflight in this year’s edition, while FFXIV is expected to receive whatever’s next in 2023.
The FFXIVteam focuses on keeping current players happy with new patches. Patch 6.2 will bring several new features to the game, including expanded Trusts, Tribal quests, Criterion and Variant dungeons, and the long-awaited Island Sanctuary. While waiting for that patch to be released, you might want to grab the PVP Archfiend attire while you wait. This will allow you to enjoy the 2022 Moonfire Faire.
