Game sales boost Namco Bandai profits

Namco Bandai has posted a 112 per cent rise in profits for Q3, with videogame sales boosting the total figure to YEN 19.89 billion (EUR 126.8 million).

During the three months ending December 31, Namco Bandai released 88 games and sold 16.6 million units - a rise of 95 per cent with sales totalling YEN 100.22 billion (EUR 638.7).

More than a million copies of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 were shifted, while sales of PSP title Tekken: Dark Resurrection topped 800,000. Other titles which sold well included Tamagotch Connection: Corner Shop 2 for DS, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja and Mobile Suit Gundam II for PS2.

Apart from Tekken, all of the top titles would have been published under the Bandai label prior to the two companies' 2005 merger.

Q3 revenues rose by more than 95 per cent to hit YEN 330.5 billion (EUR 2.1 billion), while operating profit was up from YEN 7.73 billion (EUR 58.8 billion) to YEN 9.58 billion (EUR 61 million).

The arcarde and amusement park arm of Namco's business made an operating profit of YEN 2.32 billion (EUR 14.8 million). The figure for Bandai's toys and hobby business stands at YEN 14.76 billion (EUR 76.1 million).

Namco Bandai has forecast year-end revenues of YEN 460 billion (EUR 3.5 billion) and profits of YEN 23.5 billion (EUR 178.9 million).