GameSpasm

Sega parent, Sega Sammy Holdings, has reported net sales of ¥91.3 billion ($1.05 billion) for its fiscal first quarter, which ended June 30. The outcome compares favorably to the ¥60.5 billion ($700 million) recorded by the company during the same period last year -- and it's mostly due to pachinko sales. Still, Sega's consumer products division -- the part that makes home video games -- also enjoyed increased sales, bringing in ¥20.9 billion ($241.8 million), minus ¥636 million ($7.36 million) in operating losses.

Despite the generally upward trend, Sega reported slow sales of its major Q1 titles, Iron Man 2 and Alpha Protocol, due to "adverse market conditions." Iron Man 2 sold 1.12 million units across multiple platforms, while Alpha Protocol only sneaked into about 700,000 homes.

Sega sales up in fiscal Q1, despite Alpha Protocol's disappointing performance originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: Alpha Protocol, earnings, financial, fy-2011, iron man 2, q1, Sales, sega, sega-sammy, Software

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Sega parent, Sega Sammy Holdings, has reported net sales of ¥91.3 billion ($1.05 billion) for its fiscal first quarter, which ended June 30. The outcome compares favorably to the ¥60.5 billion ($700 million) recorded by the company during the same period last year -- and it's mostly due to pachinko sales. Still, Sega's consumer products division -- the part that makes home video games -- also enjoyed increased sales, bringing in ¥20.9 billion ($241.8 million), minus ¥636 million ($7.36 million) in operating losses.

Despite the generally upward trend, Sega reported slow sales of its major Q1 titles, Iron Man 2 and Alpha Protocol, due to "adverse market conditions." Iron Man 2 sold 1.12 million units across multiple platforms, while Alpha Protocol only sneaked into about 700,000 homes.

Sega sales up in fiscal Q1, despite Alpha Protocol's disappointing performance originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: Alpha Protocol, earnings, financial, fy-2011, iron man 2, q1, Sales, sega, sega-sammy, Software

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Video game industry analysts' ears perked up yesterday following the release of Blizzard's super anticipated RTS, StarCraft 2 -- sensing a need for the skills of their vocation, these analysts began firing off their predictions for how the game would sell through the end of the year. According to Gamespot, Signal Hill's Tom Greenwald suggests that "5-6 million units this year are highly achievable," while Lazard Capital Markets' Colin Sebastian predicts the game to sell 4.5 million units through September and 6.5 million units by the end of 2010.

Speaking to USA Today, Morgan Wedbush guru Michael Pachter gave his prediction: five million copies within the next two to three months. Using our own comprehension of the gaming industry, as well as a few tricks we've picked up from The Price is Right, we've got our own predictions: Five million and one by October, six-and-a-half million and one by the end of the year. Oh, yeah. That spot on the Showcase Showdown is ours for sure.

Analysts predict StarCraft 2 sales in 2010 to be out of this world originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: analyst, blizzard, colin-sebastian, Michael Pachter, PC, Rts, Sales, starcraft 2, tom-greenwald

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Atari announced that revenues were down 65 percent to €19.3 million ($25M) in the first quarter of its fiscal year ending June 30, 2010. The company didn't reveal any profit or loss data, but given its loss during the previous fiscal year, it's pretty safe to guess that Atari isn't doing so hot. Last year's Q1 included Ghostbusters and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, while this year had, according to the company, "only one major game" ... Sandlot Sluggers.

A small piece of "good news" during the quarter, which also included another major executive shuffle at the publisher, was that online revenues were up 320 percent to €8.4 million ($10.9M). The much-needed money injection was thanks to digital distribution sales and subscriptions for Star Trek Online and Champions Online.

Some of the hopes Atari has for the rest of the year include the reboot of Haunted House in September, The Witcher 2 next spring and "numerous casual and social online game releases based upon Atari's classic video game brands."

Atari sales down in Q1, online is the glimmer of hope originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: Atari, business, Financials, q1, revenue, Sales

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Toy Story 3 buzzed up four spots to take the top of Chart-Track's UK sales All Formats chart this week, due in no small part to the film's release and subsequent success as the second-highest grossing opening weekend for a Pixar film in the region. Red Dead Redemption rode up two spots after putting the spurs to sales, and Ubisoft's Dance On Broadway keeps high-kicking the charts in third place, maintaining a long-term career like its predecessor, Just Dance, which is resilient in eighth place.

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies debuted in ninth on the charts as the only new title to break the top ten. Also, in a plummet akin to jumping off the Agency Building, Crackdown 2 sales dropped 59 percent, taking the game from the top spot last week to tenth. Check out the UK top ten after the break.

Continue reading Toy Story 3 springs to life atop UK charts

Toy Story 3 springs to life atop UK charts originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: Britain, business, chart-track, Ds, microsoft, Nintendo, Playstation, PS3, Sales, Toy story 3, Uk, Wii, Xbox

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Ubisoft has released a preliminary report on its fiscal first quarter, which ended June 30, revealing that software sales totaled €161 million ($207.8M). The company recorded a 94 percent revenue increase over the same period last year thanks to sustained sales of Assassin's Creed 2, Just Dance and Avatar. The company also reported "solid performance" from Splinter Cell: Conviction and shipped 1.9 million units of the game during the quarter. Ubisoft will reveal actual profit (or loss) figures for the quarter at a later date.

The company expects sales in the second quarter, which concludes at the end of September, to be flat year-over-year at an estimated €83 million ($107M). The company's Q2 releases are "highlighted" by plans to ship HAWX 2, Racquet Sports and R.U.S.E. -- although the strategy game has been known to live up to its name when it comes to sticking to a release date.

Ubisoft fiscal Q1 sales up 94% over last year originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: assassins-creed-2, Financials, fy-2011, just-dance, microsoft, Nintendo, Playstation, PS3, q1, Sales, Software, splinter-cell-conviction, ubisoft, Wii, Xbox

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The NPD's "PC Games Digital Downloads: Analyst Report" states that in 2009, 21.3 million "full-game" PC titles were downloaded through digital distribution networks, while 23.5 million physical units were purchased at retail. Yes, despite the explosion of digital distribution in the PC space, retail is still important.

Overall, digital distribution "accounted for 36 percent of dollar sales," but the initial cost of a PC product -- if it even has any upfront cost -- doesn't really give the full picture of the financial potential.

The top five "frontline" digital retailers (those who have the games that are also typically offered in stores) were:

1. Steam (SURPRISE!)
2. Direct2Drive
3. Blizzard.com
4. EA.com
5. Worldofwarcraft.com

We've listed the top five casual digital retailers after the break. NPD notes that casual distributors have lost market share due to the rise of "social network gaming" (Facebook) and free, inexpensive mobile titles.

Continue reading NPD: PC retail and digital distribution sales reaching parity

NPD: PC retail and digital distribution sales reaching parity originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: blizzard, blizzard-entertainment, direct2drive, EA.com, npd, PC, retail, Sales, steam, world-of-warcraft

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Gamerbytes has compiled a list of several Xbox Live Arcade games and their performance in the first half of 2010 based on data derived from leaderboards.

First, there are the top performers: Trials HD apparently had the biggest user base, jumping from 600,000 players to over a million during the first half of 2010 (not counting its DLC, which had almost 300,000 players over that period). But how about games that launched this year? Well, Perfect Dark enlisted 265,000, and Toy Soldiers and its DLC managed to recruit a combined 346,000 players. Risk: Factions and Snoopy Flying Ace have yet to reach 100,000.

Other games didn't fare so well, with several failing to capture the attention of even 1,000 users -- Voodoo Dice, Ben 10 and Fret Nice were near or below that mark -- and of the 24 new games that Gamerbytes catalogued, only 13 managed to reach 10,000 players.

Seeing how deals and promotions affected the growth of user bases on older titles is particularly interesting in the case of Zombie Apocalypse and TMNT: ReShelled, both of which came darn close to doubling their respective audiences when discounts were applied.

XBLA sales stats for first half of 2010, as deduced from leaderboard data originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: Perfect Dark, q1, q1-2010, q2, q2-2010, Risk: factions, Sales, Snoopy flying ace, TMNT-Turtles-in-Time-Re-Shelled, toy-soldiers, Trials hd, Xbla, Xbox Live Arcade, zombie apocalypse

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NPD has revealed the bestselling games for consoles from January through June of 2010. IGN notes that Nintendo dominates sales by individual platform, with six of the top ten titles created for its hardware; and five of them developed by the money-printing publisher itself. In combined platform sales, runaway hit Red Dead Redemption rides high.

2010 Top Five Combined Platform Sales from January-June:

1. Red Dead Redemption (PS3, Xbox 360)
2. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3, Xbox 360)
4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3, Xbox 360)
5. Wii Fit Plus (Wii)

Check out the top ten individual platform sales leaders after the break.

Continue reading 2010 halftime report on bestselling US console games

2010 halftime report on bestselling US console games originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: Battlefield bad company 2, call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2, microsoft, new-super-mario-bros-wii, Nintendo, npd, Playstation, pokemon-soul-silver, PS3, red-dead-redemption, Sales, Software, Wii, Xbox

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Microsoft enjoyed a "significant sales spike" for Xbox 360 hardware in June, but according to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, discounts on the original version of the Xbox 360 may have had more to do with driving consumer excitement than the new model.

40 percent of Xboxes sold in the US last month were new "Short" systems, Pachter told investors in a report (summarized by GamesIndustry.biz), with $150 Arcade systems accounting for another 35 percent. That leaves various bundles, also discounted by $50, as the other 25 percent of the month's sales.

"It is clear that the sales spike for the 360 was largely temporary, as clearance items accounted for around 60 per cent of total sales," Pachter concluded, "and it is not clear that software attached heavily to these purchase." Those discounted Xboxes would account for an even higher percentage by volume!

Discounted original Xbox 360s outsold new 'S' model in June originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: Hardware, Michael Pachter, microsoft, npd, Sales, Xbox, Xbox 360 Slim, xbox-360-s, xbox-360-short

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