Tecmo Koei stock sinks on game delays resulting to poor earnings

Posted by John as Shmups

Publisher’s share price drops nearly 10% following Quantum Theory delay. The earnings forecast lowered by 97% was due to poor Samurai Warriors 3 sales. Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll also is reportedly delayed.

Following earnings reports from Capcom, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Namco Bandai, Tecmo Koei reported its finances for the quarter ending December 31, 2009.

According to a Yahoo Japan report, the year-old company reported a loss of ¥1.84 billion ($20.3 million) for the three-month period. It was mostly due to slower than expected sales of Samurai Warriors 3 in Japan. Samurai Warriors 3 is an exclusive to Nintendo’s console, the latest installment in Koei’s long-running action franchise is due out in Europe and North America later this year. The poor holiday quarter caused Tecmo Koei to drastically lower its full-year profit forecast by 97 percent from ¥7.4 billion ($81.8 million) to just ¥200 million ($2.2 million).

The downward adjustment’s impact was exacerbated by two reported game delays. The AFX news service reports (via CNBC) that the Gears of War-like PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 action game Quantum Theory has been pushed into Tecmo Koei’s next fiscal year, which begins April 1. Meanwhile, Japanese gaming specialty site Andriasang reports that the company has also postponed the PS3-exclusive action role-playing game Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll until later in the year.

The combination of poor earnings and game delays sent Tecmo Koei’s stock south. On the Nikkei market in Tokyo, the company’s share price ended the day down 9.5 percent to ¥630 ($6.96).

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