Konami Profits Soar, Despite Internal Strife

http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/konami-profits-soar-despite-internal-strife-34237

While the torrent of negativeheadlines may lead you to believe all is not well at Konami, the Metal Gear Solid publisher is still somehow raking in copious amounts of cash.

Believe it or not, this past quarter(which ended on June 30) Konami pulled in a whopping ¥51.2 billion in revenue. For those keeping track, that's up 5.3 percent from last year's figure of ¥48.6 billion. Even more impressive were its ¥4.28 billion in profits, which made for a staggering 159.9 percent increase.

When looking specifically at its Digital Entertainment division, Konami saw ¥23.8 billion in revenue and ¥6.5 billion in profit. That's a 16.7 and 78.5 percent year-over-year increase, respectively. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

So... I'm sure you're probably asking yourself right now: How the heck is Konami making all this money when Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain still has yet to launch? After all, the studio hasn't released anything of note lately. Well, that's where its mobile efforts come into the picture. It's all thanks to a super popular mobile game called Jikkyou Pawafuru Puroyakyu.

​Konami has been making money hand-over-fist on this little bugger. The game has surpassed 13 million downloads since it was released back in December of last year, which is hardly a small feat. Couple that with its slew of other popular mobile titles, not the least of which include Star Wars: Force Collection and PES Collection, and it's no wonder Konami is sitting happily in the black.

What does this mean for the future of the publisher? Well, you can bet Konami is only going to invest more and more in the mobile market, which, sadly, means less content for hardcore gamers looking for quality console content. The times are a changin' and there's not a whole lot we can do about it, aside from picking up a copy of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain when it launches on September 1 of course!

Wowza. So not only are they sending our favorite franchises to mobile and slot machines, but they are reaping the profits as well.

**** you Konami.

God damn it, Karma. You are not doing your job today.

Great news! Hope they get on the remaster train. I need castlevania, & MGS4. :D

Immense profit at very little cost. From a business perspective what Konami is doing makes total sense. They're just incinerating a bridge in the process.

**** mobile gaming.

I wouldnt want a remastered MGS4.

I would kill for a remake MGS4 with the new FOX engine tho.

But neither of that will ever happen.

If there's one thing to learn from this, is that you can shit on those that have supported you and made you what you are, you can become even more successful.

Life sure is funny like that.

We all know that Konami was just a Yakuza front, right?

They changed their business model for a reason, profit margins were higher else ware. Weather or not dropping the section of their business that created the Ip's that they will now be using for mobile and gambling machines on consoles first, thus gaining them the fans they have now was a good long term business strategy has yet to be seen. But I personally don't see how a company can live for long on outdated IP, and the mobile market when nothing is being produced to gain in mass consumers and fans.

They've burnt a very large bridge, and if this business model doesn't stay sustainable long term it might be hard to gain it back.

It's become painfully apparent that most developers are going to venture into the more profitable mobile gaming market rather than try to make quality console games.

Who could imagine Konami knows better than nerds on the internet how to run their business?

Konami has Star Wars and PES for their mobile games, of course they're going to do well. That doesn't mean every developer would do well on mobile. It's more likely that most will fail in that market considering that it's pretty much oversaturated at this point.

mobage and pachislot is the future of gaming xD

It's a pot of gold everyone's chasing but unfortunately bigger companies can take endless pot shots due to the low risk involved. Every nerd back in the 80's and 90's that wanted gaming to be accepted by mainstream audiences got their wish.

Well, if they are trying to save the company by restructuring its business model, I can't blame them. That's a better decision than letting the market destroy you.

Bastards :P

I'm curious what these games they're making money on are. Are they Japan only games? Or do they do other business besides games, like say running pachinko gambling parlors in Japan?

This does not bode well for the rest of the gaming industry... how long before more of our favorite AAA devs follow suit?

Thats good.

I dont know if any of you know this but Konami is a company where a lot of people work at and it would suck if they lose money or not make a profit because that would mean people losing their jobs even if they no longer make the games we all love and enjoy.

Even better. Though less likely. :P

I'm dying for a MGS collection set(including The Twin Snakes), & Resident Evil for ps4. Willing to go as high as $150 for each. :O

Mobile gaming isn't gaming. Dedicated consoles, portable devices and PC, all else is BS.

Couldn't care less, great games will be made with or without Konami. Console/PC gaming isn't going anywhere and is still making vast amounts of money for game developers. So they're still missing out by avoiding it. Their little gimmicky casual games will dry out eventually.

It won't last forever ask Capcom and SquareEnix. They both had to focus on core gamers to get back to profits.

but if they're not making worthy products, shouldn't they lose out on profits?

We've seen this before.

It's the calm before the storm. MGS5 will make bucketloads too, but I bet in a few years things won't be so pretty for Konami.

Good for them. They'll never get a single cent from me again.

Not that they care, of course...

And why not, thanks for Pro Evo Konami :-).

This is the beginning of the end I'm afraid.

More companies are going to start targeting the casual demographic more and more, the cost of video game development and the risks associated with it are getting ridiculous high.

Why? MGS is hardly a cash cow for them. Remasters aside, they come out too infrequently.

They probably make shit tons more from Pro Evo. A new one comes out every year and sells by the bucket load in Europe and possibly Japan even.

Unfortunately mobile is making the money. Money is what business is built on. Sega went that way too. Makes me sad.

Only for Japan. SEGA has Total War and Company of Heroes for the rest of the world. I think this is very alarming as it might tempt the Japanese devs to ditch the rest of the world becoming fully insular and focus on their own country going mobile because it doesn't have the hassles of localization, translation, etc. and is profitable.

Add that to the list of sellout devs.

Well, how far can erotic violence really take them?

Any ideas, @freedomfreak?

@darkspineslayer: It's what's going to, no, it's what's needed, to prevent another video game crash.

Just like Activision.
Maltreat your people. Frack your IP's. Care zero percent about your customer and quality, profits soar.
We need to remember this about them, and let them go. It'll be a shame if other devs follow suit, but I'd rather find out now than later. We don't need those kind of companies in the industry. Proper companies will eventually take their place.

new suikoden please

Good for Konami I guess? They are going to make money in gambling. That is expected. I really don't care about that at all. If they come back after they peak, and trust me they will. I will NOT be there to buy their games. Once you burn me you mean nothing to me, end of.