Kadokawa Corporation reported yet again another record growth in sales, this time for the 1st quarter that occurred between April 1 and June 30, 2022. Its net sales grew by 23.50% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 64,264 million yen (≈482.09 million USD) while profit attributable to owners of parents jumps 89.86% to 7,638 million yen (≈57.30 million USD) amid strong returns from overseas shipments largely in part of its latest hit video game series Elden Ring. Thanks to that, its Overseas Business overall managed to record a 187% growth year-on-year with the Publication segment seeing a 64% rise y-on-y whereas its Animation Overseas Business recorded a 16% increase. According to the breakdown of sales from its overseas market on page 23, its Overseas Game Business has experienced explosive growth of more than 10 times than what it had earned for Quarter 1 of FY2022. Sales grew by 1034% from just 833 million yen (≈6.25 million USD) the same quarter the year before to 9,454 million USD (≈70.88 million USD).
*Note for Others Business, Q1 FY2022 is 2 million yen and Q1 FY2023 is 34 million yen
As for its overall segment performance, its Publication Business has recorded a 0.5% drop in sales from FY2022 to 31,953 million yen (≈239.58 million USD), however it remains the largest earner for the group accounting for 48% of its total sales for the quarter. Its Video Business has increased by a small 4%, its Web Services which includes services such as Niconico grew by 6.5%, its Education Business where it provides online educational contents and systems is up by 6.5% whereas its Others Business is at improved by 51.6%. Its Video Game Business is its best performing segment for the quarter, having grown 570.9% y-o-y.
Publication Business
Its Publication Business as mentioned is the only segment to have reported less sales for the quarter with sales retreating 5% y-o-y which the group attributed to the shrinking of domestic demand due to the shift to e-books, in addition to the fewer number of titles offered by the group this time around. The Number of titles offered for its Publication Segment dropped from 1,032 from the same quarter of last year to 940 (see page 16). That said, the group has witnessed strong demand for its e-books, particularly thanks to titles that are based on the isekai genre which KADOKAWA attributed to the strong sale it noted for the quarter. As a result, it saw an increase in the number of sales of its online store from users both in the domestic and overseas market. As of the quarter, sales of its e-book have now comprised 41% of its total publication segment. For the quarter, the group has said that sales of titles such as Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu, Daija ni Totsuida Musume were among those that were particularly strong. And with that said, the publication segment was able to produce 31,953 million yen (≈239.58 million USD) worth of sales, and 2,571 million yen (≈19.25 million USD) in quarterly operating profit, which is down by 52.27% y-o-y.
According to the group, these are its best performing publication titles for the quarter (page 19):
| Rank | Title Name (Series) | Year (First Published) | Video | Game |
| 1 | Sword Art Online | 2009 | 〇 | 〇 |
| 2 | KADOKAWA Manga Gakushu Series | 2015 | – | – |
| 3 | Overlord | 2012 | 〇 | 〇 |
| 4 | Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu | 2014 | 〇 | 〇 |
| 5 | Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei | 2011 | 〇 | – |
| 6 | Isekai Meikyuu de Harem wo | 2017 | 〇 | – |
| 7 | Toaru Kagaku no Railgun | 2007 | 〇 | 〇 |
| 8 | Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata | 2012 | 〇 | 〇 |
| 9 | Pan Dorobou | 2020 | – | – |
| 10 | BUNGO STRAY DOGS | 2013 | 〇 | 〇 |
*Overall Top 10 sales is 1,917 million yen (≈14.37 million USD)
Sword Art Online is the best performing title for the segment followed by the KADOKAWA Manga Gakushu Series and Overlord. The Top 10 titles listed here see a total of 1,917 million yen (≈14.37 million USD) in sales made for the quarter which is 6% of the total sales of the entire publication segment for the group.
Video and Game Business
Now, before we move onto this segment, there is one thing to note. For the fiscal years of 2017 to 2021, KADOKAWA joined the two segments in its reports and separated the two segments for the fiscal years 2016, 2022 and 2023. For the sake of consistency, I have decided to join them together for the fiscal years where they were separated.
As for its Video Business where it plans, produce, and distributes live-action films and Anime, sales have increased 4% y-o-y to 9,256 million yen (≈69.40 million USD) whereas its operating profit has fallen by 34.5% to 680 million yen (≈5.10 million USD). The group was quoted as saying that sales from series such as Yuusha, Yamemasu and Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari and other distribution domestically and overseas markets have increased for the quarter. As for the overseas market, sales grew due to the increase in the number of animation works for the quarter, for instance for the 1st quarter of FY2022, it produced 11 titles whereas for the 1st quarter of FY2023, the group produced 14. Sales have also been noted to have increased for theatrical releases and domestic streaming titles of which the latter has grown significantly. However, the group is still experiencing a decline in sales from video packages — i.e. Blu-rays and DVDs. The increasing expenses for larger and new productions was cited as one of the two main reasons for the decline in operating profit, the other being a reactionary fall from past, popular works from the previous fiscal years.
According to the group, these are its best performing video titles for the quarter (page 19):
| Rank | Title Name (Series) | Year (First Aired) | Video | Game |
| 1 | Kakkou no Iinazuke | 2022 | – | – |
| 2 | Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu | 2016 | 〇 | 〇 |
| 3 | Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari | 2019 | 〇 | 〇 |
| 4 | Yuusha, Yamemasu | 2022 | 〇 | – |
| 5 | Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu | 2022 | 〇 | – |
| 6 | Overlord | 2015 | 〇 | 〇 |
| 7 | Shijou Saikyou no Daimaou, Murabito A ni Tensei suru | 2022 | 〇 | – |
| 8 | Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! | 2016 | 〇 | 〇 |
| 9 | RPG Fudousan | 2022 | 〇 | – |
| 10 | TOMBI: Father and Son | 2022 | 〇 | – |
*Overall Top 10 sales is 3,517 million yen (≈26.39 million USD)
Kakkou no Iinazuke tops the list and is followed by Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu at 2nd place while Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari is the 3rd best performer. Note that as for Kakkou no Iinazuke its first cour was broadcasted during the quarter whereas Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari saw the broadcast of its latest season for the fiscal year which lasted for 13 episodes. Consequently, the Top 10 titles you see here takes up 38% of the overall sales for the video segment which amounts to 3,517 million yen (≈26.39 million USD).
As for its Game Business, well, there is nothing much to be said other than its splendid performance for the quarter, but Elden Ring is certainly being mentioned a lot in the report. According to the group, the title was the main reason as to the significant climb recorded for the segment, nevertheless, the group has insisted that it does not share the sales status of a singular product (page 26). Apart from Elden Ring driving up sales, the group has also recorded growth with collaboration or contracted works of two new titles via its wholly owned subsidiary Spike Chunsoft. As a result, sales for the segment is up by a massive 570.9% to 12,582 million yen (≈94.43 million USD) while its operating profit jumped all the way to 6,569 million yen (≈49.30 million USD) from the loss of 116 million yen (≈870.70 thousand yen) it recorded for the same quarter a year ago.
On July 29, 2022 (the day the 1st quarter result was posted), Kadokawa Corporation’s stock price closed at 3,220 yen (≈ 24.17 USD) per unit, up by 0.78% from 3,195 yen (≈23.99) the day before with a total of 656,400 volumes traded.
Kadokawa Corporation is incorporated in Japan with its headquarter located in Tokyo. The company owns several well-know entities including: BOOK WALKER, FromSoftware, Spike Chunsoft and YEN PRESS. It is publicly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under the ticket symbol 9468.
Kadokawa Corporation Group of Companies
Note:
All currency conversion was done at the time of writing.
Sources:
Presentation Materials for Q1 FY2023
Securities Report for Q1 FY2023
NOTICE OF THE 8TH GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS (May 2022)
Google Charts:
Kadokawa Corporation’s Sales and Profit or Loss in Million Yen (Q1 FY2023)
Kadokawa Corporation’s Publishing Business Sales and Operating Profit or Loss in Million Yen (Q1 FY2023)
Kadokawa Corporation’s Publishing Business in Million Yen Top 10 Titles (Q1 FY2023)
Kadokawa Corporation’s Video and Game Sales and Operating Profit or Loss in Million Yen (Q1 FY2023)
Kadokawa Corporation’s Video Business in Million Yen Top 10 Titles (Q1 FY2023)
Kadokawa Corporation Overseas Net Sales in Million Yen (Q1 FY2022 vs Q2 FY2023)
KADOKAWA’s Net Sales in Million Yen by Segment (Q1 FY2022)
KADOKAWA’s Net Sales in Million Yen by Segment (Q1 FY2023)
KADOKAWA’s Paper-based Books and Media by Genre (Q1 FY2023)
Visualisations:
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