Money

Sales Drop 15% in Square Enix Q1 Report

Published

10 months ago

August 8, 2022

Anthony DiMoro

Square Enix, the team behind the classic franchise Final Fantasy, has officially released their financial earnings for the three months ended June 30th, 2022, and numbers demonstrate a drop in sales.

Square Enix’s Digital Entertainment division is comprised of HD Game, MMO, and Mobile/PC browser sub segments as well.

In summary:

Net sales: $553 million, down 15.5% year-on-year
Profit: $136 million, up 45% year-on-year
Digital Entertainment net sales: $397 million, down 23% year-on-year
Amusement segment net sales: $89 million, up 27% year-over-year
The HD Games subsection generated $89 million, a decrease of 52.2% from the same period last year
Mobile/PC Browser games saw a 17% drop year-over-year, clocking $202 million
MMOs clocked $104 million, a 20.7% growth year-over-year

Square Enix attributed the decline of HD Games to the lack of game releases for the quarter, while also adding that its MMO Final Fantasy XIV continued to see an increase in its monthly subscribers.

Business

Epic Games Store Hits $820 Million in Player Spending During 2022

Published

2 months ago

March 22, 2023

Anthony DiMoro

Epic Games has officially released financial data related to it’s growing marketplace on PC, showing that $820 million was spent on the Epic Games Store during the 2022 year, and promised support for third-party subscription services and new ‘content hubs’ to help companies promote their titles.

According to the data:

The numbers

Total users of Epic Games Store PC: 230 million (up 19% year-on-year)
Epic cross-platform accounts: 732 million
Daily active users peak: 34.3 million
Monthly active users: 68 million (up 10%)

Total spending, incl. Epic’s games: $820 million (down 2%)
Spending on third-party games: $355 million (up 18%)
Free games claimed: 700 million
Number of new PC releases: 626
Total library of PC games: 1,548 (up 68%)

Epic Games stated on it’s blog that more PC games launched during the 2022 year than in any year prior.

Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto 5, Rocket League, Genshin Impact, and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands were among the most popular titles related to player engagement and player spending, and Epic Games looks to deepen their focus in 2023 as they aim to improve the store launcher’s performance.

Epic Games also aims to add support for subscription services from third-party publishers and live service products by the end of the 2023 year, adding that they are also working on ‘content hubs’ which will be separate from product pages and will enable publishers to “share information with users in a robust editorial format.”

Market

Xbox Q2 Revenue Dips 13%, Game Pass Continues Growth

Published

4 months ago

January 25, 2023

Anthony DiMoro

Microsoft has reported declines in Xbox revenue during the three months ended December 31, 2022 with gaming revenues were down 13% and Xbox content and services revenues down 12%, but were offset by the growth of Xbox Game Pass.

The Xbox Game Pass subscription business has reported a record number of active players, reporting a record 120 million monthly active users across its gaming ecosystem.

Revenue: $52.7 billion (up 2% year-on-year)
Net income: $16.4 billion (down 12%)
Operating income: $20.4 billion (down 8%)

More Personal Computing (incl. Xbox) revenue: $14.2 million (down 19%)
Gaming revenue: Down 13%
Xbox content and services revenue: Down 12%
Xbox hardware revenue: Down 13%
Monthly active users (gaming): 120 million

The company said that a number of the declines were in line with expectations.

Business

NetEase Acquires SkyBox Labs

Published

5 months ago

January 9, 2023

Anthony DiMoro

NetEase Games has officially announced their acquisition of Canadian-based game developer SkyBox Labs, which was founded back in 2011 and has co-developed titles such as Halo Infinite, Minecraft, and Fallout 76.

Following the acquisition, SkyBox Labs will continue to operate independently under the supervision of its founders Shyang Kong, Derek MacNeil, and Steven Silvester, and will continue to co-create games alongside existing and new partners.

“We have built a team of talented individuals who are passionate and creative, and by joining NetEase Games, we will also be able to accelerate our plans to pursue new creative opportunities and enjoy access to world-class operational resources and the full breadth and depth of NetEase’s services so we can scale faster in Canada,” said Kong in an official statement.