Konami nine-month profits tumble 40.4%

Within days of Capcom, Nintendo, Microsoft, Namco Bandai, Tecmo Koei, and THQ delivering earnings reports, Konami has joined the financially divulgent crowd.

Unfortunately, given unfavorable comparisons to the same Metal Gear Solid 4-earnings-packed period in 2008, the last nine months of 2009 saw the Japanese publisher's revenues slip 18.4 percent to ¥190.9 billion ($2.1 billion). Profits experienced an even more steep decline, sinking 40.4 percent to ¥10.6 billion ($116.7 million).

Of Konami's four divisions, Digital Entertainment--aka games--saw the steepest decline in nine-month revenue, falling 32.5 percent to ¥100.4 billion ($1.1 billion). The biggest release for the period was World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010, released in the US and Europe as Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PSP, PC, and PlayStation 2. The publisher also called out the Japan-only Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu baseball series, which saw several installments ship for the Wii, PSP, and PS2. The company also said the 360, PS3, and PC game based on the Saw horror films "enjoyed strong sales" in non-Japanese markets, but it did not offer any specific figures.

By territory, Konami sold 5.17 million games in Japan from March to December 2009, with 3.36 million games in North America and 6.73 million games in Europe--an across-the-board decline. Add the 240,000 games from Asia, and the company sold a total of 15.53 million games during the period. Of those, 6.96 million were soccer games, 1.02 million were baseball games, 1.26 million were television animation tie-ins, 1.03 million were music games, 4.62 million were classified as "other," and just 650,000 were games from the Metal Gear franchise. By contrast, Konami sold 4.5 million Metal Gear games during the last nine months of 2008, most of which were Metal Gear Solid 4.

For the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2010, Konami is now predicting net income of ¥16 billion ($175.7 million) on net revenue of ¥310 billion ($3.4 billion). Current-quarter releases of note include the international launch of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Wii, PSP, and PS2 and the localized version of THQ's Darksiders for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in Japan.