Namco Bandai annual profit up 71 percent
Marriage of game publisher and toymaker paying off to the tune of 24.2 billion yen; game division sells 23.4 million units worldwide.
It appears that the marriage of Namco Games and Bandai Inc. is paying off. More than a year and a half after the two companies formally merged, Namco Bandai Holdings Inc. has reported a banner year. For the fiscal year ended March 31, the company reported a net profit of a 24.2 billion yen (around $201.5 million) on revenue of 459.1 billon yen ($3.82 billion)--a 71 percent increase over the prior year.
The biggest revenue driver for the massive amusement company was its home video sector. "Sales of the DVD box featuring our original Mobile Suit Gundam TV animation series was a smash hit beyond our wild expectations, which boosted profit margin," Namco Bandai president Takeo Takasu said at a Tokyo news conference, according to the AFX News service.
Not that the company's game division fared poorly; during the 12 months, Namco Bandai Games had 138.2 billion yen ($1.15 billion) in net sales, a 6.4 percent rise. The sector enjoyed 11.5 billion yen ($95 million) in operating income, an 18.6 percent increase, year over year.
During the year ending March 31, some 23.4 million Namco Bandai Games titles were sold worldwide. Of those, 13.5 million were for consoles, and 9.8 were for handhelds. The company's top SKU for the year was Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (PlayStation 2 - 1.18 million units), followed by Tekken: Dark Resurrection (PlayStation Portable - 1.0 million) and Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop 2 (DS - 871,000).
Rounding out Namco Bandai Games' top 10 were: Tekken 5 Platinum (PS2 - 737,000), Naruto: Ultimate Ninja (PS2 - 650,000), Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny Plus (PS2 - 531,000), Super Dragon Ball Z (PS2 - 466,000), Ace Combat Zero (PS2 - 444,000), Dragon Ball Z Shin Budokai (PSP - 415,000), and now-budget-priced Soul Calibur III (PS2 404,000).
66 comments
9.8 million units on handhelds...wow. There's no doubt anymore that the portable gaming segment of the market is viable and sustainable. Hopefully the success of the Tekken franchise will get them to push ahead to bring the first natively-crafted installment of the franchise on the PS3. Cha-ching!
i personaly think DBZBT2 is the best fighting game ever, u can plan ur moves n fight free style and make ur own combos, cant wait for DBZBT3 if dey make it :)
Awesome, my 4th most favorite gaming company is doing well, and hope to see more future releases such as Tekken 6, Soul Calibur IV, Tales series, to increase their profit more lol
Because of all of this money that they are making they have no excuses whatsoever for not providing online multiplayer for the Tekken,Soul Calibur,and Ace Combat series for now on.Add full analog control for the Tekken series for now by the way Namco Bandai,OK?
I know and understand personally why Tekken 5,Tekken:Dark Resurrection,and Soul Calibur 3 make it rain for them.I can't vouch for all of the other games and everything else that they are getting filthy rotten rich for.
Yay for Namco. Boo for Bandai. I hope Namco's quality of games dont suffer from Bandai who make bad games all the time.
woo? i dont really care. There only good for Gundam games, though gundam games for japan the western ones suck...Crossfire anyone?
@Selfdestruct9 "Eww, now they're gonna make more crappy gundam games. . *throws up. . *" I betcha the onl;y Gundam games you only played were the crappy ones.
Well, with all of this heightened income, there should be room on the table for online multiplayer for Tekken 6.
Hmm. Interesting that they didn't mention their Xbox Live Arcade, Wii Virtual Console, and PlayStation store downloadable games.
As long as more Soul Edge / Soul Calibur games come around the corner sooner or later, it's all good to me.
kenshinhimura: they did fix the bug in SC3... It's called the Soul Calibur 3 the arcade edition.
Wow, Tekken: DR sold a million units. Considering it's on the PSP, I find that amazing. Guess, I will grab a copy.
Well, I certainly supported them. Got a few of their games. Most recently I got Ridge Racer 6.
Sony is great in that they stick to their guns all the way.. Not like Microsoft's Xbox who only goes for the latest and greatest. Darn?
If I'm a total and complete nerd for any series, it would likely be the Tales series. I do so love those games. Eternal Sonata looks excellent as well.
Random thought in 3...2...1 : The Namco Bandai logo looks like the Dayquil medicine logo. http://shauna.opishposh.com/images/dayquil.jpg
with all these billions of dollers i still dont know how people in the video game industry get paid video games cost millions to make and they make millions so thats like 2 years of hard development work and i got 30 thousand each year? no wonder game dev elopers make as much as my mom and thats why i dont want to be one.
maybe they can put more money into their games now. Tales games could use graphical updates. if that could be so then they;d f*** up every game in their path! TALES FTW!!!
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