In this business segment, the flagship title released in the end of this fiscal year, “Resident Evil 5” (for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360), became a mega hit with the first shipment of over four million copies worldwide. In addition, “Street Fighter IV” (for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360), the latest of the popular series that took the game market by storm, performed strongly supported by its familiar brand name and the healthy US and European home video game markets. These two titles served as the sales growth engine overseas.
“Monster Hunter Freedom 2G” (for PlayStation Portable), which was released in the end of the previous fiscal year, continued solid growth supported by its overwhelming popularity. The software dominated the portable game market and contributed significantly to the improvement of our business performance. This software won the first prize in Famitsu’s “Top 100 Best Selling Software in 2008” with a shipment of over 2.55 million copies. Famitsu is one of the most authoritative game magazines in Japan.
In addition, our lower-priced title, “Monster Hunter Freedom 2G PSP the Best” (for PlayStation Portable), showed strong performance supported by its loyal fans. “Grand Theft Auto IV” (for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360), the latest title of the series and “Mega Man Star Force 3” (for Nintendo DS) also achieved solid growth.
The resulting net sales increased to 62,892 million yen (up 21.7 % from the previous year), and operating income increased to 16,392 million yen (up 41.2 % from the previous year).