Tecmo serves up midterm report

It's the season for midterm account settlements, and Tecmo's Japanese headquarters have posted a financial summary for the first half of the fiscal year. The report offers a summary of the company's vital statistics and gives some details about where Tecmo will direct its efforts over the remainder of the year.

Tecmo's overall performance for the first half of 2006 was strong. Gross sales grew 17.2 percent compared with the first semester last year, totaling 4.677 billion yen, the equivalent of $39.84 million. Ordinary profit was 671 million yen, approximately $5.71 million, and midterm profits were on the order of 461 million yen, or $3.9 million. Net profits on Tecmo stocks earned shareholders 18.55 yen--about 15 cents--per share for the semester. Shipments of Tecmo software totaled 380,000 units for the semester. In addition, some 50,000 pachinko and slot machines were shipped out to help feed Japan's gambling cravings. Other endeavors undertaken by Tecmo are mobile-phone content distribution and sales of usage rights for online games.

Regarding strategy for the rest of the year, Tecmo will release 13 games for next-generation consoles. Microsoft's Xbox 360 will be getting volleyball, Team Ninja style, with Dead or Alive Xtreme 2. It will launch in the Japanese, North American, and European markets in time for the Christmas season. Several in-game items for DOAX2 will also be sold through Xbox Live. Another sports game, called Swing Golf Pangya (working title), is slated for the Nintendo Wii, but little is known about the game. Tecmo will also support the Wii's Virtual Console, but it did not mention any specific games in its report.