THQ confirms guidance

December 21, 2005 3:30PM PST

Despite slumping industry sales, company says it's going to meet financial targets for the holidays.

The holidays haven't been very happy for the gaming industry so far. Fourth-quarter sales this year have been trailing well behind the numbers posted in 2004, Midway closed up two studios and laid off almost 100 people, and Electronic Arts and Activision have both warned that their quarterly earnings would fall short of estimates.

However, it hasn't all been bad news. THQ today announced that it was ontrack to meet expectations for its holiday quarter. Wall Street rewarded that news with a subsequent (if temporary) jump in the company's stock price.

"Our WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 title is performing very well on both PlayStation 2 and the PSP PlayStation Portable system," THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell said in a statement. "In addition, new titles targeted to kids and family such as The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer, our Nickelodeon products, Bratz Rock Angelz, and our catalog of value-priced games are on track."

THQ shares traded hands at almost twice their average volume today, and the stock closed up more than 5 percent to $23.65. However, a good portion of those gains were lost in after-hours trading, with the stock changing hands at $22.80 as of press time.

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.

Follow Follow @BrendanSinclair

12 comments

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nathanthegame

Hope they THQ makes a new WWE No Mercy for the Rev. That game still owns on N64 anyone else thinks its good?

chrisdojo

uggg.....bratz

dg_stream

This is not weird at all, considering that the games they make are going to sell. Girls who play games and are young want that bratz game. They have a targeted group of "gamers" and they reached out well to them.

aaron6581230

lol most of those games, not including smackdown vs raw 2006 got lame scores so this is weird..

owner211

The guys that made a bratz game are actually doing good???

NeoJedi

WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 is a great game. Even though this is temporary, it's good news for THQ and it proves that things can go well in this very bad year in the gaming business.

chrisdojo

where's the headlines about EA missing the mark????

wwf20112

if it wasnt for the awsome smackdown vs raw 2006 game on the ps2 they would fall alot shorter.

Igiss

THQ is too far from Electronic Arts, lucky for them if they could estimate their earnings better than large publishers. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. next year may bring some money into THQ coffers, if it won't be delayed one more time.

macmaster1

Probably the only reeason THQ is meeting their quaterly earning is cause they didnt have high expectations. LOL. Come on, a Brats game.

darthzor

Interesting. I wonder why all of these other studios aren't meeting their goals, while THQ manages to sqeak by. It sucks that the gaming industry in general is falling shorter this season. Dang the Hot Coffee Scandal!

Kaos-Angel

first post! good news to hear!

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