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Take-Two revenue up $556M in '08, talks '09 plans
Despite what he calls "clearly uncertain and challenging times," Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick said during an investor teleconference today that fiscal year 2008 saw the "strongest earnings in our company's history." Specifically, the publisher's revenue for FY08 was $1.5 billion, up from $981.8 million in FY07. Quarterly revenue for Q408 was $323.4M versus $292.6M for Q407.Zelnick admitted that the company is "experiencing lower than expected holiday sales," adding that it predicts, "significantly reduced sales expectations for the next four months." CEO Ben Feder pointed out that while it is selling well now, Midnight Club: Los Angeles got off to a "slower than expected start."Feder pointed out that the publisher's Metacritic average across all its titles in FY08 was 80%, saying it was "higher than any other publisher." Looking ahead, he confirmed that "Rockstar has one triple-A title in development which will release in calendar year 2009," but reacted to a question about a possible new GTA in 2010 by saying, "it's way to early to talk about."
Midway reports $76m in losses for Q308, pins Q4 hope on MK vs. DC Universe
For its third fiscal quarter of 2008, Midway has reported net losses of $75.9 million, more than twice the $33.5m net loss in Q3 2007. According to the press release, the publisher cites three "well-received games" as highlights for its third quarter: TNA iMPACT, the Xbox 360 launch of Unreal Tournament III and Mortal Kombat: Kollection for PS2.As for the fourth quarter (i.e. the lucrative holiday season), Midway has two flagship titles to boost revenue: Blitz the League II (already released to mediocre reviews) and next week's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. For Q408, Midway expects net revenue of $105 million, or approximately half of its annual revenue, with more losses to follow and an underwhelming 2009 lineup (This is Vegas, Wheelman and TNA). The publisher, now under new management, looks to have a rather steep uphill battle -- or using Midway's own Mortal Kombat metric, it'll be at least 4 more contenders before they get to challenge Goro.
Highlights from Activision's FY08 earnings call
Mega-publisher Activision held its Fiscal Year 2008 earnings call yesterday. While you can listen to it yourself, most of the gaming news came from an 8-minute section in over an hour-long conference call. Here are the highlights from the call: Activision enjoyed $2.9 billion in sales last fiscal year No Tony Hawk in 2008 Guitar Hero hits 15 million song downloads Nintendo DS, Guitar Hero on Tour bundles coming this June A 'significant leap' for Guitar Hero due this holiday for consoles and DS Call of Duty 5 in 'new military theater', returns series to PS2 and Wii Bizarre Creations's new racing IP due FY09 New Bond game Quantum of Solace runs on COD4 engine, launching with movie Check out Activision's Family Album to learn more about the company's internal studios.
Nintendo continues cash infusion, record sales and profits in FY08
Nintendo announced today that it saw a 73% increase in sales this past year and profits of over $4.77 billion, which is a 115% increase over last year. It appears Nintendo forecasted conservatively and is going to need a bigger money bin. The company also states it plans to ship 25 million Wii consoles to retailers across the globe in FY09, approximately the same amount it shipped in FY08, which ended March 31. If Nintendo continues its Wii sales rampage, that means by April of 2009 there could be 50 million Wii consoles in homes.The Nintendo DS isn't doing badly either, with 70.6 million units sold, and expected shipments of another 28 million units this fiscal year. Nintendo reveals that the global tie ratio for software on Wii is 6.07, while the DS enjoys a 5.24. The company expects an 8.8% operating profit increase in FY09 to $5.14 billion -- that's probably being conservative, again.[Via GameDaily]
