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SCi Losses Narrow As Sales Increase, First PS3 Titles In 2008
by David Jenkins
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March 29, 2007
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Officials from British publisher SCi, owners of Eidos Interactive, have released details of the company’s interim results for the six months ended 31st December, 2006.
During this period, the company's sales rose to £74.5 million ($146.3m), up from £50.1 million ($98.4m) at the same time in 2005. The company still reported a loss, but reduced the figure from £19.9 million ($39.1m) in 2005 to £17.9 million ($35.1m) in 2006. For the twelve months to 30th June 2006, the company reports sales of £179.1 million ($351.4m) and a profit of £7.8 million ($15.3m).
The company indicated that one of the main highlights for the first half of the year was the completion of a deal with Warner Bros. Entertainment which results in a £44.5 million ($87.3m) investment for distribution of Eidos titles in the U.S. and access to Warner Bros. intellectual properties such as Batman, Looney Tunes and Hanna Barbera characters.
Eidos also achieved two UK number ones during the period with Just Cause and Battlestations: Midway, with additional revenue growth coming from improved performance in the group’s distribution business. In total the company reported 4 million unit sales during the period, with other significant sellers being Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Championship Manager and Reservoir Dogs.
In the future, the company plans to release the first products from its new casual games division in the second half of its financial year, as well as sequels to Just Cause and Battlestations: Midway – the latter confirmed in the financial report for the first time.
Commenting on forthcoming platform releases, though, CEO Jane Cavanagh explained, "As we do not believe that the installed base will be high enough until the second half of our 2008 financial year, most of our major product releases on the PlayStation 3 platform are not scheduled before that date."
As well as announcing a new development studio in Montreal, Canada the company also recently acquired developer Rockpool and most recently signed a distribution deal with Steam, before buying online distribution company Bluefish Media.
Cavanagh concluded: "During the first six months of the financial year we have continued the successful growth of SCi and consolidated our position as one of the world's leading computer and video game developers. The strength of our franchises, the quality of our development studios, our global distribution infrastructure and our investment in New Media means that the Group is set to benefit from the continued growth in the games market."
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