Lower development utilization rates due to small, short-term, or completed projects
First written in FY2020-Q1. 5 of 14 entries say "Restated". Latest entry: FY2024-Q3.
2 other companies' latest entry also says "Restated".
- FY2024-Q3RestatedAnnual report
「Recently, as projects have become larger, clients have increasingly decided to discontinue development midway through a project because of stricter reviews of whether development should continue. For the Group, the unexpected discontinuation of development creates excess personnel who had been involved in the project, making the transition to new projects as quickly as possible an important challenge.」
The Company has continued to describe the risk of excess personnel and lower utilisation caused by development being discontinued midway, as well as the need to transition promptly to new projects. - FY2024-Q1WorsenedAnnual report
「Recently, as projects have become larger, clients have increasingly decided to discontinue development midway through a project because of stricter reviews of whether development should continue. For the Group, the unexpected discontinuation of development creates excess personnel who had been involved in the project, making the transition to new projects as quickly as possible an important challenge.」
The increasing number of large-scale projects being discontinued midway through development has crystallised the risk of excess personnel. The Company explicitly stated that delays in transitioning to new projects affect utilisation and profitability. - FY2023-Q3RestatedAnnual report
「In the development field, there are many new development projects that are small-scale or completed in the short term, delaying the recovery in personnel utilisation linked to revenue.」
The Company has continued to disclose delays in the recovery of personnel utilisation due to the large number of small-scale and short-term projects. Meanwhile, the game business as a whole became profitable at the segment level due to orders in the operating-support field. - FY2023-Q2WorsenedAnnual report
「In the development field, there are many new development projects that are small-scale or completed in the short term, delaying the recovery in personnel utilisation linked to revenue.」
The recovery in personnel utilisation has been delayed by the large number of small-scale and short-term new development projects. The utilisation risk that had been considered to be recovering in the previous quarter has deteriorated again as a business performance factor. - FY2023-Q1MitigatedAnnual report
「As a result of carefully managing the progress of existing projects, prioritising utilisation improvements and working to secure new projects, the Company has been recovering, although it has not yet reached the level of the same period of the previous year.」
The Company explained that game business revenue and profit were recovering through progress management of existing projects, prioritisation of utilisation improvements and the acquisition of new projects, although they remained below the level of the same period of the previous year. - FY2022WorsenedAnnual report
「In the game business, as the development structure expands, establishing a structure capable of managing large-scale projects is a challenge, while the increase in small-scale projects as the Company seeks to improve utilisation is increasing the burden and reducing efficiency as management resources become dispersed」
In addition to the utilisation risk posed by conventional small-scale and short-term projects, the dispersion of management resources and resulting decline in efficiency caused by managing large-scale projects and the increase in small-scale projects were explicitly identified as challenges. - FY2021RestatedAnnual report
「In the game business, operating profit and ordinary profit were generally progressing as planned, as described above, and we had also been working to improve personnel utilisation.」
The Company is working to manage the progress of projects already won and improve utilisation, while continuing to address idle capacity resulting from small-scale and short-term projects and other factors. - FY2021-Q3RestatedAnnual report
「In the game business, operating profit and ordinary profit were generally progressing as planned, as described above, and we had also been working to improve personnel utilisation.」
The Company has continued to explain that it is working to improve personnel utilisation in the game business, but has not provided specific improvement figures. - FY2021-Q2MaterialisedAnnual report
「In game operating support, personnel utilisation declined because temporary staffing ended following the termination of services for titles supported by the operating-support business.」
The end of temporary staffing following the termination of services for supported titles actually occurred, resulting in lower personnel utilisation and game business profit falling below expectations. - FY2021-Q1RestatedAnnual report
「In the game business, we worked to maintain personnel utilisation by focusing on projects already won and making efforts to secure new projects.」
The Company has been working on projects already won, securing new projects and maintaining personnel utilisation, and continues to address lower utilisation caused by small-scale and short-term projects and other factors. - FY2020MitigatedAnnual report
「For the full year, performance was generally in line with plan, partly because utilisation of personnel resources, which had declined due to the completion of small-scale and short-term development and operating-support projects, among other factors, improved steadily.」
The Company explained that utilisation of personnel resources improved steadily in response to idle capacity caused by small-scale and short-term projects and completed projects. - FY2020-Q3MitigatedAnnual report
「During the fourth quarter, profit progress improved because certain projects generated profit earlier than initially expected and utilisation of personnel resources, which had declined due to the completion of small-scale and short-term development and operating-support projects, among other factors, improved. However, for the cumulative fourth-quarter period, profit declined because the Company was unable to recover the decline in profit caused by lower profit margins on development projects due to higher costs, lower royalty revenue, higher SG&A expenses including costs for improving the development environment following the end of Windows 7 support and the expansion of the development structure, and utilisation falling below plan due to small-scale and short-term projects, completed projects and other factors.」
Utilisation of personnel resources, which had declined due to small-scale and short-term projects and completed projects, improved during the fourth quarter. However, over the cumulative period, the improvement was insufficient to recover the decline in profit caused by performance falling below plan. - FY2020-Q2MaterialisedAnnual report
「We also worked to address idle capacity in personnel resources resulting from small-scale and short-term projects, completed projects and other factors. In the game business, operating profit and ordinary profit declined because higher costs reduced the profit margins of development projects, royalty revenue decreased, SG&A expenses increased due to costs for improving the development environment following the end of Windows 7 support and the expansion of the development structure, and utilisation fell below plan due to the impact of small-scale and short-term projects, completed projects and other factors.」
Although measures were taken to address idle capacity, utilisation fell below plan due to small-scale and short-term projects, completed projects and other factors, which continued to be an actual factor behind the decline in profit in the game business. - FY2020-Q1First statedAnnual report
「In addition, profit declined because utilisation fell below plan due to the impact of small-scale and short-term projects, completed projects and other factors.」
Separate from development delays, the occurrence of small-scale and short-term projects and completed projects created idle capacity in personnel resources, and the risk of utilisation falling below plan was identified for the first time as an actual factor behind the decline in profit.