VU Games reduces operating loss in September quarter

Media giant Vivendi Universal has announced its operating results for the three months ended September 30th, revealing that the VU Games division has finally begun to reduce its operating losses.

The games publishing division announced an operating loss of 29 million Euro for the third quarter, a reduction of 50 per cent over the loss reported in the same quarter of last year.

This improvement comes despite an 18 per cent decline in revenues during the quarter, which the company blamed on a weaker release schedule than last year's, although an improvement is expected in the current quarter thanks to the arrival of Half-Life 2 and World of Warcraft.

Although the third quarter showed a significant turn-around in the fortunes of the division, the previous six months will still weigh heavily on the balance sheet at the end of the financial year.

Restructuring efforts during that period - which included laying off around 40 per cent of the company's staff in North America - knocked around 85 million Euro off the division's bottom line, contributing to a loss in the first nine months of some 185 million Euro.