It has been confirmed for some time that the Remaining Fantasy 14, which reached its tenth yr not too long ago, has been a load-bearing recreation for Sq. Enix’s stability sheets. That was as per a fiscal report ending in March 2024 (the pre-Dawntrail occasions) that noticed it making up 68.4% of its working income.
This was then confirmed once more, when a report for the primary half of the fiscal yr ending in March 2025 (the post-Dawntrail occasions) stated that it was, uh, nonetheless doing that, forming a part of an MMO section that raked in ¥13.1 billion (about $86 million) for the corporate (whereas its “HD video games” section misplaced it ¥1.2 billion, or $7.8 million).
Nicely, I’m as soon as extra right here to report that Remaining Fantasy 14 is constant to do exceptionally effectively in one more set of economic reportage—however this time the outcomes are consolidated. Snazzy! As a result of this can be a abstract, there are not any numbers to go off for FF14 particularly, however Sq. says the section’s been doing simply as effectively—higher, even.
“Within the MMO (Massively Multiplayer On-line) Recreation sub-segment, internet gross sales and working earnings rose in contrast with the identical interval of the earlier fiscal yr on the launch of ‘FINAL FANTASY XIV: Dawntrail,’ the newest enlargement pack for ‘FINAL FANTASY XIV.'” For reference, that full fiscal yr’s report noticed the section pulling in ¥19.3 billion (approx. $126 million) in working earnings, and ¥47.3 billion (round $310 million) in internet gross sales, so Dawntrail is making greater than that.
Which could come as a shock for those who’ve been following the information or group sentiment surrounding the enlargement, as a result of it form of appears like we’re all a bit fed up. The story was a little bit of a miss, content material comes out too slowly, the system’s stagnating, the sky is falling, yap yap yap. Is its success only a mirage, or are all of us simply partaking within the time-honoured MMO custom of complaining?
The reply is “perhaps”. Most of FF14’s present main points have an effect on what I will name ‘caught up’ gamers—of us who’ve been subbed and enjoying for years, and have exhausted its reams of content material. I nonetheless keep that this MMO is a bloody discount and value enjoying if you have not, since you nonetheless have 10 years of strong RPG storytelling to chip via, and Sq.’s savvy design construction has made all of it related and playable—with its earliest foibles receiving a brand new coat of paint in Endwalker. The brand new-player honeymoon interval lasts for tons of of hours, so it is a worthwhile journey even when Sq. continues to stumble about for the subsequent couple of years.
As for the phantasm of success, effectively, it ought to be identified that everybody—myself included—felt fairly dang hyped for Dawntrail. The beginning of a brand new story arc and a shiny graphics replace have been all main attracts to, you already know, purchase the factor and bump that working earnings quantity up considerably.
Whereas that is considerably evaluating apples to popotos, I ought to level out that the preliminary monetary glow of an enlargement is not an correct signal of how issues are going. WoW’s Shadowlands, some of the loathed expansions within the recreation’s historical past, bought 3.7 million copies on its first day. I do not doubt that Blizzard’s numbers have been trying equally merry.
This isn’t to say it is all doom and gloom, although. What Sq. Enix’s Artistic Studio 3 faces in the intervening time is a gradual and insidious drawback—one which will probably be stop-gapped by the discharge of seven.2 in March, which’ll embody a meaty batch of content material for the sport’s currently-starved casual-to-midcore playerbase. Ought to it have taken over 200 days for the statistical majority of your gamers to have one thing to do? No, however it’ll be there.
It is because of this that I feel Dawntrail’ll proceed to tug in numbers, as effectively. I do not raid, so my subscription is principally a tax I pay to maintain on roleplaying with my mates—and I am in any other case not touching the sport—however I will be getting caught into Shades’ Triangle with glee.
Since it’s going to come out round March, and the present fiscal yr ends in March 2025 for Sq. Enix? Issues will probably be hunky-dory for the foreseeable future except the content material is someway a whole stinker, and the ol’ dependable MMO section will nonetheless pull the requisite numbers. Come the subsequent enlargement, although, and its subsequent content material droughts? I do not know if FF14 can endure its slow-burn discontent from veteran gamers for one more decade. Let’s pray for a shake-up.
