VGC reports on Square Enix's latest financial reporting, saying that the Japanese publisher is reporting net sales of ¥23.7bn, which is down 30 percent from the ¥34.1bn of the previous quarter when they released the Final Fantasy VII Remake. They note analysis that the enormous cost of developing Marvel's Avengers also dragged down their bottom line:

Operating income took an even bigger hit from the previous quarter, down from ¥12.5bn profit to a ¥6.5bn loss. According to Japan-based analyst David Gibson, the figures suggest that Avengers cost Square Enix almost $190m to produce and market but only sold around 3 million units.

“It looks like the total cost of the game is closer to $170m-$190m given they only expense 70% of cost in the [quarter] plus marketing costs,” he said. “Why someone didn’t say stop post the multiplayer beta will remain a mystery. Square are adamant they can make a recovery.”

Taking into account the first six months ended September 30, Square Enix’s revenues were up 43% year-over-year to ¥172bn ($1.67bn) and profits were up 46% to ¥16bn ($155m). This was driven by Final Fantasy VII Remake, as well as games for mobile devices and PC browsers.