Monster Hunter Portable 3 ships 4 million

Capcom can't seem to lose when a new installment in its massively popular Monster Hunter franchise is on the docket. Today, the Japanese publisher reported impressive nine-month results that were boosted largely by the PSP sensation Monster Hunter Portable 3, as well as assists from Dead Rising 2 and Super Street Fighter IV.

For the nine-month fiscal period ended December 31, 2010, Capcom reported net revenue of ¥70.77 billion ($866 million), a 41.6 percent increase compared to the same period a year ago. Profit for the period saw a monstrous increase during the April-December period, rising 294.8 percent to ¥6.84 billion ($83.7 million).

Capcom cited Monster Hunter Portable 3 as the cause for the hoopla. Having launched in Japan on December 1, the game has now shipped more than 4 million units in that territory alone. Dead Rising 2, which released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in September, has topped the 2 million-unit shipment mark. Meanwhile, Super Street Fighter IV continued to perform following its April bow, shipping 1.6 million units.

Including the sales of Lost Planet 2, which Capcom noted continued to underperform despite shipping 1.5 million units globally, the publisher has thus far released four games this year that have broken the million-unit marker. For the nine-month period Capcom's gaming segment saw sales grow to ¥54.06 billion ($662 million), with operating profit coming in at ¥12.94 billion ($158 million).