THQ today announced their fiscal report for the first quarter of 2011, ended June 30. THQ reported net sales of $149.4 million, versus $243.5 million for the same period last year. Worse yet, the company reported a net loss of $30.1 million, a drop from last year’s net income of $6.4 million. These results are in line with THQ’s revised financial outlook released in June of this year.
First quarter sales were driven by the release of UFC Undisputed 2010, which underperformed compared to UFC 2009 Undisputed. During the quarter, the title shipped almost 2.7 million units. Last year’s first quarter sales were buoyed by UFC 2009 and Red Faction: Guerilla, while no title comparable to Red Faction was released this year.
“During the quarter, we continued to bring superior quality games to market, with UFC Undisputed 2010 achieving an 85 Metacritic rating,” said THQ President and CEO Brian Farrell. “We also delivered our most critically acclaimed E3 showing ever with a strong line-up of games in development, several of which are based on proven long-term franchises. Our goal this fiscal year continues to be to position THQ for growth in fiscal 2012 and beyond.”
“We are excited about the opportunity for industry growth provided by rapidly expanding online markets and new gaming platforms such as Kinect, Move and Nintendo 3DS. We are developing franchises on these new gaming platforms and we are increasing our investment in online and digital gaming to benefit from these emerging markets,” Farrell added.
THQ made a strong push at this year’s E3, with an array of diverse titles including Homefront, Red Faction: Armageddon, WWE All Stars, Company of Heroes Online, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, and Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online. The company signed a deal with ex-Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki’s Valhalla Game Studios to publish the studio’s first title, Devil’s Third. For new hardware, THQ has The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout for Microsoft Kinect; UFC Fitness Trainer for Kinect and PlayStation Move; and de Blob 2 and Saints Row 3 for Nintendo’s new 3DS.
The company is also pursuing a transmedia initiative with its Red Faction franchise. THQ and Syfy are teaming up to release Red Faction: Origins, a new two-hour live-action television movie scheduled to air on Syfy in march of 2011.
