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Majesco doubting 'ability to continue' following layoffs
Majesco has fallen on hard times, as the Cooking Mama publisher "implemented a reduction of our workforce to reduce our fixed costs," according to recent SEC filings. The company's layoffs came at the very end of October, just after its independent label Midnight City launched Costume Quest 2 on PS3 and PS4. The publisher reported a net loss of $2.7 million in September for the quarter ending July 31 as well as a net revenue of $2.9 million, a 27.2 percent drop year-over year. When pointing to the earnings report in a November 6 filing, Majesco said it "suffered losses that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern." Likewise, Majesco is "currently not developing any significant new games for release in fiscal 2015," a period that ends on October 31, 2015. The three games slated to launch during that time are Hello Kitty and Sanrio Friends 3D Racing for 3DS, Gone Home's console port courtesy of Midnight City and Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms for PC, which is currently available in early access form on Steam. [Image: Majesco]
Bandai Namco income, sales up in first half of fiscal 2015
Bandai Namco's first half of fiscal year 2015 – April 1, 2014, to September 30, 2014 – is on the up and up: Net income hit 21.3 million yen ($184,000), an increase of 8.5 percent year over year, and net sales hit 259.3 million yen ($2.2 million), an increase of 13.5 percent. Operating income is up 20.8 percent to 31.9 million yen ($276,000), and recurring income increased 16.9 percent to 33.4 million yen ($289,000). So far in the fiscal year, Bandai Namco has shipped 50 games in Japan with 2.6 million unit sales, and 18 games in the US with 2.8 million unit sales. So far in Bandai Namco's 2015, it's sold 65,000 copies of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution in Japan, the US and Europe; 50,000 copies of One Piece Unlimited World Red; 40,000 copies of Sword Art Online Hollow Fragment; and 40,000 copies of Super Robot Wars Z 3 (Japan only). The company switched its name from Namco Bandai to Bandai Namco on April 1, 2014. [Image: Bandai Namco]
EA's quarterly net revenue is up, apparently in spite of SWTOR
Electronics Arts had a bit to say about Star Wars: The Old Republic in its November 4th quarterly report -- and none of it good. The publisher named the sci-fi MMO as one of the properties that had decreased in revenue over the period. While EA's net revenue is up $295 million across the board, "this increase was partially offset by a $181 million decrease in revenue primarily from the SimCity, Crysis and Dead Space franchises, and Star Wars: The Old Republic." It remains to be seen whether next month's Shadow of Revan expansion will give the MMO a healthy bump in revenue when it is released.
Disney Infinity takes Interactive division into profit and beyond
Disney Interactive posted $116 million in annual operating profit, which is the first time Disney's gaming arm has made a yearly gain under its current setup. The figure represents the division's profit for the fiscal year that ended September 27, 2014, underlining the impact of Disney Infinity and its array of collectible figures since launching in August 2013. It's not all been plain sailing for Disney Interactive this year, after the division reportedly laid off around 700 employees in March 2014, roughly a quarter of its staff. Disney Interactive President James Pitaro said at the time, "These are large-scale changes as we focus not just on getting to profitability but sustained profitability and scalability." A month later, Pitaro revealed Disney Infinity had notched 3 million starter pack sales and an estimated $500 million in revenue. The game's follow-up, Disney Infinity: 2.0 Edition, launched with a Marvel-boosted line-up in mid-September. In its financial statement, Disney said the sequel's shorter window ahead of the fiscal results "partially offset" the Interactive division's Q4 profit of $18 million, which was still up from the previous year's figure of $16 million.
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]
Lenovo is the new king of the PC and tablet hill
Did you know that Lenovo had planned to become the world's biggest PC and tablet maker by the end of 2016? It turns out that the company's achievement was even greater than its ambition, since the milestone has been reached six financial quarters early. In Lenovo's latest earnings release, the company trumps its new status as king of the PC (and tablet) world, having made a healthy $262 million net profit for the three months between July and September. Some of the highlights include a big upswing in tablet and smartphone sales, as well as a big boost from the enterprise businesses its keeps buying from IBM. At the same time, Lenovo has decided to add Yahoo co-founder (and current Alibaba board member) Jerry Yang to its board, because that's the sort of thing a company does when it's making serious bank.
Activision rakes in $753 million in revenue for Q3 [Update]
Activision reported $753 million in net revenue for the third quarter (ending September 30), a nine percent increase over the publisher's $691 million in revenue recorded for the same period last year. A record 67 percent of the company's revenue came from digital channels, according to Activision's Q3 2014 financial report. The company also reported a $23 million net loss, a sizable drop from its $56 million in income reported in the same quarter last year. Looking ahead, Activision raised its full-year projections by 2 percent thanks to the positive Q3 results. It now expects to earn $4.325 billion in net revenue in 2014, $1.492 billion of which is expected in the next quarter. Besides the continued sales of its hit MMO-meets-shooter, Destiny, Activision will report sales in Q4 for another FPS that just arrived this week, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. The publisher's popular mobile CCG Hearthstone will land on iPhone and Android phones early next year and Android tablets by the end of this year, having already reached 20 million downloads in September. Update: Activision also noted that Destiny reached 9.5 million registered players in its report. The publisher clarified to Engadget that "registered users" "refers to unique PlayStation Network / Xbox Live accounts, while multiple characters per account are not factored in." [Image: Activision]
PlayStation Plus subscriber count adds up to 7.9 million
7.9 million users are signed up to PlayStation Plus, a figure Sony said was a factor behind the success of the company's games division last quarter. Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Kenichiro Yoshida divulged the subscriber count during Sony's investors call, following its earnings release last week. When asked about the PlayStation division's prolific second quarter which saw an 83.2 percent year-on-year improvement in revenue, Yoshida first put down the momentum to Destiny and FIFA 15, noting both games contributed "quite significantly." He then added that "at the same time" the PS Plus subscription service had reached "7.9 million members."
PS4 sales up to 13.5 million consoles
Sony reported 309.5 billion yen in sales ($2.77 billion) for its Game and Network Services division for the second quarter, ending September 30. It represents an 83.2 percent improvement year-over-year thanks to the continued success of the company's latest home console, PlayStation 4. Shipments for the PS4 have now reached 13.5 million, as the company moved 3.3 million units during the quarter. The Games and Network Services division also posted an operating income of 21.8 billion yen ($195 million), a massive increase compared to the 4.8 billion yen ($43 million) reported in the last quarter and the 4.2 billion yen loss ($37.6 million) year-over-year. While the gaming division thrives, Sony itself is in the red, reporting an 85.6 billion yen operating loss ($766 million). The company increased its loss forecast in September due to its struggling smartphone sales. [Image: Sony]
HTC's recovery stays on track by the slimmest of margins
When a company like HTC has been on a year-long losing streak, it's hard to work out if its earnings for this quarter are a cause for celebration or despair. Last quarter, you see, the One M8 helped the company achieve a huge turnaround, pulling down a $92 million profit after a series of losses. This time out, the news is goodish, since while the company did make a profit, it was just $19 million - but considering that HTC was losing money this time last year, it's better than nothing. As far as products are concerned, the M8 is still doing well, and lower-end phones like the Desire 610 and 820 are getting plenty of attention from carriers and consumers. Hopefully sales of the HTC-made Nexus 9 and the RE camera will help the company maintain its promise to keep raking in cash rather than handing out IOUs.
Sony loses a little less money thanks to the PlayStation 4 (update)
If you're rooting for Sony to pull through recent tough times, it's still a cliffhanger, according to its latest earnings report. On the plus side, PS4 sales have been stellar, up 83 percent over last year at 310 billion yen ($2.8 billion). The good news drops off sharply from there, however, especially with mobile. Though sales in that division were up slightly from last year, it managed to lose 172 billion yen ($1.5 billion). Since most of Sony's other divisions fared okay, that means its 86 billion yen ($770 million) operating loss can be directly chalked up to its mobile division. Though it warned investors that smartphone sales would be dismal, Sony decided nevertheless decided to fire its mobile division's CEO, Kunimasa Suzuki, and replace him with VP Hiroki Totoki. Update: Additional figures from Sony have shown us just how well the PlayStation 4 is doing: the company says it's sold 3.3 million over the past quarter. For contrast, Microsoft announced combined Xbox 360 and Xbox One shipments of 2.4 million in its latest financial results.
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]
Take-Two reports slight bump in revenue for Q2
Take-Two reported $126.3 million in revenue for the second quarter (ending September 30), a slight increase compared to the $125.4 million in revenue the publisher reported last quarter. It also represents a 15.1 percent decline compared to the same quarter last year, a period that itself didn't benefit from the launch of GTA 5, but rather The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and Borderlands 2 GOTY. By comparison, Take-Two didn't have many releases in the past quarter, save for three mobile games: Civilization Revolution 2, BioShock and WWE SuperCard. The company also reported a net loss of $41.4 million for the quarter, representing a 66.7 percent improvement year-over-year, yet a 16.9 percent decline from its net losses for the last quarter ($35.4 million). With games like NBA 2K15, WWE 2K15, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Civilization: Beyond Earth arriving during the following quarter, Take-Two increased its non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) net revenue projections from $745 million to $760 million for Q3 2015. [Image: Take-Two]
Sales, income down in Capcom's Q2 financial report
Capcom's Q2 financial results remain gloomy, with net sales down by 51.3 percent and operating income down by 41.6 percent over the same period in 2013. This marks the second consecutive quarter in which the Street Fighter publisher posted declining sales. The culprit, Capcom believes, is a lack of any major releases during the period. Ultra Street Fighter 4, Dead Rising 3 and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy all "posted steady sales," but without a major new product Capcom has only these relatively dated games to rely on. Capcom's arcade division wasn't much help, either. Net arcade sales dropped by 11.7 percent "due to the decentralization of the entertainment industry, a lack of products that attract new customers" and a shrinking market for those arcades that still exist. Despite all of this, Capcom remains optimistic that it will reach its earlier projections of net sales totalling $740.3 million by the end of the 2014 fiscal year. [Image: Capcom]
Nintendo sales jump as Smash Bros. 3DS sells over 3 million
Nintendo posted a profit of 24.2 billion yen ($224 million) in the last quarter, ending September 30, a sizable resurgence for the company following its 9.9 billion yen loss in the previous quarter. The company also reported 96.7 billion yen in net sales ($895 million), a 29.5 percent jump compared to the last quarter. Nintendo's sales increases are thanks in no small part to Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, which sold 3.22 million copies worldwide since its mid-September launch in Japan. Smash Bros. sales coupled well with the 1.27 million 3DS systems shipped for the quarter, bringing the total number of 3DS systems shipped to 45.4 million to date. Nintendo also reported an increase in Wii U hardware shipments to the tune of 100,000 units (610,000 for the quarter), a 19.6 percent boost over the previous three months. That brings the life-to-date shipments of Wii U systems to 7.29 million consoles worldwide. Despite the positive showing for the quarter, Nintendo did not make any adjustments to its forecasts for the fiscal year. [Image: Nintendo]
Nintendo suddenly resurgent on the strength of Super Smash Bros.
Super Smash Bros. isn't just fun to play, it also gave Nintendo a fun financial quarter. For the first time in a while, the Japanese company turned a profit, 24 billion yen worth ($224 million) to be exact. That's a big (Wii) U-turn over last quarter, when it managed to lose 9.9 billion yen ($97 million). Overall, Nintendo sold 3.2 million copies of Super Smash Bros. worldwide and 1.3 million 3DS units, not bad considering that sales started late in the quarter. Plus, the game hasn't even launched yet on the Wii U, but sales of that console were also up 22 percent in anticipation of the November 21st launch. Along with upcoming Amiibo figurines, all that should set Nintendo up for a nice Christmas quarter. Despite the good news, however, overall sales are still down 12.8 percent over last year -- and Super Smash Bros. games don't come along every day.
LG sells a record-breaking 16.8 million smartphones, doubles profit in the process
As Samsung struggles and Apple starts to encroach on the Android mainstay of giant screens, LG's smartphones are doing alright. In fact they're doing pretty darn well. Announcing a record number of smartphones sold and the best quarter in five years, LG's sales totaled 16.8 million devices and the company announced an operating profit of $450 million, roughly double from the same period last year. Shipments of the mobile arm leapt 39 percent, although the good news was tempered (if only a little), by lower operating profits in the same quarter from its Home Appliance and a $2.44 million operating loss from its Air Conditioning arm, although LG reckons weather conditions were the cause for lower sales in its native Korea. TV and Home Entertainment profits increased five percent, with demand for LCD TVs increasing across the world. LG expects its high-end 4K displays will be responsible for some more impressive financial results later this year -- and probably hopes you're already saving up for the holiday season.
EA reports 18% drop in revenue, increased projections
Electronic Arts reported $990 million in net revenue for the three-month period ending September 30, the publisher revealed in its second quarter of fiscal 2015 financial results. That represents an 18.5 percent decline from the $1.21 billion in revenue reported in the last quarter, though it's also a 42.4 percent increase year-over-year. EA also posted a net income of $3 million, a massive improvement compared to its $273 million loss reported at the same time last year. While EA's digital revenue slipped 5.2 percent from $536 million to $508 million in the past quarter, it still represents a 12.9 percent increase year-over-year. EA stated back in August that it hopes to earn $1 billion from add-on content this year, and its Ultimate Team sales in the NHL, FIFA and Madden series may continue to help with that. EA reported a 96 percent increase in revenue on a non-GAAP basis (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) from those three series' Ultimate Team modes over the past year. The publisher also adjusted its expectations for the fiscal year (ending March 31, 2015), adding $75 million to its projections to total $4.375 billion. As for the next quarter, EA expects an increase in net revenue during the holiday season to $1.1 billion. EA also revealed the release date for its popular military shooter in the financial report: Battlefield Hardline will launch on March 17, 2015. [Image: EA]
Mobile pushes Facebook to even greater heights, expect more stand-alone apps
...And Facebook's march towards utter market dominance continues unabated. While Twitter enjoys plenty of success, and we're sure someone out there still uses Google+, there's no denying that the king of the social networking hill is Facebook. And during the third quarter of 2014 the company did nothing but extend that lead. In particular the number of mobile users continued to explode at an impressive rate. The average number of monthly mobile users in September was 1.12 billion. (To put that in perspective: Twitter announced just 284 million monthly users across all platforms.) That's 29 percent more than last year. Most impressively many of those users check in every day. The average daily number of mobile users during the quarter was 703 million. And when you take the desktop into account, usage balloons to 864 million per day -- or about 64 percent of its users.
Roku wants to grow its media hub empire with a public stock filing
Roku frequently comes across as the little media player company that could: its streaming box business is growing in spite of much larger competition. As healthy as it is, though, this upstart now appears eager to join the big leagues. Tipsters for both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times claim that Roku is planning to file an initial public stock offering (IPO) that could net as much as $150 million, roughly doubling what it raised through private investments. The details of just how and when this would happen are still murky, but the company said earlier this month that it's near turning a profit. It may wait until it's in the black and can put its best foot forward. If the IPO does happen, though, you should expect Roku to grow quickly. It's already striking deals with TV makers and has the support of major broadcasters -- the extra cash could both put more big-name services on your existing Roku box and improve the range of devices you can buy at the store.
