Koei Reports Best Quarterly Results Ever

Bucking the trend of poor financial reports, Japanese publisher and developer Koei has revealed record results for its most recent quarter, ended December 31st. According to information, as translated by consumer weblog Kotaku, the company saw revenues increase by ¥163 million ($1.83m) over the last quarter to a total of ¥20.1 billion ($225.2m). At the same time, operating profits were up by ¥968 million ($10.85m) to ¥4.5 billion ($50.4m). The company’s evergreen Musou series, which includes what is known in the West as the Dynasty Warriors franchise, was again the driving force behind the sales. Warriors Orochi 2 and currently Japanese-only Namco Bandai co-production Gundam Musou 2 (aka Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2) were the best sellers of the period. Despite the positive results, the company remains wary of current global economic conditions: "Stock prices were down because of the financial crisis," Koei said. The results will be one of the last as a separate entity, as the company’s merger with Dead or Alive publisher Tecmo was recently greenlit for April 1st. The new holding firm created from the merger is estimated to grow swiftly, generating over ¥70 billion ($775.5 million) in sales and reaching a ¥16 billion ($177.3 million) operating profit by the year ending March 2012.