Bam reports losses

Bam Entertainment has announced that it will begin a comprehensive restructuring plan designed to refine its product strategy and make significant cost savings by January 2003. The announcement follows the release of financial reports for the fiscal quarter ending September 30, which saw the company's net losses increase from $4,000 in the equivalent quarter last year to some $8.2 million.

During the quarter in question, Bam released six games, including its first for the Xbox, Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver . Bam will have a further 10 games in stores before the end of 2002, including Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver , Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver , Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver , and Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver versions of the movie-inspired Reign of Fire and Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver and Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver games based on The Powerpuff Girls. At the same time, though, Bam also terminated the development of what it describes as several non-core projects and accelerated the development amortization on selected future projects--one-time costs that reportedly account for around $2.3 million of the software amortization costs expensed during the quarter.

"Recognizing the current heavy competition in the games market, we believe that our prior focus on market share growth is no longer appropriate," said Ray Musci, chief executive officer of Bam Entertainment. "Less than anticipated penetration of certain hardware systems, coupled with an excessive number of new titles, has significantly increased the costs of competing for the core gamer and decreased the financial attractiveness of releasing anything other than AAA titles targeted toward that core gamer market."

"Many of Bam's successes have come from its family entertainment properties, and we have strong intellectual properties and development partnerships in place to address that growing segment of the games market," Musci continued. "While we will continue to pursue products that appeal to the 'hard core' mass market, we will do so on a far more selective basis and will do so only if convinced the property has true superstar potential."

So, essentially, it looks like Bam Entertainment will be a lot more selective about which games it chooses to publish going forward--which should be good news for the company, shareholders, and gamers alike.