Kadokawa recently released its financial report for the full fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. Here are the key metrics of the company’s video game subsidiary, FromSoftware.
Elden Ring
- FromSoftware reached ¥15.5 billion ($103.2 million) in revenue last year, down 29% compared to 2022. This is according to Serkan Toto, industry analyst and CEO of Kantan Games (the data was also shared by Japanese website gamebiz).
- Operating profit fell 49.9% year-over-year to ¥6.5 billion ($43.7 million), while net profit dropped 54.4% to ¥3.9 billion ($26.5 million).
- Despite double-digit declines, Toto noted that FromSoftware still posted “an amazing operating profit margin of 42.5%.”
- According to Kadokawa’s earnings release, the company’s entire Gaming segment reached ¥25.3 billion ($168.7 million) in 2023 — down 16.5% year-over-year. Its operating profit fell 44.1% to ¥7.9 billion ($52.9 million).
- So FromSoftware accounted for more than 60% of Kadokawa’s total video game revenue last year.
- Declines in both revenue and profits were due to the “significant impact” from the success of Elden Ring, which drove the company’s results in 2022. The game sold 12 million copies globally in just over two weeks of its February 2022 launch, crossing the 25 million mark in June 2024.
- Kadokawa noted that Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon was a bigger hit than expected, both domestically and overseas. The game surpassed 3 million units sold in less than 12 months after its launch in August 2023.
- Other titles that contributed to Kadokawa’s gaming segment last year were new releases from its subsidiary, Spike Chunsoft: Master Detective Archives: Rain Code and Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil.
- The company expects its video game revenue to improve in 2024, thanks to the release of the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion for Elden Ring. The DLC sold 5 million copies in just three days, bringing the base game back to the top of Steam’s weekly top sellers and other charts.