Square Enix profits up almost 50 percent, FFXIII sells 1.8M units in Japan

Square Enix has a lot to be thankful about for the first three quarters of fiscal year 2009. Other companies may be experiencing losses, but the Japanese publisher’s profits are on the rise, thanks in no small part to Final Fantasy XIII‘s popularity in Japan.

Square Enix has a lot to be thankful about for the first three quarters of fiscal year 2009. Other companies may be experiencing losses, but the Japanese publisher’s profits are on the rise, thanks in no small part to Final Fantasy XIII‘s popularity in Japan.

The latest numbers put the company’s profits up 48.2 percent in the nine months ended December 31, 2009. Not that surprising when you consider Final Fantasy XIII sold a million units in Japan on launch day. To date, the game has sold 1.8 million copies, which is almost half of the PS3’s entire 4 million PS3 launch base in the territory.

Add the numbers generated by Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dragon Quest IX, and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and you have a publisher swimming in money.

Square Enix’s profits are especially evident in their gaming segment, which is separate from its arcade business and its mobile and merchandising divisions. The company’s gaming division saw sales of  JP¥ 72.9 billion (around US$ 816 million), an increase of 97 percent compared to the same period last year.

Via [Gamasutra]