Games Industry Wire » Game Publishers

NCsoft Sees $5.9M Net Income This Quarter

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:07:22 +0000

NCsoft Corporation say they saw sales of $78.6 million in the second quarter of 2008, a seven percent increase over the previous year, though their operating profit, pre-tax profit and net income all dropped, 25%, 31%, 42%, respectively, according to the South Korean company’s second quarter financials released last night.

The news comes during a week of rumblings that NCsoft’s Austin office may be on the verge of laying off staff or closing, a rumor that NCsoft vehemently denies.

Lineage and Lineage II both saw a drop in sales compared to last quarter as did Guild Wars, while City of Heroes and City of Villains as well as Tabula Rasa saw an increase in sales from the previous quarter, according to the earnings release.

The report goes on to say that NCsoft completed the third stage of closed beta testing for Aion on July 20. Beta testers were able to play Aion’s core features including Realm vs. Realm in the Abyss, a designated zone where the two factions, Elyos and Asmodians, constantly battle for various fortresses as well as abundant item crafting, new quests, better user interface, and higher level character advancement.

The company plans to start an open beta test for Aion and launch the game in Korea in the fourth quarter of the year, according the report. The game will launch internationally within three to six months of the Korean launch.

The company also plans to start beta testing for three casual games in 2008: Love beat, Punch Monster, and Dragonica.

“In order to maintain our ongoing development cycles and a diverse game portfolio, multiple games are in development currently across all NCsoft studios,” said NCsoft’s CFO Jaeho Lee. “We anticipate publishing these new titles within the next two to three years, during which we believe we’ll maintain NCsoft’s status as a leader in the global on-line game market.”

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Namco Bandai reports profits fall

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:42:37 +0000

Namco Bandai has reported its financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2009, with a fall in profit of around 63 per cent compared to the previous year. The three months to the end of March saw profit just above the JPY 1 billion (USD 9.2 million) mark, compared to last year’s Q1 figure of JPY 2.8 billion (USD 25.8 million).

Revenue and operating income were also both down year-on-year, by 6.4 per cent to JPY 90 billion (USD 830 million) and by 65 per cent to JPY 1.5 billion (USD 13.8 million) respectively.

However, the company is still predicting revenue and operating income to show slight growth by the end of March 2009, with full year targets of 470 billion (USD 4.3 billion) and 38 billion (USD 351 million) respectively – although profit is expected to fall in the same period by 31 per cent compared to full year 2008.

The videogames section of the business was actually the only segment to show sales growth in Q1 year-on-year, up 3.8 per cent to JPY 25.5 billion (USD 235 million).

Japan saw the majority of the company’s unit sales, with 1.7 million titles sold, while Europe was responsible for 1.39 million, North America for 740,000 and the rest of Asia for 113,000.

Those numbers are set to jump following new releases to 13.4 million in Japan for the full year, 5.68 million in Europe, 5.46 million in North America and 300,000 in the rest of Asia.

In Q1 the most popular title was Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3, selling 420,000 units in Europe, followed by Japanese duo Taiko Drum Master for DS 2 on 260,000 and Tales of Symphonia on 215,000.

The PlayStation 2 platform was the company’s best-selling console for games with 1.15 million units sold for it, followed by the Nintendo DS on 985,000 and the PlayStation Portable on 769,000.

Source

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Jowood Productions’ expands Nintendo DS portfolio

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:10:34 +0000

Liezen, Austria, July 24th 2008; The Austrian games publisher JoWooD Productions expands its portfolio with additional titles for Nintendo® DS™. In cooperation with 3rd party publishers such as „The Games Company“ and „Tivola Publishing“, new games for the handheld system are about to be released in the course of FY 2008.

An in-house Nintendo DS™ version of the successful „Neighbours from Hell“ brand (with more than 2 million copies sold worldwide) is already in development. The DS version will be enriched by several mini games and provides entertainment for all ages combined with simplified controls. The acclaimed gameplay of the series remains unchanged, but new concepts for further conversions are in process.

The release of „Neighbours from Hell DS“ is scheduled for Q4 2008, while the following Nintendo DS titles will already be released by the end of August:

Published with The Games Company:
• Aquarium DS
• Fantasy Aquarium DS
• Matchstick Puzzle by DS
• Paint by DS
• Paint by DS: Military Vehicles

Published with Tivola Publishing
• Music Monstar DS in Spain and Portugal

JoWooD Productions is already in negotiation with several developers and publishers for FY 2009. Further cooperations will be announced soon.

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EA extends deadline on Take-Two offer

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:37:34 +0000

It look like EA really wants Take-Two badly. EA has just announced it has extended for a fifth time its unsolicited offer to acquire all of Take-Two’s outstanding shares untill August 18, 2008. The extension comes, as previously rumoured, after approximately 11,741,339 shares of Take-Two had been tendered in by the previous deadline of July 18, accounting for around 15 per cent of the total.

“Take-Two’s Board continues to be 100 per cent committed to maximising stockholder value and remains unanimous in continuing to recommend that our stockholders not tender their shares to EA,” responded Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two’s chairman.\

“We are fully engaged in a formal process to evaluate strategic alternatives that have the potential to deliver greater value than EA’s inadequate offer. As part of this process, we continue to engage in meaningful discussions with multiple parties, a number of whom have been conducting due diligence. We also remain absolutely focused on executing on our strategic and business objectives.”

Take-Two rejected a previous offer in February and since then stock market traders have been expressing little confidence that the deal will ever go through.

“In February, Take-Two’s board rejected EA’s offer as inadequate. Since then, the record-shattering release of Grand Theft Auto IV, the exciting announcement of a BioShock movie, and our ability to deliver financial results exceeding expectations have further demonstrated that our value-creation potential is greater than EA’s offer,” said Ben Feder, Take-Two’s CEO.

“Take-Two is also continuing to create significant value through the development of world-class entertainment products, as well as improved operational and financial performance. Our stockholders will be the beneficiaries of these achievements, and it is management’s mission to deliver the greatest value possible for them,” Feder added.

Source

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Sonic & The Black Knight unveiled

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:37:52 +0000

A post over at Neogaf shows that the newest Sonic game is titled “Sonic and the Black Knight” and features Sonic holding a sword. Read that again for me. Sonic + Sword. I have no idea what goes on with Sega these days.

Here’s what we know so far: It is a Wii exclusive Sonic adventure and Sonic will indeed be holding/using that sword. At least it aint a gun…oh wait…

Image Source via NEOGAF

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Carmack once thought EA was the “Evil Empire”

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:38:23 +0000

Following the announcement that EA Partners had been chosen to publish id Software’s upcoming Rage, id’s co-founder recently told gaming site GameSpot that he once took a very dim view of the way EA dealt with small studios.

“I’ll admit that, if you asked me years ago, I still had thoughts that EA was the Evil Empire, the company that crushes the small studios… I’d have been surprised, if you told me a year ago that we’d end up with EA as a publisher,” John Carmack said.

However, Carmack said his feelings changed after a number of EA’s existing partners gave the publisher the thumbs up.

“When we went out and talked to people, especially EA Partners people like Valve, we got almost uniformly positive responses from them.”

id Software has historically had a publishing relationship with Activision, although some of its recent mobile and handheld titles have been published by EA. Further details about Rage, which will be released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Mac “when it’s done”, will be made available at id’s Quakecon event, taking place from July 31 to August 2.

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EA to publish id’s Rage

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:41:34 +0000

During its E3 2008 press conference today, Electronic Arts (EA) announced a new partnership with famed shooter developer id Software. The publisher will be delivering Rage, the new IP id announced last summer.

“Rage represents a new direction for our games,” said Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software. “Rage is a shooter unlike any other, developed on our cutting edge new technology, and built to the exacting standards id is famous for. We’re excited to have the support of EA Partners to launch RAGE on the world.”

“The Rage publishing deal is the epitome of EA Partners’ mission: Provide the world’s best developers with access to the world’s best publishing resources,” said David DeMartini, senior vice president and general manager of EA Partners.

Rage utilizes id’s Tech 5 technology, aiming for new levels of graphic presentation in artistic expression and fidelity. Gameplay consists of both shooting and vehicle racing, combining race track tactics and FPS action when you take to foot in combat scenarios.

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Sony CEO Stringer dismisses Wii as “expensive niche” games machine

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:22:45 +0000

Sony CEO Howard Stringer has reportedly dismissed Nintendo’s Wii as an “expensive niche” games machine. Speaking at the Allen & Co Media Conference last week, Stringer said the Wii doesn’t compete with the PlayStation 3 because it doesn’t have the ability to play Blu-ray movies or have full access to the internet. Hmm, where did i hear that before?

“I’ve played a Nintendo Wii. I don’t see it as a competitor,” said Stringer, reports Bloomberg. “It’s more of an expensive niche game device. We’re selling a lot of PlayStation 3s now and it’s still the best way to buy a Blu-ray player,” he added.

Both Sony and Microsoft have stated that they don’t see the Wii as competition. That didnt stop the Wii from trashing them both in sales figure
though.

In North America, the PlayStation 3 retails for USD 399, while Nintendo’s Wii is priced at USD 249. The PS3 sold 1.2 million units in the US in the first five months of the year, compared to the Wii’s 2.8 million, according to data from NPD.

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2K Games to Publish Cryptic Studios’ MMO Champions Online

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:47:59 +0000

2K Games has announced that it will be the North American and international publisher for Cryptic Studios’ newest MMO, Champions Online for the Xbox 360 and PC. Champions Online is scheduled for release in spring of 2009.

“2K Games is excited to work with such a talented group as Cryptic Studios,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Given their stellar pedigree and amazing grasp of the MMO genre, we are confident that Champions Online will deliver an innovative and exciting action MMO experience to gamers.”

If Cryptic has learned a thing or two since COH/COV launched, then we may just be in for a MMO treat.

Cryptic Studios, based in Los Gatos, CA and established in July 2000, is one of the leading independent developers of massively multiplayer online games for the PC and current generation systems. As an independent, employee-owned company, Cryptic is committed to delivering high quality, innovative cross platform MMO gameplay. Cryptic is best known as the creator of the award-winning City of Heroes® and City of Villains™ MMO titles. Based on the popular Champions™ pen-and-paper RPG, Champions Online will give players the power of total customization for their hero experience while they explore a vast comic book universe.

“2K Games is a terrific publishing partner for Champions Online,” said John Needham, CEO of Cryptic Studios. “Cryptic is proud that Champions Online will be 2K’s first MMO title and we look forward to working together towards a tremendous launch next year.”

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Square Enix’s E3 Lineup

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:34:33 +0000

It’s E3 Time once again and Square Enix’s offerings are some of my personally anticipated showings. One SMALL question though: WHERE IN THE WORLD IS FINAL FANTASY XIII?

Here’s a list of what’s on the floor at the Los Angeles Convention Center for E3:

On display at the Los Angeles Convention Center at Concourse 401 from July 15 – 17, the following titles will have playable kiosks: CHRONO TRIGGER®, DRAGON QUEST®: The Chapters of the Chosen™, FINAL FANTASY® IV, INFINITE UNDISCOVERY and
SONG SUMMONER: The Unsung Heroes.

E3 2008 Line-up
(Square Enix)

Multiplatform

THE LAST REMNANT
Platform: Microsoft Xbox 360® / PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system
Genre: RPG
PAL Release Date: (Xbox 360) This Winter / (PLAYSTATION 3 system) TBA

iPod

SONG SUMMONER: The Unsung Heroes
Platforms: iPod nano with video, iPod classic and fifth generation iPod
Genre: Role-Playing
Now Available (EU, JP, NA)

Nintendo DS

CHRONO TRIGGER
Genre: RPG
PAL Release: TBC

DRAGON QUEST: Chapters of the Chosen
Genre: RPG
PAL Release Date: September 2008

FINAL FANTASY IV
Genre: RPG
PAL Release Date: TBA

*As of May 2008.

PSP system

STAR OCEAN: FIRST DEPARTURE
Genre: RPG
PAL Release: TBC

STAR OCEAN: SECOND EVOLUTION
Genre: RPG
PAL Release: TBC

Xbox 360

INFINITE UNDISCOVERY (Xbox 360 Exclusive)
Genre: RPG
PAL Release Date: September 5, 2008

STAR OCEAN: THE LAST HOPE
Genre: RPG
Release Date: 2009

E3 2008 Line-up
(TAITO Corporation)

Nintendo DS

EXIT DS
Genre: Action Puzzle
PAL Release: TBC

The Legend of Kage 2
Genre: Action
PAL Release: TBC

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