Everyone knows that MMOs are big business, but for Square Enix, one of the world's most well-known game designers and publishers, it's one of the few shining lights in a poor quarter. It's not just the MMO category (that includes Final Fantasy XIV), though.
Only MMOs grew year-over-year in the three main Digital Entertainment categories of the company in the last quarter. Despite the release of numerous new titles, HD Games (mainly casual and mobile games) did not reach the level of the previous years, according to the report.
Only in the MMO category was the news good. Final Fantasy XIV's paying subscribers increased year on year, compared to the other quarter's earnings which showed that sales and operating income were down. However, Square Enix did not provide specifics about their performances in the previous quarter.
Final Fantasy XIV's strong performance compared to last year consists of several reasons. One, in Q1, in 2021, FFXIV was in the second year of expansion. FFXIV was released only a few months ago.
Final Fantasy's story content has a tendency to diminish in players as the expansion progresses. This is true of any MMO, but for Final Fantasy, fans are particularly enthused by narrative content.
Square Enix will focus on retaining gamers through a number of operational initiatives, according to the report, although we already knew this.