profitable
Latest
Uber expects to be profitable by the end of 2020
Uber's year-end earnings show the company is still losing money, but it expects to turn things around by the end of 2020. In an earnings call today, Uber CFO Nelson Chai said the company plans to be profitable in the final quarter of this year. "We recognized the significant work remaining to get to this milestone, and our teams are focused on executing our plan," Chai said.
Amazon's search could push customers toward in-house products
Amazon reportedly tweaked its product-search algorithm to favor products that are more profitable to the company. People who worked on the algorithm say the change could give Amazon's own brands a boost, The Wall Street Journal reports. If Amazon is intentionally using search to promote its own goods, it will likely draw more criticism from antitrust regulators.
Epic's most profitable game is Infinity Blade for iOS
And here's why we're going to continue seeing AAA games makers getting involved in Apple's iOS platform: Epic Games reports that Infinity Blade, which has earned over $30 million in the past 18 months, is by far the company's most profitable title, "in terms of man-years invested versus revenue." Epic has some much bigger titles than the iOS (and Android) hack-and-slash game, including the uber popular console hit series Gears of War. But those games take much longer to produce, so in terms of time invested versus money gained, Infinity Blade is a much more profitable title. Now, that doesn't mean that every AAA studio out there can immediately switch from making console hits to freemium iOS titles -- not only is Infinity Blade a high quality game, but it benefits from Epic's reputation and ownership of the Unreal Engine, as well as unprecedented promotional support from Apple. But it's clear that there's a huge market in iOS, especially for AAA game developers with the experience and knowhow to make great games.
Final Fantasy XI is the most profitable in the franchise
Behold the power of MMOs to generate a Fort Knox of income. Square-Enix announced that out of all of the Final Fantasy games from 1987 through today, Final Fantasy XI has been the most profitable. This comes from Square-Enix President Yoichi Wada, who was hyping the title over the weekend amid the news of its upcoming expansion. Wada also said that if you tallied the accumulated play time of all current FFXI players, you'd end up with a mind-boggling 200,000 years /played. Final Fantasy XI recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and announced its first new expansion in six years, Seekers of Adouli.
Dev survey: 59% of app devs not breaking even
A marketing firm named App Promo has released some data on a developer survey it took, asking over 100 developers about how they were doing with selling and marketing their apps. Of those developers asked, over 59% told App Promo that they weren't even breaking even on the App Store. And a full 80 developers said they weren't making enough from App Store earnings to "support a standalone business." App Promo also discovered (though it's not quite as surprising, given that this survey was done by a marketing firm) that the biggest earners they talked to spent almost $30,000 on marketing for their apps, and dedicated up to 14% of their time promoting and selling the app itself. That makes sense -- apps with bigger budgets and marketing money are more likely to be seen in the busy App Store listings. Outside of App Promo's promotion here, that 59% stat means a lot. There is a lot of action on the App Store, it's true. But it's becoming harder and harder for individual developers to find a profitable place on Apple's platform.
Sprint: iPhone customers are "more profitable" than others
In an interview with Mobile World Live, Sprint's CEO Dan Hesse says that iPhone users are some of the best cellphone users to have around. Not only are iPhone customers "more profitable" (in that they just plain spend more money, given the price of the iPhone itself), but Hesse says iPhone users are also more loyal to Sprint (with "a lower level of churn"), and they actually use "less data on average than a high-end 4G Android device." That combination of more money coming in with fewer services going out means that iPhone customers are apparently just as premium as Sprint as the devices those customers use. That's probably why Hesse spent $15 billion last year to get the phone on his network in the first place. Given how happy he seems to be about the whole situation, it must have been worth it. [via Ars Technica & BGR]
Trion Worlds may go public following RIFT's success
Want to own a piece of your favorite MMO studio? If you're a fan of Trion Worlds, then you may yet get your chance. The company announced that it is mulling over a decision to put the company on the market with an IPO. CEO Lars Buttler says that it's just a matter of time at this point: "As we build scale and become more profitable, [an IPO] is clearly on our horizon at some point. We've had a lot of bankers coming to us recently. We keep all of our options open at this point. We definitely have enough substance and enough skill to be a public company at the right time." Trion has been doing well for itself lately, as it's doubled its staff in 2011 and raised $100 million from investments since 2007. RIFT's success has helped to convince the company that an IPO is a solid move. "RIFT is vastly profitable. It is profitable every single week and every single month," Buttler said. RIFT isn't Trion's only project, as the company is working on End of Nations, Defiance, and the Red Door publishing platform.
Found Footage: Box.net's iPad kickoff at D7 Consulting
A little while ago, I told you that Box.net had brought their iPads out here to California in order to give them away to D7 Consulting (originally given away thanks to a post here on TUAW). They also had a video team on site, and they've produced this little video that will show you what D7 is up to and what they are planning to do with all of those iPads. As I said in our previous post, this will be an interesting experiment. The folks at D7 Consulting are trying to figure out how they can use both the iPads and Box.net (along with a few other common apps) to benefit their business in a profitable and helpful way. This is the first of a few videos that Box.net is producing about the process. We'll also be doing some followup sessions with D7 to see how it is all working out. The iPad has been marketed as a consumer device, and it definitely is. However, it's also a very powerful computer, and it'll be interesting to see how these folks are able to integrate it into their everyday business, both in that office and out on the construction sites. Stay tuned for more.
The Xbox turns a profit!
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/The_Xbox_Finally_Turns_A_Profit'; In the last six years, there's been one constant when discussing Microsoft's foray into the strange and seductive world of video game console manufacturing: they had yet to turn a profit on any of it. No more, with today's announcement of Microsoft's second quarter earnings which showed a relatively impressive six-month income of $524 million (compared to a $423m loss during the same period last year) from the the Xbox's Entertainment and Devices Division.Before you go thinking that was all thanks to the Zune and PC game sales, the company's 10-Q filing states that the EDD's increased revenue was "primarily due to increased Xbox 360 platform sales." During the last six months they say Xbox platform and PC game revenue increased 35% as a result of "increased Xbox 360 console sales, video game sales led by Halo 3, Xbox Live revenues, and Xbox 360 accessory sales." (Sounds like EDD bossman Robbie Bach nailed it).The 6.1 million Xbox 360 consoles and 4.82 million copies of Halo 3 sold in the first half of fiscal '08 sure helped, but so did "decreased Xbox 360 manufacturing costs" and "a decline in Xbox 360 platform marketing expenses" – it's costing less to build them and less to promote the brand. But they'll need to hold on far longer than one quarter to make their sojourn into the living rooms of America worthwhile; for the rest of fiscal '08 they "expect revenue to increase due to increased sales of Xbox 360 consoles and related games, accessories, and services." Yup, that sounds about right.[Via GameDaily]
Microsoft's Xbox 360 to finally become profitable in 2008?
It's fairly safe to assume that Microsoft as a whole ain't hurtin' in the wallet, but for its Xbox platform, the positive cash flow is (possibly) just around the corner. According to an interview with Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, the firm's gaming business "will be profitable next year," which will certainly be a breath of fresh air considering how much loot it has been losing for years in the arena. Still, it's not like any major competitors aren't suffering through the same pains, and while the Big N is smiling all the way to the bank with the profits it makes on every Wii sold, we're glad that at least a few consoles are offering up high-definition and true online play regardless of the cost. Obviously, the continual decrease in component costs are making the consoles cheaper to produce, but Bach went so far as to point out that (overpriced) peripherals, an increased user base on Xbox Live, and software sales would be the primary margin drivers next year. So now that the Xbox 360 is looking rosy, what's to be done about the Zune?[Via Joystiq]
Toshiba exec: HD DVD profitable, Xbox 360 to include HD DVD internally "soon"
Toshiba's $499 HD-A1 HD DVD is "priced to make a profit" according to Toshiba executive Mark Whittard, despite reports from iSuppli that it actually cost around $700 to make. He also sought to clarify statements made by CEO Atsutoshi Nichida recently calling for unification between HD DVD and Blu-ray, and Toshiba's long term strategy for HD DVD. Their plan is to "stitch up" relationships with movie studios to ensure more support for the format, enable third party manufacturers to produce rebadged HD DVD players and increase its exposure in the marketplace. As far as unification? That is "just good business sense", since a format war confuses customers and shrinks the market. He remarks that Blu-ray does have some strong features, but thinks HD DVD matches up comparatively well, especially with support from Intel, Microsoft and HP.Finally, the launch of the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on is mentioned, he expects Microsoft will release a version of the console with an internal HD DVD drive and that they will announce their plans to do so "fairly soon". We're not too sure about his statement that most of the studios who originally supported Blu-ray now have a foot in both camps, because Blu-ray still has an advantage there. It's good to see that someone realizes how much sense a unified high-def standard makes, however with the two sides both so firmly entrenched behind their format it's hard to see either one giving in to the other or even agreeing to a compromise anytime soon.[Update: Cesar from Microsoft's Gamerscore blog has posted that Microsoft has "no plans" to include an HD DVD drive in the 360 and are going forward with the aforementioned add-on, thanks Eli!]
