Konami sales, profits slip slightly for full year

A critically acclaimed addition to the Metal Gear Solid series wasn't enough to boost Konami's bottom line, as the publisher today reported slight dips in both sales and profits for the year ended March 31.

Pro Evo Soccer accounted for one in every three Konami game's sold last year.

For the full year, Konami revenues totaled ¥258 billion ($3.2 billion), down 1.6 percent from the previous year's haul of ¥262.1 billion ($3.25 billion). The publisher's net profits were also down, as the company wound up ¥12.9 billion ($159.8 million) in the black, down 2.9 percent year-over-year from ¥13.3 billion ($164.7 million).

"A difficult business climate persisted in the environment surrounding the Konami Corporation and its subsidiaries as uncertainty over the future due to factors such as the impact of the appreciation of the yen and deflation," the company explained.

As for what went well, Konami pointed specifically to the PSP debut of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, as well as the DS romance sim Love PlusPlus and the latest installment in the Pro Evolution Soccer series (Winning Eleven in Japan). In fact, the long-running footie sim is closing in on a new milestone, as Konami said global sales of its soccer franchise have exceeded 69.7 million units.

The publisher leans heavily on its soccer titles, as the series' 7.51 million copies sold accounted for more than one-third of Konami's 21.94 million total games sold for the year. By comparison, the publisher's Metal Gear series moved 1.92 million units for the year, while its rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution combined to sell 2.19 million copies worldwide.

Konami also expressed optimism for the future, saying its efforts with social games have met with success. As a result, the company said it "will further concentrate business resources on this field," with subsidiary Hudson Entertainment in particular focusing on social networking titles.

Despite that optimism, Konami is tempering investor expectations for the current fiscal year. It expects revenues to be flat for the 12 months ending March 31, 2012, while net income is projected to increase modestly to ¥14 billion ($173.4 million).