Infogrames grows revenues, maintains losses

If there were any gaming company being hampered by the global economic crisis, most would assume it to be the long-struggling Infogrames. However, as revealed by the French publisher's recent disclosure for the first half of its fiscal 2009, Infogrames is having at least some success getting its products into consumers' hands.

For the April-September 2008 period, Infogrames reported sales of €131.8 million ($166 million), an increase of 44.5 percent from a year ago. Though sales were up, Infogrames was unable to fully escape the red, given that it reported trimmed operating losses of €86 million ($109 million). Net loss for the publisher grew to €50.6 million ($63.8 million), due to increased expenditures on R&D as well as marketing. However, Infogrames said that it expects to break its prolonged stint in the red by the second half of its upcoming fiscal year.

Infogrames' now fully owned US subsidiary Atari accounted for the publisher's biggest gains, with sales in the region spiking 145 percent to €21.5 million ($27.1 million) on the strength of Alone of the Dark, Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit, and Backyard Baseball. Europe and Asia accounted for 72 percent of the publisher's total fiscal performance during the period, with Infogrames saying that revenues from the regions were up 25 percent, or €19.1 million ($24.1 million), from a year ago.