Strong Video Game Sales Help Namco Bandai To Q2 Profits

Namco Bandai has released financial results for the second quarter of the current fiscal year, noting a swing to profits compared to the previous fiscal year. For the Content Business sector, which includes video game sales for the company, both revenue and income was up compared to the same quarter for last year, thanks to an increase in video game sales. In particular, the company called out Tales of Xillia, which sold through 740,000 units in total, while AKB1/48 2 sold 380,000 units, Taiko Drum Master Portable DX sold 220,000 units, and One Piece Unlimited Cruise SP sold 210,000 units. In total, the company sold 3.4 million home console game units, and 3.8 million portable game units. This compares to 3.9 million home units and 3.2 portable units in the previous fiscal year, signalling a shift to portable titles over home titles. Of this 7.2 million units total, 1.7 million were PlayStation 3 titles, 976,000 were Xbox 360, 1.9 million were PSP, 1.1 million were for Nintendo DS, 712,000 were 3DS titles and 565,000 were for the Nintendo Wii. The company also noted that the number of mobile game subscribers who signed up during this quarter was down compared to the same quarter last year. 3.3 million people signed up to Namco Bandai's mobile game services, compared to 3.9 million year-over-year. Note that revenue and profits for the Content Business sector was given for the first half of the current fiscal quarter, rather than the second quarter. For the half ended September 30, the sector recorded revenue of ¥86.7 billion ($1.1 billion), up 121.4 percent compared to ¥71.5 billion ($916.2 million) year-over-year. Profit for the first half was ¥5.4 billion ($69.2 million), compared to a loss of ¥2.6 billion ($33.3 million) in the same half last year. For the whole company overall, and for the second quarter ended September 30, revenue of ¥194.2 billion ($2.5 billion) was recorded, up 11.9 percent compared to ¥173.6 billion ($2.2 billion) year-over year. Profits were ¥8.0 billion ($102.5 million) for the quarter, compared to losses of ¥1.9 billion ($24.3 million) in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.