Soon enough, you could be entering the Konami Code on Facebook. Providing further confirmation that social games are on the up and up, Konami posted its earnings for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011, and its social games sales have increased as everything else dipped a bit. Gaming Union reports that the Japanese publisher of mega hits like Contra and Metal Gear Solid said that net revenue was down to $3.19 billion from last year's $3.24 billion, while net income dipped to $12.9 billion from $13.3 billion last year.
However, social games sales picked up steam with $195 million in sales, up from $156.7 million last year, Gamasutra reports. This might explain why the company closed Bomberman creator Hudson Soft in the traditional sense, and plans to reopen it as a social games studio.
"Phenomenal recent growth in [social network services] is spawning more and more new business opportunities," Konami said, according to Gaming Union. "Konami is already seeing signs of success with social games, and certain content has earned rave reviews from users. For this reason, Konami will further concentrate business resources on this field and take full advantage of its expertise and extensive content developed so far to reinforce online distribution via SNS sites and expand its product lineup."
This news is in line with other major publishers like EA, who have Facebook in their cross hairs, scrambling for a sliver of the pie Zynga ran away with years ago. While the company will likely continue to release triple-A games throughout the year, it looks Konami has found a new cash cow in social games (who hasn't?). However, let's just hope this means there are even better, more accessible games on the horizon for Facebook from Konami.
[Image Credit: Neon Wind]
What do you think this news might imply for the industry in general? Do you think the earnings for other major publishers will look similar to Konami's?
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