Konami Endures Miserable Third Quarter

[Karloff]

Konami Endures Miserable Third Quarter

Konami's Q3 net income took a dive, and it's looking to smartphones and tablets for future growth.

Konami's net revenue, operating income and net income all took a dive in the nine months ended December 31st, 2012; in the case of net income, Konami made 48.3% less money this year than compared to the previous year. Konami thinks this downturn is mainly due to the global economic slowdown, and claims that its digital entertainment and gaming segments are still performing to its satisfaction.

Sales of Pro Evolution Soccer 2013, Metal Gear Solid Social Ops, and the Yu-Gi-Oh! CCG were strong enough to prop up the sagging Digital Entertainment segment, but not quite enough to prevent a 19% net revenue loss.

Konami's looking to tablets and smartphones, to shore up - and hopefully improve - its Digital Entertainment sales. "Our belief is that we can increase the number of 'outlets' for Konami Group's game content by taking advantage of opportunities presented by the emergence of new devices," Konami said, adding, "we intend to develop ways of playing games that match the characteristics of each device." Metal Gear Solid [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114676-Leaked-Metal-Gear-Rising-Trailer-Outs-Platinum-as-Developer-UPDATED], are two other examples of what Konami describes as "strong media content" intended to boost the bottom line.

Source: Konami [http://www.konami.co.jp/zaimu/1212/1212_english.pdf]


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[Zhukov]

Have they even put out anything decent recently?

 

[thiosk]

I have only one suggestion for Konami:

Right before the market's opening bell today, up up down down left right left right b a start.

Problem solved.

 

[Irridium]

Have they even put out anything decent recently?

Hell, have they put anything out recently? According to the news story, they did, and I had no idea.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

How about releasing MGS on steam? You think that might boost sales a bit?

Seriously. I fail to understand console exclusivity. They are designing their game for every platform EXCEPT the PC, A MAJOR MARKET.

Yeah, I'm not going to try to argue whether there's more money in PCs than consoles, but there is a lot of money in the PC gaming space right now, and PC gaming is currently growing faster than console gaming, so the very least they could do is port one of their bigger franchises to PC and see how well it sells.

Still, it's not like they've released very many noteworthy games lately. It's hardly surprising that they aren't doing well.

 

[Therumancer]

Meh, Tablets and Mobile devices are unlikely to ever acheive the gaming goodness that comes from sitting down and playing a game on a gamebox or PC.

I think Konami's big problem is that it doesn't take good care of it's IPs. When you look at the relative disaster that has been the last few "Silent Hill" games... the remakes were terrible, "Downpour" was at best mediocre and set up by a team that didn't quite seem to "get it", and some bright boy decided that turning Silent Hill into a "Gauntlet" clone for porable systems was a good idea.... and oh yes, the desire to focus "Metal Gear" on Raiden, a character that most people in the core Western Audience loathe for another franchise fumble.

With "Silent Hill" in paticular it could be huge, and truthfully fans can tell you pretty much what makes a good Silent Hill game, and where the franchise really started to go wrong.... by doing things like turning "Pyramid Head" into a series mascot for example, when conceptually he never should have appeared outside of "Silent Hill 2".... and other assorted issues ranging from styles of combat that don't fit with the series (though combat is a nessecity for it), to incredibly short overall gaming experiences.

At any rate I've seen Konami tank so many times on some of their big franchises, that it doesn't surprise me that they are taking a beating, indeed they DESERVE to take a financial beating for some of the garbage they have been turning out. When you consider how much they are banking on "Revengeance" which seems to mostly be known for that stupid word/title and featuring Raiden (who is heavily mocked), it's almost like watching a slow motion train wreck.

Of course we're also seeing the problem with the gaming industry, rather than conceding where they screwed up and trying to do better, they are instead planning on fleeing to the mobile platforms, probably in hopes that the legions of casuals will be far less picky than more serious gamers, and overlook the actual quality and consistincy of their productions.

I find it kind of sad that rather than sitting down, paying attention, and actually producing a GOOD Silent Hill game, or perhaps you know... forgetting Raiden ever existed, and either finding other ways to continue that series OR better yet just let it end on a relatively high note and launch another new, similar, franchise, that they would rather start changing their focus.

Given that Konami can epically flub a remake of some of their best games ever (Silent Hill Trilogy) kind of shows exactly how out ot touch they have become, what they should realize they need to work on, and of course why their bottom line is failing. To squeeze out crap and it shouldn't be surprised nobody wants to buy it, when Konami has started to peak with "mediocre" in a lot of their core franchises (I look at Downpour here), there is a problem. Of course with what they want to put into games nowadays I can see why "i" device shovelware might be appealing.

 

[Baldry]

Well they didn't really release anything of great money making prowess except pro-evo and even then most folks play FIFA. This isn't as bad as it seems.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

How about releasing MGS on steam? You think that might boost sales a bit?

Seriously. I fail to understand console exclusivity. They are designing their game for every platform EXCEPT the PC, A MAJOR MARKET.

Does that mean console users can get their fair share of PC exclusives then?.

 

[PureIrony]

Hey' Konami, you want to make some money? How about you PATCH THE GODDAMN SILENT HILL HD COLLECTION? I would very much like to give you money for it. Or hell, just put the originals on Steam; they're guaranteed to sell on reputation alone,and the only way to get the original 4 nowadays is through either piracy or used copies that might be broken on arrival. I can't make this any easier for you, Konami. I want what you got;give it to me.

...My copy of Silent Hill 2 broke last night.*sob

 

[Beautiful End]

"Sales of Pro Evolution Soccer 2013, Metal Gear Solid Social Ops, and the Yu-Gi-Oh! CCG were strong enough to prop up the sagging Digital Entertainment segment, but not quite enough to prevent a 19% net revenue loss."

Well, there's your problem. You're relying on games like PES 2013 and Yu-Gi-Oh to boost your sales? Come on, people who like soccer go after FIFA 13 and really, Yu-Gi-Oh? What, did we just go 10 years back in time? And the ZoE Collection was a good move but sadly, I don't see a lot of people excited about that.

Look, Konami. You don't have to flood the market with your games. Just make a couple of good games per year and you're good. I mean, look at Valve. Hey, I'm still playing L4D2 and it came out years ago.

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

How about releasing MGS on steam? You think that might boost sales a bit?

Seriously. I fail to understand console exclusivity. They are designing their game for every platform EXCEPT the PC, A MAJOR MARKET.

Does that mean console users can get their fair share of PC exclusives then?.

Yes. They can have them. In all their 15FPS 360p goodness and so long as they are ported to the console, and not the other way around.

The amount of snobbish elitism in that statement is astounding. (Please note this is coming from a fellow PC gamer)

OT: Richly deserved of Konami. They deserve to suffer for failing to do their job as a publisher. Case in point: The only reason I remembered that MGR: Revengance is coming out is from the demo in the phenomenally awful port of ZOE on the PS3.
While the game seems cool, I'm tempted not to buy it to continue to allow Konami to suffer for its stupidity.

 

[PrototypeC]

Meh, Tablets and Mobile devices are unlikely to ever acheive the gaming goodness that comes from sitting down and playing a game on a gamebox or PC.

I think Konami's big problem is that it doesn't take good care of it's IPs. When you look at the relative disaster that has been the last few "Silent Hill" games... the remakes were terrible, "Downpour" was at best mediocre and set up by a team that didn't quite seem to "get it", and some bright boy decided that turning Silent Hill into a "Gauntlet" clone for porable systems was a good idea.... and oh yes, the desire to focus "Metal Gear" on Raiden, a character that most people in the core Western Audience loathe for another franchise fumble.

With "Silent Hill" in paticular it could be huge, and truthfully fans can tell you pretty much what makes a good Silent Hill game, and where the franchise really started to go wrong.... by doing things like turning "Pyramid Head" into a series mascot for example, when conceptually he never should have appeared outside of "Silent Hill 2".... and other assorted issues ranging from styles of combat that don't fit with the series (though combat is a necessity for it), to incredibly short overall gaming experiences.

At any rate I've seen Konami tank so many times on some of their big franchises, that it doesn't surprise me that they are taking a beating; indeed they DESERVE to take a financial beating for some of the garbage they have been turning out. When you consider how much they are banking on "Revengeance" which seems to mostly be known for that stupid word/title and featuring Raiden (who is heavily mocked), it's almost like watching a slow motion train wreck.

Of course we're also seeing the problem with the gaming industry, rather than conceding where they screwed up and trying to do better, they are instead planning on fleeing to the mobile platforms, probably in hopes that the legions of casuals will be far less picky than more serious gamers, and overlook the actual quality and consistincy of their productions.

I find it kind of sad that rather than sitting down, paying attention, and actually producing a GOOD Silent Hill game, or perhaps you know... forgetting Raiden ever existed, and either finding other ways to continue that series OR better yet just let it end on a relatively high note and launch another new, similar, franchise, that they would rather start changing their focus.

Given that Konami can epically flub a remake of some of their best games ever (Silent Hill Trilogy) kind of shows exactly how out ot touch they have become, what they should realize they need to work on, and of course why their bottom line is failing. To squeeze out crap and it shouldn't be surprised nobody wants to buy it, when Konami has started to peak with "mediocre" in a lot of their core franchises (I look at Downpour here), there is a problem. Of course with what they want to put into games nowadays I can see why "i" device shovelware might be appealing.

And that's it. That's my post. I didn't even need to write it; good game, Therumancer. Good game.

 

[felixader]

Dear Konami,

there are two types of stupid i want to bring up in relation to that newsquib.
1. Only count on your old franchises and nothing else and milk them to the point of shriveled indecipherability or oversaturation.
2. Simply forget and ignore important and popular parts of your company's history while simultaneous stating that they wouldn't sell without even trying and thus creating a self fulfilling prophecy.

Now, which one of those is yours?