Kotaku: Profits

Sega Loses Big At Pachinko

Mike Fahey — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:20:00 MDT

Sega has reported their financial results for the first quarter of the 2009 financial year, and while the video games segment of their business saw sales growth of 90.6%, the company is still reporting a $963 million loss. The problem? Those pesky Pachinko machines. With an operating income loss of $29 million and an overall sales drop of 21.8%, Pachinko is making the consumer side of Sega look bad. As stated, the consumer side of the coin is shiny, rising from $1.4 billion last year to $2.7 billion, with 87% of sales coming from North America and Europe.

Sega's biggest sellers for the quarter were its line up of six Xbox 360 titles with 890,000 units sold, followed by the Nintendo DS with 850,000.

If you ask me, it might be time to bail on the whole Pachinko business. Perhaps EA will pick it up?

Sega reports $963m loss [Games Industry]

Rock Band Drives Viacom Profits Skyward

Mike Fahey — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:20:00 MDT

Rock Band has been very, very good to MTV parent company Viacom, who announced that first quarter profits rose 33% based mainly off the sales of the sales of the title, along with higher advertising revenue at MTV Networks. The media conglomerate also enjoyed a revenue increase of 15% for the period, surpassing analyst expectations at $3.1 billion. Between having one of the hottest games on the market and their Iron Man movie opening this weekend (saw it last night, and it was amazing!), it's not hard to imagine Viacom's executive chairman Sumner Redstone rocking out to Blue Oyster Cult in celebration, as the Reuters article suggests. What is hard is trying to wipe the mental picture from your head. Thanks a bunch, Reuters.

Viacom rocks with Rock Band [Reuters]
Photo by Lester Cohen of WireImage

Nintendo Talks Profits, Sales, And Increased Wii Shipments

Mike Fahey — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:40:28 MDT

Looks like Ashcraft's information was right on the money! Along with the news that profits and sales skyrocketed during fiscal year 2008, Nintendo forecasts that shipments of the Nintendo Wii will increase to 25 million over the course of the next year, more or less in line with the 2.4 million a month estimate. The Wii enjoyed massive sales this year, with Nintendo shipping 18.6 million units for the 12 month period ending March 31st, bringing the worldwide total to 24.45 million units. Generally I would scoff at the whole shipped versus sold thing, but the last time I saw a Wii on store shelves was...actually I don;t think I've ever seen a Wii on store shelves. The console's tiny folding friend is doing great as well, with 30.31 million DS systems shipped over the course of the year for a total of 70.6 million - and they're expecting to ship 28 million more this year. The company enjoyed sales of 1.67 trillion yen, a leap of 73 percent over the previous year, with operating profits up 115.6 percent to 487 billion yen. Hit the jump for the annual Nintendo numbers festival!

NINTENDO NEWS: NINTENDO ANNOUNCES RECORD SALES AND PROFITS, INCREASED SHIPMENTS FOR WII CONSOLE
April 24, 2008

Nintendo Co., Ltd., has announced record revenues and profits for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008. Nintendo posted sales of more than 1.67 trillion yen, an increase of 73 percent over the prior year. Nintendo also reported FY08 operating profits of more than 487 billion yen, a year-over-year increase of 115.6 percent.

The company also increased projected shipments of the popular Wii™ home video game console for the current fiscal year. During the 12 months ending March 31, 2008, Nintendo shipped 18.61 million Wii console to its distributors and retail customers globally, bringing the worldwide total to 24.45 million since its debut in November 2006. For the fiscal year that began April 1, 2008, Nintendo forecasts global Wii console shipments increasing to 25 million.

Nintendo also forecasts shipment of 177 million Wii software units for FY09, while the FY08 shipment was 119.6 million units. Through March 31, 2008, Wii enjoys a life-to-date tie ratio of 6.07 games per system worldwide.

During the 12 months ending March 31, 2008, Nintendo shipped 30.31 million Nintendo DS™ systems worldwide, bringing the total worldwide shipment to 70.6 million. By March 31, 2009, Nintendo forecasts shipments of an additional 28 million Nintendo DS systems. Nintendo also forecasts shipment of 187 million Nintendo DS software units for FY09, while the actual FY08 software shipment was 185.62 million. Through March 31, 2008, Nintendo DS enjoys a life-to-date tie ratio of 5.24 games per system worldwide.

The company announced a full-year dividend for Nintendo shareholders of 1,260 yen per share (including the interim dividend of 140 yen already paid), 570 yen higher than the annual dividend of 690 yen paid one year ago.

All FY09 financial projections are based on an anticipated ratio of 100 yen to the U.S. dollar, and 155 yen to the euro.

For more information about Nintendo, please visit www.Nintendo.com.

Best Buy's Big Game Gains

Mike Fahey — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 13:40:08 MST

Best Buy definitely owes each and every one of us a cookie. The retail juggernaut has reported its profits for the third quarter, seeing a double digit gain in entertainment software sales. This effectively makes gamers and gamer enablers responsible for 17% of their $8.5 billion revenue for the period, due in no small part to the new console launches.

Despite our best efforts they still managed to miss projections, with profits only up $12 million from last year's $138 million, which is probably due in no small part to all that space taken up by CDs that no one buys. They should probably just replace that section with more video games. They can pay me for that suggestion when they deliver my cookie. Michael Fahey

Best Buy Sees Double-Digit Gains In Gaming Sales [Gamasutra]

Wii is a Pretty Profitable Princess

Mike Fahey — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 11:40:38 MST

Nintendo of Canada's Pierre-Paul Tr panier spoke with GamesIndustry.biz today about the profitability of the Wii, which unlike its competitors actually makes money off of console sales.

"We make a profit on the system itself," Tr panier said. "Unlike our competitors, we don't have ulterior motives; we're not in it to sell HD TVs, or to become the operating system in the living room or anything like that."

Ooo, burn. He has a point, of course. A company that only sells video games has to profit off of them. Even if Nintendo only makes $1 for every Wii sold they are still ahead of Sony, who lose $200-300 on every system. Tr panier went on to discuss supply issues, the Canadian market, and possibly the most suprising bit of Wii information yet.

"And the great news is the feedback we're getting from media and consumers and all of our research is that the Nintendo Wii really is the pretty girl at the party this year."

Wait, it's a girl? But I thought, with the...you know. I guess that would explain why it's not physically attached. Michael Fahey

"We're making money from day one" - Nintendo exec [GamesIndustry.biz]

EA Misses Profit Targets

lsmith — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 08:00:24 MST

Reuters reports that EA will be "well below" estimates for the December quarter. EA Chief Exec Larry Probst told Reuters, "For the December quarter, it is likely the industry will be down double digits on a percentage basis." However, all of this gloom and doom financial talk shouldn't concern anyone too much. I think, if nothing else, people are being careful with their cash and waiting to see what the next generation of consoles is going to offer us. But, if PS3 ships next holiday season (as people expect) - we'll probably see more shortages and overall sales could still be low.

EA Says to Be 'Well Below' Profit Targets [Reuters]