Konami cuts fiscal forecast as profits take a dive

Konami has been forced to cut its full fiscal year profits forecast by nearly half, due mainly to delays on the development on new and upcoming digital and pachinko games. However, the publisher believes that increasing business opportunities in the social and mobile game spaces can soon help turn its fortune around. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013, the company dropped its profits forecast by 41.6 percent, down from 23.1 billion yen ($246.5 million) to 13.5 billion yen ($143.8 million). Although the various social game delays have taken their toll on this year's fiscal results, Konami believes that the next fiscal year will be more fruitful, thanks to its selection of social and mobile games that are steadily growing in user numbers. In particular, Dragon Collection and Sengoku Collection are enjoying steady growth, says the company. Konami says that Pro Evolution Soccer 2013, released late last year for consoles, has also been performing strongly. For the nine month period ended December 31, 2012, Konami's Digital Entertainment division, which houses its game business, posted revenues of 80.6 billion yen ($860.2 million), down compared to 99.5 billion yen ($1.1 billion) year-over-year, and operating income of 15.6 billion yen ($166.1 million), down compared to 24.3 billion yen ($258.8 million) year-over-year. Overall, the company posted revenues of 160.2 billion yen ($1.7 billion), down compared to 194.5 billion yen ($2.1 billion) year-over-year, and profits of 8.8 billion yen ($93.9 million), down from 17.0 billion yen ($181.1 million) for the same period of the previous fiscal year.