Tecmo-Koei Takes Financial Beating, Replaces CEO

Tecmo-Koei’s six month financial results are in, and they are a disaster. For the period ending September 30, the company lost Â¥1.09b ($13.5m), on sales of Â¥11.07b ($136.2b). The losses are more than the Â¥349m ($4.3m) the company lost for the same period of time last year. Even more notable is that the video game division itself lost Â¥1.6bn ($19.9m), meaning Tecmo-Koei would have made a six month profit on the strength of its other products (pachinko machines, amusement centres, etc.) if not for the video game division. The losses were blamed on the delay of Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll (Trinity Zill O’ll Zero), as well as development of titles that released or will release after September 30th.

In what has to be considered related news, Tecmo-Koei also announced that current CEO Kenji Matsubara will resign from the company effective November 30th for “personal reasons” (layman’s translation: Humpty Dumpty was pushed). In his place, effective immediately, is company co-founder Yoichi Erikawa, who produced the company’s most famous simulation titles Nobunaga’s Ambition and Romance of the Three Kingdoms under the pen name Kou Shibusawa.

The next six months should have a higher outlook for the company. Hokuto Musou, known in the west as Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage, shipped in the West last week. Furthermore, Dynasty Warriors Online is in open beta, and Dynasty Warriors 7 (Shin Sangoku Musou 6) is in development and drawing sufficient buzz. Trinity: Zill O’ll Zero comes out on November 25th in Japan as well (EDIT: Andriasang reports that Japan will get a demo on Thursday). On Tecmo’s end of things, Ninja Gaiden 3 is being developed, and is being lauded as a “reboot” of the series. If these games sell to expectations in Japan, the company can recover, though a near $20m loss is very hard to overcome, especially for games that target what is a niche section of the Western audience.

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One response to “Tecmo-Koei Takes Financial Beating, Replaces CEO”

  1. Samuraiter Avatar
    Samuraiter

    A reboot. Of a series that is, itself, a reboot. (If Devil May Cry 5 is doing it, I suppose everybody has to follow suit, huh?) But the financials do not surprise me. Musou fans are loyal, perhaps to the point of foolishness (see: me), but there are only so many of us.

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