NCsoft Profits Fall 43 Percent On Blackstar Costs

NCsoft reported a 43 percent year-over year drop in profits to $7.7 million, a decrease was due to a write-off expense for costs associated with The Blackstar Chronicles. The futuristic MMO, in development by Spacetime Studios, was ultimately dropped from NCsoft's lineup, and Spacetime will be pursuing the project on its own.

If not for the write-off, NCsoft stood to gain in profit 48 percent on the quarter and 8 percent on the year. The publisher's sales increased 4 percent to $84.3 million on the popularity of the Lineage series in Asia and strong performance for Guild Wars and City of Heroes in North America and Europe.

EA Makes Three-Year Growth Plan, Quits Quarterly Guidance

During its call to investors, Electronic Arts said that it will no longer provide quarterly estimates of its financial guidance. Why?

The company said that in the event it has to delay titles to benefit their long-term quality, it'd take a big hit on the quarter that wouldn't necessarily be indicative of an annual loss. Moving away from a quarterly guidance model is a method by which companies can keep their stock from slumping on short-term problems.

The decision's likely due to some volatility EA saw during the year thanks to delays such as Mass Effect PC's push-back that don't actually indicate financial losses — it just means the company makes money in a different quarter than it may have planned. Shifting to an annual guidance model may allow the company more flexibility as risk levels rise in the burgeoning video game industry.

EA did not, however, note any specific plans to delay any upcoming titles. Executives explained their decision:

EA's Riccitiello Still Sees PC Opportunities

On EA's financial call to investors, CEO John Riccitiello said the company's still bullish on opportunities in the PC gaming market—the publisher said it plans to ship 30 PC platform titles in fiscal 09, the same number it has scheduled for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 during the period.

"Were it not for The Sims and the WoW box sales, it'd be a pretty dismal sector," said Riccitiello, responding to an investor who inquired about "soft" PC retail sales. "The fastest growing [sector] is subscription, microtransactions-based and casual games, many of which are pretty much centered on the PC. One of the things we try to look at at EA is the total business represented on PC game software, and we're seeing a growth in business there. It's been growing for several years... it's categorized wrongly by looking simply at the box side of the equation."

Activision Announces Record Billion-Dollar Growth In "Breakthrough" Fiscal 08

Activision saw a record $2.90 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ending March 2008, the publisher announced today - $602.5 million was in the fourth quarter alone, as compared to $312.5 million during the same period last year.

Strong worldwide sales for Call of Duty 4, Guitar Hero III and Spider-Man 3 drove the considerable growth, supported by Transformers: The Game and Shrek The Third. NPD data also shows that GHIII was the year's best-selling game in the U.S. and Europe in dollars during the year, while CoD4 was the number two worldwide best-seller in Europe, and the number one highest-earning PC title worldwide. Both franchises have surpassed a billion dollars in sales since launch.

It was the most profitable fourth quarter ever for Activision, even though the publisher did not release any new titles during that period. With its overall growth outpacing the rest of the market by more than four times, the company is now the number one console and handheld software publisher in dollars, according to NPD Group data.

THQ: "Fiscal Year 08 Was A Very Tough Year"

Despite reporting modest revenue growth for its 13th consecutive year, THQ reported a net loss of $35.3 million for the fiscal year ending March 2008. The company's sales totaled $1030.5 million, relatively little change from last year's $1,026.9 sales.

THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell said that most of its struggles were due to a crowded and competitive market for kids' games, as well as key franchises — Juiced, Stuntman and Conan that ultimately "were simply not competitive."

Midway Sees $34 Million Loss in First Quarter

Developer-publisher Midway has taken another loss for the fiscal first quarter of 2008, the company announced today. The company saw $29.9 million in sales, more than twice its performance for the same period last year, but nonetheless, Midway's first quarter net losses were $34 million, while it lost much less - $19.8 million - in 2007's first quarter.

Marvel Plans Iron Man Sequel After Big First-Quarter Cash-In

Spongebob Savior: Will Kid-Friendly Licenses Save THQ?

Earlier today, we reported that THQ's portfolio of Nickelodeon titles has hauled in more than $1 billion in sales, with the publisher looking forward to its 2008 lineup of more Nickelodeon properties.

THQ's survived a series of hard knocks in the market thanks to the strength of its kid-friendly titles based on licenses from the likes of Nickelodeon and Pixar, even while its stock has taken a serious dive since January of this year. The company's about to announce its fiscal fourth quarter results tomorrow - as a new year begins for THQ, is it on track for smoother sailing?

Xbox 360 Stands Out In Dull Third Quarter For Microsoft

Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division saw revenue up 68 percent in its third fiscal quarter, thanks to "robust" demand for Xbox 360 consoles, the company announced today. The cumulative console sales topped 19 million units during the three months ending March 31st, a 74 percent increase over the same period a year ago.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 division was the $1.56 billion revenue standout amid a period of very little growth in the company's other businesses - Microsoft's whole-picture revenue was $14.45 billion, barely nudging the needle above the $14.4 billion it reported during the same period of 2007. Microsoft's overall profit actually slumped 11 percent.

The $14.45 billion performance for the company was less than analysts were expecting from Microsoft, but the company still promises to make expectations for its upcoming fiscal fourth quarter ranging from $15.5 billion to $15.8 billion.

Nintendo Talks Profits, Sales, And Increased Wii Shipments

Take-Two Only Lost $38 Million Last Quarter, Seems Pleased

Take-Two Interactive had plenty to sing about today. There was the official word on BioShock 2, even more Carnival Games for little girls and boys to enjoy and a reaffirmation of Grand Theft Auto IV's worldwide ship date of April 29. Yay! Sure, there were some delays, but all in all, not bad. The best news? The company managed to only lose 38 million bucks in its first fiscal quarter of 2008! That's better than the Take-Two gang had expected, with Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two, saying he was "pleased." This is how you lose money, people—with a faint hint of a smile on your face.

In a call to investors and analysts, Zelnick and crew chalked up the better than planned for quarter to sales of stuff like Carnival Games and Manhunt 2, plus portions of Take-Two's back catalog. I'm not much of a gambler, but I'd be willing to wager that next quarter, they'll do much, much better.

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2008 Financial Results [Take-Two]

GameStop Holiday Sales Up 35%

"Driven by robust domestic and international sales, GameStop achieved the most successful holiday season results ever," said company chairman and CEO Richard Fontaine. "Video game software sales grew by 45%, while the next generation installed base is now triple last year's base and a very positive leading indicator for future sales growth."

GameStop Stock Is Smokin' Hot

If you are interested in getting in on a little hot GameStop stock action and were waiting for a good time to sink some money into the company, between now and January 10th would be ideal, according to two industry analysts. Both Arvind Bhatia of Stern Agee and Leach, and Mike Hickey of Janco Partners believe that trends indicate a strong holiday earning period for the Texas-based company, and that means that purchasing before the company announces said earnings next week.

Hickey said the GameStop's holiday period typically represents 75 percent of Q4 reported sales, which means that "the street is looking for $2.027 billion in holiday sales, or +17 percent year-on-year."

Analysts: Buy GameStop Shares Now [Next Gen]

Your Weekly Update On Atari's Financial Woes

Man, Atari just can't catch a break. With the exception of the publisher not having its Dragon Ball Z licensing rights retracted by lawsuit, it's just been bad news compounding bad news for the company. It doesn't get any better, as today NASDAQ notified the company that its publicly traded stock may be delisted for having too little market value. We just hope they got the message, as I've heard rumors that they didn't pay their phone bill and the last remaining email server was burned so executives could stay warm. Here's to hoping they can still get one of those "pay as you go" cell phones to stay in touch. They've got until March 20th to sort it out, so keep them in your thoughts and prayers. God bless.

Atari Gets Warning From Nasdaq [Forbes]

This evening's Take-Two Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2007 Results Conference Call wasn't exactly a Queens of the Stone Age concert, I know shocking right? There were some marginally interesting tidbits that floated out of the stream of fiscal data.

Here's a break-down of highlights and fun quotes, including one confirming the non-existence of Grand Theft Auto IV for the Wii:
*BioShock has shipped more than 2 million copies
*Carnival Games shipped more than 500,000 units since its debut in late August. 2K Play plans to bring the game to the DS in fiscal 08 and other platforms down the line.
*Take-Two doesn't expect missing the October release date for GTA4 will hurt sales, just spread them out more.
*GTA 4 has been rated in Australia, after the company sent the board there a reel showing off a "substantial part of the game."
*GTA 4 is still not coming to the Wii: "Right now I think, no disrespect meant for the platform, but there are other titles better suited for the Wii."

That's kinda weird, if you ask me. They didn't have any problem bringing Manhunt to the Wii, so why not Grand Theft Auto. I know Manhunt was a PS2 game, but I can't imagine that they can't rework GTA4 for the Wii somehow. I suspect they didn't expect the platform to be as popular as it has been. Come on Rockstar, I want to use my Remote to beat hookers.

Assassin's Creed Kicking Sales Ass...ass

There must be some big grins over at Ubi's Montreal Studios today.

Ubisoft just announced they they expect to sell more than five million copies of the game in 2007-2008, up from the initial forecast of three million, based on early sales. The game managed, they say, to sell more than two and a half million copies in less than four weeks worldwide and currently is one of the top selling PS3 titles. Ubi says that Assassin's is currently the fastest-selling NEW IP ever in the U.S. (That means not including sequels like Halo 3).

Better still the game's tremendous sales, coupled with a big jump in the company's casual games, is pumping up the company's sales forecast for 07-08 to $1 billion, 218 million, up from $1 billion, 196 million.

Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer of Ubisoft, is downright giddy:

"With the exceptional performance of Assassin's Creed(TM), the fastest-selling new video game intellectual property in the U.S. ever, Ubisoft's teams have once again demonstrated their expertise in creating and promoting major brands. These regular-sequel franchises are a source of very high profitability both in the short and long term. Drawing on its strong internal development capacities, Ubisoft is currently in an ideal position to continue to develop numerous new creations - an essential condition for winning market share and ensuring strong growth going forward."

Hit the jump for the full release.