Today, THQ announced an updated financial outlook for its first fiscal quarter ending on June 30, 2010, and the fiscal year ending on March, 31, 2011. For the first quarter, the company is forecasting net revenue to be between $155 and $165 million, down from the previous forecast of $190 to $200 million. The company is now expecting fiscal year 2011 sales of $845 to $865 million, versus the previous outlook of $905 to $920 million. The change is in response to weak sales of UFC Undisputed 2010 and “the strengthening U.S. dollar.”
“While we are disappointed with this financial update, we continue to execute on our plan of bringing quality games to market. As we discussed on our May 5th conference call, our primary goal in fiscal 2011 was to position THQ for growth in fiscal 2012 and beyond,” said THQ President Brian Farrell. “We have a strong pipeline scheduled for release over the next three years and we encourage everyone to visit our booth at E3 to see our impressive line-up.”
“UFC Undisputed 2010 is a high quality game, with a Metacritic score of 85, based on the tremendous UFC brand. Preorders were up 50% over last year and we saw strong retail and consumer demand for the title coming into launch, resulting in shipments of 2.6 million units to date,” concluded Farrell. “Unfortunately, total sell through to date has been below our expectations and prior-year results. We will continue to drive demand through a strong marketing campaign and by working with our partners at the UFC, including the upcoming July 4th UFC 116 event featuring our cover athlete, Brock Lesnar.”
