Namco Bandai trims full-year outlook as Q1 revs slide

August 4, 2009 3:32PM PDT

Afro Samurai sells 420,000 during April-June quarter to lead publisher's game software, but overall sales slip 16% to $795 million.

Namco Bandai is coming off a rough financial year, in which the publisher saw income slip nearly 64 percent to ¥11.8 billion ($124 million) on total revenue of ¥426 billion ($4.46 billion), a 7 percent dip. Though the publisher expected to take back some of that lost ground by the time its current fiscal year is in the books, Namco Bandai isn't starting the year off on a high note.

If only Samuel L. Jackson weren't bound by the laws of reality...

Reporting on its first-quarter results for the three months ended June 30 today, Namco Bandai said revenue slipped nearly 16 percent during the period to ¥75.7 billion ($795 million). The revenue shortfall was accompanied by an overall net loss of ¥2.8 billion ($29.8 million) for the quarter, having posted a net profit of ¥1 billion ($10.7 million) during the April-June quarter last year.

Within the publisher's home game software division, Afro Samurai ranked as Namco Bandai's top performer. The Samuel L. Jackson-voiced action adventure sold 420,000 units during the period, having launched to mostly positive reviews in January. Other top performers included Wii Ski & Snowboard with 270,000 units, Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans with 190,000 copies, We Ski with 150,000 copies, and Active Life: Outdoor Challenge with 110,000 units.

Looking ahead to the results of the quarter ending September 30, Namco Bandai expects revenue to come in at ¥1.65 billion ($1.73 billion), a 13.5 percent decline, with losses expected to continue to build to ¥4.7 billion ($49 million). The publisher also revised its full-year forecast downward, saying that it now expects revenues to slide 6.2 percent to ¥400 billion ($4.2 billion) for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2010.

By Tom Magrino

Tom Magrino has covered the games industry since 2006. He's been compared to Steve Martin by Ozzy Osbourne and Daniel Craig by Tim Schafer. His voice, heard largely on GameSpot's podcast, recalls that of Kermit the Frog. It ain't easy bein' Magreen.

Follow @TMag_GS

14 comments

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SpardaIIII

i totally agree with shadowys comments i just hope the tales of graces creators take their time on the game and not rush to put it out in america, [if you played tos:dotw you what one of their rush projects are]

majere613

I can't help thinking Namco's recent figures would be a lot better if they hadn't delayed the PS3 version of Tekken 6 for a simultaneous release with the 360 version. Of course, both versions should give their financials a pretty decent shot in the arm when they finally do come out :)

beny_pimpster

if only bandai are in charge of naruto games on ds.. it could have been 10x better lolz

shadowysea07

and then the ones you do release are crap and half finished like tales of vesperia.

shadowysea07

they'll do better once graces comes out on the wii in december. but thats only if it does well. graces could turn out to be a crappy game and get booted to escort title. they also have yet to release tales of vesperia for the ps3 not like that many people will buy it. so basically yeah this is what happens when you treat the american fanbase like crap and dont release that many games over here.

Solid_Cipher

Come on Namco, release Ace Combat for the PS3!

mayceV

Man...Namco bandai is like my favorite publisher :(

Javieralijandro

Man, i want kratos in soul calibur on the ps3, i cant stand looking at a 5 inch screen...

jello_flouride

SC on psp will be cool.. I hope

metalmasterW

well..namco has a few games coming out later this year ...tekken 6 on 3 platforms and soul calibur on psp those should help ..at least some tekken 6 for sure

55592

Ace Combat and Vesperia are two of my favorite games this gen, but like most other devs except Capcom, they haven't had much to release this year.

TristanH12

Now they should release a Tales of game to the PS3 this year in the US.

chappy_man

i am sure tekken will help, at least i think it should

NuKkU

suprised that Afro Samurai was there best selling game didnt know that many people were fans of the anime

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