Square Enix Reports Q2 2019 Earnings Report Boosted by Strong MMO Earnings

Square Enix reported their calendar year Q2 2019 earnings report today and MMO revenues and profits were at near record highs. MMO revenue came in at 8.8B Yen ($83M) for the quarter while profits were a little less than half that at 4B Yen ($38M). Just looking at this top line figure, Square Enix's MMOs contribute ~$27.6M in monthly revenues. Keep in mind this figure includes sales from ALL Square Enix PC MMOs (Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV, and Dragon Quest X), but the vast majority likely comes from Final Fantasy XIV. This figure doesn't include sales from box copies of Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, as it officially launched on July 2, while this quarterly report covers April - June.

(the chart above says Q1 2020, but that's referring to the company's fiscal year. It's referring to the period between April 2019 - June 2019)

So let's extrapolate a little bit here to try and guesstimate Final Fantasy XIV's monthly subscriptions. Let's say 75% of Square Enix's PC MMO revenue is from Final Fantasy XIV (which seems reasonable to me), which puts it at $20.7M. Let's say 75% of that figure is monthly subscription revenue (with the other 25% being micro-transactions), which gives us $15.53M in monthly revenue. At an average subscription price of say $14/mo (blended average between the $13.99 and $14.99 price points), we can estimate that Final Fantasy XIV has 1.1M subscribers. This figure is pre-Shadowbringers launch, so this figure is likely conservative.

Square Enix's mobile game revenues came in at 20.3B yen ($190M for the quarter), down from 22.9B yen last quarter. Profits for mobile games were ~3.5B yen ($33M). Despite much higher revenues, Square Enix actually earned more profit from their PC MMOs than their mobile titles.

Source: Q2 2019 Earnings Presentation