Sales and profits both climb at Konami
Decent mobile performance and 80m downloads for mobile PES lead to increased profits guidance
Konami's profits jumped 30.2 per cent to ¥38.5 billion ($354.2m) in the nine months ending December 31st 2017.
Revenues, meanwhile, were up nine per cent at ¥178.7 billion ($1.6bn). Of its various divisions, Digital Entertainment posted both the highest growth and highest revenues, up 21.7 per cent at ¥89.7 billion ($825m). This compares to ¥49.7 billion ($457m) in Health & Fitness, ¥20.7 billion ($190m) in Gaming & Systems and ¥19.8 billion ($182m) in Amusements.
Digital Entertainment profits surged 21.9 per cent to ¥29.7 billion ($273m), which dwarfed all of the company's other divisions, although Amusements saw stronger growth.
Konami was keen to highlight its mobile success, with great performances for Winning Eleven Card Collection and a big recent update for PES 2018, downloads for which hit 80 million in January. Also credited were Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links, which has now passed 60 million downloads, Professional Baseball Spirits A and Jikkyou Pawafuru Puroyaku.
Console titles PES 2018 and Super Bomberman R were said to have performed "solidly".
Konami has reduced its predicted full-year revenue forecast, however, down from ¥245 billion ($2.3bn) to ¥240 billion ($2.bn). Profit forecasts have gone the other way, climbing from ¥40 billion ($368m) to ¥45 billion ($414m).
It also expects a slightly better performance from its games division, upping the guidance from ¥118 billion ($1.08bn) to ¥120 billion ($1.1bn) - that would represent a 14.4 per cent annual gain. All other divisions are expected to report slight drops. It's a similar story for predicted profits, where games guidance has risen from ¥31 billion ($282m) to ¥37 billion ($340m), which if it materialises would be a 3.2 per cent annual increase.
Konami also confirmed the establishment of a new Thailand subsidiary in Bangkok, "with the aim to develop a sales structure for the Southeast Asian region where the economy is growing rapidly."
The company will in February release Metal Gear Survive. It will be the first game in the series to arrive since the high profile and somewhat acrimonious split between Konami and series creator Hideo Kojima, and looks to offer an alternate take on the traditional Metal Gear formula.