Nihon Falcom Corp. reported a sharp decline in first-quarter profit as revenue from its licensing business fell significantly from last year’s strong performance.
Net income plunged 73% to ¥81 million ($540,000) for the quarter ended December, while revenue decreased 46% to ¥374 million. The Tokyo-based game developer saw its licensing revenue drop 56% to ¥278 million, offsetting a 51% increase in product sales to ¥95 million.
The company’s product division benefited from the release of “The Legend of Heroes: Kai no Kiseki” for PlayStation platforms, the latest entry in its flagship “Trails” series that has sold over 8 million copies. However, this couldn’t compensate for the weaker licensing performance.
Looking ahead, Nihon Falcom maintained its full-year forecast for revenue of ¥2.5 billion and net income of ¥800 million, representing year-over-year declines of 1% and 6% respectively. The company is betting on several upcoming releases, including “Ys X” and a new “Trails” series installment planned for global launch across multiple platforms in 2025.
