Konami has announced total corporate sales up slightly to $902.1 million and profits up 22.7 percent to $109 million in its third quarter, as
Winning Eleven and its
Pawapuro baseball franchise pushes game division sales up to $1.33 billion in its first nine months.
Game division sales were up nine percent over the same nine month period in 2006, ending December 31st. Total corporate sales over those nine months rose 8.1 percent to $2.16 billion, as profits rose 22.8 percent to $168.3 million.
Konami said an "increasingly active" software market a year into the Wii and PlayStation 3's life cycle contributed to the rise in sales, especially its soccer titles, calling out the European release of
Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (otherwise known as
Winning Eleven) as particularly successful.
The company also said its
Pawapuro franchise, including recent releases such as
Jikkyou Pawafuru Major League 2, Jikkyou Pawafuru Puroyakyu 14 and the handheld
Pawapurokun Pocket 10, was a strong contributor to sales, as well as the continued success of
Dance Dance Revolution in North America.
