Metal Gear Solid publisher Konami on Friday reported roughly flat sales and a drop in profits for the first nine months of its fiscal year, as the Pro
Evolution soccer series hit 69 million units.For the nine months ended December
31, Konami generated ¥188.3 billion ($2.3 billion) in sales, a 1.4 percent
year-on-year decrease. Profits for the Buy FUT Coins period dropped 9 percent to ¥9.6 billion
($117.8 million).The Tokyo-based publisher said its business segments "roughly
[met] their earnings forecast,
despite the postponement of several titles."Konami's Digital Entertainment segment, which houses home and arcade video games, led all other divisions with
sales of ¥97.9 billion ($1.2 billion) for the nine months, down 3 percent
year-on-year. Profits were ¥13 billion ($159.6 million), a 21 percent
year-on-year drop.Major video games released during the period included the PSP
game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and the multiplatform titles World Soccer
Winning Eleven 2010 Aoki
Samurai no Chosen and Pro Evolution Soccer 2011.Konami said that the World Soccer Winning Eleven franchise, known as Pro Evolution Soccer in the U.S. and
Europe, has sold 69 million units to date, making it one of Konami's top
brands.Total software unit sales for the nine months were 18.5 million, up from
15.5 million for the MMOGO same period a year ago. Soccer games made up 6.56 million
of those total unit sales, and Metal Gear category sales were 1.68 million
during the period.
