Square Enix’ share prices have taken a tumble in Japan this week, with a drop of almost 15% between the Tokyo Stock Exchange closing on Friday and re-opening on Monday. The ¥909 yen plummet from ¥6,366 to ¥5,457 comes after the company revealed its year-on-year operating profits had declined by a whopping 79% in its Q2 2023 earnings.
Bloomberg claims that, according to three separate sources in attendance at a post-earnings call, although Square Enix was counting on its recent PS5-exclusive blockbusters RPG, Final Fantasy XVI, to drive software sales, the game’s sales “did not meet the high end [read: within expectations but not at the peak] of the company’s expectations.”
Square Enix President Takashi Kiryu reportedly told the analysts that the company believes “slow adoption” of the PlayStation 5 console was a limiting factor in how many units of the game it could move, but that it’ll be putting plans in motion to boost sales of the game again now that stock of the PS5 hardware is plentiful.
Final Fantasy XVI didn’t exactly sell poorly, moving over 3 million units in around its first week of sale, but in comparisons it falls quite short of the last mainline entry in the series, Final Fantasy XV, which was a multiplatform release that enjoyed a higher total install base and moved about 5 million units in that time. While Square Enix didn’t reveal what those “high end” expectations were, there was definitely a lot riding on the game’s success as one of the PS5’s more high-profile exclusives in 2023.
We gave Final Fantasy XVI a very solid 9/10 in our review, saying “Final Fantasy XVI is an epic in every sense of the word. Consistently sharp writing, a captivating cast of characters, exhilarating combat, and a timeless soundtrack coalesce into an experience that showcases what the PlayStation 5 is capable of at the highest level. It constantly finds ways to top its own scale in remarkable fashion, but never loses sight of the intimate journey its built around.”
Final Fantasy XVI is available now with Amazon selling copies of the game for $84.99 with free shipping.
