Activision Beats Earnings Estimates, Continues Record-Breaking Year

Activision reported earnings for the third quarter of its current fiscal year today, bringing in $841 million in net revenue, including digital revenue of $427 million. The quarter beat estimates, rising 20% compared to last year, and Activision said it’s broken records for the first nine months of the calendar year. Activision CFO Dennis Durkin noted that as of September 30th (when the quarter ended), Activision “had no debt and $3.4 billion in cash and investments."

Particular highlights were the Skylanders franchise -- which has brought in more than $500 million in sales to date -- and Diablo III, which has been sold more than 10 million times. Activision also reiterated that World of Warcraft has more than 10 million subscribers and remains the world’s biggest MMO thanks to 2.7 million copies of Mists of Pandaria sold in its first week. Activision did note that it expects a decline next year, with CEO Bobby Kotick commenting “as we look to calendar 2013, we remain cautious in light of a challenging worldwide macroeconomic environment, the ongoing console transition and difficult year-over-year comparables as a result of Blizzard's record-shattering success with Diablo III in 2012.”

Looking ahead, Activision revised its expected earnings for the full 2012 calendar year from $4.3 billion to $4.57 billion, pointing to the potentially record-breaking launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops II and the continued success of both Skylanders and Diablo. Activision also hinted at content set to come next year and beyond, with Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm scheduled for the first half of 2013 and the news that Diablo III will receive an expansion.

Next-gen consoles were also brought up many times by investors, and Kotick noted “we can't really talk too much about next generation console plans, but I think it's safe to say you have a Wii U coming out and there will be another new console coming and we expect that they'll be very successful.” He added that “we always evaluate all platforms with an eye towards being able to create the most compelling differentiated content. And whether it's Facebook as a platform or tablets or mobile devices platforms, once we think that we can put our best creative foot forward and we can deliver something that's compelling and engaging and meaningfully different and really capitalize on the capabilities of a new platform, we'll support it.”

In addition to Black Ops II, Activision’s upcoming release slate includes Transformers Prime for Wii U in November as well as The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct and Deadpool in 2013.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Diablo III Expansion Confirmed by Blizzard

Blizzard has confirmed that Diablo III will receive an expansion. During an earnings call for the third quarter of Activision Blizzard’s current fiscal year, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said that an expansion is currently planned, but no timeline is in place just yet for when it might be released. Morhaime noted that the quality of the expansion and its gameplay is the top priority, and both will be a “big factor” in driving the actual schedule of the release.

Elsewhere in the call, Activision Blizzard also mentioned that more than 10 million copies of Diablo III have been sold to date, expanding upon the number of players revealed in August. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick referred to “Blizzard’s record-shattering Diablo III sales” as one of the primary drivers for earnings so far this year, with Activision noting in a statement that Diablo III is “the #1 bestselling game in dollars and units on the PC in the U.S. and Europe” since its release in May.

Diablo III’s 1.0.5 patch was released last month.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Amazon Posts $274 Million Loss in Q3 Earnings Report

Amazon announced a Q3 $274 million net loss in an earnings report today. The poor quarter is no surprise to anyone who followed the LivingSocial meltdown - which contributed to $169 million of that $274 million.

But perhaps the big news is how Amazon used the opportunity to slam the iPad Mini as an inferior device. Starting the section "Highlights" is a lengthy bulletlist, which compared both models of Amazon's Kindle Fire HDs to the iPad Mini.

While there's no hard and fast rule on how a company must report their earnings, starting their quarter highlights by taking a competitor's product to task seems like a weird choice. Why not celebrate the Kindle Fire HD's general release and reception? Also odd: where's the Kindle Fire HD's other competition on that list? Or are they genuinely not worried about the Nexus 7 as a competitor?

What do you think? Should Amazon stick to their own numbers, or is this a classic case of turning lemons into lemonade?

Nic is the Editor of IGN Tech. He loves technology almost as much as the SF Giants, Dogfish Head iPA, and Freelance Whales. You can follow him on Twitter @nicvargus and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Soulcalibur V, Naruto UNSG Sales Pass 1 Million

Namco has revealed its earnings for the first quarter of the current fiscal year, posting sales figures for two of its recent sequels. 1.38 million units of Soulcalibur V have been sold worldwide since launch, while sales of Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations are at an even one million. Sales of both, in addition to solid portable game sales in Japan, led to an overall increase of 200% for Namco Bandai profits for the quarter.

Namco Bandai earned $1.39 billion for the quarter overall, up 23.2% from last year. The publisher’s upcoming release slate includes Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition this month and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 in September. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, Star Trek: The Game and Ni no Kuni will be released in early 2013.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Diablo III Has More than 10 Million Players

In its second quarter earnings report today, Activision Blizzard confirmed that as of July, more than 10 million people have played Diablo III. This is up four million from the figures announced after the game’s launch and supports the game’s continued success at retail.

According to an Activision Blizzard earnings call that followed, the company said that Diablo III is the best-selling PC game of the first half of 2012 and once again reiterated that changes are coming to the game in the future. Elsewhere in the earnings report, Activision Blizzard also revealed that World of Warcraft subscriptions are down by more than one million.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Sony Posts $312 Million Loss, PlayStation Stagnant

On the heels of Nintendo's $220 million quarterly loss, Sony released its consolidated financial results for its first fiscal quarter of the year, which ran from April 1, 2012 to June 30, 2012. Here is another version of the report.

The major takeaway is that the company as a whole lost another $312 million to add on top of its epic stock fall, debt downgrade, and a gigantic quarterly loss last year. It’s worth noting that a loss of $312 million is significantly lower than the $2.03 billion loss from Q3 of 2011, indicating that the company is on the upswing even if it’s still in the red.

The company notes that “the operating environment surrounding Sony in the first quarter continued to be difficult with the economy slowing in many areas of the world and the trend toward appreciation of the yen taking hold.” As Sony is also under a massive corporate restructure to streamline the company’s operations towards profitability, the company incurred “11.3 billion yen of restructuring charges included in the operating results,” inflating the loss. 11.3 billion yen is roughly equivalent to $14.5 million.

“Uncertain foreign exchange rates and trends in the global economy” have caused Sony to “downwardly [revise]” its fiscal year forecast moving forward.

Sony is a gigantic corporation, and the PlayStation brand is merely a segment of it (it’s the third biggest segment of the business by sales and operating revenue). But the PlayStation brand itself is also experiencing further financial difficulties. Sony notes that “Primarily due to the lowering of the annual unit sales forecast for portable hardware, sales are expected to be significantly lower than the May forecast… Sales are expected to be essentially flat and operating income is expected to decrease significantly year-on-year.”

Jumping further into the numbers, one finds a year-over-year sales fall. “Sales decreased 14.5% year-on-year (a 10% decrease on a constant currency basis) to 118.0 billion yen ($1.493 billion). This decrease was primarily due to lower sales of hardware and software of the PSP (PlayStation Portable) and PlayStation 3, partially offset by the contribution of the PlayStation Vita introduced from December 2011.”

Sony projects sales of PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 to amount to 16 million units globally during the entirety of its fiscal year. However, it has downgraded earlier estimates of 16 million PSPs and PlayStation Vitas sold during the fiscal year to 12 million. Its total software sales of 196.7 million units in 2011’s fiscal year is expected to be replicated in fiscal year 2012.

Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.

Source : ign[dot]com

Grand Theft Auto V Making 'Substantial Progress'

Rockstar parent company Take-Two has provided a brief status update about Grand Theft Auto V. During the company’s first quarter fiscal 2013 earnings call today, CEO Strauss Zelnick commented that Grand Theft Auto V is in “full development” and that Rockstar has made “substantial progress” on the game’s “vast, detailed open world setting.”

Beyond that, Zelnick was coy about Grand Theft Auto V’s release date, commenting “we can't talk about the credibility of a release date that we haven't announced” when asked about various reports about the game’s timing. When asked how often Take-Two communicates with Rockstar regarding the game’s status, Zelnick simply said he “wouldn't talk publicly about the way we communicate with our teams internally” and noted that Take-Two is “blessed” to be in business with Rockstar. “We have the best creative teams in the business across our company,” he added.

Grand Theft Auto V seemed to be the focus of many shareholders during the call’s Q&A session, but one investor also inquired about Agent, which, aside from aside from a few screenshots, hasn’t been heard from since it was originally announced in 2009. “We haven’t announced anything about the title yet” was Zelnick’s only comment.

Overall, Take-Two referred to the first quarter of its 2013 fiscal year as below expectations, largely pointing to lower than expected sales of Max Payne 3 (which has shipped three million units worldwide) and Spec Ops: The Line. The company earned $226.1 million for the quarter -- down $108.3 million compared to the same quarter last year -- and reported a $110.8 million loss, more than $100 million over last year’s first quarter loss of $8.6 million. “Consumers at this stage in the hardware cycle are more selective than ever,” Zelnick said. “Our teams are already trying to do groundbreaking work. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we succeed mightily. Occasionally we are disappointed. We’d like that to be even less occasionally.”

Take-Two is investing heavily in digitally-delivered content, including mobile games and downloads. 14% of Take-Two revenue this quarter came from downloaded content, including Civilization V’s recent Gods and Kings expansion and Max Payne Mobile. A free multiplayer add-on for Max Payne 3 was announced, as well as online launches including an open beta for NBA 2K13 in China, Comedy Central’s Indecision Game for mobile and NBA 2K All Stars for the GREE platform. Catalog sales were up 50% compared to last year, including successes like Grand Theft Auto III 10th Anniversary Edition and Red Dead Redemption.

Take-Two expects this fiscal year “to be one of the best years in Take-Two's history,” projecting between $1.7 and $1.8 billion. 55% of that total is expected to come from Rockstar, with the remaining 45% coming from 2K titles. 2K’s upcoming release slate includes Borderlands 2 in September, followed by NBA 2K13 and XCOM: Enemy Unknown in October. First-person shooter XCOM is scheduled for fiscal 2014 (meaning it will arrive between April 2013 and March 2014) and BioShock Infinite is scheduled for February 2013. Take-Two also hinted at additional titles that have yet to be announced.

Take-Two noted that Borderlands 2 has some of the highest pre-order numbers in the company’s history, behind only Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. "Consumer anticipation is phenomenal," chief operating officer Karl Slatoff commented.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Dead Space 3, Crysis 3, Madden 13 Pre-Orders Surge

EA has announced big pre-order numbers for Dead Space 3, Crysis 3 and Madden NFL 13. According to a first quarter earnings call today, pre-orders of Dead Space 3 “are tracking almost five-times higher than Dead Space 2 in the same timeframe in 2010.” Crysis 3 pre-orders, meanwhile, “are roughly three-times what they were for Crysis 2 at this time in 2010” and Madden NFL 13 pre-orders “are up 25% versus last year.”

Elsewhere in the call, EA reported continued success for Battlefield 3 Premium, which has boosted its financials in the wake of disappointing subscriber numbers for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Looking ahead, the publisher also commented that it’s keeping a close eye on Wii U.

Overall, EA lost $130 million this quarter, with revenue of $491 million that fell just short of its $500 million forecast. EA announced this morning that it will hire former Yahoo! exec Blake Jorgensen as its new executive vice president and chief financial officer. The publisher called the quarter “solid” overall and CEO John Riccitiello referred to the company’s plans as “a strategic balance that none of our peers can duplicate.”

EA also commented on the results of a recent lawsuit over sports exclusivity, noting that it’s “not out of the NCAA football business” but that it won’t hold the exclusive rights moving forward. “We’re very bullish on our NCAA product going forward and we welcome the competition,” Riccitiello said, in addition to discussing Star Wars: The Old Republic's recently-announced transition to free-to-play.

EA’s upcoming release slate includes NHL 13 in September in addition to Madden NFL 13 in August and both Medal of Honor Warfighter and  Need for Speed Most Wanted in October. Crysis 3 and Dead Space 3 will hit stores in early 2013, along with Sim City in February.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

EA ‘Keeping a Very Close Eye’ on Wii U

During its first quarter earnings call today, EA commented on its plans to support Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U. According to EA chief operating officer Peter Moore, the publisher is interested in the console and has plans to make announcements in the future.

“We’re keeping a very close eye on the platform,” Moore said before acknowledging the “lackluster response” Nintendo received coming out of E3. He added that EA has learned to “never underestimate Nintendo, as proven by the last generation.”

Moore noted that EA has “great franchises poised to be on that platform,” but that no announcements are ready to be made at this time. “We’ll probably announce more in the future,” he said.

During E3, EA announced that Mass Effect 3 is headed to Wii U. Since then, BioWare confirmed that the Wii U version will integrate Mass Effect 3’s extended cut endings.

The publisher is expected to make additional announcements leading up to Nintendo’s launch of Wii U later this year.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Battlefield 3 Premium Passes 1.3 Million Members

EA has announced that more than 1.3 million people have signed up for Battlefield 3 Premium. The news comes as part of EA’s first quarter earnings report for its 2013 fiscal year, and represents an increase of half a million members since EA announced that 800,000 people had signed up during the service’s first two weeks.

Battlefield 3 Premium was announced during E3 and offers all five of Battlefield 3’s expansions for a one-time purchase of $49.99. Premium players also receive unique in-game weapons, priority servers, double XP weekends and new dog tags.

Add-ons featured as part of Premium include December 2011’s Back to Karkand, June’s Close Quarters, Armored Kill in September, Aftermath in December and March 2013’s End Game. All content is available one week early on PlayStation 3.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Nintendo Still Losing Money, But 3DS Sales Improving

Nintendo's first-quarter financial results, released this morning, saw the publisher post a loss as expected - but 3DS sales are on the up.

The net operating loss stood at ¥17.2 billion/$220.4m, an improvement on the previous year's ¥25.5 billion Q1 loss, with sales down by ¥9.1bn ($116.4m) on this time last year. Nintendo sold 1.86 million 3DS units during the quarter, in comparison to 710,000 ove the same period in 2011, at the time of the console's European and North American launch, which means an increase of 162%. Software sales stood at 7.39 million, a 63% increase.

Nintendo has been selling the 3DS at a loss since the post-launch price cuts, but the financial results report that as of July 25th it is no longer selling at less than the manufacturing price, meaning that the company can start making money from sales of the console from this point onwards.

Lifetime sales of the 3DS now stand at 19 million. The Wii is sitting at 96.56 million, meaning it's currently the third best-selling home console of all time behind the PlayStation and PlayStation 2.

We can expect the 3DS XL to boost 3DS sales yet further in the next quarter - and with the Wii U out before the end of the year, it's sensible to expect that Nintendo's Q1 results for next year will rather different.

Source : ign[dot]com

Microsoft Posts Loss on Quarter 4 Earnings Report

Microsoft's Q4 earnings are out, and despite increased revenue from last quarter, Microsoft has posted their first ever loss in the company's 26-year history - $492M to be precise - the company earned just $192M in operating income before taxes this quarter.

Some analysts saw this coming, due to Microsoft's writedown of digital advertising firm aQuantive. What's a writedown you ask? In 2007, Microsoft acquired the aQuantive, but declared the purchase a failure. The result was a written loss of assets in Microsoft's books.

Microsoft remains optimistic, though. “We delivered record fourth quarter and annual revenue, and we’re fast approaching the most exciting launch season in Microsoft history,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft, in Microsoft's most recent press release regarding the report.

“Over the coming year, we’ll release the next versions of Windows, Office, Windows Server, Windows Phone, and many other products and services that will drive our business forward and provide unprecedented opportunity to our customers and partners.”

Could a new Xbox be a part of that "other products and services?" It's likely - Microsoft's entertainment and devices division alone saw a 20% increase in revenue this quarter, at $364 million. But that's still far from last year's $1.26 billion in profit. Of course, at the tail end of a console cycle, it's far from surprising.

With Windows 8 on the way, PC purchasing and revenue should pick up again in the fall.

Source : ign[dot]com