Capcom's six-month revs up, profits down

Today, Capcom announced its financial results for the April-September reporting period, and as could be gleaned from recent headlines concerning the publisher, the results were mixed. For the six months, Capcom saw revenue rise to ¥40.7 billion ($502 million), a 4.7 percent increase over the same period a year ago. However, net profits saw a substantial slide, falling 39.9 percent to ¥1.78 billion ($22 million).

For the good, Capcom saw strong performances from a number of its releases during the period. Earlier today, the publisher announced that Blue Castle Games' zombie-slaughtering action adventure game Dead Rising 2 had shipped 2 million units. (The studio is now known as Capcom Game Studio Vancouver, following Capcom's acquisition of it in September.) According to financial statements released today, the game has sold 1.8 million units through September.

Capcom also continued to see production out of Super Street Fighter IV, which was released stateside in April. The revised and well-regarded fighter has sold 1.4 million units through September, a performance Capcom called strong. Other performance matching or besting titles released during the period were Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes and Monhan Nikki Pokapoka Airu Mura, both of which sold more than 500,000 units.

The bad can be summarized by Capcom's announcement earlier this month that it would be trimming its outlook on the weakness of Lost Planet 2. Released to weak reviews in May, Lost Planet 2 sold 1.5 million units through September, a figure Capcom today called a "substantial underperformance." Other reasons for the profit shortfall were Dead Rising 2's delay from late August to late September and a "sharp appreciation" of the yen, the publisher said.

Capcom still expects to come out ahead by the end of its in-progress fiscal year. Through March 31, 2011, the publisher expects annual sales to have hit ¥91.0 billion ($1.12 billion), with profits projected to come in at ¥6.5 billion ($80 million).