Today Konami released its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2018, ended on June 30th, 2017.

As you can see in the table below, all revenue figures are in the black, and show significant improvement from the same quarter the previous year.

We also get specific results for the Digital Entertainment business, which is the publisher's console, mobile and PC gaming business (with the addition of card games). Even here results are positive, with a solid in increase across revenue and profit year-on-year.

Incidentally, the Digital Entertainment segment remains Konami's largest and most profitable business in terms of both revenue and profits, and the publisher predicts that it will remain so throughout the whole fiscal year.

Konami mentions that video games continue to diversify along with functional enhancements of both mobile devices and consoles. With personal spending increasing, the company has "high hopes for the game industry."

"In the entertainment market, game contents continue to diversify along with functional enhancement of various devices, including mobile devices and video

game consoles, and development of information and telecommunications infrastructure. In conjunction with the changing times, the preference for enriching daily life through full and abundant experiences in personal spending has been strengthened. In that context, there are high hopes for the game industry in various situations, including in offering new experiences through game contents as points of contact between customers and games."

A detailed breakdown of the performance of the gaming business mentions strong sales for mobile games, and robust continued sales for Super Bomberman R and Pro Evolution Soccer 2017.

"The mobile games continued to perform strongly, including the global distribution of Winning Eleven 2017 (known overseas as PES 2017 -PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER-) in 150 countries and regions and the release of Yu-Gi-Oh! DUEL LINKS in South Korea. Moreover, in the domestic market, various titles continued to receive favorable reviews, including JIKKYOU PAWAFURU PUROYAKYU and PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL SPIRITS A (Ace). In addition, titles for global markets, Winning Eleven CLUB MANAGER (known overseas as PES CLUB MANAGER) and Star Wars: Force Collection continued stable performance."

"As for computer and video games, various titles continued to remain robust, including SUPER BOMBERMAN R (known overseas as Super Bomberman R),

Winning Eleven 2017 (known overseas as PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2017) and JIKKYOU PAWAFURU PUROYAKYU 2016. Starting in May 2017, we also launched JIKKYOU PAWAFURU PUROYAKYU CHAMPIONSHIP 2017. This software is an exclusive download for the “PAWAPURO CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017” eSports tournament to be held nationwide in Japan from August 2017 and is available for many customers to enjoy"

Moving on to the outlook for the full fiscal year, which ends on March 31st, 2018, the company's fortunes are mostly pinned on mobile titles and PES 2018.

"With the spread of entertainment offered through networks, the available means of providing games continue to diversify. Opportunities to reach an even greater audience for games are increasing. Against this background, we intend to develop ways of playing games that match the characteristics of each device.

As for mobile games, the total number of registered users of all contents we developed continues to increase steadily. Those game titles include Yu-Gi-Oh!

DUEL LINKS, which surpassed 45 million downloads and was released in South Korea beginning in April 2017, JIKKYOU PAWAFURU PUROYAKYU, which

surpassed 32 million downloads in July 2017, and Winning Eleven 2017 (known overseas as PES 2017 -PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER-), which surpassed 30 million downloads and launched globally in May 2017. We will strive to provide content that enables us to deliver pleasure to customers in various regions.

As for card games, at the “Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2017” to be held in August 2017, we will also host a Yu-Gi-Oh DUEL LINKS mobile game division this year in order to promote the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME series further.

As for computer and video games, we released 100% Pascal (Pasukaru) Sensei Perfect Paint Bombers for Nintendo 3DSTM in July 2017 for domestic market and will release the latest title in the Winning Eleven series, Winning Eleven 2018 (known overseas as PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2018), in September 2017 for global market. We will pursue strong game characteristics that enable customers to continuously have fun, including holding the eSports event “PES LEAGUE,” in which anyone can participate, and “Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2017.”

If you want to compare these results with the previous quarter, you can check out the dedicated article from May.