Konami profits down, publisher targets 'new devices'

Konami has announced a disappointing fall in profits for the nine-month period ended 31 December 2012.

Net profit slipped from $182 million USD to $94.1 million USD, resulting in a 48.3% decline from the same period last year.

Net revenue was down 17.7%, and sales for the Digital Entertainment segment were also down by 19%.

The highest selling product from Konami was the popular Pro Evolution Soccer series, which sold over 5.5 million copies worldwide between April and December 2012.

Konami still intends to produce the big titles but it now sees a good opportunity in 'new devices'.

"With the spread of smartphones and tablet PCs worldwide and the increased popularity of social networking sites, the available means of providing game software continue to diversify, and opportunities to reach an even greater audience for game software are increasing," said Konami.

"Against such a backdrop, our belief is that we can increase the number of 'outlets' for the Konami Group's game content by taking advantage of opportunities presented by the emergence of new devices and developing our business around game content.

"We intend to develop ways of playing games that match the characteristics of each device."

Konami has now revised its forecast for the fiscal year ending 31 March, predicting a full-year net profit of $144 million USD and revenues of $2.4 billion USD.