Square Enix Sales and Earnings Drop

Kane & Lynch 2, one of Square Enix's bright spots for the first three quarters.

Square Enix saw major drops in sales and earnings for the first nine months of the year through December 2010. Compared to the same period last year, sales were down 28% to 98,183 million yen. Operating income was down 58% to 9,004 million yen.

In its earnings report today, Square Enix said that its digital entertainment business was affected by low console game sales. Bright spots for the period were Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 and Kane & Lynch 2 Dog Days, both of which reached million seller status.

Outside of console games, Square Enix pointed to successes in smart phones and browser-based gaming. The Nikotto Town virtual community crossed 700,000 users in December. Sengoku IXA has been performing well since its August release.

The drops in sales and earnings aren't too surprising. In the first three months of fiscal 2009, Square Enix had both Dragon Quest IX and Final Fantasy XIII boosting earnings.

You can read Square Enix's full earnings report here (PDF).

Square Enix's upcoming lineup.