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Konami has announced a new range of "classics collections" to celebrate its 50th anniversary – Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection, Castlevania Anniversary Collection, and Contra Anniversary Collection.
The Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection will release on April 18th, whilst the Contra and Castlevania collections are slated to release later this year. All will be "digitally exclusive" and available on Nintendo Switch, PC (Steam), PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
The Arcade collection will include eight arcade classics: Haunted Castle, Typhoon/A-Jax, Nemesis (Gradius), Vulcan Venture (Gradius II), Life Force (Salamander), Thunder Cross, Scramble, and TwinBee.
The Castlevania Collection – which follows the story of the Belmonts and their struggle with Dracula "and his cadre of sinister minions" – will contain Castlevania, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge, plus "more to be announced". The Contra Anniversary Collection, on the other hand, will include Contra (arcade version), Super Contra (arcade version), Super C, Contra III: The Alien Wars "and more".
Konami confirms that all collection editions will include an in-game "Bonus Book" that features "early developer notes" and concept sketches, plus an interview with Adi Shankar, a producer on the animated series for Castlevania. It’s presently unclear if the games included in the new collection editions will be remastered or updated in any way.
While the Contra and Castlevania editions have not be priced as yet, the Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection is expected to retail for €20.
Konami is establishing a new Tokyo base for its esports activities which is expected to include not just offices, but also classes, shops, and an esports arena, too.
The construction of the Konami Creative Center (KCC Ginza) is hoped to complete in time for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. The brand new premises in Ginza will sit across 12-floors, including an underground one, and boast state-of-the-art sound, video, lighting, and communications systems.
Both revenue and profits are up for Konami, with an 18 per cent lift year-on-year in its "Digital Entertainment" revenues, which now stands at ¥105.8 billion ($971.3 million) across the nine-month period. According to its most recent financial statement, Konami attributes the boost to its mobile and console sports games and esports, confirming an operating profit of ¥39.4 billion ($361.7 million USD) and revenue of ¥192.6 billion ($1.8 billion), up 30.2 per cent and 9 per cent year-on-year respectively.
