Activision first quarter net revenues up 163 per cent

Activision has released its Q1 2008 financial results documenting net revenues of USD 495.5 million, an increase of 163 per cent from Q1 2007.

Net income for Q1 2008 was USD 27.8 million, or USD 0.09 earnings per diluted share, compared to a net loss of USD 18.3 million, or a USD 0.07 loss per diluted share for the previous first quarter.

Robert Kotick, Activision's chairman and CEO, stated, "During the quarter, we shipped more than eight million units of new game releases worldwide and for the first six months of the calendar year, Activision was the #1 third-party U.S. publisher on the console and handheld platforms."

Guitar Hero II and Spider-Man 3 were two of the top-three best-selling titles for the quarter in the US, according to The NPD Group.

"As a result of our strong performance, we are raising our fiscal year 2008 net revenue and earnings outlook and are increasing our fiscal year operating margin outlook to a company record," Kotick said.

For the full fiscal year, the company expects net revenues of USD 1.87 billion and earnings per diluted share of USD 0.51, including the impact of equity-based compensation expense. Excluding the impact of equity-based compensation expense, the company expects earnings per diluted share of USD 0.61.

The company's previous fiscal year outlook was USD 1.8 billion in net revenues and earnings per diluted share of USD 0.45.

For the second quarter, the company expects net revenues of USD 250 million and a loss per share of USD 0.04, including the impact of equity-based compensation expense. Excluding the impact of equity-based compensation expense, the company expects a loss per share of USD 0.03.

Activision has already shipped Transformers: The Game and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s in the second quarter. The company expects to ship the next games in the Tony Hawk and Call of Duty series before Thanksgiving, and will ship Enemy Territory: Quake Wars in the last week of Q2 or early in Q3.

Guitar Heroes III: Legends of Rock will ship on the PS2, Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii-the first time that the franchise will be available across all platforms. Activision announced that the new guitar controllers will be wireless on all consoles. The company also announced that it would charge USD 2 for each new Guitar Hero song download.