Square Enix Sales Soar With The Help Of NieR: Automata

Square Enix has some big titles on the horizon that will help their sales for the rest of the year – mainly Dragon Quest XI – but it's already off to a good start thanks to a big surprise hit.

The company posted its financial results for the three month fiscal period ending June 30, 2017, and showed an overall boost in both operating income and net sales.

Regarding net sales, the company showed an increase of over 57,000 million yen, a push up of 11.3 percent from the previous year. As for operating income, it rose to 12,874 million yen, which shows a 43.9 percent increase.

NieR: Automata, the action/adventure produced by the team at Platinum Games, has become a tremendous hit for the company, as it noted that there were "strong download sales" of the title. In addition, the release of Final Fantasy XIV's newest expansion, Stormblood, saw an increase in monthly subscribers, though exact numbers weren't given.

The company's Digital Entertainment division also saw an increase, with a year-on-year rise of around nearly 18 percent in net sales, and a near-45 percent increase in operating income. Not bad at all for a company that still hasn't released Kingdom Hearts III just yet.

"The Square Enix group is continuing determined efforts to strengthen the competitiveness and profitability of its business segments," the report noted.

With Dragon Quest XI selling pretty big with its release, Square Enix's numbers are likely to stay on the rise – and who knows, we could see more reveals from Kingdom Hearts III to keep anticipation for that series on the rise. And who knows what else it has planned up its sleeve when Gamescom takes place later this month, where we're likely to see some form of announcements from the company.

Meanwhile, here's hoping NieR: Automata continues to get some attention even months after its release, because it is one of the year's best games, based on our previously posted review. It's definitely a lot of fun, and probably amongst Platinum Games' greatest work – and, yes, that's including Bayonetta 2.

NieR: Automata is available now for PlayStation 4 and PC.