Konami announces strong results in financial report, but doesn’t comment on Metal Gear Survive’s performance

Konami has released their earnings report for the fiscal year ending March 31, and reports strong results with record operating profits, the majority of the company’s revenue coming from the digital entertainment sector. This includes mobile games as well, an important platform for the company.

This is also the period in which Metal Gear Survive was released for PS4, Xbox One and PC. The spin-off using Metal Gear Solid V’s Fox Engine was the first game in the franchise the publisher released since the departure of Hideo Kojima and many other key figures in the series (although a number of important developers still remain). The game was met with a mixed reception by critics, garnering lukewarm reviews, and weekly sales charts indicate its sales were relatively low for a game in this series.

While the report does mention the game’s release, it says nothing about how it performed – this in contrast to the new Pro Evolution Soccer game, which according to Konami ‘continued to enjoy stable performance’. All that the report says about Survive is that it ‘was released during the three-month period ended March 31, 2018’.

Metal Gear Survive debuted at nr 6 in the weekly UK charts, and sold around 31000 copies in its first days on the Japanese market. In the US, it did not make the top 20 for that month.

It’s hard to say if the game sold below Konami’s expectations, but the fact that this report does not comment on its performance at all seems telling. It remains to be seen what the future holds for the franchise, although Konami president Hideki Hayakawa stated shortly after Kojima’s departure that the series is ‘extremely important’ to the company, and that they will ‘continue to produce products’ for the franchise.

Source: Konami Financial Results