Game revenues drop by $1M for Ziff Davis

Ziff Davis Media has reported a 44 per cent drop in the company's Game Group, the division responsible for US gaming titles Electronic Gaming Monthly, Games for Windows and 1UP.com.

Revenues for the whole company's first quarter were USD 32.7 million (EUR 24.1m), down 19 per cent on the previous year.

First quarter revenues for the publisher's Game Group were down USD 1.1 million (EUR 812,918), to USD 5.4 million (EUR 3.9m), excluding revenues from the Official US PlayStation Magazine, which closed in January.

Including the official Sony publication, revenues were down 44 per cent or USD 4.5 million (EUR 3.3m).

The company blamed a drop in print advertising and the reduction of circulation due to the recent console transition for the fall in performance.

Overall, Ziff Davis posted a loss of USD 4.09 million (EUR 3.02m) for the first quarter. Print revenues declined by 24 per cent while digitial revenues were up 9 per cent with an online growth of 26 per cent.

"The growth of our digital platforms continues to drive the improved profitability of this business, despite the decline in print advertising," offered Robert Callahan, CEO.

"Roughly half of our revenues now come from digital platforms and next quarter we believe we will be well over 50 per cent," he said.