Resident Evil helps profits climb 33 per cent for Capcom
Devil May Cry also singled out as videogames business performs well for Japanese publisher
Capcom has revealed that profits for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, were up 33.4 per cent to JPY 7.8 billion, while sales for the same period were up 11.5 per cent to JPY 83 billion.
The company singled out Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Devil May Cry 4 as strong performers, particularly in markets outside of Japan.
The company's home videogames unit saw sales rise 18 per cent to JPY 51.67 billion, and operating income rose 44.1 per cent to JPY 11.6 billion.
However, the company's Arcade operations suffered a decline in operating income of 62.5 per cent to JPY 753 million, and net sales growth of only 2.8 per cent, to JPY 13.4 billion.
"There were several factors that negatively affected performance: the dissemination of home video game machines, intensified competition, declining popularity of card dispensing games for children, and the decrease of visitors to those arcades located in suburban shopping malls due to rising gasoline/petrol prices," said the company.
The Arcade Game Sales division also suffered with sales down 18.4 per cent and operating income reduced by 13.7 per cent.
The company expects record results for the financial year ended March 31, 2009, anticipating net sales up 14.7 per cent to JPY 95.3 billion.