Rounding out this week’s financial tallies (apart from yesterday’s Chinese Government PSA), the folks over at Capcom will most certainly be breaking out the veuve clicquot tonight, as they’ve recently reported record performance in Q1.
Even in a market (aka economic downturn) that’s hit just about everyone across the industry, the Japanese developer posted a 23 percent profit growth, indicating a 19.2 percent revenue increase in Q1. Revenues spiked at approximately $204 million, with profits totaling $38 million. Big winners for Capcom include Resident Evil 5 for Xbox 360 and PS3, and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for PSP. Japanese market sales figures clock 3.5 million copies of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite having moved out the door. Resident Evil 5 has also overtaken the number 2 all time selling title for Capcom, edging out Resident Evil 2, and is now just 1 million copies shy of dethroning Capcom classic Street Fighter II. Other strong performers include Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth for the Nintendo DS and Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes for the PSP.
According to Capcom, these Q1 numbers are officially the company’s strongest showing since beginning to track quarterly results.
However, even with these record numbers, it looks like the Capcom management team has taken the temperature of the current gaming market, and conservatively not raised their overall yearly fiscal forecast. The reasoning? Capcom cites expected strong industry competition in the second half of the year. Likewise the firm has also put the breaks on the release date of Dark Void, which is scheduled to appear on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Developed by Airtight Games, the title was originally scheduled for release in 2009, but is now looking at a Q1 2010 launch. Capcom is enthusiastic and optimistic about the sales numbers with Dark Void, projecting at least 2 million sales of the game.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Chinese Government has officially banned websites from “running, publishing, or offering links to online games featuring mafia-like gangs.” The government is also threatening “sever punishment” for anyone violating the ban.
Keeping right in line with this rocket to the moon success story, SOE President John Smedley announced yesterday at Comic-Con International in San Diego that the title was now close to having 5 million registered users participating. Obviously, Sony’s gamble with a free-to-play/microtransactions supported business model is starting to pay off. And it seems that the finance department has taken note as well, as Sony has now officially sanctioned the introduction of microtransactions into two of it’s oldest, and perhaps best known MMO titles: EverQuest and EverQuest II. Smedley comments, “We now have 34 percent of our EverQuest II users using microtransactions.” He also noted that fans of the original EverQuest are making microtransaction purchases at only a slightly lower percentage.
Mind Control Software and Magic: The Gathering creators Richard Garfield and Skaff Elias have recently announced a collaboration to produce a new title: Mind Twist. Building on his 15+ years of game development experience, Garfield is setting out to fuse the best of both the tabletop gaming experience with real-time online strategy games.
According to the 
And it’s not just the plastic wrapped shiny discs that aren’t moving off retailers’ shelves. Console sales revenues took a 38 percent hit, totaling only $382.6 million. Of the big three, Microsoft’s Xbox was the only console that actually increased sales during the month of June. Nintendo’s Wii saw a drop of 45 percent, and Sony’s (arguably overpriced) PS3 got clobbered with a 59 percent drop in sales.
