Capcom posts financial decline in online while mobile profits soar
Capcom has posted its financial results for the fist nine months of its fiscal year, and for the period, both profit and revenue decreased year-over-year. Profits were down 52.6% to ¥3.2 billion ($42.6 million) compared to ¥6.8 billion ($89.8 million), and revenue was down 29% to ¥50.3 billion ($660.6 million) compared to ¥70.8 billion ($930.0 million).
For the period ending December 31, revenue for the firm's online games division declined 41.3% to ¥31.7 billion ($416.8 million) compared to ¥54.1 billion ($710.4 million) year-over-year.
The firm said the financial decline was due in part to "a decrease in sales" of online titles, compared last year's "mass release of major consumer online titles." The firm said consumers were not as bullish toward online releases during the quarter, resulting in losses for the firm.
A bright spot for the firm was Monster Hunter 3G which moved over 1 million copies on 3DS, and the firm noted that Dead Rising 2: Off The Record and Ultimate Marvel VS. Capcom 3 also fared well. In Japan, the Monster Hunter Frontier Online series also showed "steady growth" and "stable popularity."
“The video game industry enjoyed a lively year-end holiday shopping season with the market showing increased activity for the first time in a long while, owing to the release of popular software in addition to the launch of new mobile game consoles and the price reduction of some hardware,” said the firm in the financial release.
“Meanwhile, the trend of structural change washes over the video game industry, with the rapid growth of affordable and easily accessible social games attributable to the rise of mobile phones and smartphones.
“Under these circumstances, Capcom enhanced the consumer online game business, which is our core business segment. At the same time, we endeavored to operate our business in line with changes in the market environment, taking in a social game company, which had been an affiliate of our US subsidiary, as our direct subsidiary in order to achieve Group agility, as well as focusing our business resources on boosting the mobile contents business.”
Revenue for Capcom's mobile division increased 68.2 % to ¥4.0 million ($52.7 million) compared to ¥2.4 billion ($31.3 million) year-over-year. Titles Snoopy's Street Fair and The Smurfs' Village were both successful, as the firm's mobile developer Beeline "contributed greatly" to the division's earning capacity.
The total number of mobile game downloads during the period came close to 46 million.