Konami profits slip 40%

Japanese publisher Konami has reported profits of $116.7m for the nine months ending December 31st – a 40 per cent year-on-year decline. Profits were down 18 per cent compared to the same period in 2008 at $2.1bn.

The steepest decline stemmed from Konami’s gaming operations, where revenue fell 33 per cent to $1.1bn.

Cult game hero Solid Snake will be fingered as the main offender. Any financial comparison with 2008 is bound to fall short as that was the year worldwide blockbuster hit Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots finally arrived on PS3.

Trying to patch over the Snake-shaped hole in ’09, Konami’s biggest success was Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, with football titles generating a total of 6.96m unit sales. The company also noted the strong Japanese performance of baseball title Powerful Pro Yakyuu and non-Japanese sales of film license Saw.

In total Konami sold 6.73m games in Europe throughout the period. North American sales hit 3.36m and Japanese sales reached 5.17m. Additional sales in other territories bought the global total to 15.53m unit sales in the nine months.