Its almost time again. Major video game companies will soon reveal their October to December 2010 performances in their earnings releases. The information will begin rolling out on January 27 and continues well into February. Confirmed timing for major companies can be found below. Japanese information is based on the closing of the Japanese stock market – thus data from Japan will arrive at 1 AM – 3 AM on a given day if it is from Japan.
Nintendo’s data will arrive January 27, 2011. There is a slim possibility that updated data will come at the 3DS event though – at least for 3DS projections. We’ll have to see. The main item to watch will be Wii and DS – VGC data suggests shipments of 9.5m and 10m, with software at 80m and 40m or so – but we’ll see what Nintendo provides. Dollar figures will be interesting too as the Yen is very strong and limiting how much profit Sony can make overseas. Nintendo had lost money in the quarter to June 2010, and in the six months to September 2010 despite profiting in the quarter to September 2010, so there should be a big swing to profitability this quarter and for the first nine-months of the fiscal year.
Microsoft’s data will arrive January 27, 2011. We already know Microsoft shipped 8m Kinects (standalone and bundled with X360s) by the end of 2010. We should also get a shipment figure for the quarter. VGC data suggests Microsoft shipped 7m X360s for the quarter, an all-time record for the company.
EA’s October to December 2010 data will come in on February 1, 2011. The USA stock market closes at 4 PM Eastern Time – data should be in by 5 PM. EA didn’t have a particularly strong December in the USA – games like Create, EA Sports Active 2 and NBA Jam that could have been big performed fairly poorly – so the results may be dissapointing.
Sony will release data February 3, 2011. I’m personally very curious as to what PS3 shipments will be, as sell through was down quite a bit in the USA and Japan for the quarter, as well as in some European territories. VGC data suggests 1.8m PS2s shipped, 3.8m PSPs, and 6m PS3s, alongside 17m PSP games, 5m PS2 games, and perhaps 55m PS3 games, including bundles. Dollar figures will be interesting too as the Yen is very strong and limiting how much profit Sony can make overseas. Sony is reported set to reveal the PSP2 in Tokyo on January 27 – so more information may come for PSP2 as well.
Square-Enix will release data February 3, 2011. Figures should be strong – but there was no FFXIII in Japan this quarter, so domestic figures will drop sharply. Western performance should be better though.
Konami will release data February 4, 2011. Not much to look at here – mostly the performance of Kinect games, Castlevania, and whether Def Jam is considered a total bomb. Probably not a great quarter
Capcom’s data looks like it is coming February 4, 2011. Comments on Monster Hunter Portable 3 are worth watching.
Sega-Sammy’s data arrives February 4, 2011. Results should be down from the December 2009 quarter when Sega launched a Mario & Sonic game, but still strong as games for PSP, Wii, X360 and PS3 have done fairly well in recent months.
Namco-Bandai doesn’t have a time up yet for its results, but its data tends to come out after Capcom and Konami by a couple days. Results are likely to be in line with expectations.
Activision-Blizzard’s data is coming February 9, 2011. The performance of Black Ops has been amazing so far – but DJ Hero, Guitar Hero, and Band Hero have largely fallen off from previous highs. Results should still be strong.
Ubisoft’s data is coming February 9, 2011. The French publisher has performed well on Kinect and Wii over Christmas. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood sold well for X360 and PS3. Additionally, the Just Dance and Michael Jackson games were enormous hits. Results should be excellent.
THQ doesn’t have a time frame for its earnings results yet. Figures will likely arrive just before or after Activision’s data. It was likely a strong quarter for THQ – Udraw appears to have beaten expectations rather easily.
A couple of other players likely performed quite well this past quarter – notably Majesco, Lucas Arts, Disney Interactive, Hudson, MTV Games, and Warner Bros. Interactive. The other reason to pay attention to this data is that games tend to be announced and delayed when earnings figures are announced or changed – every earnings week sees some games announced and / or delayed.
Contact VGChartz at jmazel@vcgchartz.com
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