Namco Bandai Profits Rise On Increased Game Sales

Namco Bandai posted improved profits for the three-month period ending June 30, thanks in part to increased worldwide game sales and revenues. The company's content division -- which includes its video game business as well as network and video/music content -- saw revenues increase 8 percent from a year ago to 35.6 billion yen ($694.8 million). Net sales for Namco Bandai as a whole were up 7.7 percent to 88.2 billion yen ($1.14 billion), with profits of 3.25 billion yen ($42.1 million) representing a turnaround from last year's first-quarter losses. The company sold just over 3.3 million new retail game units on 27 distinct regional releases during the period, up from 3.15 million sales on 43 releases last year. Those sales include 622,000 units of Nintendo 3DS software -- outpacing DS software sales of 614,000 during the period -- and 90,000 sales for the U.S. release of Ridge Racer 3DS. The rise of the 3DS -- and the lack of any new releases on the Wii for the quarter -- helped portable game sales rise to a 54 percent majority of the company's game sales during the period, a turnaround from a year ago when portable games made up only 31 percent of game sales. Revenues from Namco Bandai amusement facilities were flat at 14.7 billion yen ($190.5 million), though same store sales in Japan were up 7.9 percent year-over-year. Namco now operates just 29 amusement facilities in the U.S., down from 41 a year ago and 88 in 2009. Japanese amusement locations are down to 217 from 223 a year ago and 293 in 2009. Mobile Suit Gundam continues to be Namco Bandai's most popular property, representing 7.4 billion yen ($95.9 million) in sales for the quarter, followed by Masked Rider and the Power Rangers properties.