AM Press: NEOWAVE at ATEI 2005

Issue of February 15, 2005
Last updated on February 7, 2005

Special news

In the third and fourth half (October-December 2004), the monthly performance of the company's performance is low, the company's performance is low, and the performance of the company is low.

Taito has therefore revised its full-year earnings forecast downward.

Overseas

Sega Sammy, Namco, Taito, and Konami exhibited at ATEI in the UK and introduced new products.

Aruze, Konami, Asahi Seiko and others exhibited at the UK ICE.

Domestic

Citi's December financial results and Cave's November interim financial results were strong.

Raging Spirits, which is currently under construction at TDS, is scheduled to open in July.

News digest of February 15, 2005 issue

The photo shows ATEI05. Above is the Namco Europe booth (from left) Namco America's Vice President Frank Cosentino, Namco's Managing Director Norio Ishikawa, Namco Europe's Akira Aoyagi, and President Michael Nevin. Below is the Taito booth with (from left) Taito General Manager Kenji Horii, Namco Europe President Michael Nevin, who is in charge of sales, and Taito Deputy General Manager Mine Naito. .

Main news from 10 years ago

During the Great Hanshin Earthquake, many game centers located between Kobe and Hanshin were seriously damaged. AOU Expo will feature 73 companies exhibiting at 930 booths. JAMMA has decided to continue AAG activities. Bandai announced that it will be working on Apple's 64-bit machine “Pippin,” and Matsushita Electric will be working on 3DO's 64-bit machine “Real.” Sega opened “Shinsaibashi GIGO.” (February 15, 1995 issue)

Main news from 20 years ago

The new Amusement Business Law will be enforced, leaving problems such as confusion between gaming machines and AM game machines remaining. The three associations held a joint New Year's party for the first time, and each president spoke about the new entertainment business law. Konami Industries announced the "Bubble System". “Spartan X” was popular at ATEI in the UK. Century Corporation of the United States has closed its operations. (February 15, 1985 issue)

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[News Digest]

1. ATEI, Europe's largest comprehensive gaming machine exhibition, was held in London, UK from January 25th to 27th, featuring Gambler's AWP machines, with 306 companies from 29 countries exhibiting. TV game consoles were also on display, and the main Japanese exhibitors, Sega AM Europe and Sammy Europe, introduced the internet-compatible “WCCF” and “Outrun 2SP” under the Sega brand, as well as “KOF NEOWAVE” for Atomiswave. Namco Europe's “Tekken 5” and Gaelco's “Tuning Race” were available. Taito will exhibit "Zoids Infinity" and other products, and will entrust local sales to Namco. Konami of Europe exhibited “Thrill Drive 3” and other products. Other exhibitors included Global VR from the US, Triotech from Canada, and Gaerco from Spain. The American Stern Company has introduced a new flipper called “The Sopranos.” Continuing from last year, several video flippers using PDP were introduced, and Austria's TAB presented the video game “Crazy Marbles” on a large screen.

2. 187 companies from 34 countries exhibited at the casino gaming equipment exhibition ICE, which was held at the same time as ATEI in the UK (ATEI was held at Earl's Court and ICE was held at Earl's Court 2). The main exhibitors include IGT, the world's largest company in the US, and Novomatics from Austria, and they are more active than ATEI, using a large space to flashily display gaming machines such as slot machines with characters. A recent trend is that online casinos using the Internet are on the rise. Among Japanese exhibitors, Aruze's subsidiary UDN and Konami Australia's Konami Australia exhibited slot machines and other products, Asahi Seiko's subsidiary Asahi Seiko Europe exhibited coin handling systems, and Matsui Gaming's subsidiary Matsui Europe exhibited casino supplies.

3. On January 26, Taito announced its nine-month results for the third quarter (April-December 2004) and revised its earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending April 2005 downward. Sales for the nine months increased by 2.8% from the same period last year to 63,588 million yen, ordinary income decreased by 27.3% to 2,886 million yen, and net income decreased by 31.6% to 1,696 million yen, indicating a noticeable decline in sales of game arcade operations in the third quarter. Sales from game hall operations, which were down 4.8% year-on-year in the interim results, widened to 31,689 million yen, a 5.7% decline over the nine-month period. In commercial equipment sales, the prize-giving machine “Capriccio G-one” and the medal game machine “Dino King 2” performed well, but as the release of “Harikiri Online Professional Baseball” scheduled for December was postponed, the rate of increase in sales narrowed from 83.1% to 35.6% to 14,301 million yen. As a result, the company revised its full-year forecast to sales of 85 billion yen (previous forecast in October: 91 billion yen), ordinary profit of 3 billion yen (7 billion yen), and net profit of 1.7 billion yen (3.6 billion yen).

4. On February 3, SEGA SAMMY Holdings announced an overview of its business results for the nine months up to the third quarter. Pachislot-related Sammy's nine-month results showed a significant increase in sales and profits due to the hit of "Fist of the North Star," but amusement-related Sega's nine-month results showed sales of 146,506 million yen, an increase of 1.4% year-on-year, ordinary income of 8,283 million yen, a decrease of 22.0%, and net income of 3,453 million yen, a decrease of 54.9%. SEGA does not disclose its business results by division, but says that although commercial sales were strong due to “Quest of D” and other products and exceeded plans, game arcade operations (468 stores at the end of the period) fell short of plans and the previous year's results due to unplanned closures and other factors. The combined holding company of SEGA Sammy has an operating profit of 88.5 billion yen from gaming machines, 6.4 billion yen and 5 billion yen from AM equipment sales and game hall management, respectively, but an operating deficit of 5 billion yen despite strong sales of home game software.

5. SEGA Sammy Holdings announced on January 28th that SEGA will merge its wholly owned subsidiaries SEGA Amusement and Sammy Amusement Service, effective April 1st. Sega Amusement is a gaming arcade operating subsidiary that was spun off from Sega in October 2000. Sammy Amusement Service is a subsidiary company established by Sammy in July 1998 that rents gaming machines and operates game arcades, and was acquired by Sega in December 2004. SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS similarly announced a reorganization by business field, with SEGA Corporation taking over the e-commerce business of SEGA Music Network. On January 21st, Sega announced that it would centralize the management of its US subsidiary responsible for home-use products and its European subsidiary, and integrate marketing in the US and European markets. Naoya Tsurumi, CEO of Sega Europe, will concurrently serve as CEO of Sega of America. On January 25th, the two companies agreed to sell Visual Concepts Entertainment, an American home video game development company, to Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., for $24 million, and for Sega to sell Take-Two's home video game software in Asia, including Japan.

6. On January 27, Konami announced its financial results for the third quarter (October-December 2004) based on US standards, with sales decreasing 1.0% from the same period last year to 81,494 million yen, operating income increasing 20.4% to 16,037 million yen, and net income increasing 4.3% to 8,389 million yen. However, in the nine months from April to December, sales decreased by 7.9%, operating income decreased by 20.4%, and net income decreased by 47.0%. This is due to a significant decline in the Toys & Hobby business, which had been doing well until then, such as “Yu-Gi-Oh!”, and other sales remained at the same level as the previous year. In the commercial amusement business, TV games, music games, and medal games all performed well, with third quarter sales of 6,168 million yen and operating income of 1,594 million yen.

7. On February 3, Banpresto announced its financial results for the nine months to the third quarter (April-December 2004), showing an increase in sales and profits, but the profit range was considerably lower than the six-month interim results. In the amusement business (sales of equipment and prizes and operation of game halls), interim sales increased 10.1% year-on-year to 8,812 million yen and operating income increased 11.7% to 607 million yen, while sales for the nine-month period increased 7.7% to 12,710 million yen and operating income increased 1.5% to 889 million yen. The company explained that it was unable to achieve its targets in the third quarter due to typhoons, earthquakes, and other factors affecting customer attraction, and the overall market sluggish after autumn.

8. Citié announced its financial results for the year ending December 2004 on January 27th. Sales were 10,959 million yen, an increase of 3.0% from the previous year, ordinary income was 2,159 million yen, an increase of 23.0%, and net income was 1,131 million yen, an increase of 24.4%. Sales by department are 12.5% ​​higher at the nine game halls to 5,412 million yen, 26 video/CD rental stores down 4.1% to 5,357 million yen, and other sales such as bowling down 22.6% to 190 million yen, with the game hall management division being the mainstay. For the fiscal year ending December 2005, the company is forecasting sales of 10,970 million yen, ordinary income of 1,940 million yen, and net income of 1,030 million yen, the same as the previous year.

9. Cave announced its interim financial results for November on January 21st, with sales of 775 million yen, ordinary income of 149 million yen, and interim profit of 83 million yen. Sales by division were 658 million yen for content supply, 62 million yen for game development, and 55 million yen for commerce. In game development, sales exceeded plans due to the release of the arcade TV game "Mushihime-sama." The company says it will continue to develop professional shooting games. For the fiscal year ending May 2005, the company is forecasting sales of 1.6 billion yen, ordinary income of 320 million yen, and net income of 179 million yen.

10. Oriental Land announced on January 24th that the new attraction “Raging Spirits,” currently under construction at Tokyo DisneySea (TDS), will open on July 21st. This is a roller coaster-type attraction currently being constructed in the Lost River Delta, where a hopper car filled with passengers goes out of control due to a paranormal phenomenon caused by an ancient god, and will include a track that turns 360 degrees vertically. The capacity of the hopper car is 12 people. The track is approximately 600 meters long and can run at a maximum speed of 60 km/h. The time required is approximately 1 and a half minutes. Approximately 8 billion yen has been invested. This will be the first additional attraction at TDS since it opened in September 2001, and a larger attraction, Tower of Terror, is scheduled to be completed in 2006.

◎ Since 1974, the industry magazine "Game Machine" has been reporting industry news on commercial amusement machines, including TV game machines, amusement facilities, etc. twice a month, but the print publication was discontinued at the end of June 2002.