14 DAY TRIAL // Square Enix's plans of world domination seem to be going just fine, and the somewhat recently purchased British publisher, Eidos, is pulling its weight. The big Japanese publisher has just announced its financial report for the year, and has revealed that the company has a 68-percent increase in operating income over the last year, reaching 21.4 billion yen and 135 billion yen in net sales, representing a 30-percent increase over what it managed last year. Considering the reports that other gaming companies have released, it's a bit surprising to see a publisher that actually managed to make money in 2009.
The games that have pushed the company to the privileged spot of a profitable business are Final Fantasy XIII, with its Japanese-only release so far, Dragon Quest IX, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 and Eidos's Batman: Arkham Asylum. In Japan, FF XIII managed to sell over one million copies in just 24 hours since it hit the shelves, so it's no wonder that it turned out to be a profitable investment. In fact, all other titles released by Square proved to be outstanding games, so it looks like a quality-over-quantity approach was the way to survive through the financial crisis of 2009.
The company's President, Yoichi Wada, said that, "Aimed at mid- and long-term growth for the Square Enix Group, we have made solid progress in our business plan set out at the beginning of the fiscal year. We are pleased with the success of our Final Fantasy XIII launch in Japan on December 17, where we successfully shipped 1.8 million units in this market with a PlayStation 3 installed base of 4 million."
He further added that, "Through our improved localization systems, we were able to set a March launch date in North America and Europe." "Further, our integration activities since the acquisition of U.K.-based Eidos in April are progressing rapidly and allowing us to strengthen our global business framework."