Final Fantasy 14 carries Square Enix through another rough patch

Final Fantasy 14 players walk towards the town centre of Thavnair

(Image credit: Square Enix)

Final Fantasy 14 continues to grow in popularity, offering a bright spot amidst a dip in Square Enix's latest financial results.

The developer has laid out how it's done for the first half of the 2023 fiscal year, which covers the period from April to September 2022. Total net sales are down a smidge at 3.3% compared to the same period from the previous fiscal year, with operating income down more so at 10.6%.

In a press release, Square Enix explains that the part of the company focused on MMOs saw an increase in total sales compared to the previous year thanks to an increase in the number of people paying for a Final Fantasy 14 subscription each month.

The segment of Square Enix that focuses on HD games, meanwhile, saw a dip in sales as new games like Dragon Quest X and Live and Live didn't shift as many copies as the likes of Nier Replicant and Outriders did the year prior.

The financial report tells a similar tale to the one delivered a year prior that recapped the first half of the 2022 fiscal year. Final Fantasy 14 drove the company's MMO segment with a "sharp growth" in players whereas sales for the HD games segment declined. All in all, Square Enix reported that total sales dipped 2.2% when compared to the same period from the year prior, with operating income taking a 7.9% hit.

While Final Fantasy 14 had been building in popularity following a well-documented recovery from a disastrous launch, things kicked up a few gears last year. Positive word of mouth coupled with general fan dissatisfaction over World of Warcraft lead to a surge of interest that left servers buckling.

That wouldn't be the only time the MMO's servers took a battering, though, as the Endwalker expansion released later that year. Regardless of whether you were new or not, the culmination of a story nearly ten years in the making was worth showing up for, and a huge wave of new fans caught up just in time.

Since then, Final Fantasy 14 has continued to be supported in Endwalker's post-expansion cycle, with regular updates edging us towards the next expansion or offering new content like the chill Island Sanctuary. If Square Enix's latest financials are anything to go by, this support has helped fuel Final Fantasy 14's continued ascent.

Fans are also creating a Final Fantasy 14 VR mod, which would arguably lead to even more subscriptions if it were official.