Bandai Namco profits slip, Dark Souls III soars
From Software's has shipped 3 million, but it launched a few days from the close of the fiscal year
Bandai Namco's games business saw a drop in operating profit in the last fiscal year, a period in which Europe contributed half of its software unit sales
In the year ended March 31, 2016, Bandai Namco's Home Video Game Software segment shipped a total of 26.7 million units of software, 13.3 million of which came from Europe. The US contributed 8.7 million units, while the rest came from the company's native - and now mobile saturated - Japanese market.
Home Video Game Software is just one part of Bandai Namco's Network Entertainment business, which saw an 8 per cent increase in revenue to ¥321 billion ($2.9 billion / €2.6 billion). However, operating profit slipped 18 per cent year-on-year, finishing at ¥23.9 billion ($220 million / €193 million).
These trends were reflected in the company's overall performance, with revenue up 2 per cent to ¥575.5 billion ($5.3 billion / €4.6 billion), but profits down 8 per cent to ¥34.6 billion ($319 million / €280 million). The most valuable IP across all of Bandai Namco's business segments was Mobile Suit Gundam, which earned ¥78.6 billion in revenue, more than Dragon Ball (¥34.9 billion) and Yo-kai Watch (¥32.9 billion) combined.
The company doesn't expect much improvement in the current fiscal year, forecasting ¥580 billion in revenue and ¥35 billion in profit overall. Network Entertainment is another matter, though, with both revenue and operating profit expected to grow to ¥340 billion revenue and ¥28 billion respectively.
According to Gematsu, that progress will be aided by sales of Dark Souls III, which launched a week before the end of the accounting period. In the time since then, From Software's new game has shipped 3 million units worldwide, taking the series' total shipments to 13 million.