THQ announces holiday results, delays S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Publisher meets projections, sheds light on confusing announcement from Ukrainian FPS developer.

While game industry publishers and analysts alike predicted a falling sky when it came to 2005's holiday sales figures, THQ made a note of standing by its previously stated projections. Today the company announced its financial results for the quarter ending December 31, 2005, and it turns out the publisher actually surpassed its expectations.

The company had projected $320 million in revenue for the 2005 holidays, and actually pulled in a little less than $358 million. However, that's still short of the $400 million in sales the company posted for the same quarter the year before.

Profits were likewise down from the prior year. THQ's net profit for the quarter totaled $47.6 million, $.72 cents per diluted share. For the 2004 holiday quarter, the company reported profits of $62.9 million, or $1.05 per diluted share.

THQ credited the numbers to its strategy of targeting mass-market consumers. During the quarter, it shipped more than a million copies each of Bratz Rock Angelz, The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer, and SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants. The company also said it shipped more than 2.5 million copies of WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2006 during the quarter.

In the conference call accompanying the publisher's quarterly report, THQ also settled a matter of great confusion. Earlier this week, the Ukrainian developer of the sci-fi PC first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl sent out an e-mail saying that the game "is on the stage of beta approval."

While THQ didn't address the developer's announcement directly, it did say that the game is now scheduled for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2007 (January through March of 2007). Gas Powered Games' spiritual successor to Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander, was also confirmed for the same quarter.

Speaking of THQ's upcoming fiscal year, the publisher also gave its first performance projections for the year. It expects sales to increase 14-20 percent, despite an expected transitional slump for the industry as the next-generation consoles carve out their chunk of the market.

Investor reaction to the report was mildly positive, as THQ stock was trading up $.30 to $26.50 at press time, with more than twice the normal volume of shares trading hands.

61 Comments

  • jheale

    Posted Jun 28, 2006 5:02 pm PT

    This feak'in game is never coming out

  • DolphinDude31

    Posted Jun 11, 2006 4:23 am PT

    Well, there is one benefit to STALKER being delayed so long--when it does release, the devs have had so much time to work on it that it should be up with HL2 in terms of polish. No stupid glitches or anything. And the potential for the game, if it is glitch-free, is still huge.
    I'm convinced that it's not vaporware and will come out. Don't like having to wait til 07, though...

  • awesomteer

    Posted May 19, 2006 2:58 am PT

    This game is taking way too long to develop, by the time it comes out it will be so dismally obsolete that the graphics will look shocking compared to other games.

  • shogunu

    Posted Feb 17, 2006 11:42 pm PT

    Yet another delay?

  • Tyuca

    Posted Feb 6, 2006 8:37 am PT

    Again!!!?? Im very disappointed

  • nev70

    Posted Feb 6, 2006 6:59 am PT

    by the time Stalker is released it may well seem quite dated just look how fast fps games are moving !

  • jaefrmbk2k

    Posted Feb 6, 2006 6:55 am PT

    hey, isn't it funny how when to try to get on gamespot the stupid razor ad locks you out of the site indefinately? good thing i'm samrt i faound a workaraound

  • Igiss

    Posted Feb 6, 2006 4:45 am PT

    STALKER will probably be an original and interesting game with outdated graphics (unfortunately). For a modern action game, it's unacceptable - graphic presentation is too way important.

    2007 would be perfect time to release STALKER II. But the sequel will probably come in 2017... or 2107?

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Feb 6, 2006 4:44 am PT

    this game will not sell.

  • kaziechameleon

    Posted Feb 5, 2006 3:53 pm PT

    how can they have a game in a perfectly playable state and add another years to developement of a game that has been in developement for probably over four years already, and assuming that they are still using the half-life 2 source enginge that means they didn't start from scratch, look at dawn of war, that game had a two year developement cycle, emagine what that dev team would have done with five years to throw into a rts. wow. if this game is anything less that HL2 i will implode and take the rest of the universe with me, and what about prey we heard a big noise about it after six years then it went under agian and i haven't heard anything, god i'm going nuts with these original/revolutionary games tanking it.

  • hittin

    Posted Feb 5, 2006 12:36 pm PT

    How many times will Stalker get delayed?

  • brickedolia

    Posted Feb 4, 2006 7:14 pm PT

    Hey exclusive burner, are you sure you weren't playing an old beta before the revamp? The one I got (build 2215) is pretty awesome in terms of gameplay (nice satisfying weapons, cool use of anomalies etc.) And remember that the mp beta has the dx8 renderer, as they didn't want to spoil the surprise . Don't know about that railgun though, seems kinda stupid.

  • exclusiveburner

    Posted Feb 4, 2006 6:36 pm PT

    I wanna tell you guys sumthing...I've played this game and its not that good...graphics are slightly outdated and gameplay is basically the same as any other fps but not as good....I had the Beta and played online it was boring to say the least

    I normally wouldnt respond to something like this but for sum reason alotta people talk about this game and 90% of them are gonna be dissapointed

  • regulesblade

    Posted Feb 4, 2006 3:19 pm PT

    Good tidbit of information

  • UmbrellaMaster

    Posted Feb 4, 2006 12:54 pm PT

    From what it sounds like it's a good thing this game has been delayed a lot. I remember hearing a little while back they pretty much revamped the gameplay to actually make it "fun". A very dubious statement coming from the developers themselves. It sounds like a lot of the innovation is being dropped for a more classic FPS experience, however the developers are still maintaining the game is innovative in it's own right. We'll see how it shapes up now in 2007.

  • doggy47perfecto

    Posted Feb 4, 2006 7:37 am PT

    if stalker is really coming out in 07 then thq just lost a customer. screw 'em.

  • adma3000

    Posted Feb 4, 2006 7:05 am PT

    "pyroone
    There is no game. Those ukranian guys took the development money and spent it all on beer and hookers."

    LMAO ure problly rite, But as another poster said earlier, most likely its delayed again because now apparently they got the game up and running, and need to work on updating all th GFX and sound and all dat to push todays (or next years) systems to the limits. Coz atm if they realesed it now it would be suicide for them, so much money spent and they gonna hardly get any return on it. Think F.E.A.R and you'll know y they opted for another delay to catch up with grafix.

  • azizrulez

    Posted Feb 4, 2006 6:10 am PT

    just a few days back they said it wasnt gonna be delayed any more

  • Sephirius_XIII

    Posted Feb 4, 2006 2:51 am PT

    What they're trying to do is sort of an MMO FPS, of course they're gonna have problems, esp. with the graphics as nice as they are.

  • ftjx

    Posted Feb 4, 2006 1:51 am PT

    in the end this game will prove that innovation and gameplay are what really matters

  • jakeboudville

    Posted Feb 4, 2006 12:31 am PT

    stalker is like the new Duke Nukem Forever

  • Reetesh

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 11:47 pm PT

    2007??? Oh my god we are still in Q1 2006
    How many more Delays will this game have? BTW wasn't there a news about NO MORE DELAYS of Stalker in GS recently ?

  • NinjaFoot

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 10:20 pm PT

    They should retitle it to D.E.L.A.Y.S. Shadow of Duke Nukem Forever

  • shinchy

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 9:20 pm PT

    Well... there goes all the intrest for that game, I hope THQ doesn't expect any big results from it either. Because were all going to be too busy playing the latest and greatest to care much about outdated games from yesteryears.

  • gdogg4210

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 6:08 pm PT

    Anyone else think stalker is going to outdelay halflife 2?

  • tequilasunriser

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 4:01 pm PT

    I was 15 when I first learned about stalker. I was so excited about the prosepects of such a cool looking game. Im 20 now....thats insane.

  • Bathyj

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 3:53 pm PT

    Mmmmmm, Beer and Hookers. I cant believe it will be another year. That sucks so much. Note to developers: if you want to take 5 years to make a game fine, just dont tell us about it until its got 6 months to go. You cant hype something for 5 years and expect us to still be excited when it finally makes retail.

  • pyroone

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 3:37 pm PT

    There is no game. Those ukranian guys took the development money and spent it all on beer and hookers.

  • TheBeret

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 3:37 pm PT

    If this game was released now, it would be good. Yet just like 25 to Life, or many other games, the game will use old technology and old methods and in result, will produce an old expierence. People don't buy games for old expierences, they buy things for new. That's how everything is in the world. If this were not the case, Quake would be just as fun to play as Quake 4.

  • townsenda1

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 3:30 pm PT

    I can't stand delays. Unless it really makes the game that much better but if not it's unexceptable. Let's stay on task people.

  • grayoldwolf

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 3:25 pm PT

    Maybe all the extra development time is to scratch build a completely new graphics engine to replace the 2003 technology they're working with now. If they don't radically improve the graphics and then go up against the PS3 and a 360 that developers have had over a year to learn how to program, nobody is going to look twice at this game.

  • Lazlow1988

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 3:17 pm PT

    Stalker better be the best game I've ever played, because by the time I receive my preordered copy, I might be too senile to remember any others.

  • tbonetrav18

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 2:42 pm PT

    by the time stalker comes out, I just might reach retirement. only 50 more years until I retire, give or take a few

  • Khimarhi

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 2:29 pm PT

    we will see this probably in 2010 possibly

  • Zeke_Link

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 2:05 pm PT

    STALKER will come out when Duke Nukem Forever comes out.

  • halvedlife

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 1:32 pm PT

    That's it for me......I have officially given up hope for this game. I really thought the Holiday 06' would be the final delay. At what point does the publisher pull the plug on this project?? The developers for this game have pretty muich flipped the bird to any western press in regards to the game, so I say $#%^ them. Please don't say any more "well, the more time they take, the better the game will be" garbage either. This game is Vaporware. Finished. Caput.

  • thaneyates16

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 1:29 pm PT

    I cant believe in january to march 2007 thats rubbish pc gamer had a playable demo of this game in 2005

  • draqas

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 1:27 pm PT

    another tomb raider...

    the game is good but the delay will make it very bad...

  • xxstalker24xx

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 1:22 pm PT

    I think they should get this STALKER out before 2007 becuase Crysis another game from the makers of Far Cry, it uses Directx 10, shader model 4.0 and windows vista and looks amazing, so if they want it to be a big hit i think they should get it out soon or they mite be weakend by Crysis's cryengine 2 visuals and gameplay.

    I will still buy STALKER

  • Donkeljohn Site moderator

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 1:20 pm PT

    Stalker delayed. . . again? Who would have thought?

  • Donkeljohn Site moderator

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 1:19 pm PT

    Stalker delayed. . . again? Who would have thought?

  • Legendaryscmt

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 1:08 pm PT

    God, even Half Life 2 came out sooner...

  • Silencer786

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 1:00 pm PT

    wow how many times will stalker get dealyed

  • Silencer786

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 1:00 pm PT

    wow how many times will stalker get dealyed

  • OPOLO

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 12:56 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

  • OPOLO

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 12:56 pm PT

    please bring on MotoGP for the 360 soon

  • SGTMUS

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 12:48 pm PT

    just like relationships, I've moved on from that game.

  • SGTMUS

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 12:46 pm PT

    just like relationships, I've moved on from that game.

  • DeatHKnighT13

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 12:39 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

  • DeatHKnighT13

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 12:39 pm PT

    At this rate, Duke Nukem Forever is going to come out before STALKER... which would be fine by me!

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