{"id":56689,"date":"2026-02-13T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=56689"},"modified":"2026-02-13T15:50:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T06:50:44","slug":"kadokawa-reports-sharp-decline-in-publishing-anime-business-falls-into-deficit-due-to-a-lack-of-popular-sequels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-reports-sharp-decline-in-publishing-anime-business-falls-into-deficit-due-to-a-lack-of-popular-sequels\/","title":{"rendered":"Kadokawa\u00a0reports\u00a0sharp decline in publishing, anime business falls into deficit\u00a0due to a lack of popular sequels\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kadokawa, the parent company of FromSoftware and several major anime studios, recently announced its consolidated financial results for the first three quarters of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to\u00a0GameBiz,<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0company\u00a0reported a\u00a0year-on-year\u00a0decline in profits\u00a0across\u00a0its publishing\u00a0(manga, print, e-books)\u00a0and\u00a0video\u00a0game\u00a0segments, while its anime business slipped\u00a0into\u00a0the red and posted\u00a0a net loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In publishing,\u00a0revenue\u00a0actually grew\u00a0overseas, especially in the US and Asia, but\u00a0overall segment profit\u00a0fell\u00a090.2% compared to the previous year. Kadokawa attributed the drop\u00a0primarily to\u00a0lower\u00a0revenue per title\u00a0in Japan, as well as higher personnel\u00a0expenses\u00a0that further narrowed profit margins.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Elden<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The publisher\u2019s game business saw profit down 7% year-on-year, but Kadokawa notes that this is largely the result of exceptional sales of Elden Ring\u2019s base game and Shadow of the Erdtree expansion in the previous fiscal year (implying that this fiscal year is seeing more \u201cnormal\u201d performance by comparison). Meanwhile, Elden Ring Nightreign, which released in the current fiscal year, continues to \u201cperform well both domestically and internationally.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, when it comes to anime and films, Kadokawa posted a net loss\u00a0of 940 million yen, or\u00a0about\u00a0$6.13 million USD.\u00a0The company says this is a result of\u00a0a big chunk\u00a0of its lineup being made\u00a0up\u00a0of first-time anime adaptations\u00a0(as opposed to sequels to\u00a0established, popular series), leading to lower revenue per title.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the full fiscal year,\u00a0Kadokawa expects weaker performance across all\u00a0major\u00a0profit metrics. Its updated forecast\u00a0is as follows:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revenue: 278.2 billion yen (up 0.1% year-on-year)\u00a0
Operating profit: 10.3 billion yen (down 38.1% year-on-year)\u00a0
Ordinary profit: 12.4 billion yen (down 30.1% year-on-year)\u00a0
Net profit: 4.9 billion yen (down 33.7% year-on-year)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: More sequels, and even more remakes of 90s and 00s hits. Anime industry\u00a0research report predicts eight major trends for 2026\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In its consolidated financial results for the first nine months of the fiscal year, Kadokawa reported a decline across publishing, games and anime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":56693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[73,261,17],"class_list":["post-56689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-anime","tag-financial-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nKadokawa\u00a0reports\u00a0sharp decline in publishing, anime business falls into deficit\u00a0due to a lack of popular sequels\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In its consolidated financial results for the first nine months of the fiscal year, Kadokawa reported a decline across publishing, games and anime.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-reports-sharp-decline-in-publishing-anime-business-falls-into-deficit-due-to-a-lack-of-popular-sequels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kadokawa\u00a0reports\u00a0sharp decline in publishing, anime business falls into deficit\u00a0due to a lack of popular sequels\u00a0 - 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