Capcom hits record earnings as game sales skyrocket

Capcom hits record earnings as game sales skyrocket

Capcom's on a winning streak, sales, operating income, and profit are all at record highs

Capcom is doing extremely well right now: sales, operating income, and total profits are all at record yearly highs.

Capcom just reported stellar results for its FY2018 period, showing strong growth across its multi-faceted games business. Dedicated game sales were to a new three-year high of 25.3 million units, nearly half of which were from Monster Hunter World's titanic 12 million sales. Other games like the Resident Evil 2 REmake sold 4 million units, and Devil May Cry 5 pushed 2 million copies.

Thanks to Capcom's forward-thinking strategy that folds digital, online monetization, DLC and physical full games sales together in a cohesive plan, the company managed to push its earnings to new record levels. Thanks to rapid game sales, Capcom made an impressive 100.03 billion yen ($901.99 million) in net sales during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019. Operating income was up a strong 13.1% YoY to 18.14 billion yen ($163.6 million). Total profits for the year sat at 12.51 billion yen ($113.17 million), up a strong 14.8% YoY.

In this business, the popularity of major title Resident Evil 2 (for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC) exceeded expectations, driving the Company's business performance. Devil May Cry 5 (for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC) targeted overseas markets and also performed strongly, backed by consistent demand.

Additionally, the Monster Hunter series contributed significantly to improving profits: flagship title Monster Hunter: World (for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One), which was a phenomenal success in the previous fiscal year, maintained popularity through the expansion of its user base, while the Steam version for PC also performed solidly, boosting profits; meanwhile, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (for Nintendo Switch) enjoyed robust sales through its release in markets outside of Japan.

Furthermore, Mega Man 11 (for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PC) and Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PC) performed well. In addition, high-margin catalog titles, including Resident Evil 7 biohazard (for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC), increased sales through their enduring popularity.

The resulting net sales were 82,982 million yen (up 11.9% from the previous fiscal year) and operating income was 23,315 million yen (up 22.0% from the previous fiscal year)

This fiscal year, FY2019, sees Capcom slowing down considerably insofar as games releases.

The company only plans to release one major game during the year, but it's a big one: Monster Hunter World's massive Iceborne expansion. The DLC will be $40 and is expected to dwarf the main game's content while reengaging core users.

Capcom appears to be battening down the hatches and waiting for the storm of next-generation consoles. It currently has multiple big AAA games in development, but none of them will come out until after March 2020 and should accompany the release of Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 and Microsoft's Xbox Scarlett family of hardware.

We've written an expansive write-up detailing all the clues behind Capcom's next-gen ramp-up.

This thin release slate won't affect Capcom's bottom line. In fact, it expects profit to jump 11.5% to 14 billion yen ($126.23 million) in FY2019, and operating income is expected to rise too. The company says its stronger emphasis on digital engagement via Monster Hunter, DLCs for existing catalog games, and a host of digital-based re-releases will help drive these highs.

There's no details on what Capcom is working on, and what games it'll release outside of Iceborne in FY2019, but we can guess. Capcom should launch some digital-based re-releases, a bunch of new DLC for older games, and maybe even a few collections or two across PS4, Xbox One, PC and Switch.

Capcom's FY2018 earnings at a glance

• Net Sales - 100.03 billion yen ($901.99 million), up 5.8% YoY
• Operating Income - 18.14 billion yen ($163.6 million), up 13.1% YoY
• Total Profit - 12.51 billion yen ($113.17 million), up 14.8% YoY

Capcom's FY2019 earnings forecast

• Net Sales - 85 billion yen ($766.4 million), down 15% YoY
• Operating Income - 20 billion yen ($180.3 million), up 10% YoY
• Total Profit - 14 billion yen ($126.23 million), up 11.5%

It's almost like if you make great games with good value, people will actually want to buy them and you'll build your reputation ?

*cough* EA *cough* ?

They made some excellent games. Smart game design. Lot's of content. Capcom has not always been like that XD But they did well and I am so happy that it is being rewarded by the gamers. <3

Capgod is back!

Now back to fucking with Nintendo.

I love Capcom. Always have. Their success is absolutely deserved. I also still like EA though, maybe cos I'm good at avoiding their online garbage like Sims and Anthem and stick to the quality titles like NHL.

I’ve always loved Capcom ever since the NES era so seeing them continuing to do so well these days makes me a very happy gamer indeed.

Wow, I haven’t seen a Capcom logo come across my screen in years.

Good for them!

It's real simple... make great games.

Also gotta hand it to them... they successfully globalized the Monster Hunter series. While this series is one of my all time favorites, I always thought it was too quirky to catch on worldwide. Glad I was proven wrong.

AAA publishers: "Singleplayer games don't sell"

Capcom: "Hold my beer"

Good for them they deserve it. They got over the hump of loosing alot of there brilliant but egotistic designers.

A good Dino Crisis reboot and they'll have redemption in my eyes.

Well deserved.

Got a great game engine as well, looking forward to seeing it used in all there games.

Monster Hunter World continues to be such a surprise. Capcom did such a great move ditching the niche experience on nintendo towards more modern presentation and it works wonderfully. Good job hope iceborne sells well!

I'm probably the only one here that wants a Remember Me sequel the series has potential I really love the first game even with it's flaws.

Yep...

This just ends, Konami has higher profits. Seems Konami is better than Capcom! :'((((

Konami is making a lot of profit from PES and Yu-Gi-Oh!

Great to see Capcom and Nintendo back on top again like the old days. Now if we can just get some of those other old champions back...lookin at you EA, Konami, Sega. Where ya at?

My favorite third party company by far. They deserve the success. I've bought MH:W , RE2 and DMC5 and enjoyed all of them.

Capcom thanking PC and China!

If you make good polished games, with VALUE people will flock to them. That's what gamer's want, not games as a service shoved down our throat.

They support their user base with uncompromised games, the user base supports them.

Konami is also successful in japanese exclusive arcades, gambling machines and mobiles that help these 2 franchises.

I don't think Capcom abandons AAA unless they manage to become successful in other markets similar to Konami.(Which they have failed so far in markets like mobile)

Wut. Good games sell? Take a hint, Capcom.

Capcom are definitely back konami can take note. Now for a Dino crisis remake.

Yet SEGA makes a killing with their arcades/pachinko without sacrificing their PC/console output.

it was also niche when it was exclusive to playstation. it needed to go multiplat on PC and xbox to sell.

Konami sacrificed it because it wasn't worth saving. They wasted so much time trying to please Castlevania,Contra and Silent Hill fans instead of making new franchises to replace them.(Which is what every other publisher always did and SEGA did that a lot)

Their only financial successful projects were their PES games and they just kept that. MGS wasn't really that successful.(Especially considering this that Capcom's RE games are as successful as MGS games with less budget and development times. Even MK X that was a fighting game sold double the amount of copies that MGS V sold.)

It's not surprising that Yu-Gi-Oh is raking in so much cash for them, as it's among the world's biggest media franchises and arguably the biggest trading card game. However, PES is a surprise, since it's getting hammered by FIFA in sales, yet PES is still making a lot of money for Konami. Either way, Konami has Kojima to thank for the the comeback of PES, as it owes much of its recent success to Fox Engine.

I just wished they hadn't screwed up Dead Rising franchise...

of course, it needs to start somewhere. Glad Monster Hunter moved on from Nintendo to reach bigger audience.