Today Konami released its financial results for the nine-month period ending December 31, 2009. The company's digital entertainment business posted revenue of 100.4 billion yen ($1,114 billion) during the period, compared to the 148.7 billion yen ($1,650 billion) for the same period last year, a decrease of nearly a third.
Notable releases during the period included their Pro Evolution Soccer franchise and Japanese baseball releases, along with romance titles like Tokimeki Memorial 4 and Loveplus. However, the large hole in the digital entertainment division's returns is due to the absence of a “major title” like Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
“Although there were temporary signs of recovery from the ongoing economic slowdown from the previous year, the business environment surrounding the Konami Corporation and its subsidiaries continued to be uncertain. This was due to factors such as the impact of the appreciation of the yen and deflation,” said the company in its fiscal release. “Regarding the entertainment industry, despite measures taken to arouse demand, the home video game market remained challenging – both in Japan and overseas – as compared to the previous year. The measures included the reduction of standalone video game console prices by various hardware manufacturers, the launch of new handheld video game consoles and the release of major game titles by various software producing companies towards the year-end sales season. The amusement arcade market also continued to see a decline in the volume of customer traffic due to factors such as suppressed consumer spending and the impact of the H1N1 influenza pandemic.”
Konami's combined revenues from all of its divisions sat at 190.9 billion yen ($2,122 billion), down 18.4 percent from the 234 billion yen ($2,603 billion) same period last year. Net income was down over 35 percent to 79.58 billion yen ($885 million) from 129.7 billion yen ($1,445 billion) during the same nine-month period during 2008.
