q2-2014
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Square Enix reports year-over-year increase in sales, income
Square Enix reported 35.4 billion yen ($308.6 million) in net sales for the second quarter, ending September 30. While that represents a 6.3 percent drop from the company's first quarter results, its six-month net sales of 73.1 billion yen ($637.9 million) is an 18.6 percent boost year-over-year. As for Square Enix's digital entertainment and gaming division, it saw 43.8 billion yen in net sales ($382 million) for the six month period, a 43.1 percent increase year-over-year. The publisher's net income also dropped 32.7 percent for the quarter to 2.3 billion yen ($20 million). Its half-year measures for net income reached 5.7 billion yen ($49.7 million), a 118.8 percent increase over the same six-month period last year. Square Enix is projecting between 150 billion and 160 billion yen ($1.3 billion - $1.4 billion) in net sales for the full year, ending in March 2015, and between 7 billion and 10.5 billion yen ($61 million - $91.6 million) in net income. [Image: Square Enix]
Ubisoft beats Q2 projections, reports digital revenue surge
Ubisoft revealed today that it earned 124.1 million euros (approximately $156.6 million) in revenue during the second fiscal quarter of 2014 ending September 30, marking a decrease of nearly 43 percent compared to the €217.7 million ($274.8 million) earned in the same quarter last year. The report beats projected quarterly revenue of €85.0 million, however, and represents a sharp rise in sales for the first half of 2014-15. Ubisoft earned a total of €484.2 million in revenue during the first half of 2014-15, putting it far ahead of the €293.3 million reported during first-half 2013-14. The company attributes its gains to continued sales of Watch Dogs and other flagship releases. "The very strong momentum we saw at the beginning of the fiscal year carried on into the second quarter and enabled us to once again exceed our performance expectations," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said. "Ubisoft continued to capitalize on the popularity of new consoles, the successful launch of Watch Dogs, the quality of its back catalog and the considerable growth of the digital segment. Consequently, our operating income and cash flows improved significantly during the period." Ubisoft additionally reports a 90.4% increase in digital revenue for the first half of 2014-15, compared to last year's results. The company earned €113.7 million during the period from back-catalog sales, and reports €134.7 million in total digital revenue for first-half 2014-15.Reported sales by platform indicate that Ubisoft earned 21 percent of its quarterly revenue on the PlayStation 4, while Xbox One sales account for 9 percent. PlayStation 3 platform sales pulled in 19 percent, PC revenue clocks in at 17 percent, and Xbox 360 game sales earned 16 percent of Ubisoft's Q2 revenue. [Image: Ubisoft]
Everything's coming up Gamestop in Q2 2014
Global sales, new hardware and software sales, mobile and consumer electronics sales and net earnings were all up year-over-year for GameStop in Q2 2014, according to the company's latest financial statement. Global sales were up 25 percent to $1.73 billion. New hardware sales more than doubled, jumping from $148 million to $332 million in the quarter; GameStop attributed this increase to "very high" demand for Xbox One and PS4 systems. New software sales rose 16 percent from $430 million to $497 million, due to "the strong performance of recently-released new titles, such as Ubisoft's Watch Dogs and Nintendo's Mario Kart 8," GameStop said. Net earnings in Q2 2014 were up 134 percent from 2013, to $24.6 million. GameStop's largest sales driver was "pre-owned and value video game products," composing 32 percent of total sales. GameStop recently revamped its trade-in process, establishing four tiers of price points that take into account whether customers want cash or store credit, and whether they are PowerUp Rewards Pro members. [Image: GameStop]
Perfect World Entertainment continues to rake in money
Perfect World Entertainment continues its hot streak of revenue generation, posting gains both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year. The company released its Q2 2014 financials this past week, and reported revenues of $149.6 million, of which $138.8 million come from PWE's online games. Gross profit was $109.4 million during the same quarter. PWE CEO Robert Xiao attributed the company's financial success to Swordsman's release, Dota2's launch in China, and several new mobile titles. Xiao said that the company was looking forward to releasing Legend of the Condor Heroes, as well as pushing Neverwinter into the Chinese market.
Samsung admits 'weak demand' for its phones is damaging profits
Samsung's marketing budget has always been vast, but in the last quarter it was far larger than even the manufacturer itself would have liked. The company admits that it's been forced to spend extra money on promotions for older and lower-end devices that have been filling up its warehouses due to "weak demand." This dip in trade, combined with the extra spend on publicity, is causing the company's recent, gradual profit decline to quicken: it now expects to earn around 24 percent less this quarter than it did a year ago, with underlying sales down by an estimated 8-11 percent.
HTC said the new One would help swing a profit, and it did
Though HTC lost money last quarter, it had just launched its One M8 flagship to great reviews, and promised the new handset would put a halt to the red ink. The (unaudited) numbers are now in and back up that boast. The company scored a NT$2.8 billion profit ($92 million) on NT$65 billion ($2.2 billion) in revenue, nearly matching sales from last year and turning around a streak of losses. That's a far cry from the Samsungs of the world, but still a shot of good news for the beleaguered company. To cash in on the new One's success, HTC recently launched a plastic-bodied version called the One M8 Ace and a cut-down One Mini. Whether those will help it keep up the momentum next quarter remains to be seen -- it often gets the post-flagship blues.
Apple announces Q2 2014 earnings call, increases App Store pricing for some countries and other news from March 31, 2014
Apple has announced its earnings call for the second fiscal quarter of 2014. The call will be April 23 at 2 p.m., and an audio webcast will be available. In addition to this, Apple also sent out an email to developers letting them know that because of changes in the foreign exchange rate, price increases will go into effect for Australia, India, Indonesia, Turkey and South Africa -- along with any country that uses their currency. Other news from Monday afternoon includes: Be sure to check out what Google has cooked up as its April Fool's joke. You can take part on an iOS device. Jury selection in the second Apple vs. Samsung trial is complete, and Apple's Phil Schiller is expected to take the stand on Tuesday. Apple has started to sell iPad Airs and Retina display iPad minis with TD-LTE in China, which is a huge boon for China Mobile customers. AppleInsider is reporting that some explicit-laden content is slipping through the profanity filters on iTunes Radio.
New FIFA World Cup game in development for Xbox One and PS4
During yesterday's investor call to discuss EA's second quarter of fiscal 2014 financial results, CEO Andrew Wilson noted that the publisher is working on a new FIFA World Cup expansion game. Additionally, CFO Blake Jorgensen brought up FIFA World Cup again when asked about next-gen games in development, indicating that the game will appear on Xbox One and PS4. It is unknown if the game will also be developed for current generation systems. "In the last two weeks, you've also seen several announcements about our product slate for the remainder of this year and into FY15," Wilson said. "We are refining our focus on our biggest brands and great new IP in development, including The Sims 4, EA Sports UFC, FIFA World Cup and Dragon Age: Inquisition." EA Sports traditionally launches a new World Cup-branded game in line with the global sporting event, which occurs every four years. The last game in the series was 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, which launched in April 2010. Given that the next World Cup is scheduled to begin in June 2014 in Brazil, a new entry in the sub-series is hardly surprising. The publisher's next-gen efforts will not include Tiger Woods in its future golf games, and Jorgensen also noted that Titanfall will be exclusive to Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC "for the life of the title" during the call. EA will launch the next-gen version of FIFA 14 along with the new consoles this coming month.
EA reports $273 million loss in second quarter of fiscal 2014
EA released its financial report for the second quarter of fiscal 2014, a period of time that stretched from July 2013 through the end of September, reporting a net loss of $273 million during that time. The publisher saw a two percent decline in net revenue compared to the same three-month time frame last year, as total revenue reported by EA in the last quarter was $695 million. This was a 26.8 percent decrease from the first quarter and was 11.2 percent above the company's projections for the second quarter. The company noted its decision to exclude its $40 million college football lawsuit settlement from its non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) financial measures and when "evaluating its operating performance and the performance of its management team during this period and will continue to do so when it plans, forecasts and analyzes future periods." The settlement was first announced in late September, at which point the publisher canceled the 2014 college football game that was no longer bearing the NCAA name. EA is projecting $775 million in net revenue for the third quarter, which ends December 31.
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Take-Two sees net loss of $124 million in Q2 without GTA 5 sales
Take-Two reported net revenue of $148.8 million in Q2 2014, down from $273.1 million the previous year. The company saw a net loss of $124.1 million, compared with $12.4 million in Q2 2013, and it has $661.9 million cash on-hand. Q2 ended September 30 and included the launch of The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and Borderlands 2 GOTY. All of these numbers ignore the fact that Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 5 launched during Q2 2014. Take-Two is pushing these sales figures to Q3 2014, since that's when Grand Theft Auto Online launched. Grand Theft Auto 5 raked in $1 billion in retail sales in three days and has shipped 29 million copies. Combine Grand Theft Auto 5 with holiday sales and Take-Two predicts non-GAAP net revenue in Q3 2014 to hit a high of $700 million, with the fiscal year ending at $2.3 billion on March 31. "Take-Two is increasing its financial outlook for fiscal year 2014 to reflect its strong fiscal second quarter results and positive outlook for the remainder of the year," Take-Two says.
FIFA's digital revenue tops $145 million in first half of fiscal 2014
EA's FIFA series has generated over $145 million in digital net revenue in the first half of fiscal 2014, a period that stretched from April 1, 2013 through September 30, 2013. The news came from EA's Q2 2014 earnings report, and was derived on a non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) basis. EA reported that FIFA's digital revenue saw an increase of 25 percent over the first half of fiscal 2013. The publisher reported $70 million in digital revenue from FIFA 13 in the first quarter of 2013. FIFA 14 launched at the end of September and features legendary soccer players in its popular Ultimate Team mode on Microsoft consoles, which accounts for a chunk of its digital revenue sales.
