Capcom Sees Record Sales and Earnings

Things are looking up for Capcom. The Osaka gaming giant issued its first quarter (April to July) earnings statement today, and thanks in part to continued performance from Resident Evil 5, sales and earnings were both up over last year.

Over the three month period, the company's home video game business saw operating income of ¥4,711 million yen on sales of ¥14,418 million. These were up, respectively, 32.5% and 36.0% over the same three month period last year.

Including all its businesses, net sales were up 19.2% to ¥19,497 million, with operating income up 23% to ¥3,664 million. These are new high water marks for the company since it began reporting quarterly earnings.

Resident Evil 5 was the star performer for the company, topping the five million mark over the term. The game sold an 0.6 million units over the quarter, on top of the 4.4 million sold in the prior fiscal year. Capcom expects a total of 0.8 million units for the game this year.

Although released last year, RE5 was among Capcom's biggest titles for the term. The company also mentioned 0.6 million units sold worldwide (including Japan) for Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and 0.55 million units for Bionic Commando, but noted that these games underperformed.

Total software sales stood at 4.1 million units, up from the 3.76 million units of the same three month period last year. Japan was the company's biggest market with 1.7 million units, besting North America's 1.2 million and Europe's 1.1 million.

For the rest of the year, Capcom highlighted three titles: Monster Hunter Tri, Dark Void and Lost Planet 2. The company expects 2.0 million units of Monster Hunter Tri worldwide, with the North American and European versions still due out this year. Dark Void is expected to sell 2.0 million units, although it has been pushed back to the fourth quarter due to competing releases.

Lost Planet 2 looks like it will be Capcom's big game for the year. The company expects the multiplatform sequel to push 2.7 million units throughout the world.