Metal Gear Solid publisher Konami said a "harsh" business environment consisting of unfavorable exchange rates and lower consumer spending drove sales and profits down for the fiscal half-year.
Konami, whose business segments also include fitness clubs and arcade machines, said it sold 5.89 million software units during the six months ended September 30, down from 11.75 million units a year ago.
Most of that disparity can be attributed to much lower sales in the
Metal Gear franchise, compared to last year, when the blockbuster PlayStation 3 game
Metal Gear Solid 4 launched. The series sold 4.33 million units in the comparable fiscal half a year ago, and just 360,000 in the most recent half.
The lower unit sales resulted in revenues of ¥113.91 billion ($1.27 billion) for the half, a 22.5 percent year-on-year decrease. Profits declined 81.3 percent to ¥2.23 billion ($24.77 million) for the period. Konami's home console software business led all other Konami businesses with ¥51.4 billion ($570.98 million) in sales.
The official earnings report
comes days after Konami warned of a disappointing first-half, due to releasing no major titles on the scale of
MGS 4.
With PS3-exclusive
MGS 4 playing less of a role during the half, Konami sold the most units during the most recent half on the Nintendo Wii, which made up 23 percent of total unit sales versus 17 percent last year. PS3 made up 15 percent versus 38 percent; Xbox 360 contributed 5 percent versus 3 percent; DS made up 21 percent vs. 11 percent; PSP made up 22 percent vs. 11 percent; and PC remained flat at 1 percent of total unit sales.
Konami said that both the amusement arcade market and the home video game market remained in a "severe condition" despite a rebounding economy. During the half, Konami released console games including the baseball franchise
Power Pros, the soccer game
Pro Evolution Soccer and the rhythm game
Dance Dance Revolution.
Konami also said that the "romantic communication game"
LovePlus received favorable reviews and Yu-Gi-Oh games were "satisfactory," but not enough to avoid sales declines overall. The publisher reiterated forecasts of ¥310 billion ($3.44 billion) in sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010, and profits of ¥16 billion ($177.73 million).
