Capcom earnings drop in fiscal 2012, reform of Capcom U.S.A. imminent

Capcom's earnings for the 2012 fiscal year ending March 31st experienced a 16 percent decline year-over-year due to a weaker video game release portfolio.

Capcom's earnings for the 2012 fiscal year ending March 31st dropped 16 percent year-over-year due to a weaker video game release portfolio.

According to the latest Capcom Investors Report, the publisher brought in 82.1 billion yen (a little over $1 billion) during the 2012 fiscal year. About 65 percent of those earnings came from its Consumer Online Games division, the branch responsible for the publishing of the company's console games. These include Monster Hunter Tri G, which sold 1.6 million units, as well as Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and Street Fighter x Tekken, both of which sold "over a million units."

Despite earning the lion's share of the company's revenue (over the Mobile, Arcade and Amusement divisions), Consumer Online Games saw a 23.9 percent year-over-year earnings decline. The report chalks this up to a much stronger 2011 fiscal year release list (chief among them being the multi-million seller Monster Hunter Freedom 3), as well as the delay of Dragon's Dogma, which will launch later this month.

The earnings report lays out the company's plan for the future, one leg of which involves the restructuring of its international subsidiaries.

"We are determined to execute the strategic overseas operation deployment through the group-wide global business restructuring," the report reads. "One such effort will be to conduct corporate reforms of overseas subsidiaries including Capcom U.S.A., Inc., one of our crucial subsidiaries."

We've contacted Capcom U.S.A. to find out exactly what kind of reforms it's expecting. In the mean time, you can divert yourself with this up-to-date sales breakdown of each of Capcom's IPs. Did you know Resident Evil games have sold 49 million units? That is just bananas.

Update: A Capcom representative responded, saying, "We are evaluating new areas for growth and will adjust our resources to fit these needs."