Square Enix nine-month profits jump 48%

Square Enix continues to see its revenues inflate after subsuming UK publisher Eidos in April 2009. This week, the Japanese gaming publisher reported revenue of ¥135.4 billion ($1.51 billion) for the nine-month period ended December 31, up 30.9 percent from the same period in 2008. Profits also jumped during the first nine months of its fiscal year, rising 48.2 percent to ¥7.8 billion ($87 million).

Net sales for Square Enix's games segment stood at ¥72.9 billion ($813 million) for the period, a 97 percent increase from the year-ago period. Operating income matched the pace of that growth, rising 99 percent to ¥18 billion ($200 million). Dragon Quest IX, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Final Fantasy XIII, and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days led sales for the publisher during the period.

Square Enix did not provide unit-sales updates for any of the games launched during the period. However, as part of its first-half report in November, the publisher said that Arkham Asylum had sold 2.63 million units and Kingdom Hearts 385/2 had sold 1.22 million copies. The publisher also previously announced that Final Fantasy XIII had sold 1.7 million units upon its debut in Japan in December.

As for the remainder of its fiscal year, the publisher expects to publish the PC version of Gas Powered Games' Supreme Commander 2 in North America on March 2, with the Xbox 360 version following on March 16. In between the arrival of those two, Square Enix will deploy its heavy hitter Final Fantasy XIII internationally on March 9, with Just Cause 2 coming for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on March 23.