Vivendi Games announces first half loss on lower revenues

The game publishing division of multinational media empire Vivendi Universal has announced its results for the first half of the current fiscal year, revealing a significant loss and a drop in turnover.

For the six months ended June 30, the company reported revenues of â'¬240 million, a drop from last years revenue figure of â'¬336 million. A large operating loss of â'¬52 million was recorded on this figure, a major year on year disimprovement over the operating income of â'¬39 million which was filed a year previously.

The decline in the subsidiary's figures was blamed on "significantly higher returns and price protection in the first half of 2003", which was apparently a phenomenon affecting North America for the most part, but also Europe to a lesser extent.

It's been a rocky year for Vivendi Universal Games, which still faces an uncertain future as negotiations over the entertainment division of Vivendi Universal crawl forwards. A number of suitors who were interested in acquiring the games division separately all now appear to have withdrawn from the race.

The game division isn't the only part of Vivendi which is underperforming, however. The group as a whole recorded a 12 per cent drop in revenues for the first half of the year, down from â'¬13.93 billion to â'¬12.24 billion, while a net loss of some â'¬632 million was reported.