Ether
Sep 11, 2006, 10:26 PM
In an earnings report released today, Majesco announced that it will be focusing future console development on the Wii. Jesse Sutton, the company’s Interim Chief Executive Officer, says that Majesco believes the Wii has a good shot at capturing the "mass market gamer." The cheaper development costs also fit in with Majesco's low-cost philosophy.
The company's first Wii project is a Bubble Bobble game, titled Bubble Bobble Revolution. This next iteration in the well-known franchise is set for release in early 2007.
Majesco has another Wii game in the works, but it wasn't announced in the report.
On the financial side, things are certainly looking up for Majesco. Or at least, better than this time last year. In 2005, the company suffered a third quarter operating loss of $38.6 million; this year's Q3 operating loss was cut down to $332,000. Gross profit for Q3 2006 was $4.4 million, compared to a loss of $16.2 million during the same period last year.
"We are pleased with our third quarter performance and the progress we’ve made refocusing Majesco’s game publishing business," said Sutton. "This quarter we achieved a substantial improvement in our results over the third quarter of 2005 due to a more conservative approach to game development, an improved cost structure and strong sales of JAWS Unleashed."
"We remain focused on our strategy to publish value products and lower-cost games for handheld systems and make products with mass market appeal. Looking forward, we believe that Nintendo’s new Wii console has excellent potential to capture the mass market gamer while remaining within our more conservative cost structure. As such, we are expanding our strategic focus to capitalize on the potential of this system, and currently have two Wii games in development. Going into the last quarter of fiscal 2006, we are looking to our holiday lineup to build momentum for 2007."
The company's first Wii project is a Bubble Bobble game, titled Bubble Bobble Revolution. This next iteration in the well-known franchise is set for release in early 2007.
Majesco has another Wii game in the works, but it wasn't announced in the report.
On the financial side, things are certainly looking up for Majesco. Or at least, better than this time last year. In 2005, the company suffered a third quarter operating loss of $38.6 million; this year's Q3 operating loss was cut down to $332,000. Gross profit for Q3 2006 was $4.4 million, compared to a loss of $16.2 million during the same period last year.
"We are pleased with our third quarter performance and the progress we’ve made refocusing Majesco’s game publishing business," said Sutton. "This quarter we achieved a substantial improvement in our results over the third quarter of 2005 due to a more conservative approach to game development, an improved cost structure and strong sales of JAWS Unleashed."
"We remain focused on our strategy to publish value products and lower-cost games for handheld systems and make products with mass market appeal. Looking forward, we believe that Nintendo’s new Wii console has excellent potential to capture the mass market gamer while remaining within our more conservative cost structure. As such, we are expanding our strategic focus to capitalize on the potential of this system, and currently have two Wii games in development. Going into the last quarter of fiscal 2006, we are looking to our holiday lineup to build momentum for 2007."