Konami profits drop 3%

Japanese publisher Konami generated YEN 12.9bn (98m) in profit for its financial year ending March 31st 2011, a three per cent drop from last year’s YEN 13.3bn (101m).

Net revenues fell 1.6 per cent year-on-year from YEN 262.1bn (2bn) to YEN 258bn (1.9bn). This is across its overall business.

In its video games division revenues fell 6.7 per cent from YEN 142.7bn (1.08bn) to YEN 133.1bn (1.01bn) year-on-year. Its strongest performing games were Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and PES 2011. Sales of the Pro Evolution Soccer series have now reached 69.7m units worldwide.

Konami sold 21.94m games in its financial year ending March 31st 2011. Of these, 7.78m were sold in Japan, 7.55m were sold in Europe, 6.28m were sold in the US and 0.33m were sold in Asia. Konami sold more games in Europe the year prior – 7.8m against Japan’s 7.08m.

For the year ahead Konami says its developer Hudson will work on social network games, while Konami will continue to publish a raft of new games for consoles including Nintendo 3DS and Sony NGP. Its key upcoming titles include Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater and PES 2012.

Konami also has other business divisions including gambling machines and health and fitness clubs.

A Konami statement read: "A difficult business climate persisted in the environment surrounding Konami and its subsidiaries, as uncertainty over the future due to factors such as the impact of the appreciation of the yen and deflation.

Phenomenal recent growth in social networking sites is spawning more and more new business opportunities.

"Konami will further concentrate business resources in social games and take full advantage of its expertise and extensive content developed so far to reinforce online distribution via social networking sites and expand its product lineup."