Konami social game sales nearly equal to traditional games

The publisher of Castlevania, Metal Gear Solid, and Pro Evolution Soccer is now making as much money from its social games as it is from its more traditional titles. Konami today reported results for the first half of the fiscal year, revealing that declines in its traditional consumer games business are being more than offset by explosive growth from its social and mobile efforts.

For the six months ended September 30, Konami's consumer games business was down 26 percent to ¥17 billion ($218 million), while social and mobile revenues jumped more than 230 percent to ¥16.9 billion ($216 million). Companywide, Konami revenues were up more than 6 percent to ¥123.1 billion ($1.6 billion), while net profits jumped 174 percent to ¥11.5 billion ($147 million).

Konami reported unit sales of its games were down sharply for the first half of the fiscal year. During the April-September period, the publisher sold 7.36 million games, down 34 percent from 10.05 million for the same period the year before. The company's two biggest franchises were both down, as it sold 2.93 million soccer games and just 340,000 Metal Gear games in the half-year, down from the previous year's first-half totals of 3.44 million and 1.47 million copies sold, respectively.

As for its social gaming growth, Konami said its social games have cumulatively registered more than 11 million users. In December of 2010, that total was less than 3 million. Some of its biggest titles in that space include Dragon Collection, Sengoku Collection, and Professional Baseball Dream Nine.