Konami First-Half Revenues Flat As Profits Jump 88%

Metal Gear Solid publisher Konami on Thursday announced nearly flat first-fiscal half revenues of ¥115.8 billion ($1.4 billion) for the period ended September 30, as overall profits for the period rose 88 percent to ¥4.2 billion ($52.1 million). The Tokyo-based company reported sales of ¥53.1 billion ($658.1 million) in its video game segment, up 3 percent from the first half last year. Operating income was ¥4.6 billion ($57 million), flat from a year ago in the division. Konami said that "a difficult business climate persisted" around the company during the period "as uncertainty over the future due to factors such as the impact of the appreciation of the yen and suppressed consumer spending." The home video game software and arcade machine segment generated more sales and operating income than the rest of Konami's business divisions, which include slot machines and health and fitness segments. Total unit sales for video game software were nearly halved year-on-year in the first half. The company recorded 5.89 million units sold during the period, down from 10.05 million a year prior. PlayStation 3 software generated 29 percent of the first-half game unit sales, followed by PSP with 28 percent, Nintendo DS with 14 percent, Wii with 12 percent, Xbox 360 with 8 percent and PC with 3 percent. Top-selling software for the period included the PSP game Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, which Konami said had sales that "progressed steadily." The game released in spring this year during Konami's first half. The multiplatform soccer game World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 Aoki Samurai no Chosen saw "steady" sales (the series is known as Pro Evolution Soccer in the West), Konami said, having been released alongside the World Cup. Other releases for the publisher during the period were LovePlusPlus, the baseball games Jikkyo Pawafuru Puroyakyu and Puroyakyu Spirits 2010 and the romance sim Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story, among others. Within the game segment, computer and video games generated ¥26.6 billion ($329.7 million), arcade machines ¥7.6 billion ($94.2 million), trading card games (such as Yu-Gi-Oh) ¥10.9 billion ($135.1 million) and online games ¥8.3 billion ($102.9 million). An "other" segment reported negative net revenues of ¥300 million ($3.7 million). Net revenues in Konami's gaming and system business (slot machines) were ¥9.3 billion ($115.3 million) with operating income of ¥2.5 billion ($31 million); revenues in health and fitness were ¥43.8 billion ($542.8 million) with operating income of ¥800 million ($9.9 million); and other miscellaneous businesses generated ¥9.5 billion ($117.7 million) with operating income of ¥200 million ($2.5 million). The publisher expects to generate ¥285 billion ($3.5 billion) for the whole fiscal year with profits of ¥22.5 billion ($278.8 million).