Metal Gear Solid 5 Ships 6 Million, Konami Profits Rise

Konami has reported earnings for the nine-month period ended December 31, revealing strong sales for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and healthy numbers for the company overall.

The Phantom Pain, launched in September 2015 and the final entry in the series from Hideo Kojima, saw "continued favorable sales" during the period, with shipments rising to 6 million. This is up 1 million from the 5 million shipment figure that Konami announced back in October 2015.

Konami's video game division, which it calls Digital Entertainment, posted revenue of ¥93.4 billion ($771.8 million) for the period and a profit of ¥25.5 billion ($210.8 million). This compared to revenue of ¥67.9 billion ($561.2 million) and a profit of ¥10.7 billion ($88.5 million) during the same period last year, representing increases of 37.5 percent and 138.7 percent respectively.

Of Konami's four major divisions, Digital Entertainment's 37.5 percent revenue growth was far and away the leader when it came to year-over-year increases. The next closest was Gaming & Systems (note that this means slot machines), which rose 4.8 percent. Konami's Health and Fitness division dropped 2.8 percent, while Pachislot & Pachinko Machines fell by 18.3 percent.

Overall, Konami posted revenue of ¥179 billion ($1.4 billion) for the nine-month period, up 15 percent compared to the ¥155.9 billion ($1.3 billion) that the company recorded during the same period last year.

Looking ahead, Konami revised its sales forecast upwards for the 12-month period ended March 31. The company previously expected to make ¥228 billion ($1.9 billion) in revenue, but now projects this to be ¥243 billion ($2 billion). Meanwhile, operating profit was initially forecast to be ¥17 billion ($140 million), but it's been boosted to ¥24 billion ($198.4 million).

Konami wasn't the only publisher to report earnings this week. Check out the stories below to see how other big-name companies are doing. Check back next week for our reports on Take-Two and Nintendo.

• Sony
• Electronic Arts
• Microsoft