Square Enix is one of the largest video games publishers in the world, but also one of the first companies in the industry which completely embraced premium, non-casual mobile games. While a lot of its mobile offerings have been ports of older cult classics, Square Enix has also been releasing original Android games like Final Fantasy Dimensions as early as 2009. When you’re a large game developer and publisher with a lot of resources, focusing on mobile games makes sense because portable titles are a relatively low-risk investment – they cost less to develop than premium titles and are targeting a much broader audience. With a bit of luck and some advertising, a mobile game can at the very least achieve higher profit margins than a console or PC game and is also capable of making more money overall.
Square Enix’s latest consolidated financial results posted earlier this week are further evidence of that. In a period starting on April 1st and ending on September 30th of 2016, the Tokyo-based games publisher achieved $1.02 billion in sales. Almost 74% of that figure was attributed to mobile games as the company’s mobile division posted $748.5 million in sales during this six-month period. Square Enix specifically pointed out the success of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, Hoshi no Dragon Quest, Grimms Notes, and Mobius Final Fantasy as a major reason for this accomplishment. In overall, the publisher’s mobile division grew more than 30% in comparison to last year.
That isn’t to say everything is peachy for Square Enix, as the company’s profits diminished by exactly 25% during this six-month period. However, the financial report states this can mostly be attributed to increasing costs of developing console games as well as a couple of poor mobile performers released in early 2016. As for long-term plans, Square Enix is still planning to equally support PC, consoles, and mobile platforms in the near future. Regarding the latter, the company is just wrapping up development of Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia, Guardian Codex, and Star Ocean: Anamnesis. Square Enix’s financial report states that all three of these titles are expected to be excellent performers which will increase the firm’s profits by early 2017. In other words, expect to see a lot more Android JRPGs on the Play Store in the coming months.