Game maker Namco Ltd. said Wednesday that its group net profit more than doubled in fiscal 2002, thanks to the strong performance of its domestic amusement arcades.

Net profit stood at 4.12 billion yen, up from the 2.03 billion yen recorded a year ago, while revenue rose 1.7 percent to 154.78 billion yen.

The firm, which runs Namco-Lands and other arcades, said profit generated by its amusement arcade operations logged a 2.3-fold rise to 4.77 billion yen on a group operating basis. As of March, the firm operated some 2,000 arcades worldwide.

In the consumer game software business, the company recorded brisk domestic sales of "Nettyu! Pro Baseball 2002" and "Tales of Destiny 2," along with brisk overseas sales of the "Tekken" series.

Total sales volume generated during the year stood at 12.33 million units, well above the target of 10.5 million.

As for arcade game machines, the "Taiko no Tatsujin" series continued to enjoy domestic popularity. This is a music coordination game, in which the player tries to beat a drum in time with a tune.

For fiscal 2003, the company forecasts a group net profit of 5.8 billion yen on revenue of 164.8 billion yen.

Earlier this month, Namco dropped a merger proposal submitted to rival Sega Corp.

Namco was reportedly unimpressed by Sega's apparent lack of interest.

Namco President Kyushiro Takagi said Wednesday the merger bid was a necessary attempt by the firm to compete squarely with the likes of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. market.

"Now that Sega has said it will go it alone, we hope it will successfully restore its operations on its own," Takagi said, adding that Namco will maintain its operational tieup with Sega.