Capcom credits jump in profit to increasing interest in digital sales

Capcom’s operating income, both as a company and just in its video game business, saw a year-over-year increase despite sales for the 9 month period being down slightly year-over-year, a rise in profit the company says was made possible by an increase in digital sales for both new and older titles.

Looking just at results for the digital contents segment housing those video game dealings, net sales were down 15.2 percent year-over-year to 40.6 billion yen (~$371 million) while operating income was up 30.1 percent to 19.9 billion yen (~$181.9 million).

The latest iteration of Capcom’s long-running Monster Hunter series continues to top the company’s charts. The game’s recently released expansion pack, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne was credited as the driving force behind that increase in probability, thanks in no small part to sales skewing significantly digital.

Older releases like Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry 5, and the base Monster Hunter: World are called out in Capcom’s reporting as well as titles that “saw continued growth in sales buoyed by a growing user base.”

The company as a whole reported 52.9 billion yen (~$483.5 million) in sales for the 9 month period ending December 31, 2019, down 13.6 percent year-over-year. Profit, meanwhile, improved across the board for that same period. Operating income came at 18.5 billion yen (~$165.1 million), up from last year’s 13.5 billion yen (~$123.4 million). Those figures include income from Capcom’s dealings in arcade operations, amusement equipment, and other businesses, in addition to video games.

With Q3 in the bag, Capcom has slightly adjusted its full-year forecasts, raising its expected operating income by 2 billion yen (~$18.3 million) to 22 billion yen (~$201.1 million) and decreasing forecasted sales by 5 billion yen (~$45.7 million) to 80 billion yen (~$731.2 million).