Activision results slide on smaller release line-up

Second quarter results for publisher Activision have revealed a decline in revenues and a drop into the red due to a smaller release schedule than last years - but the company has high hopes for the current quarter.

For the September quarter, the publisher had revenues of $117.5 million, which are down significantly from $169.2 million in the previous year. A net loss of some $10.1 million was recorded, reversing last year's profit of $9.1 million.

The decline in the company's fiscal fortunes is blamed on a lack of key releases during the quarter, which is traditionally a quiet one for the games industry. Activision has a strong release schedule for the current quarter, however, with titles such as Call of Duty, True Crime and Tony Hawk's Underground all arriving during the Christmas period.

Revenues in the third quarter are expected to be in the order of $390 million, and the company has actually raised its full year guidance by some $30 million - bringing the figure to $780 million.

However, Activision has also chosen to cancel a number of titles - a move which president Ron Doornink says is part of an attempt to "align our business with the evolution of the video game market." Ten titles are affected by the cancellations, with Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder 2, a sequel to Street Hoops, and Xbox and PC shoot 'em up Trinity (created by Gray Matter, the people behind the multiplayer in id Software's Return to Castle Wolfenstein) among those for the high jump.

For planning purposes, the company has also moved the release of Doom III out of fiscal 2004 and into 2005 - which probably doesn't mean much since we doubt Activision knows any more than we do about when the game will arrive, given developer id's legendary phobia of release dates, but does confirm that it's unlikely to ship before next April.