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  • Interview: Gameloft's Gonzague de Vallois Explains The Turning Point For Mobile Games

    Over the past few years, the mobile games industry has been been hampered by high royalty costs, distribution difficulties and the costs of supporting a wide number of handsets. But now, there's a renewed sense of optimism. New platforms, such as Apple's iPhone, Google's Android and Nokia's N-Gage, are providing new opportunities, even though they are just starting to come out. Already, EA Mobile, Glu Mobile ( NSDQ: GLUU ), THQ ( NSDQ: THQI ), and Gameloft ( EPA: GFT ) are showing some positive signs. For example, in the third quarter, Glu admitted it failed to anticipate the power of the iPhone and didn't put enough resources toward it, while Gameloft declared 2008 as "a turning point in the mobile gaming industry." Gameloft was by far the most bullish, and even went as far as to attribute its 18 percent jump in North American sales partly to the success of the iPhone. To find out how this will impact the industry going forward, I talked to Gonzague de Vallois, Gameloft's SVP of Worldwide Publishing. Here's excerpts from the interview: Why does Gameloft believe mobile games hit a turning point this year? "What we think Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL ) has brought in recent months is innovation on two dimensions. The first is innovation in the gaming experience. The iPhone'a touch platform, the accelerometer and its powerful OS, are really enhancing the gaming experience. It's as powerful as a [Sony] PSP or [Nintendo] DS, so it's a step forward compared to what we've had to work with." For example, he said in 2002, mobile games were limited to 300 kilobytes in size, and today that's only mildly increased to 600 kilobytes, but an iPhone game is between 62 and 80 megabits. "It's 100 times better to make it simple. In terms of richness and depth, you really jump from the early 80s to 2008. The other is on the distribution side. The App Store is an open platform. They have editorial choice, and Apple features...
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  • Earnings: Mobile Gaming A Bright Spot For THQ

    Game publisher and developer THQ ( NSDQ: THQI ) released terrible Q3 earnings —with ballooning losses and revenues down 28 percent year-over-year. But its mobile gaming division was seemingly a bright spot. Q3 mobile game revenues totaled $6.2 million, up 29 percent from $4.8 million in the year-ago period, and jumped 21 percent sequentially. Mobile games made up 3.8 percent of THQ's overall revenue, up from 2.1 percent last year. Related http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-earnings-thq-wireless-q2-revenues-grow-177-percent Mark Logic Digital Publishing Summit, Thursday November 6, Westin Times Square. Insight and perspective from Outsell, Gilbane, Simon & Schuster, BusinessWeek.com, more. Evening cocktail reception. Cost is complimentary. Register now!
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  • Earnings Call: Glu Says New Platforms Have Hurt Traditional Carrier Business; Cash Balance Sinks

    The mobile games industry still has to figure out a lot, and there's no better confirmation of that than listening to Glu ( NSDQ: GLUU ) Mobile's third-quarter earnings call, which detailed a laundry list of concerns, ranging from industry-specific things, such as figuring out what business model works best to the impacts of the poor economy, and things specific to Glu, such as its shrinking cash position as the final payment comes due on an acquisition. Glu's CEO Greg Ballard: "We are disappointed in our Q3 performance...We expect these conditions to continue and are assumptions are reflected in our fourth-quarter outlook. It's unfortunate that these economic conditions are occurring when there's a significant shift occurring to the next generation platforms. There's short-term challenges, but there will be a new path for the industry, and Glu specifically." The company's stock sank four cents, or nearly 5 percent, to close at 81 cents a share. Release | Earnings Call . Highlights from the call after the jump -- Shrinking cash position: At the end of the Q3, the company had $19.9 million in cash, and they expect to have about $17 million by the end of the year, not including an $8 million credit facility. However, next year, the company will have to pay an additional $25 million in cash and stock to the shareholders of MIG, a Chinese mobile game company it acquired. The first installment is due in the first half of 2009. To help, the company has reduced its expenses by 8 percent over the last few quarters, and forecasts cash-flow break even in the first half of the year, not including the payments. "We believe we have the means for cash," said Eric Ludwig, Glu's CFO. -- Carrier model declines: Ballard said that there's been substantial growth among smartphones, with the adoption of Windows Mobile and RIM ( NSDQ: RIMM ) Blackberry devices, however, it's negatively impacting the company's traditional carrier...
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  • Earnings: Glu Mobile's Q3 Loss Widens; New Platforms Aren't Enough To Dig Out Of Economic Problems

    Glu ( NSDQ: GLUU ) reported Q3 revenue of $23.9 million, a 44 percent jump compared to the $16.7 million recorded in the year-ago period. However, the company's net loss ballooned to $56.9 million, or $1.93 a share, from $800,000 or three cents a share in the same period last year. Profits were negatively affected by a $1.9 million charge related to certain royalty guarantees. The company said new platforms, such as the iPhone and Android provide hope, but that they didn't help the company outperform during the poor economy. "Despite an active release schedule and solid performances in Latin America and parts of Europe, economic turmoil in the U.S. and other parts of the world affected our quarterly results. We expect these conditions to continue, which is reflected in our outlook for the fourth quarter," said Glu's CEO Greg Ballard. "We continue to have optimism around the new platforms including iPhone, Android and N-Gage, which have demonstrated the market's enthusiasm for new high-end devices. We believe that these next-generation platforms will provide a basis for renewed growth for the mobile games market and for Glu in 2009." Release . Other results: -- Top 10 titles: Glu's top ten titles represented about 28 percent of revenue in Q3, compared to about 32 percent of revenue in Q2 2008. The average revenue per top ten title was $678,000, down 31 percent from the year-ago period. New titles released in the quarter included Family Feud, Transformers G1: Awakening and Ice Age: Mammoth Mayhem, as well as distribution titles such as Pro Evolution Soccer and Wheel of Fortune. -- Business Outlook: :- In Q4, revenues are expected to fall between $21 million and $22 million; non-GAAP operating profit/(loss) is expected to be between $(600,000) and $0.1 million; GAAP net loss is expected to be between $6.7 million and $7.4 million. For the full year, GAAP revenue is expected to be between $89.2 million and $90.2 million; non-GAAP operating...
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  • Earnings: RealNetworks Reports Losses For Q3; Mobile-Related Revenues Dip By 3 Percent

    RealNetworks ( NSDQ: RNWK ) announced its Q308 earnings today, and it reported losses for the quarter, though the games division helped shore up the topline. Its Q3 losses were $4.5 million, compared with a net profit of $4.3 million in the year-ago period. Revenues grew 5 percent to $152.0 million compared with $145.1 million for Q308. Division wise: -- a 19 percent increase in Games revenue to $34.2 million -- a 10 percent increase in Music revenue to $41.6 million -- 3 percent decline in Media Software and Services revenue to $24.5 million -- 3 percent decline in Technology Products and Solutions revenue to $51.6 million (which includes wireless carrier services from the WiderThan acquisition). Mobile highlights from the quarter: -- Technology Products and Solutions declined 3 percent compared to the same period a year ago, but grew by 1 percent compared to the prior quarter. -- It launched ringback tones for Vodafone ( NYSE: VOD ) Turkey, which is seeing rapid uptake, and secured the music-on-demand business for Vodafone Spain. -- The Helix DNA mobile handset licenses grew to 43 million, up from 26 million in Q3 2007. -- Real launched its next version of its emoticonSMS service with China Unicom's 10 million mobile subscribers. -- Said its Cutting Tune product, which lets mobile subscribers select the portion of song they want for a ringtone or ringback tone, will be available in Q209 to mobile operators. Release | Webcast | Slides Mark Logic Digital Publishing Summit, Thursday November 6, Westin Times Square. Insight and perspective from Outsell, Gilbane, Simon & Schuster, BusinessWeek.com, more. Evening cocktail reception. Cost is complimentary. Register now!
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  • Earnings: Buongiorno Reports Strong Results For First-Half 2008; Sees Weakness Coming

    Italian mobile content company Buongiorno released financial results for the first half of the year today, reporting that both revenues and operating profits are up in the six-month period, but cautioned that the economic climate may hurt results in the short term. The company did not break down results for the second quarter. Andrea Casalini, Buongiorno's (BIT: BNG) CEO: "We believe that the mobile entertainment market will continue to offer significant long-term opportunities, despite the less buoyant short term outlook, resulting from our period of adjustment and macroeconomic conditions. Release. During the year, Buongiorno increased its presence in new markets, such as South Africa, Australia and Argentina. In the first half, its biggest markets in terms of revenues were Iberia, the UK, Italy and the Mediterranean, France, the U.S., Latin America and Germany and Austria. In the year's first-half, the company reported revenues of $232 million (EUR 158 million), an increase of 84 percent compared to the prior year. The company reported that earnings before some expenses, or EBITDA, was $24 million (EUR 16.3 million), an increase of 96 percent compared to the year earlier. Operating profit was also up 74 percent, and the company implemented some cost savings goals that resulted in a savings in personnel costs. The company today confirmed the revised 2008 forecast it tweaked back in July. Buongiorno expects revenues for 2008 to be as much as $491 million (EUR 335 million) and EBITDA of up to $58.7 million (EUR 40 million). Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.
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  • Earnings: Glu Mobile Sees Record Revenue In Q2; Losses Increase From Charges

    Glu Mobile ( NSDQ: GLUU ) reported its second-quarter earnings today, saying that it hit a record-high for revenue of $23.7 million, a 45 percent increase from the year-ago period when it recorded $16.4 million in revenue. However, its net loss widened due to charges mostly associated with its acquisitions of MIG and Superscape. In Q2, it lost $6.6 million, or 23 cents a share, compared to the year-ago period when it lost $898,000, or 3 cents a share. The loss of 23 cents a share was close to the 22 cent loss analysts were expecting . Excluding some items, it reported non-GAAP income of $278,000, or 1 cent a share, a decrease over last year's non-GAAP net income of $730,000 or 2 cents a share, excluded amortization of intangible assets and stock-based compensation charges. Other highlights: -- Results were driven by sales in parts of Europe, and a better than expected performance in China, but the U.S. market was soft. The second-half will have a strong line-up with new partnerships with Activision ( NSDQ: ATVI ), Sony ( NYSE: SNE ) Pictures Television International, Sega and FremantleMedia Enterprises. -- Glu's top ten titles represented about 32 percent of revenue in Q2, compared to about 43 percent of revenue in Q1. The average revenue per top ten title was $752,000, down 14 percent from the the same period last year. New titles released in the second quarter of 2008 included: Mystery Case Files: Agent X , Speed Racer , Wedding Dash , Super Slam Ping Pong and Get Cookin' . -- Glu also announced that Eric Ludwig, SVP of finance and interim CFO, has been appointed chief financial officer. -- Q3 expectations: Revenue is expected to be between $24 million and $24.7 million; net loss is expected to be between $5.9 million and $6.3 million, or 20 to 21 cents a share. Release Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when you're on the go. Go here to download .
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  • Glu Call: Economic Weakness In North America; Adjusts Forecast

    Although revenues hit an all-time high, Glu's ( NSDQ: GLUU ) CEO Greg Ballard explained today on the company's Q2 conference call that it encountered challenges during the period because of the general weakness of the U.S. economy. He said that during the period, even though the company had a light release schedule, they were more impacted by a general slowdown across all of its titles and all U.S. carriers. Highlights from the call: -- Sales fell short even with its largest customer Verizon Wireless ( NYSE: VZ ), which may have been impacted by the economy, but also because Verizon started to charge customers a data surcharge who downloaded a game without a data plan. Ballard: "I don't know how it's affected the business, but it's clear that it will have some impact." -- The company is lowering its full-year forecast. Revenues of up to $97 million are expected for 2008, down from the previous forecast of up to $100 million. GAAP net loss is expected to be between $21.8 million and $23 million, or 74 and 78 cents a share. That compares with previous forecasts of a GAAP net loss of $18.1 million to $19.2 million, or 61 to 65 cents a share. -- The company opened offices in both Chile and Mexico because of strong growth in Latin America. -- Speed Racer mobile game: Ballard said the mobile game sold better "than the movie sales might suggest, but it didn't do as well as our expectations." -- Q3 will be Glu's most active publishing period ever, and they see growth coming, strengthened by the diversification of regions and both original IP and brands. -- On the iPhone's App store launch: Space Monkey became available for the iPhone on the same day of the App store launch. Ballard said they were deliberate in launching only one game to test out the various approaches to the platform spanning both price point and genres of games that are popular. "It's taken five years to be successful to be in the traditional carrier...
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  • Earnings: THQ Wireless Q2 Revenues Grow 17.7 Percent

    THQ ( NSDQ: THQI ) Wireless saw its second quarter revenues grow 17.7 percent year-on-year to $5.147 million. However, it represented 3.7 percent of total THQ revenues, compared to 4.2 percent a year ago. For coverage of THQ's earnings check paidContent.org . Related Earnings: THQ Wireless Falls 27 Percent Year-On-Year In '08 Social Media Deals Report: This 199-page report, filled with charts and data, examines the categories, number and size of VC and M&A deal in social media from 2007 through 2008. Visit the ContentNext Reports page
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  • Earnings: EA Mobile Up 33 Percent Year-On-Year

    Electronic Arts ( NSDQ: ERTS ) has released its second quarter earnings ( PaidContent has details)—of interest to the mobile world is that EA Mobile brought in revenues of $44 million, an increase of 33 percent year-on-year. It's also an increase of 4.8 percent sequentially. It has been steadily increasing its revenue by $2-3 million each quarter, giving a boost to the whole mobility section. PSP games brought in 57 million, a 171 percent increase year-on-year (although it fell by 17 percent sequentially) and Nintendo DS brought in $21 million, a fall of 16 percent year-on-year and a fall of 41 percent sequentially. Mobile makes up 36 percent of EA's mobility division this quarter, and 5.5 percent of EA's total revenue. Matt adds : From the call: EA Mobile has launched three games for the iPhone already – Tetris, Scrabble and Soduku – and plans to launch additional games for the platform by the end of the current quarter. Overall, the mobile games division plans to launch eight titles for wireless platforms during the quarter. Otherwise, little was said about mobile. The bulk of the call was pegged around the company's new focus on Nintendo's Wii platform and the game publisher's sports division. Related Earnings: EA's Mobile Revenues Up Slightly Earnings: EA's Mobile Revenues Flat For Q2; THQ's Mobile Revs Decrease Earnings: Electronic Arts Q1 Revenues Fall 4.4 Percent, Mobile Revenues Increase 140 Percent Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when you're on the go. Go here to download .
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  • Earnings: Glu Mobile Reports Higher Losses, Higher Revenues

    Mobile games firm Glu Mobile ( NSDQ: GLUU ) announced first quarter revenue of $20.6 million, up from $15.7 million compared to the same period a year ago. They also reported a GAAP net loss of $6 million, or $0.21 per share, compared to a GAAP net loss of $764,000, or $0.12 per share year on year, which the company attributed in large part to the completion of their MIG and Superscape acquisitions. Glu CEO and President Greg Ballard said the [slightly] better than expected revenues had been boosted by strong sales in the US and China, as well as a "rebound" in the European market. He added that following GLU's integration of MIG and Superscape, the company expected to "significantly" increase their global market share in the next few months and quarters. Some highlights: -- Glu's top ten titles made up approximately 43 percent of first quarter 2008 revenues, down from approximately 57 percent of revenue in the same time a year ago. --The average revenue per top ten title was $886,000, a figure that remains stable year on year. quarter of last year. -- SVP and interim CFO Eric R. Ludwig was quick to point out that no title in the Glu catalogue represented more than 10 percent revenue, and that their geographic mix was "balanced." Release Related Glu Closes Acquisition Of Superscape; Increases 2008 Guidance Earnings: Glu Mobile's Q4 Losses Down On Higher Revs
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  • RealNetworks To Spin Off Its Game Business; Considering IPO

    Rafat is reporting over on our sister site PaidContent.org that RealNetworks ( NSDQ: RNWK ) says it will spin-off its global casual games business into an independent company by the end of the year. The company is looking at two scenarios: distributing shares of the new company to shareholders, or complete an IPO and sell up to 20 percent of the new company's shares. Rafat's writes: "RealNetworks is finally doing the rationalization of its business lines." Real's rationale for the spin-off: It results in two "more flexible and focused companies. In addition, the separation will provide the games business with an industry-specific currency for future acquisitions and enhance its ability to attract and retain the best talent in the industry." Also, it will result in lower complexity in understanding and tracking RealNetworks' performance, the company said. Game revenues: In Q108, RealNetworks' games business revenue rose 33 percent to $31.8 million compared to last year. For 2007, game revenue was $108.5 million, up 26 percent over 2006. What's left: If it gets rid of games and since it has already signed an JV with MTV for its music business, you might ask what's left? The other two divisions are Media Software and Services and technology products and services. Technology products and services is the company's largest group in terms of revenues by far, and comprises of its mobile infrastructure business, which it acquired through WiderThan. Revenues for this business increased 15 percent in Q1 to $51.3 million, compared to a year ago. Mobile games: It would be interesting to know how much of Real's game business is from mobile. Many insiders recently have called the mobile game business model broken because too few revenues are being split between too many companies. Because of this, several companies are trying to create scale through mergers and acquisitions. Looks like this could also be a plan for Real—the difference...
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