CELSYS Q3 operating profit rises 38.3% to 3.09 billion yen

CELSYS reported third-quarter cumulative results for the fiscal year ending December 2026 on November 6, with operating profit up 38.3% year-on-year to 3.092 billion yen for the January-to-September period, according to gamebiz.jp.

Sales for the nine months were 8.068 billion yen, up 15.5% year-on-year. Ordinary profit rose 40.0% to 3.116 billion yen and net profit climbed 56.1% to 2.123 billion yen. The cumulative operating profit already exceeds the company's previous full-year figure of 2.967 billion yen.

CLIP STUDIO PAINT cumulative shipments reached 70 million units in September 2026, up 26.5% year-on-year, and subscription ARR for the app hit a record 6.7 billion yen, up 31.8%. More than 80% of shipments went to markets outside Japan, with growth in English, Korean and European markets as well as emerging markets in Southeast Asia and Latin America. Strong Android subscription contracts also drove growth.

Forecast and targets

CELSYS left its full-year forecast unchanged at sales of 10.81 billion yen, operating profit of 4 billion yen and net profit of 2.67 billion yen. Progress against the operating profit plan stands at 77.3%.

The company now expects to reach the sales and operating profit targets of its 2025-2027 mid-term plan one year early, in the fiscal year ending December 2026, and plans to review its fiscal 2027 targets. Monthly churn was 5.2% at the end of September, and CELSYS expects it to return to the normal 4% range from October.

In March 2026, the company began offering CLIP STUDIO PAINT Ver.5.0, its major version, and it raised the one-time purchase price of the app by an average of 10%. CELSYS, founded in May 1991, is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market under code 3663.