Capcom beats projections

Despite worries of a transitional slump between console generations, 2006 was a good year for much of the gaming industry. Capcom was no exception, as the publisher today released its financial results for the year ended March 31, 2007, and comfortably beat its own expectations for revenues and profits.

Overall sales for Capcom were up 6 percent to 74.5 billion yen ($615 million), besting the 68.4 billion yen ($564.7 million) the publisher had anticipated in its last annual report. And while the company's net profits slid 16 percent to 5.8 billion yen ($47.9 million), it had expected a more precipitous drop to 3.9 billion yen ($32.2. million) in net income for the year.

"One of the significant accomplishments is that both Dead Rising and Lost Planet for Xbox 360 achieved sales of one million copies due to their great popularity in the US and Europe," the publisher explained in its report. "They have now joined our team of brand-name titles. ... In addition, Monster Hunter Freedom 2nd (for PlayStation Portable) also attained sales of one million copies in Japan, responding to the high expectation of users who have awaited its release." (Monster Hunter Freedom 2nd will be released in the US as Monster Hunter Freedom 2 this fall.)

Other Japanese successes for Capcom included Devil Kings 2 for the PlayStation 2, Okami, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which it publishes in its home country.

For the current fiscal year (which ends March 31, 2008), Capcom expects to post numbers a little bit better. The publisher expects sales up less than 5 percent to 78 billion yen ($644.1 million), with net income of 6.2 billion yen ($51.2 million), up 6 percent from the prior year.