Square Enix sales jump 33.2%, profits fall 55.7%

Square Enix may have shaved its profit forecast for its full fiscal year last week, but the publisher is still showing substantial top-line growth. Reporting on the first six months of its current fiscal year today, Square Enix said that revenues for the period jumped 33.2 percent to ¥90.6 billion ($998 million), bolstered in part by the publisher's April acquisition of UK-based Eidos. However, profit for the period took a nosedive, falling 55.7 percent to ¥2.68 billion ($29.5 million).

Between Eidos and its internal studios, Square Enix had a number of top performers during the April-September period. Dragon Quest IX, which is currently available only in Japan for the DS, sold 4 million units through September, while fellow DS role-playing game Kingdom Hearts 358/2 sold 1.22 million units since its Japanese launch in May and its late-September rollout elsewhere. Though the bulk of its Japanese sales fell outside the reporting window, Dissidia Final Fantasy for the PSP sold an additional 720,000 units during the period.

As for the Eidos label, Batman: Arkham Asylum has now sold 2.63 million units in North America and Europe since debuting on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in August and on the PC in September. Hitman creator IO Interactive scored some small success with its new property Mini Ninjas, which shifted 600,000 units across the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, and PC since its early-September premiere.

All said, Square Enix's Games segment saw revenues rise 117.5 percent to ¥48.4 billion ($533 million) during the April-September period. Operating income also rose significantly, climbing 63.5 percent to ¥10.4 billion ($115 million) from the year-ago period. The Games segment shifted 12.07 million software units total during the first half of the year, and Square Enix expects that number to balloon to 26 million units by the end of its full fiscal year on March 31, 2010.

Laying out its projections for its full fiscal year, Square Enix said revenues are expected to rise 32.7 percent to ¥180 billion ($1.98 billion). Despite the aforementioned downward revision, the Japanese publisher still expects to turn a ¥10 billion ($110 million) profit, up 57.9 percent year-over-year.