Capcom Attributes Strong Fiscal Performance to Monster Hunter 3

Capcom's sales and earnings are up once again, and the Osaka gaming giant attributes the success to strong sales of Wii's Monster Hunter 3.

An earnings statement issued by Capcom today shows sales for the first half of the fiscal year (April 1 through September 30) at 38,892 million yen, up 24.5% over the same period the year prior. Operating profit is also up 33.1% to 5,476 million yen.

According to the company, the primary reason for the increased sales and earnings was Monster Hunter 3, which it noted becamse the first Wii third party game to reach a million units domestically. It also made note of strong repeat sales performance for Resident Evil 5 and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, both of which were released in previous terms.

The numbers are even more impressive looking just at the company's consumer games business. Sales for the six month period were up 68.3% over the same period last year to 16,486 million yen. Profits were up 100.7% to 3,637 million yen.

Other franchises contributing to the company's success include DS's Gyakuten Kenji (Ace Attorney Investigations) and PSP's Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes.

The company did point to some areas of concern in its performance though. Outside of Japan, it noted sales trouble for Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP) and Bionic Commando (Xbox 360, PS3). It also noted that its multiplatform Dark Void title has slipped to the latter half of the year.

For the full year ending March 2010, Capcom expects sales of 95,000 million yen and operating profits of 15,500 million yen.