Square Enix management today discussed its financial results for the first half of the fiscal year 2008/2009 ending on March 31st, 2009. During the six months from April 1st through September 30th, the company posted a net profit of 6.05 billion yen ($61.74 million USD) on sales of 67.97 billion yen ($693.58 million USD). The former figure represents a decline by 4.9%, while the latter amounts to a 57% increase compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Worldwide, Square Enix has sold 4.98 million copies during the first half of the fiscal year. The sales figures cited below only represent the respective title's sales performance during the six months from April through September 2008.

Dragon Quest V, DS, 1.15 million copies (only available in Japan)
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, PSP, 620,000 copies (Japan: 10,000, US: 150,000, Europe: 460,000)
Infinite Undiscovery, Xbox 360, 410,000 copies (Japan: 120,000, US: 200,000, Europe: 90,000)
Final Fantasy Tactics A2, DS, 320,000 copies (US: 200,000, Europe: 120,000)
Dragon Quest IV, DS, 260,000 copies (Japan: 30,000, US: 90,000, Europe: 140,000)
The World Ends With You, DS, 160,000 copies (US: 140,000, Europe: 20,000)
Dragon Quest Sword, Wii, 100,000 (European release)
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon, Wii, 70,000 (US release)
Sigma Harmonics, DS, 70,000 copies (only available in Japan)
Nanashi no Game, DS, 60,000 copies (only available in Japan)
Front Mission 2089, DS, 50,000 copies (only available in Japan)

In addition to Dragon Quest V, the following three titles also managed to sell more than one million copies recently. Since its September 2007 release in Japan, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII has sold 1.92 million copies (820,000 copies in Japan, 610,000 copies in North America and 460,000 copies in Europe) to date. The DS remakes of Dragon Quest IV and Final Fantasy IV boast lifetime sales of 1.42 million and 1.04 million copies, respectively.

Unlike the company's established flagship franchises, original games apparently have not fared well (enough), though. According to company president Youichi Wada, Subarashiki Kono Sekai (The World Ends With You) and Infinite Undiscovery were great games, but their commercial success apparently did not live up to internal expectations. Looking ahead, The Last Remnant would be another great RPG, but Wada conceded that marketing the game was difficult. He described this problem as the company's current weak spot.

During the Q&A session with analysts, Wada once again confirmed that Dragon Quest IX will be available in Japan in March 2009. Analysts confronted Wada with questions regarding the commercial viability of the company's second major title in the making, Final Fantasy XIII. One analyst saw the risk of Final Fantasy XIII selling far fewer copies than previous main series installments under current market conditions. Citing positive reactions from fans since the game's announcement, the Square Enix president was confident the game would perform well, though. Development was progressing very well, with all signs pointing to an on schedule release. Unfortunately, Wada refused to specify an release date.

Final Fantasy XIII is set to hit Japanese retail store shelves sometime next year.

• GameWatch