Majesco turns a profit
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Besieged publisher's revenues down sharply, but it winds up in the positive, thanks in part to sale of Teen Titans.
After a rough year, Majesco Entertainment may be on the road to recovery. After a brutal 2005 that saw commercial stagnation from high-profile releases such as Psychonauts and Advent Rising, the publisher abandoned the world of premium game development and changed its focus to budget and portable games. The company has now released financial results for its second quarter, ended April 30, and it has shown a profit under this new approach for the first time.
For the quarter, the company reported revenues of $11.6 million and net profits of $839,000. At the same time last year, the company boasted higher revenues of $19.9 million--and eked out $189,000 in profit. Those figures include gains from the sale of the Teen Titans console game Majesco had been set to publish to THQ. The publisher previously sold off another pair of high-profile games with comic book origins, Ghost Rider and The Darkness, to Take-Two Interactive.
While selling its games to other publishers has padded Majesco's revenues of late, the company still sells games to consumers, as well. The company touted the success of Nintendo DS games Age of Empires and Guilty Gear Dust Strikers as helping to establish its foothold in the portable market. It also said that the recently released and critically disdained Jaws Unleashed has seen "traction" in the market.
Despite the profit, the quarterly results don't appear to have inspired much investor confidence. As of press time, Majesco stock was trading down $.06 (nearly four percent) from its closing price yesterday before the results were released.
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.
I felt really bad for Majesco after Psychonauts didn't sell well, despite being an awesome game!
teen titans sucks
Jaws" U was in no circumstances a bad game. GS really made a big mistake about Jaws, I deserves at least a 6. The perfect score could have been between 7.5 and 8.4 . Go Majesco, kool.
That is what happen when virgin mormon's try to make their first game. Psychonauts is one of the best Xbox games ever released though. People seriously need to experience it. I wish I could play it on my 360.
if advent rising didnt have so many bugs with it then it could have been a good game.
It was a shame for Majesco that some of their premium titles didn't perform very well despite great reviews and word on the street. However It's nice to read that they have another way of being profitable and continue in the market. I really hope that we can see more console games from Majesco in the near future.
Very good news to see that this wonderful company has turned a profit. Psychonauts was an incredible game.
Majesco releases seriously buggy titles. Age of Empires DS can literally self distruct and stop working due to a save bug.
I liked Psychonauts, and I'm gona take a chance on Guilty Gear: Judgment for the PSP in a few months I think
These guys brought us Pyschonauts they deserve much larger profits than this.
Good to see them stabilizing. I hope they are able to keep afloat. I like their stuff. I was looking forward to Jaws but all the news about being buggy is driving me away. It looks like a good thing they traded up Titans.
Psychonauts is like the most charming game out in the market...It's really a game everyone needs to experience.
This article reminds me that I really need to get Age of Empires for the DS at some point.
It's funny. They're selling Ghost Rider to Take-Two who is in bigger financial trouble that they are. Which means Take-Two will probably sell it Which means the game will probably suck. :(
People are actually buying that crummy Guilty Gear game? I did hear AoE was pretty good.
Screw that 3.8 score Gamespot gave Jaws Unleashed. The game is seriously fun!
Teen Titans????? what about phyconauhts that deserved to sell millions and millions and miliions...
They seem like a good company to me.
I do not know why people did not like Psychonauts and Advent Rising both real real cool games.I for one so want to see a Psychonauts 2 game but most likely willl not. I did not like Teen Titans was not as good in my eye's as it could have been but was still good. Maybe if they ever make another Teen Titans game maybe they could learn what to add and what not to add.Next time around I would like to see a Teen Titans game for the PSP.
THey make some pretty good under rated games. Even Infected for the PSP was muich better than I thought it would be.
I hope they get back on track, they published some pretty good games, and I can't wait for bloodrayne 3, they are publishers.
It is so surprising that you can even make profit off of a teen titans game.
way better than in the blue.
with games like "Jaws Unleashed" (3.8 score) it's no wonder they have problems.
That's good news for me, I own their stock.
Don't call it a comeback! They've been here for years.
yep, no kidding, better than in the red
Well, profit is profit. At least they're in the black.
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Teen Titans
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- Publisher(s): THQ
- Developer(s): Artificial Mind and Movement
- Genre: Action
- Release: May 24, 2006 (US)
- ESRB: E10+
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