XboxGameZone.co.uk

THQ today reported financial results for the third quarter ended December 31, 2011.

The company recently announced its updated business strategy to exit the traditional kids’ licensed video game category and focus on its core game franchises and digital initiatives. As part of this business realignment, the company is implementing plans to streamline its organization and cost structure to support what will be a smaller company positioned for sustained profitability.

“Saints Row: The Third and WWE ’12 demonstrate the strengths of THQ’s core gaming capabilities. These titles performed at or better than the expectations we shared during our last investor conference call, driven by favorable critical reviews, community engagement and outstanding marketing efforts. Sales of the uDraw GameTablet and related software, and other titles in the kids, family and casual category were far weaker than anticipated, substantially reducing our financial results for the quarter.

We have since concluded an extensive review of our operations to realign our business, focusing on our key franchises with the most potential. We are implementing a plan to bring costs in line with our lower anticipated level of revenue. With our focused product plan, leaner cost structure, cash balance, and existing credit facility, we believe the company has adequate resources to execute on our plan and deliver on our strong multi-year pipeline of games.” said Brian Farrell, THQ President and Chief Executive Officer.

Games/Market Share

• Saints Row: The Third shipped 3.6 million units in the third quarter, and has shipped 3.8 million units to date. It becomes the largest owned-IP launch in THQ’s history. The company currently expects to ship between five and six million units over the life of this title.
• WWE ’12 shipped more than two million units in the quarter, in line with the expectations shared on the last investor conference call. To date, WWE ’12 sell-through is up 29% on like-for-like platforms in North America.
• The company announced the development of “South Park: The Game,” a collaboration between THQ, South Park Digital Studios LLC and Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. This definitive South Park experience comes to life in a role-playing adventure scheduled for release in the second half of calendar 2012. The first details of the game were revealed in an exclusive cover story in Game Informer’s January 2012 issue.
• THQ was the #5 publisher (#4 third-party publisher) in the U.S. in calendar 2011 with 5.4 percent market share and retail revenues up 16 percent year-over-year, according to the NPD Group.

Digital Highlights

• THQ’s digital revenues for the third quarter of 2012 were more than double those in the year-ago quarter. Digital revenues for the nine months ended December 31, 2011 were 81 percent higher than the same period one year ago.
• Saints Row: The Third community members have created nearly 10 million characters, both in-game and via the Initiation Station. The game has also generated strong results from downloadable content (DLC) sales and is expected to be THQ’s highest-selling DLC title ever.

THQ is due to host a conference call to discuss fiscal 2012 third quarter results and fiscal fourth quarter and full year 2012 guidance in just under an hour. We’ll lieten in to bring you anything of note from the call.