Key franchises boost video game sales at Bandai Namco

Sales and profits are on the up at Bandai Namco, thanks in part to a slight increase in sales within the company's video game division. 

According to the Japanese company's financials for the full-year ended March 31, 2019, consolidated net sales rose by 8 percent year-over-year to 732.3 billion yen ($6.68 billion), while profit rose by 17.1 percent to 63.4 billion yen ($578.7 million). 

Digging into the company's Network Entertainment segment, which houses its video game operations, net sales rose by 4.4 percent year-on-year to 340.9 billion yen ($3.1 billion), while operating profit dipped by 5.2 percent to 47.5 billion yen ($433.6 million) 

Although it didn't reveal any exact sales figures Bandai explained that the worldwide launch of major new titles like Soulcalibur VI, Ace Combat 7, and Jump Force contributed to that sales upswing, and said that repeat sales of existing titles also played a part. 

Overall, sales of home console games totaled 27.6 million units for the year, with the bulk of those sales coming from Europe (12.7 million units) and the Americas (10.2 million units). 

Bandai expects home console titles to sell a similar amount next year, and is currently forecasting global sales of 26 million units by the end of the fiscal year. 

With that in mind, the Japanese company expects to see consolidated net sales of 720 billon yen ($6.6 billion) and profits of 50 billion yen ($456.4 million) when the fiscal year ends on March 31, 2020.