Metal Gear Publisher Sees Revenue, Profit Climb In First-Half

Japanese Metal Gear Solid publisher Konami today announced financial results for the six-month period ended September 30, showing year-over-year gains for revenue and profit. Overall, the publisher posted revenue of ¥98.7 billion ($856.6 million), up from ¥97.9 billion ($849.2 million) recorded last year. Meanwhile, profit was ¥3.3 billion ($28.6 million), an improvement over the ¥2 billion ($17.4 million) recorded during the first half of last year.

Konami has a number of different business units outside of gaming, including units focused on health and fitness, as well as slot machines. The publisher's dedicated video game unit, Digital Entertainment, saw overall revenue fall during the six-month period, dropping slightly from ¥44.6 billion ($387 million) last year to ¥43.9 billion ($380.7 million) this year. Operating income, however, grew. It rose from ¥3.7 billion ($32 million) to ¥6.2 billion ($53.8 million) for the six-month term.

Konami called out mobile titles such as Dragon Collection, Sengoku Collection, the Professional Baseball Dream Nine series, the World Soccer Collection series, and the Crows X Worst series as ones that saw "steady sales" and meaningfully contributed to revenue during the quarter. The publisher added that the number of registered users across these mobile titles increased year-over-year.

In the console space, Konami added that Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, released in March 2014, "continued to enjoy strong sales" across the world as a result of resale orders.

In terms of unit sales by platform, the PlayStation 3 dominated all others, as you can see in the chart above. Looking ahead, Konami's Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will be released in 2015 across consoles and PC.