In a press release regarding its last fiscal year, Capcom announced net sales were up 16.8%, operating income was up 51.6%, ordinary income was up 51.8%, and net income to the parent company was up 56.3%.
The developer of franchises such as Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter, and Resident Evil attributed much of the success to new entries in core franchises like Monster Hunter Rise (which shipped 4 million copies in its first weekend alone) and the remake of Resident Evil 3. However, it also recognised the continued success of previously released games and expansions like Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, which have seen gamers jumping in retroactively, no doubt down to new entries in the franchise bringing in new players. It also cites strong sales for next-gen versions of games like Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition.
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Not only did this lead to the fourth consecutive year of record profits, but also the eighth consecutive year of operating income growth. Despite receiving the pandemic-related boost that many video game companies have shown in the past year, Capcom’s forecasting that it will beat its income and profit records again next year. That will clearly rely on the continuation of the company’s strategy of releasing a combination of new titles and providing post-launch support for existing games.
Capcom has clearly noticed the popularity of its games in Western markets, stating it saw “growth in overseas revenue due to realizing both expansion of its regional markets and longer product lives for its titles”. It also experienced strong results from digital promotion: “Capcom’s core Digital Contents business drove results with continued success in promoting digital sales”. This is likely a combination of the trend towards gamers purchasing more on digital storefronts, and also COVID-19 closing physical retail sites for much of the year.
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None of this is particularly surprising as Capcom’s games and franchises have been growing from strength to strength over the past few years. With Resident Evil Village launching last week, and upcoming games like The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin coming later this summer, the train shows no sign of slowing down just yet.
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Liam Wiseman is a Freelance News Writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @liamthewiseman