WOW boosts Vivendi profits 186 per cent

VU Games has revealed profits of EUR 24 million for the three months ending September 30th, compared to EUR 11 million for the same period last year.

During the first nine months of the fiscal year, VU Games reached earnings of EUR 86 million, compared to EUR 30 million for 2005 — a huge 186.7 per cent increase.

The benchmark-setting MMOG World of Warcraft is mainly responsible for the impressive figures, with VU also attributing success to strong sales of Scarface: The World is Yours and start-up investments in Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile.

However, the company doesn't expect the Q4 period to be as profitable as the past three months.

"Q4 for games will see the release of some Sierra games, these are console games, and they don't carry the same kind of margin that you have in subscriptions of WOW," noted Sandrine Dufour, deputy chief financial officer at Vivendi.