Resident Evil 2 and Devil May Cry 5 help drive record Capcom profits

Capcom has announced record first quarter profits on the back of strong digital sales of recent instalments in its core franchises.

The company said Resident Evil 2 and Devil May Cry 5, released in January and March 2019 respectively, continued to “perform well” during its first financial quarter ended June 30, 2019.

“Buoyed by enduring popularity,” 2017 release Monster Hunter: World also shipped 600,000 units during the quarter. It’s Capcom’s best-selling individual game of all time with lifetime shipments now exceeding 13 million units.

Capcom said all profit measurements hit record levels for a first quarter, boosted by contributions from catalogue titles and especially from high-margin digital sales.

The company’s first quarter sales were up 4.3% year-over-year to ¥17,938 million yen ($167.8 million), operating income leapt 50.8% year-over-year to ¥7,703 million ($72.1 million), and net income rose 38.9% year-over-year to ¥5,420 million ($50.7 million).

Capcom’s games business accounted for most of its revenue and profits, with net sales up 1.4% year-over-year to ¥13,977 million ($130.8 million), and operating income up 34.8% year-over-year to ¥7,733 million ($72.4 million).

The publisher also reportedly received a mystery IP royalty payment of ¥2 billion ($18.74 million) during its first quarter.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, a major expansion for the hit action role-playing title, is Capcom’s only major release planned in the current business year ending in March 2020. Console versions will launch on September 6, ahead of a PC release in January 2020.

Ryozo Tsujimoto, head of Capcom’s consumer games development division 2 and producer of the Monster Hunter series since 2007, has told VGC the publisher is “not giving up” on the idea of creating new original game series, despite its recent focus on core franchises like Resident Evil and Monster Hunter.