Capcom’s full fiscal year 2009 financial results were released late last week, and as a result of a bare slate of new releases throughout the year, poor sales of its newer titles and release delays of major titles, profits fell 73 percent compared to the year previous, down to $23.6 million (¥2.2 billion).

Annual sales were also down 27 percent from last year, to $728.1 million (¥66.8 billion). Chief amongst the reasons for the slump in sales was the poor market performance of Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles on the Wii, and Bionic Commando and Dark Void on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

As Capcom’s fiscal year ends on March 31st, it must have been a difficult decision to delay the releases of Lost Planet 2 and Super Street Fighter IV, as well as the Western release of Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii, into the first quarter of fiscal 2010, as these games would no doubt have propped up the profits, but thankfully, from a gamer’s perspective, Capcom thought of providing quality games to its fans instead of trying to appease its shareholders.

On the bright side, Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV (both of which released in fiscal year 2008) continued to sell strongly, while Japanese sales of Monster Hunter Tri and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite saw growth in the region. Sales of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth on the DS, and Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition on Xbox 360 and PS3 were ‘satisfactory.’

Capcom released a breakdown of the company’s fiscal year 2009 software sales according to platform, with the Wii coming out as the clear leader and most successful platform for the publisher:

• Nintendo Wii – 3.2 million units (8 new titles released during 2009 fiscal year)
• Playstation 3 – 2.7 million units (11 new titles released during 2009 fiscal year)
• PSP – 2.4 million units (20 new titles released during 2009 fiscal year)
• Xbox 360 – 1.7 million units (8 new titles released during 2009 fiscal year)
• Nintendo DS – 1.0 million units (12 new titles released during 2009 fiscal year)
• PC/Other – 900k (3 new titles released during 2009 fiscal year)
• Playstation 2 – 600k (10 new titles released during 2009 fiscal year)

Capcom’s financial forecasts for fiscal year 2010 are expectedly optimistic, with major releases dotted throughout the months to come, and weeks recently passed, in the form of Monster Hunter Tri in the West, Super Street Fighter IV, Lost Planet 2 and Dead Rising 2.

As a result, the publisher expects sales for fiscal year 2010 to rise 42 percent to $1 billion (¥95 billion) and net income to increase a whopping 269 percent to $87.3 million (¥8 billion).

In order to better illustrate the company’s software release plans for fiscal year 2010, Capcom released a breakdown of its shipment expectations and number of titles due out on each platform:

• PSP – 19 new titles with 5 million units of planned shipment
• Playstation 3 – 16 new titles with 6 million units of planned shipment
• Nintendo DS – 15 new titles with 1.7 million units of planned shipment
• Xbox 360 – 12 new titles with 4.8 million units of planned shipment
• Nintendo Wii – 6 new titles with 1.6 million units of planned shipment
• Playstation 2 – 5 new titles with 400k units of planned shipment
• PC and Other – 2 new titles with 500k units of planned shipment