fy-2012
Latest
THQ earnings forecast improves due to Saints Row 3 sales, DLC
Are you ready for this? It's ... good news about THQ's finances. The company is revising its earnings forecast for the quarter ending March 31, now reporting expectations of "non-GAAP net sales of $160 million to $170 million, which is above the company's previous outlook of non-GAAP net sales in the range of $130 million to $150 million." Non-GAAP earnings include "adjustments" or other non-recurring costs that aren't included in the standardized GAAP numbers companies are required to report.Unfortunately, there's still some less-than-stellar news: The report will also have to account for "approximately $30 million to $50 million" in non-cash software development charges, "resulting from decisions made related to the company's previously-announced product strategy." A THQ representative tells Joystiq that these kinds of "charges" actually reflect a shift in expected performance of certain software – including the no-longer MMO Warhammer 40K Dark Millennium. As for why the company is doing less poorly than expected, THQ cites three factors: Saints Row the Third, of which THQ has now shipped over four million units; "higher-than-expected digital sales" ... mostly of Saints Row DLC; and "slightly" better sales of UFC Undisputed 3 than predicted.
Sega's home game division posts losses, Mario & Sonic a bright spot
Sega's "Game Contents" division (i.e. home video games) was down 5.1% for the nine-month period ending December 31, with the company reporting 63.5 billion yen ($833 million) in net game sales from the division ... and 5.5 billion yen in total losses. As for reasoning, Sega said only that "in the overseas markets, sales of the new titles remained slow as affected by adverse market condition." Best we can tell, that "adverse market condition" refers to our economies all being really, really terrible.The publisher shared sales numbers for its major releases. Sonic Generations sold 1.63 million copies across four platforms (Wii, PS3, PC, and the 3DS Generations game). Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games outsold it with 2.39 million copies -- despite not being released in Japan yet, and only being on one platform at the time, the Wii. And, uh, despite being a Mario & Sonic Olympics minigame collection. Hatsune Miku Project Diva Extend for PSP (released in Japan only) was the other named hit, with 290,000 copies.Looking up at Sega's sales by platform, it's worth noting that Sega's single PlayStation Vita release, Virtua Tennis 4 (called Power Smash 4 in Japan) sold just 10,000 copies between the Vita launch date of December 17 and the end of the year. That ... doesn't seem very good.
THQ no longer manufacturing uDraw hardware
THQ will no longer manufacture uDraw hardware, according to its fiscal 2012 third quarter financial report. "Sales of the uDraw GameTablet and related software, and other titles in the kids, family and casual category were far weaker than anticipated, substantially reducing our financial results for the quarter," reported THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell.The uDraw is seemingly out of picture at this point, as the publisher "has no future commitments or plans to manufacture uDraw hardware." The Wii version of the tablet proved to be a success for THQ in 2010, leading the company to produce versions for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Sales of uDraw on Sony and Microsoft's platforms were underwhelming, however, leading the company to lower financial forecasts at the end of 2011.THQ now plans to focus on "premium core and fighting franchises." The report doesn't specify whether or not THQ will continue to produce software for uDraw, though it seems unlikely given the transition away from children's products. Unless someone is working on a Saints Row art game, of course.
EA sees $205 million net loss in Q3, rise in social-games users
EA recorded a net loss of $205 million, but its highest operating cash flow in 31 quarters for the fiscal third quarter ending December 31, 2011. In Q3 2011, EA generated $1.06 billion in net revenue, which is up from the previous Q3, with a net revenue of $1.05 billion. EA's cash flow from operations is recorded at $475 million.EA's Battlefield 3 and FIFA 12 have each sold more than 10 million units, while Madden 12 sold almost 5 million. PopCap, which EA acquired in August, grew revenue 30 percent on a trailing 12-month basis, and its monthly active users for social games rose to 52 million, up from 39 million the previous year.
uDraw hasn't fared so well on Xbox 360 and PS3, THQ lowers its forecast
THQ has lowered its earnings forecast for the third quarter of the 2012 fiscal year, citing underwhelming sales of its recently multiplatform uDraw tablet. THQ CEO Brian Farrell explained in a press release, "Despite uDraw's strong success on the Wii in fiscal 2011 and market research indicating strong demand for uDraw on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, initial sales of our uDraw tablet and software on these high-definition platforms have been weaker than expected." As a result, the company is lowering its original sales guidance of between $510 million and $550 million by "approximately 25 percent," which is a large number of millions (at least $127.5 million). We'll know how poorly the device did when third quarter results drop next February. Until then, Farrell assures investors that "WWE '12 and Saints Row: The Third are expected to perform at or better than the levels we discussed on our fiscal 2012 second quarter earnings call." We guess folks are just more into simulated violence and genuine bonersword violence than they're into drawing things with their kids.
Take-Two earns $107m in second fiscal quarter, thanks to L.A. Noire
Take-Two Interactive recently released its financial figures for the second quarter of the 2012 fiscal year, boasting "better-than-expected" net revenue of $107 million. That figure -- driven largely by L.A. Noire and MLB 2K11 sales -- pales in comparison to the company's $245 million in earnings from the same period last year. Of course, that period last year had Civilization 5, Mafia 2 and Red Dead Redemption on the docket, so there's that. Despite the surprise upswing, Take-Two didn't revise its expectations for the entire fiscal year, during which it hopes to earn around $1 billion in revenue. Though they didn't explicitly say so, we're assuming they've revised expectations for whichever quarter Grand Theft Auto V will launch in to "three bajillionty dollars."
Capcom sales down year-over-year, due to lack of 'major titles'
Capcom released its earnings for the first half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012 (which puts the halfway point at September 30). Net sales are down year-over-year, from 40.7 billion yen ($522 million) in 2010 to 29.3 billion yen ($375.1 million) in 2011. Net income is down 878 million yen ($11.3 million). Capcom attributes the downward trend to the fact that "no major titles were launched in Consumer Online Games business." As for the titles that did come out in that period, Capcom sold 450,000 units of the Japan-only Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD Ver., the PS3 port of the PSP hit. Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition brought Oni into 400,000 homes worldwide, and Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D also sold 400,000 worldwide. "These figures are shipment volumes," president Haruhiro Tsujimoto noted in his summary of the results, "so digital downloads are on top of those figures." The second half of Capcom's year will be anchored by the December 10 launch of Monster Hunter Tri-G in Japan (of which Capcom expects to sell 1.2 million copies), and Dragon's Dogma (1.5 million), Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (2 million), and Street Fighter X Tekken (2 million) worldwide. Oh, and Snoopy's Street Fair for iPhone. In a Q&A, the publisher said it "will consider launching [Monster Hunter Tri-G] overseas," but hasn't come to a decision yet. Capcom also announced that it's merging its North American subsidiaries, Capcom USA and Capcom Entertainment, Inc. In other news, Capcom had two North American subsidiaries.
Deus Ex boosts Square Enix's half-year forecast [update: official results posted]
Square Enix issued a change to its most recent six-month forecast of earnings, now that it's had the benefit of actually experiencing those six months (April-September 2011). That has a tendency to make predictions a bit more accurate. The revision is a slight increase in net sales, from ¥56 billion ($718 million) to ¥57 billion ($730 million), and a whopping 146.7% increase in net income. These increases come thanks to the success of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and "increased billing revenue" from web, social, and mobile games. Thanks to the unusually strong yen, Square Enix had the misfortune of marking an additional "foreign exchange loss" of ¥2.1 billion ($27 million). That's a lot of money to just have disappear. Update: Square has posted its official results and the predictions, unsurprisingly, were right on the money. Net sales reached ¥57.5 billion and net income of ¥3.7 billion ($47.4 million).
Sega game sales down in first half of fiscal 2012; Rise of Nightmares fails to hit the heights
The net sales for Sega Sammy's consumer division were down 13.7% year over year in the six months ended September 30. Sega brought in 33.4 million yen ($428,655) from its home game business, part of the 152.6 million yen in overall net sales. The 29.9% slump in company-wide net sales is mostly attributed to a slowdown in demand for new pachinko machines and "the settlement payment for patent licensing". Within the consumer business, Sega cited "weak" sales of its titles, especially in the west, which, Sega claims, continues to experience "headwinds such as sluggish personal consumption." Sega named three "major titles" released in the period, and detailed their sales. Captain America: Super Soldier, released only in the west, sold 450,000 units across four platforms. Rise of Nightmares sold 200,000 worldwide. The other major release, the Japan-only PSP soccer management sim Sakatsuku 7 Euro Plus, also sold 200,000.
Take-Two profits down in first quarter of Red Dead-free fiscal year
Take-Two's net revenue for its first quarter of fiscal 2012 (which ended June 30) represents a downturn year-over-year -- $334.4 million versus fiscal 2010's $375.4 million (Take-Two shifted its fiscal calendar since then, in case you're wondering why we're comparing Q1 2012 with Q3 2010), with a net loss of $8.7 million instead of profits of $26.3 million. Last year around this time, of course, everyone on Earth was buying Red Dead Redemption, pushing Take-Two's profits into the stratosphere. With the game sold to all of Earth's residents to date, that leaves only babies born in the interim as the audience for new copies of the game; that market of babies has done well enough for the company to count RDR and its Undead Nightmare expansion as one of the leading products in this quarter, with 2 million retail copies of Undead Nightmare shipped life-to-date and 9 million Red Dead Redemptions. Other leaders include Duke Nukem Forever, LA Noire, NBA 2K11 and Carnival Games: Monkey See, Monkey Do.
Namco game sales increase in Q1, income on the rise
Namco Bandai has released the financial results (PDF) for the first quarter of its fiscal 2012, which ended June 30. Worldwide game sales – accounting for a total of eleven new titles – rose to 3.38 million units, up from 3.15 million units during the same period last year. With the help of growing arcade machine and amusement facility business, Namco's net income reached ¥3.25 billion ($42.1 million), a big improvement over last year's ¥1.64 billion ($21.3 million) loss. The 3DS proved to be a top performer for the company, with its four titles for the new handheld moving a combined 622,000 units. In particular, 3DS titles One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP and Tales of the Abyss sold 170,000 and 150,000 copies, respectively. Meanwhile, the US release of Ridge Racer 3D moved 90,000 copies. Get a full breakdown at the Source link.
THQ disappointed in Red Faction performance, thinks fiscal Q3 could be its best ever
Despite the fact that net sales were up year-over-year in THQ's fiscal Q1 (which ended June 30), from $149.4 million to $195.2 million, CEO Brian Farrell still wasn't satisfied. "We are disappointed in our first quarter financial performance," he said in the earnings release. "Sales of Red Faction: Armageddon and our licensed kids titles were below our expectations, and the late release of UFC Personal Trainer also adversely impacted the quarter." Of course, that disappointment is probably due to the fact that even with increased net sales, the company came out negative, with a net loss of $38.4 million. Most of the "losses" are from "deferred revenue" -- revenue that the company isn't counting now, because it'll go toward ongoing online services for its games. However, Farrell is looking forward to a profitable Q3 (October through December) -- so profitable, in fact, that he said THQ expects it to be "the biggest third quarter, both in revenue and earnings per share, in our company's history," thanks to Saints Row: The Third, WWE 12, and the PS3/Xbox 360 versions of the uDraw tablet, all scheduled for November releases.
EA sees dip in physical sales for Q1 2012, increase in digital
Thanks to a somewhat limited release line-up which included Portal 2, Alice: Madness Returns, Shadows of the Damned and Darkspore, EA saw sales in its packaged goods division slip during the first quarter of its 2012 fiscal year. The four titles (among other back catalog releases) raked in a net non-GAAP revenue of $195 million, a decrease from the $298 million packaged games pulled in during the same period last year. However, a steady increase in digital sales softened the blow to the company's bottom line, pulling in a total non-GAAP revenue of $524 million, down from $539 million from last year's first quarter. EA's counting on both digital sales and packaged goods (supported by big-name releases like Battlefield 3 and the back-on-track Madden 12) to continue to grow as the year goes forward, and has increased its net revenue guidance for the entire fiscal year by nearly $100 million.
Crysis 2 ships 3 million
The most memorable sales numbers we've heard about an EA game recently were not good (see: Shadows of the Damned's disappointing debut). EA has some much happier numbers to report (about other games) in its latest quarterly earnings report. According to the report, Crysis 2 has "sold in" (shipped) "approximately three million units" since its March release, adding another million since last quarter. You want some more big numbers? How about 15 million FIFA 11 shipments (including various mobile and downloadable versions), and 9 million of Battlefield Bad Company 2? The document is full of large numbers in various denominations; we'll talk about some of the others soon.
Ubisoft Q1 sales down 36 percent from last year
The latest Ubisoft financial report for the first quarter of its 2012 fiscal year is a tough pill to swallow for everyone who loved Q Entertainment's stunning rhythm-shooter, Child of Eden. The company's sales for the quarter reached €103 million, a decline of 36.3% from the €161 million reported during the same period during FY 2011. The quarter wasn't a total wash -- sales actually exceeded Ubisoft's expectations of €90 million thanks to strong back-catalog sales (thanks, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood!), successful digital titles like Outland and Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes, and the massive worldwide sales of Michael Jackson: The Experience. Still, in a perfect world, Ubisoft's financial report would just show the logo for Child of Eden, then a picture of Tetsuya Mizuguchi rolling around in an Olympic swimming pool filled with hundred-dollar bills.
Red Faction: Armageddon coming May 2011; new Saints Row next fall
THQ today published a "core games" release calendar, highlighted by the revised May 2011 date given for Red Faction: Armageddon, which pushes it out of a crowded first quarter -- but just a few months beyond the initially proposed date. The calendar spans the publisher's fiscal 2012 (April 2011 – March 2012) and also includes a Spring 2011 release window for MX vs. ATV Alive, followed by the planned summertime launch of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. A new Saints Row game (or games?) and a WWE iteration are expected next fall. Additionally, an upcoming UFC title has been slated for Winter 2012 (January–March 2012). Of course, all dates are "subject to change," THQ notes.
