Konami Announces 8% Profit Drop for its Gaming Business

Today Konami revealed its financial results for the first half of the fiscal year 2020, related to the period ended on September 30, 2019.

As you can see below, all relevant profit figures are in the black, showing a drop year-on-year.

Revenue also saw a small drop compared to the same period last year.

Looking at the Digital Entertainment business (which includes games) in particular, we see that revenue increased slightly, but profit dropped considerably year-over-year.

The rekated press release includes an extensive breakdown of the performance of the gaming business, which you can read in full below.

“In the entertainment market, future development of game contents is expected through the functional enhancement of various devices, including mobile devices and video game consoles, and the standardization of next generation communication systems.

In conjunction with the changing times, the preference for enriching daily life through full and abundant experiences in personal spending has been strengthened. In the game industry, new experiences through game content are being offered in various ways, including eSports, which is regarded as a form of sports competition and is becoming well-known to a wide range of users and attracting more and more fans.

Under such circumstances, as for mobile games in the Digital  emtertainment
segment, Yu-Gi-Oh! DUEL LINKS has led our revenue in the global market. In addition, Frogger in Toy Town, the latest title in the Frogger series, was released in Apple Arcade. In the domestic market, PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL SPIRITS A (Ace) has continued to perform well and various other titles such as JIKKYOU PAWAFURU PUROYAKYU also continued to perform strongly. As part of our continued active efforts in eSports, we hosted the final round for “eJ.LEAGUE Winning Eleven 2019 Season” in cooperation with the Japan Professional Football League (J.LEAGUE) with our mobile game Winning Eleven 2019 as the competition title.

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As for computer and video games, we released the match-type card game, Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution for the regions in Europe, America and Asia. As for the baseball titles, we released the latest title in the PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL SPIRITS series, PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL SPIRITS 2019, which marks 15th anniversary. In regard to eFootball Winning Eleven 2020 (Known overseas as eFootball PES 2020), the latest title in the Winning Eleven series, was released in  September and myClub, the online mode of the title, has received favorable reviews.

In addition, we have been hosting a new online event of the title, Matchday,” every week. Players choose one of two sides and play the game at the event, where they can enjoy new experiences and have a fun time together. Furthermore, we have released the latest title in the Contra series, CONTRA ROGUE CORPS. As part of our continued active efforts in eSports, the players for each team on the “eBASEBALL Pro League” were decided through an e-draft conference with each team choosing players who passed a test to become professionals.

These players are not only those who performed well last season, but also players who joined the league for the first time. This coming “eBASEBALL Pro League” season is attracting a lot of attention. For the six months ended September 30, 2019, the segment profit from this business decreased due to the timing difference of product launches of computer and video games, however, they will bring a profit from the nine months ended December 31, 2019 onward.”

We also get more information about the prediction for the segments’ perfrmance for the full fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2020.

“With the spread of entertainment offered through networks, the available means of providing games continue to diversify. Opportunities to reach an even greater audience for games are increasing. Against this background, we intend to develop ways of playing games that match the characteristics of each device.

As for mobile games, LOVEPLUS EVERY, the latest title in the LOVEPLUS series, has been released since the end of October, 2019. We continue to make efforts to meet customer’s expectations on the operation.

Furthermore, we continue to make efforts to perform strongly with multiple titles through activities includinganniversary events and sales promotions.

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As for computer and video games, the PC Engine mini, a compact version of the classic home console released in 1987 as the PC Engine, is scheduled to be released. The console will contain a range of game titles previously released for the original system.

As part of our continued active efforts in eSports, the Winning Eleven series
were selected as a Culture Program at the 74th national Sports Festival, “Iki Iki Ibaraki Yume Kokutai”, and the final round was held. Furthermore, “eFootball.Pro,” a tournament based on the new eSports plan, “eFootball,” in the Winning Eleven series, will be held. In the tournament, players who belong to professional soccer clubs from each country will compete in league matches for the highest honor.

In addition, as for the “eBASEBALL Pro League,” which will be organized along with the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), 2019 season is coming soon. We will also continue to attract more and more baseball fans by providing new experiences through eSports.”

Below you can check out a list of games that the publisher plans to release in the near future.

If you want to compare, you can check out the results for the previous quarter, released in July.