Konami had released their financial review for the 1st quarter and reached more than $AU 140 million before income taxes. It wasn't as much as the last year on the same quarter which reached more than $AU 144 million for various reasons.
One of the biggest reasons for the slightly weaker performance was attributed to the economic climate globally. That includes the recent US-China trade frictions and the instability of the Middle East. Despite this, Konami had implemented a number of strategies to maintain a strong front in various goods and services and pulled through with positive results.
Titles like the JIKKYOU PAWAFURU PUROYAKYU series and PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL SPIRITS A (Ace) had performed remarkably well for sales in the domestic market. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links had been one of their standout performances for the global market as well. With the 2018 World Cup and the global interest in soccer at the time, Winning Eleven 2018 (Also known as Pro Evolution Soccer 2018) was stated to be one of their top performers for the quarter.
Konami expressed that, "With the spread of entertainment offered through networks, the available means of providing games continue to diversify. Opportunities to reach an even greater audience for games are increasing. Against this background, we intend to develop
ways of playing games that match the characteristics of each device."
For how they are going forward, there are some titles they expect to do well over the next year. Loveplus Every is intended to be released for the mobile platform and there are high hopes for it to succeed in the market. Winning Eleven 2018 was also expected to do well with the World Cup event still underway and hosted an esports tournament, “PES LEAGUE WORLD TOUR 2018”.
Along with growing confidence in the domestic market for Japan in recent weeks, the outlook for Konami's next quarter and year are optimistic. They had stated that investors should still be wary of the global and domestic market climate as there are various unpredictable factors that could not be accounted for.
Overall Konami did fairly well despite the economic issues surrounding Japan and its geopolitical climate. The conditions are improving both domestically and internationally, so it is expected that there should be fewer challenges for a stronger financial performance in the next quarter and year. With a few titles being planned for release on the mobile markets, the outlook is positive, but Konami isn't planning to relax anytime soon.
