After a series of odd and controversial moves Konami essentially ruined its own name in the realm of AAA video games. Their once venerable series Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill, among others, were all but abandoned for regular video games. The company made the moves in a planned shift toward gambling and mobile gaming, and so far the move is paying off with profits soaring, despite the company bringing in less cash overall.
The announcement comes by way of a financial disclosure covering the last nine months of 2016. For that period Konami brought in ¥163,941 million in revenue, which is down 8.5% from the same point in 2015. So overall money coming in is a bit down, but the real question on any shareholder’s mind is, how much profit did they make. Here is where Konami did well bringing in ¥29,587 million, which is about 170% of what they made in 2015.
Surprisingly the gambling sector of Konami was not the main source of the increase in profits. The division is doing well, generating a profit overall, but the real winner was the mobile gaming division. Various mobile games such as Yu-Gi-Oh! DUEL LINKS and JIKKYOU POWERFUL SOCCER were released in the back half of 2016, and they performed well enough to generate profits across the board.
So far the changes that Konami made seem to be working, even if the company overall isn’t as big as it used to be. Profits are going up, but how long will it last? Has the souring of the Konami name caused long term damage that won’t be seen for some time? Will the loss of Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill cause an unseen drop later on as gamers shift away from other Konami products? Let us know what you think of the situation in the comments below.
Published: Jan 31, 2017 08:54 am