q2-2010
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Portal 2 delayed until April 20, 2011 [update]
Delayed disorientation dissertation news now, with Valve announcing a new Portal 2 release date. Dubbed "the shortest delay in Valve history," the schedule shift sees the story-driven spatial puzzler launching on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Mac on "the week of April 18th, 2011." Update: April 20th in North America, and April 22 in Europe, to be precise. Portal 2 was initially planned for holiday 2010, and then delayed until February 9th, 2011. Just think of it as a compassionate gesture -- rather than dropping a horrific, six-month delay on you all at once, it's being delivered episodically. Stay tuned!
Sony posts $852m profit: PS3, PC sales up
Sony got itself back in black with a $293m profit last quarter courtesy of improved PS3 and Bravia sales, and the good times continue: the company just posted a second-quarter profit of ¥68.7b ($852m). The Networked Products and Services division that encompasses PlayStation and VAIO was Sony's strongest performer, with revenue going up five percent to ¥369b ($4.6b) on top of 3.5m PS3 sales (a slight increase), a 40 percent increase in PS3 software sales to 35m units, and "significant hardware cost reductions." PC sales were up to 2.3m units from 1.4m units last year, and Bravia and digital camera sales also increased, to 4.9m and 6.2m units, respectively. Now for the bad news: PSP sales continued their precipitous decline, down 50 percent to 1.5m from 3.0m last year. By way of comparison, that's the same number of PS2s Sony shipped this past quarter -- maybe it's time to break out a totally new PlayStation Phone, eh, Sony?
Sony sees modest PS3 growth, dramatic decline in PSP sales in Q2 versus last year
Sony Corporation has released its earnings report for the second quarter of its 2010 fiscal year, and among the highlights is the performance of its Networked Products & Services division, which is composed of PlayStation and its PC offerings. Always a strong component of the company, the division once again showed growth, bringing in ¥369 billion ($4.6 billion) in revenue, up five percent from the ¥352 billion ($4.3 billion) earned in the same period last year. Looking at hardware sales, PS3 shipments rose slightly over Q2 of FY 2009, totaling 3.5 million units versus 3.2 million the year before, a change of 9.3 percent. In its report, Sony cites "strong performance of PS3 significant hardware cost reductions and higher sales," elsewhere briefly mentioning that sales "benefited from the introduction of PlayStation Move in the current quarter." PS3 software sales were up 10 million units for the quarter, or 40 percent, totaling 35 million units versus 25 million for Q2 FY 2009. Yesterday, Microsoft announced that shipments of Xbox 360 for the first quarter of its 2011 fiscal year had grown by 25 percent over the same time last year. While it may seem like 360 is pummeling PS3, it's important to note that Sony's console hasn't seen a hardware refresh since the PS3 slim's introduction last year; the Xbox 360 S launched just prior to Microsoft's Q1 FY 2011. The picture Sony's earnings report paints for the PSP is anything but encouraging. Sales of the handheld dropped to 1.2 million units for the quarter, down from 3 million during the same period in FY 2009, a decrease of 50 percent. PSP software sales were down -- albeit far less dramatically -- 15 percent, with 11 million units sold during the quarter compared to 13 million the previous year. Despite the handheld's lower performance this year versus last, Sony is only projecting a 20 percent overall drop in sales for the year, projecting sales of eight million units versus the 10 million in FY 2009. Still, if signs of a new platform in the PlayStation Phone weren't enough to signal the end of PSP's era, these numbers only make it clearer.
RIM posts impressive second quarter, expects even better third quarter
Coming off some negative press in the hands of the Torch, RIM would just like to remind everyone that it's still selling a crap ton of BlackBerrys... and it's got the cash to prove it. The company's second-quarter results are out, showing revenue growth of 31 percent year-over-year and shipment growth of 45 percent over the same period -- up to 12.1 million, meaning the company has now shipped a grand total of around 115 million devices bearing the BlackBerry label. Of those 12.1 million shipments, about 4.5 million accounted for new account activations, meaning that the company isn't simply keeping existing customers in the fold with new hardware -- it's still managing to sell noobs on the platform, too (or at the very least, there are still companies out there forcing BlackBerrys into new employees' pockets). Net income was up a tick against the prior quarter, though a stock repurchase of around $1.5 billion means that RIM finished out Q2 with significantly less cash on hand than it had in Q1, around $2.03 billion at the moment. The company's forecasting even better third quarter numbers, too, with somewhere between 5 and 5.4 million new account activations and EPS up another 16 to 24 cents. High hopes for the Curve 3G and BlackBerry 6 upgrades, perhaps?
GameStop misses earnings target, used games make up biggest profits
[Image by moe_ on Flickr] Despite 99 new stores, continued strong used game sales and better performance than the rest of the retail video game industry, GameStop reported less-than-expected earnings for this year's second quarter, and delivered a fall forecast lower than analysts expected. Analysts were looking for $1.82 billion in sales this past quarter, but apparently the $1.8 billion GameStop earned in actual sales (31.4 percent of which came from used game sales) just wasn't good enough. Additionally, GameStop executives tried to convince analysts that they'd actually be saving money by spending $10 on a membership card and subscription to Game Informer, but analysts weren't interested, claiming that "all they wanted was to play Red Dead Redemption." Further attempts to sell the card also failed, despite assurances of 10 percent off used game purchases in the future.
Dell's Q2 2010 sees 16 percent increase in net income, flat revenue from Consumer unit
First with HP, and now with Dell. The PC maker (and occasional phone dabbler) posted its second quarter fiscal 2010 report, which actually gives a good perspective on the relative position of each company in the global PC market. Whereas the House that Hurd once ran reported a $30.7 billion revenue and $2.3 billion operating profit, Dell posted $15.5 billion (up 22 percent) in revenue and $745 million operating income. Like we said earlier, operating income shouldn't be confused with net income, which deducts those massive corporate taxes. Looking at net, the company profited $545 million, up an impressive 16 percent year-over-year. Focusing on the Consumer unit, revenue was flat at $2.9 billion, while at the same time operating income incurred a $21 million loss. According to the press release, the company "remains confident that initiatives underway will improve operating margins for the segment." Is all this enough to quell irate shareholders? Chances are slim, but hey, it's a start.
Mad Catz sales down 11 percent in Q2, no thanks to Street Fighter 4
Activision isn't the only company that dropped financial facts on us today -- accessory maker Mad Catz also held a conference call to do some fiscal reporting, and the outlook wasn't so good over there. Q2 2010's net sales were reported as $19.9 million, which is down 11 percent from the same period last year. Mad Catz blamed the fall on a lack of Street Fighter 4 accessory sales, but said the rest of the year should be fine, with its official Rock Band 3's accessories plus an assortment of stands, cases, chargers and the like due out for Move and Kinect as well. Elsewhere in the report, Mad Catz notes that North American sales were the biggest loss, while sales in Europe and other countries rose. And while the Xbox 360 and Wii accessory sales held fairly steady, the PlayStation 3 saw a loss of about five points from 24 percent to 19. Audio products saw a big jump, which Mad Catz says is because of the recent Tritton Technologies acquisition.
Activision Q2 revenues down, earnings up
Activision has released its financial results for the second quarter of 2010, reporting revenues of $967 million. That's down from $1,038 million reported during the same period last year. Net income is up, however, with the company reporting earnings of $219 million, a 12 percent increase over last year's $195 million. Before you get too confused, know that costs were down dramatically, dropping from $820 million in Q2 2009 to $667 million this year, which led to the increased income. The driver behind Activision's results, according to CEO Bobby Kotick, was "strong consumer response" to the company's workhorse brands, World of Warcraft and Call of Duty. The report also mentions that Activision's digital sales "exceeded retail sales for the first time," having grown more than 20 percent year over year. Somehow, we're not terribly surprised. Looking forward, Kotick pointed to StarCraft 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops and the World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm as potential bright spots for the rest of the year. Specifically, Kotick noted that Black Ops pre-orders are already outpacing the number of Modern Warfare 2 pre-orders at this time last year.
T-Mobile's second quarter: revenue up, but customers still leaving
The good news for T-Mobile USA is that it seems to be moving upmarket thanks to a huge push into the smartphone space with devices like the HD2 and the myTouch 3G Slide -- enough of a push, in fact, so that it recorded slightly higher revenues in the second quarter of 2010 both year-over-year and against the first quarter ($5.36 billion in total). The bad news, though, is that it continues to lose customers -- roughly 93,000 this time around, 16,000 worse than the 77,000 it shed in the first three months of the year. Indeed, ARPUs were generally up over the first quarter, with data revenue up a whopping 18 percent against the second quarter of 2009; blended ARPU was down year-over-year, though, likely accounting at least in part for the $180 million decline in net income over the same period. With Sprint starting to add customers again, could this mean a merger's more appealing than ever? Follow the break for the full press release.
Garmin: revenue from phone segment in Q2 was 'below our plan'
Garmin's second-quarter results hit the wires this week, and overall, the company seems to be pretty healthy; its automotive, outdoor, aviation, and marine businesses all posted growth, average selling price was up, and shipped units grew a solid 8 percent year-over-year. If you read a little deeper, though, there's one segment that undelivered -- smartphones, a joint venture the company shares with ASUS -- which contributed $27 million in revenue in the last three months. $27 million in profit would be business as usual for a division of a company of Garmin's size, but $27 million in revenue is a drop in the bucket -- and sure enough, the earnings report goes on to say that the performance was "below [its] plan." They go on to say that they're "working aggressively with T‐Mobile and other carriers around the globe on the appropriate positioning and pricing of our devices in the competitive smartphone space," interesting wording considering our shock at the Garminfone's initial pricing (and the fact that it's more recently come down to $130 for new subscribers). In Garmin's own words, the smartphone business is competitive to say the least -- you can't waltz in with an overpriced first-gen product and expect the world -- so it'll be interesting to see how they adjust going forward.
LG, Samsung report earnings, phone businesses not in perfect health
South Korean archrivals Samsung and LG have both come clean with their second-quarter earnings this week. While there's still black ink across the board, LG suffered a 33 percent decline in net profit year-over-year, undoubtedly due in large part to a little bit of bleeding going on in the giant mobile division where they've posted a year-over-year loss "due to investment in R&D and expansion of channels in emerging markets for future development." Samsung, meanwhile, saw a 7.2 percent profit margin in its mobile business and a respectable 22 percent year-over-year improvement in shipments, but it came at the cost of higher price pressures -- margins are razor-thin for these guys, and they seem to be getting even smaller. The company ends on a positive note by saying that the Galaxy S series and the Wave should help push it through the third quarter, but considering how these guys flood the low end (read: the part of the market where it's especially difficult to make a buck) with dozens of devices every year, it seems like it's going to take superhuman efficiency to keep shareholders smiling.
Nokia quarterly profits drop 40 percent year-on-year as CEO says speculation must end 'one way or another'
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was already a man in a hot seat and these latest numbers will do little to lower the temperature. Nokia's net profit for Q2 2010 was €221 million, which most companies would be happy with were it not for the fact that this company pulled in €380 million in the same quarter last year -- and that's with 2009, as Nokia's own report indicates, representing an economically tougher environment. Average selling prices for Nokia handsets used to be €64 back then, which dipped to €62 in the first quarter of this year, and is now at €61. Nokia says this has been caused by price pressures, "particularly in certain high-end smartphones," and though the change may appear small, a Euro's difference tends to be amplified when you're shifting upwards of 111 million units each trimester. For his part, OPK has said that the speculation about him being replaced isn't doing Nokia any good and he's determined that it "must be brought to an end one way or another." Guess we better keep an eye on this one then.
XBLA sales stats for first half of 2010, as deduced from leaderboard data
Gamerbytes has compiled a list of several Xbox Live Arcade games and their performance in the first half of 2010 based on data derived from leaderboards. First, there are the top performers: Trials HD apparently had the biggest user base, jumping from 600,000 players to over a million during the first half of 2010 (not counting its DLC, which had almost 300,000 players over that period). But how about games that launched this year? Well, Perfect Dark enlisted 265,000, and Toy Soldiers and its DLC managed to recruit a combined 346,000 players. Risk: Factions and Snoopy Flying Ace have yet to reach 100,000. Other games didn't fare so well, with several failing to capture the attention of even 1,000 users -- Voodoo Dice, Ben 10 and Fret Nice were near or below that mark -- and of the 24 new games that Gamerbytes catalogued, only 13 managed to reach 10,000 players. Seeing how deals and promotions affected the growth of user bases on older titles is particularly interesting in the case of Zombie Apocalypse and TMNT: ReShelled, both of which came darn close to doubling their respective audiences when discounts were applied.
TUAW Liveblog: Apple Q3 earnings call
We're liveblogging today's Apple earnings results in the CoverItLive widget below -- be sure to click and join in to share your comments! You can also listen in on the call via QuickTime streaming. TUAW Coverage of the Apple 3Q Financial Call
Intel has its best quarter ever, brings in $2.9b profit
Sure, smartphone and tablets might be the Next Big Thing, but desktop computing ain't dead yet -- just ask Intel, which just reported its best-ever quarter with a $2.9b profit on $10.8b in revenue. That's an increase of $445m in profit from last quarter and a whopping $3.3b from last year, all driven by record laptop and server chip revenue, as well as a 16 percent increase in Atom revenue. What's more, the average sale price of all those chips went up, and selling more chips at a higher price is always good for business. Intel's got a call to discuss these numbers in depth at 5:30PM ET, we'll let you know if we hear anything good.
Ancients of Ooga on XBLA in June, Cloning Clyde price dropped
Ninjabee and J. Kenworthy Entertainment have announced that Ancients of Ooga will arrive on Xbox Live Arcade June 16 for 800 ($10). The game serves as a spiritual successor to J. Kenworthy Entertainment's previous XBLA effort, Cloning Clyde. Based on what we've seen so far, Ancients of Ooga certainly seems to share many of the logic puzzle elements seen in Cloning Clyde, though it also adds the somewhat disturbing ability to eat certain foods and vomit them back up. In related news, Cloning Clyde has become an Xbox Live Arcade hit and has seen a permanent price reduction. Previously 800 ($10), the game has now been reduced to a mere 400 ($5). If you're a fan of puzzle platformers heavy on cloning, catapults and sheep, it's probably an instant purchase. %Gallery-85047% Xbox.com: Add Cloning Clyde to your Xbox 360 download queue ($5)
Assassin's Creed 2 'Complete Edition' spotted at UK retailers
When Assassin's Creed 2 publisher Ubisoft released the game's two missing chapters as DLC, some of our commenters claimed that they were going to wait for a "Game of the Year" edition to be created at some point in the future. Well, we hope that you futureseers live in the UK, as a listing for "Assassin's Creed 2: Complete Edition" has popped up on two UK retailers sites, brandishing new box art and packing every piece of content available for the game into the box. CVG spotted it first at Play.com, though the new edition is also found on ShopTo.net, as well as on Amazon's UK site. For £27.99 ($41.35), buyers pick up the entirety of AC2, the Battle of Forli and Bonfire of the Vanities DLC packs, and "three Templar secret locations (Palazzo Medici, Santa Maria del Frari, and Arsenal Shipyard)" previously available only in a limited edition release. It doesn't appear that the re-release will be arriving in other parts of the world just yet, but we've reached out to Ubi all the same for clarification. And if the retailer listings are correct, we'll see the AC2 "Complete Edition" land on retailer shelves on June 4.
Ubisoft's 'Bloody Good Time' coming to PC, XBLA in Q2
Ubisoft's latest title release schedule, appended to a financial report released earlier today, officially confirms the existence of "Bloody Good Time" -- initially outed by an OFLC classification -- and expects the game to launch on PC and Xbox Live Arcade sometime between now and the end of June 2010. About bloody time. Oh, about Bloody Good Time: According to a preview of the game's official website, the game follows "ambitious teen actors ready to kill for fame" as they vie for the lead role in a bizarre B-movie. We're imagining a Series 7-esque online shooter -- or a movie-set murder mystery in which a punctual killer punctures his victims with a pointy, novelty-sized Big Ben souvenir. (But it's probably a shooter.)
XSEED publishing Prope's 'Ivy the Kiwi?' this summer
click to see more screens?XSEED has acquired the North American publishing rights to Ivy the Kiwi? for Wii and DS, the latest game from Yuji Naka's post-Sega studio, Prope. The puzzle game, presented in a unique "storybook" art style, stars a baby kiwi trying to navigate her way back to her mother. The player uses the stylus or pointer to stretch vines to bounce Ivy through levels and around obstacles. Along the way, players can attempt to pick up optional orange feathers for extra challenge -- that is, if they don't mind keeping a baby bird separated from her mother even longer, the monsters. In Japan, the game was originally released on Windows Phone, with console releases published by Namco Bandai. XSEED is planning a "summer 2010" release -- there's still a question mark on the specific date. %Gallery-92221%%Gallery-92220%
Be on the lookout for APB June 29
Attention, all units: EA will release Realtime Worlds' cops-and-robbers MMO APB on PC in North America on June 29, in mainland Europe on July 1 and in the UK on July 2. The initial $50 game purchase, either through retail or by download, will include 50 hours of playtime, as well as "unlimited time" in APB's so-called social districts, where players can customize, chat and trade. When the 50 hours are up, players have the option to purchase 20 more hours for $7, 30 days of unlimited access for $10, or discounted 90- or 180-day passes. In addition, extra playtime can be earned through certain unspecified accomplishments, according to EA: "APB provides avenues for accomplished gamers or creators to earn rewards for their creativity and subsidize their ongoing costs with their in-game efforts." Pre-order incentives, which are currently offered by APB.com, include access to the demo and early access to the full game, plus an assortment of bonus cars, clothing and character Emotes, some of which can be seen in the gallery below. %Gallery-92108%
