Although it’s well-known Nintendo’s Wii is a hot seller in the US and often produces mad rushes around the holiday season for desperate shoppers, two of the larger publishers—Electronic Arts [ERTS] and THQ [THQI]— have yet to take full advantage of this.
EA's and THQ’s earnings reports—as miserable as they were—shed interesting light on their platform revenue mixes for Q3, which ended December 31.
A look at EA’s mix by platform (below) shows that its revenue stream from Wii (at $172 million) was the lowest of the current-generation of consoles. It’s worth noting how PlayStation 2’s swan song is finally nearing, as EA’s revenues on the system dropped 54 percent year-on-year, $137 million versus $301 million.
While there’s a lot of room for improvement on Wii, EA flexed its muscle on the number two and three consoles, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. With US installed bases of 13.8 million and 6.7 million respectively according to NPD Group numbers, 360 and PS3 were home to strong sales of games like Madden NFL 09 and Rock Band 2. EA posted $265 million in revenues for 360 and $217 million for PS3.
EA CEO John Riccitiello declared Wii the “clear leader in this cycle,” (he’s right: the US installed base is now up to 17.5 million) and his company needs “to move further up on the [Wii] charts.” To that extent, Riccitiello revealed an aggressive campaign that focuses mainly on mass market Wii titles such as the MySims franchise. EA hasn’t forgotten leaving out core gamers and announcing EA’s plans to bring its survival horror hit Dead Space to Wii.
Meanwhile, THQ plans a sequel to de Blob, and it will publish a game based on the Disney/Pixar movie, Up,which President/CEO Brian Farrell expects to be down from last year’s Wall-E. THQ’s Q3 Wii take was $63 million, up from $52 million in 2007’s Q3 (see chart below).
Like every publisher, THQ knows Wii is the place to be, but looking at its Q3 revenue mix, 360 was the dominant platform with $91 million in revenues. Saints Row 2 and WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 (4 million units shipped) played a big role in driving revenues on both 360 and PS3.
Similar to EA, THQ’s PS2 revenues ($49 million vs. $130 million a year ago) saw a sharp drop, an indication that both have decided it’s time to move on from almost 10-year-old technology.
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1 comments:
Innovation is always a part of technology. This is an interesting post. I would like to experience all my Download Games being played in Nintendo wii. I like video games alot, think this is going to be so much fun...
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