Namco Bandai posts $23 million full-year profit

Namco Bandai faced choppy economic waters during its 2010 fiscal year, when net losses topped ¥29.9 billion ($370 million) on revenue that was off 11 percent year-over-year. The good news is that the publisher has made significant strides toward righting its ship during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011.

Today, Namco Bandai issued its fiscal-year 2011 earnings report, revealing gains on both the revenue and profit fronts. Total sales for the publisher came in at ¥394.1 billion ($4.88 billion), up 4.1 percent from last year's steep decline. The publisher also turned a modest profit, pulling in ¥1,848 billion ($22.9 million) for the year.

The gaming content segment, which produces console, handheld, and arcade games for the publisher, saw a substantial rebound during the fiscal year, contributing an operating profit of ¥3.092 billion ($38.3 million). Sales for the segment came in at ¥179.9 billion ($2.23 billion), trumping those of Namco Bandai's stalwart Toys and Hobby division by some ¥21 billion ($260 million).

Though it was released in 2009, Tekken 6 remained the top title for the publisher during its 2011 fiscal year, selling an additional 1.15 million units. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 also achieved platinum-level sales of 1.1 million units. Ben 10: Ultimate Alien was the publisher's third best-selling game, shifting 830,000 units. It was followed by Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, which sold 730,000 units.

Looking to its in-progress fiscal year, Namco Bandai plans to focus on the PlayStation 3, PSP, DS, and 3DS. The publisher said it expects to release 26 new PS3 titles, 25 new PSP games, while Nintendo's DS and 3DS will get 14 and 17 games, respectively. Namco Bandai indicated that it is all but abandoning the Xbox 360, cutting its offerings for the platform to just one.

Namco Bandai also laid out its earnings projections for the April 1, 2011-March 31, 2012 period. The publisher expects sales to rise 1.5 percent to ¥400 billion ($4.95 billion). Profit is expected to rebound substantially, rising nearly 333 percent to ¥8 billion ($99 million).