Konami says Phantom Pain may not arrive until 2016, it cannot bridge PES quality divide

Konami’s gaming arm has reported a 62 per cent decline in operating income to 70.6bn (427m) for the nine months ending December 31st.

Sales for the period fell 11 per cent to 6bn (36m).

Analyst David Gibson reported on Twitter that Konami acknowledged concerns about the length of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, saying that the ‘full’ game Phantom Pain could be released in FY3/2015 or FY3/2016 depending on the development stage”.

It also addressed the ongoing problems for the PES series, which Konami told MCV this week would (once again) make a comeback” this year, telling investors that competitors to Winning Eleven in the EU are putting pressure on the title” and that it is not able to catch up to their quality”.

The publisher also has said it saw steep decline in its browser-based games, with users shifting to dedicated apps instead. As a result many of its social projects have been delayed as app development time – which it estimates to be about ten months – is significantly larger.