Earlier today, Capcom reported its financial results for the first half of fiscal year 2017. The publisher topped its overview with a statement about the performance of PS4 and Nintendo Switch, and their influence on the gaming indystry.
According to the company, during the first months of the fiscal year (between April and September, 2017), the gaming industry saw “broad signs of recovery” including “greater penetration” for PS4 and “strong performance” for Nintendo Switch. Capcom continues by mentioning that this “revitalized the home video games market, which had appeared stagnant relative to the growth of mobile games primarily for smartphones.”
Of course, this statement is influenced by the situation in Japan, which remains one of Capcom’s biggest markets, but it’s certainly nice to hear a local publisher mention that consoles are recovering over mobile games.
This is topped by another intriguing detail shared during Capcom’s presentation. The balance sheet indicates a significant increase in work-in-progress assets for game software, “due to product lineup and progress with the development of titles in Consumer.” This basically means that Capcom has been investing more to develop games for consoles (“consumer” is how console games are defined in Japan). At the moment we don’t know whether this is primarily due to Monster Hunter World, or there is more in the pipeline.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see what Capcom has in store for us. Monster Hunter World certainly brought the spotlight back on the publisher’s console offering. Hopefully, they will continue on this trend.
If you want to learn more about Capcom’s financial performance, you can enjoy our dedicated article.