I trust they are good at averaging out as a medicore game maker, considering thier invlovement with relic on company of heroes, a game which continues to be patched to this day, and is going to be free in like a month justa note.
THQ posts $900 million in full-year sales
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Publisher makes "significant turnaround" with launches of UFC, Red Faction, Darksiders; company losses narrowed to $9.6 million.
After 13 straight years of growing revenues, THQ last year reported a steep 22 percent full-year sales decline. The drop came in the wake of a global economic downturn, while the publisher was enacting company-wide changes that included $220 million in cost-cutting measures at the cost of nearly a quarter of its global workforce.
While neither the economy nor THQ are back to where they were before the downturn, the situation for the game maker has since stabilized, as evidenced by modestly positive full-year and fourth-fiscal-quarter results released today. For the 12 months ended March 31, 2010, THQ reported net sales of $899.1 million, up 8 percent from the previous year's $830 million in revenues. The publisher also reported an operating loss of $9.6 million, a substantial improvement from the previous year's $387.7 million shortfall.
THQ's fourth quarter played out much like its fiscal year, as sales were up and losses narrowed. For the January-March period, the publisher's net sales totaled $197.7 million, up 16 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, operating losses shrank to $9.4 million, down from $87.1 million for the same period the year before.
In an investor conference call after the announcement, THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell said the company had made a "significant turnaround" during the year. He pointed to the launches of UFC, Darksiders, and Red Faction as specific success stories, noting that UFC shipped 4 million units over the year. Farrell said that matched the 4 million shipped for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010.
Speaking of the pro wrestling franchise, THQ said it plans to release its WWE Online game in Korea this year and will announce a new WWE branded game at next month's Electronic Entertainment Expo. The long-in-development massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on Warhammer 40,000 is also scheduled to debut at E3, according to the publisher.
THQ also touted its kids, family, and casual gaming efforts, with Farrell noting that Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter and Marvel Super Hero Squad each shipped 1 million copies. New installments in the Marvel Super Hero Squad series are planned to launch in the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2011.
Overall, THQ upped its market share in the United States to 4.9 percent, making it the fourth-largest third-party publisher. For the previous fiscal year, THQ accounted for 3.6 percent of the US market.
Looking forward, THQ expects to continue improving its bottom line in the current year (fiscal 2011), with growth accelerating in fiscal 2012 on the strength of its core game lineup. This fiscal year, THQ expects to launch its original intellectual property Homefront and a new Red Faction game. For the year after, THQ is working on Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine, a Darksiders sequel, and a new Saints Row game.
For the 12 months ending March 31, 2011, THQ is expecting sales to be up 2 to 4 percent, between $905 million and $920 million. It also expects to report earnings per share between $0.20 and $0.30. For comparison, the $9.6 million full-year operating loss represented a loss per share of $0.13.
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.
50 comments
Hmm...I wonder if Koreans even play WWE games? I'm not being prejudice here, I'm just curious if Koreans play wrestling games.
With the lineup of real games THQ had I'm glad people bought their games because many of them were great
Right now THQ is turning around their losses because they are producing a more diverse line of products, so they don't have to rely so heavily on selling in a single area. They made a cruddy wii game for kids that, like most cruddy wii games for kids, sold very well. They made a good sport game- which like EA sport games, can be resold annually simply by changing the year on the cover. And they are also creating franchises- which like most franchises, grow worse in quality but inversely sell even better with every sequel released. But I enjoyed Darksiders- so I'm glad to see they are doing better, and I can't wait for the sequel.
I don't play many titles from THQ, yet it always good to see when a gaming company can get themselves out a financial downturn--especially in these economic times (where so many others didn't get the chance to or couldn't wing it through). Nice to see them turn their fortunes around. :)
Always good to hear someone pull themselves out of a swan-dive. Now get cracking on Titan Quest 2!
Damn. Was hoping Space Marine would come out bu Christmas. Looks like it's sometime in 2011. Well, at least in June we get to see what they have done for the 40k MOG.
@ekultus - no, they got fired all the people not involved in making good games which is where the loss of 25% of their workforce came from. As far as im aware THQ hasn't let any significant studio go since its restructure so the idea that they have fired the people they hired is odd. Also they weren't really hiring new people to make good games they were just getting rid of studios involved in making trash and focusing on their core studios who they trust to do a good job such as Relic.
Do you people not understand what your beloved THQ has done? Let me break it down for you: hire a team of monkeys to make these so-called great games, then fire the same team of monkeys before release of so-called great product thus earning this so-called great company $900 million. Every company loses money in development but the honest ones will keep the slaves aboard to reep what they sow. THQ is no different that Activision or EA. Wake up zombies.
Didn't Activision make like 1Billion dollar in sales off of ONE game, being MW2? I guess THQ is bringing in chump change compared to them. But at least they've somewhat stopped the bleeding.
I really enjoy the 40k games THQ pumps out, still enjoying Dawn of War 2, looking forward to Space Marine. For the Emperah and his Speece Mehreens!
They sure have come along way from making games based on Nickelodeon shows (though the Rugrats PS1 game was pretty kickass).
THQ does deserve it. I enjoyed the hell out of UFC, Red Faction, and Darksiders. Keep up the good work guys!
Congrats THQ! I use to hate their games, but over the past year they've made some great ones for sure. Metro 2033 (I love it!), Red Faction, Darksiders, UFC 2009. Saints Row 2 was great fun as well.
omg omg omg omg a 40k mmo? better be more innovative than the warhammer one, because if they screw it up I will be so pissed...so much awesome potenital, they'd better have propper shooting and cover mechanics or it's going to be a flop
THQ is awsome, good games, decent prices, and they care for their products like free patches and big games upgrades (and a lot of them), like the upgrade to one of my fav - Dawn of War II. And other WH 40K games before it. And they dont make dick moves like making u pay 15$ for old revamped maps - yea im talking to you Modern Warfare 2, or putting horribly annoying DRMs which pirates crack anyways like Ubisoft (Epic FAIL of the year!), now i wont buy Settlers VII cuz of my crappy countryside internet :(. Anyways Kudos to THQ and keep up the good work! Also if you could i would love another Company Of Heroes games.. maybe you can rip off HBO's "The Pacific" this time, that could be cool to play :)
Hate THQ all you want but they got the MMA market cornered so expect UFC Undisputed 2010 to sell a lot more then the first game. I will definently pick up Darksiders but not until its a bit cheaper, Saints Row is really their own knock off of GTA but it sells so who cares.
Wait, did I read that right? I have to wait another year for "Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine, a Darksiders sequel, and a new Saints Row game". That is weak. Im really looking forward to all those games.
good for THQ. they are a great company. They made one of my favorite games..Sphinx and the cursed Mummy. amazing game. now they got Darksiders which was good but needed more depth. im looking forward to the sequel. THQ deserves the recognition
my favorite game THQ published this year was Metro 2033, but it probably made them the least money but I still loved it
This is what you get when you focus on Quality than Quantity (: Proud of you THQ, can always trust you to make the right decision(s) at the end (:
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