Capcom reports full-year losses, blames poor performance outside Japan
Rob Fahey 09:42 19/05/2004
Tough financials for a second year running, but projections see a profit in '05
Publisher Capcom has announced a net loss for the second year in succession, with declining sales and operating profits blamed on weak performance of key products in North America and Europe.
The company announced a net loss of 9.16 billion Yen (67.7 million Euro) for the year, which, although sizeable, is still less than half the size of the loss posted in the previous year.
The firm's underlying figures saw global sales dropping by 15 per cent to 52.7 billion Yen (389 million Euro), while operating profit fell by a massive 79 per cent to 1.4 billion Yen (10 million Euro).
Performance in North America and Europe was certainly weak throughout the year. Sales in North America dropped by over 50 per cent, with titles such as Dino Crisis 3 and Viewtiful Joe failing to live up to expectations, and Capcom USA ended up posting a 4.6 billion Yen (34 million Euro) operating loss.
Europe underperformed to a lesser degree; sales in the region fell by almost 35 per cent, but the company still posted a 330 million Yen (2.4 million Euro) operating profit for this territory, which is down 50 per cent on last year's figure. Once again, Dino Crisis 3 and Viewtiful Joe underperformed, as did Chaos Legion.
Capcom's Japanese operations posted a profit of some 8 billion Yen (59 million Euro), with strong performance in the console game sector (including a surprisingly good showing for Grand Theft Auto III, which the company published in japan under license) as well as good growth in the arcade sector.
Much of the company's net loss can be attributed to restructuring of its gaming operations - most recently seen in the closure of certain studios and the formation of the new wholly owned Clover Studio subsidiary. Along with unrecoverable liabilities from Capcom's banking operation, these restructuring costs knocked 7.7 billion Yen (57 million Euro) off the company's bottom line.
After two years in the red, however, Capcom expects a return to profitability in the coming year. The company is currently projecting sales of 65.5 billion Yen (484 million Euro) for the year, and net profits of 3.9 billion Yen (28.8 million Euro). As well as expansion onto the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP platforms, the firm expects to see benefits from moves into the online gaming and mobile gaming markets.
L'éditeur-tiers qui supporte le plus Nintendo est en perte pour la 2ème année consécutive, rajoutez à celà les ventes minables du Cube en avril aux US ou les ventes Japonaises qui plongent... Et vous obtenez la direction de Nintendo qui déssaoule de son E3 en un temps record.
RE4 a intérêt à faire un méchant carton si Nintendo veut rester en bonne relation avec Capcom pour la N Revolution.
Au-delà de ça, je commence à me faire du souci pour les éditeurs Japonais pour l'avenir, on parle de plus en plus de "consolidation" dans le secteur, comprenez des fusions et rachats d'entreprises (voir l'interview du patron d'EA posté sur ce forum). La première victime pourrait être Eidos (EA & Activision sont sur les rangs)... Mais du côté des Japonais, je me demande s'ils seront assez solides pour tenir les frais de développement de la prochaine génération qui devraient une fois de plus fortement augmenter, du coup ça pourrait aussi fusionner de leur côté. Namco était sur les rangs pour Sega, pas impossible qu'ils cherchent encore... Pis comme leur marché intérieur plonge, ils risquent d'être encore plus en difficulté que les américains ou les européens. A quand la "Namco-Konami-Capcom company" ?
Ass-Kicked by Reggie®, since 05.11.04.
