Having put both the Juiced and Stuntman franchises to the sword last month, THQ has now announced that dear old Red Faction and dear newish Saints Row are to live on... and on.
Speaking to investors and analysts about his company's third quarter financial situation (it's good - details at the base of this story), THQ president and CEO, Brian Farrell, announced:
"We continue to strengthen our product development capabilities to support our long-term strategy of creating new owned intellectual properties. We look forward to launching Frontlines: Fuel of War at the end of this month.
"In fiscal 2009, we are well positioned for increased sales and profitability with strong owned intellectual properties such as Red Faction and Saints Row and well-known licensed franchises including WWE, UFC, Disney/Pixar and Nickelodeon."
Other key points to come from THQ's presentation regarding its Q3 money making activities include:
- More than 5 million units of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 were 'shipped' - yes, the company says 'shipped' and not 'sold - this brought the "total lifetime WWE franchise net sales to more than $1 billion.
- Nickelodeon franchise net sales surpassed $1 billion - thanks SpongeBob!
So, two billion-dollar franchises showing the cutting edge of... let's move on a piece to some interesting figures for Nintendo and THQ.
"For the quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2007, THQ grew its Nintendo DS revenue 94% year-over-year, aided by the launch of Drawn to Life, a newly established owned franchise created specifically for the Nintendo DS system".
Yes, the stand-out mention to any piece of hardware in its report is for the DS handheld.
However, for once, we do get a real insight into how a major publisher's sales breakdown across platforms. Here are THQ's declared sales figures for the three months leading to December 2007.
Sony PlayStation 2 25.6%
Nintendo Dual Screen 20.2%
Microsoft Xbox 360 12.3%
Sony PlayStation 3 11.8%
Nintendo Wii 10.4%
Sony PlayStation Portable 8.5%
PC 7.0%
Nintendo Game Boy Advance 2.9%
Wireless 1.0%
Nintendo Game Cube 0.2%
Microsoft Xbox 0.1%
Other 0%
Sure, figures, right. But what does it mean?! Well, when compared to the same period in 2006, this is how THQ saw its publishing money being made across platforms.
What we've done below is to show the movement in percentage of THQ's revenues from 2006 to 2007.
The PS3's 11.8%, top of the pile-looking figure has to be taken in context of the fact that it came from a base of 0% in the three months to December 31st 2006, having not been launched until November (and even then only outside of Europe).
With that caveat in mind, the rising stars were:
Sony PlayStation 3 +11.80%
Nintendo Dual Screen +9.00%
Nintendo Wii +5.30%
Sony PlayStation Portable +2.60%
And the disappointing performers:
Microsoft Xbox 360 -0.20%
Wireless -0.60%
PC -1.30%
Microsoft Xbox -2.50%
Nintendo Game Cube -4.30%
Nintendo Game Boy Advance -7.20%
Sony PlayStation 2 -12.60%
The stand-out down at this end is the fact that, while PS3 gained 11.8% (from nothing), it couldn't make up for THQ losing 12.6% in its sales of PS2 games.
The fact that Xbox 360 games were also down year-on-year comes as quite a jolt as well.
The full THQ statement can be found here.
Speaking to investors and analysts about his company's third quarter financial situation (it's good - details at the base of this story), THQ president and CEO, Brian Farrell, announced:
"We continue to strengthen our product development capabilities to support our long-term strategy of creating new owned intellectual properties. We look forward to launching Frontlines: Fuel of War at the end of this month.
"In fiscal 2009, we are well positioned for increased sales and profitability with strong owned intellectual properties such as Red Faction and Saints Row and well-known licensed franchises including WWE, UFC, Disney/Pixar and Nickelodeon."
Other key points to come from THQ's presentation regarding its Q3 money making activities include:
- More than 5 million units of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 were 'shipped' - yes, the company says 'shipped' and not 'sold - this brought the "total lifetime WWE franchise net sales to more than $1 billion.
- Nickelodeon franchise net sales surpassed $1 billion - thanks SpongeBob!
So, two billion-dollar franchises showing the cutting edge of... let's move on a piece to some interesting figures for Nintendo and THQ.
"For the quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2007, THQ grew its Nintendo DS revenue 94% year-over-year, aided by the launch of Drawn to Life, a newly established owned franchise created specifically for the Nintendo DS system".
Yes, the stand-out mention to any piece of hardware in its report is for the DS handheld.
However, for once, we do get a real insight into how a major publisher's sales breakdown across platforms. Here are THQ's declared sales figures for the three months leading to December 2007.
Sony PlayStation 2 25.6%
Nintendo Dual Screen 20.2%
Microsoft Xbox 360 12.3%
Sony PlayStation 3 11.8%
Nintendo Wii 10.4%
Sony PlayStation Portable 8.5%
PC 7.0%
Nintendo Game Boy Advance 2.9%
Wireless 1.0%
Nintendo Game Cube 0.2%
Microsoft Xbox 0.1%
Other 0%
Sure, figures, right. But what does it mean?! Well, when compared to the same period in 2006, this is how THQ saw its publishing money being made across platforms.
What we've done below is to show the movement in percentage of THQ's revenues from 2006 to 2007.
The PS3's 11.8%, top of the pile-looking figure has to be taken in context of the fact that it came from a base of 0% in the three months to December 31st 2006, having not been launched until November (and even then only outside of Europe).
With that caveat in mind, the rising stars were:
Sony PlayStation 3 +11.80%
Nintendo Dual Screen +9.00%
Nintendo Wii +5.30%
Sony PlayStation Portable +2.60%
And the disappointing performers:
Microsoft Xbox 360 -0.20%
Wireless -0.60%
PC -1.30%
Microsoft Xbox -2.50%
Nintendo Game Cube -4.30%
Nintendo Game Boy Advance -7.20%
Sony PlayStation 2 -12.60%
The stand-out down at this end is the fact that, while PS3 gained 11.8% (from nothing), it couldn't make up for THQ losing 12.6% in its sales of PS2 games.
The fact that Xbox 360 games were also down year-on-year comes as quite a jolt as well.
The full THQ statement can be found here.
Companies:
THQ
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