Weekly News & Notes (5/8)
A day late and a dollar short, but still with all that creamy goodness you've come to love!
Published: May 8, 2001
Alot of news to get to, so I won't waste any more time.
+ TOP STORY - Shrinking losses in its PlayStation 2 video-game business combined with robust electronic sales helped Sony Corp. turn profits of 15.7 billion yen ($127 million) for the quarter ending in March. The Tokyo electronics giant made a strong recovery from losses of 36.7 billion yen ($295 million) for the same quarter a year ago, largely caused by the huge costs of launching the PlayStation 2 console, Sony said Friday.
Sony Executive Deputy President Teruhisa Tokunaka said Sony's game business will finally stop losing money in the new fiscal year starting this month, as more games hit stores and software sales pick up.[blockquote]"The year 2000 was the year of electronics," he said. "The big change in the year ahead is that the game business will start making profits."[/blockquote]New games have been slow in coming because game-designers need money and time to develop them for a sophisticated machine like PlayStation 2. Worldwide, Sony has now sold 10.61 million PlayStation 2 consoles. For the January-March period, sales in Sony's game sector totaled 191 billion yen ($1.5 billion), up 24 percent from the same period a year ago. Overall sales for the quarter totaled 1.9 trillion yen ($15 billion), up 16.5 percent from 1.7 trillion yen ($14 billion) the previous year.
For the fiscal year ending in March, group net profits at Sony plunged 86 percent to 16.7 billion yen ($135 million), down from 121 billion yen ($976 million) a year ago on sales totaling 7.3 trillion yen ($59 billion), up 9.4 percent from 6.7 trillion yen ($54 billion). Sony blamed an accounting change in the movie industry, which cost the company $228 million, or 28 billion yen, for the loss. A new film industry accounting standard required advertising and marketing costs to be figured in quickly. Under the previous standards, companies could write off the expenses over up to 10 years.
Despite deep worries that the recent U.S. economic slowdown would hurt electronics sales, demand was strong all over the world. Global electronic sales were up 21 percent for the year, excluding the impact of currency fluctuations, Sony said. For the quarter just ended, electronic sales totaled 1.4 trillion yen ($11 billion), up 22 percent from 1.2 trillion yen ($10 billion) the same quarter a year ago. Selling strong in Japan were cell phones - where Sony had been a relatively minor player up to now- as well as Vaio personal computers and digital cameras. Vaio PCs and camcorders sold briskly in the United States.
Sales at Sony Pictures Entertainment were up about 30 percent at 192 billion yen ($1.5 billion) for the quarter on the success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which won the Best Foreign Film Academy Award. Music sales inched down 1.2 percent to 158 billion ($1.3 billion), although Ricky Martin, Sade and Jennifer Lopez albums were selling well, Sony said. Sony forecast Friday that profits for the coming fiscal year ending in March 2002 will surge nearly eight-fold to 150 billion yen ($1.2 billion) on sales climbing 9 percent to 8 trillion yen ($65 billion).
There will be no accounting-related loss in films and the game business is expected to start turning profits, it said.
+ HEADLINES - With E3 about to break out all over LA, news is a-popping and one of today's biggest surprises was Activision's announcement that their line of extreme sports titles, headlined by Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, will now receive their own unique brand identity, much like EA Sports has its own identity within the Electronic Arts empire.
The new line will be called Activision O2. All new titles under this series will now be released under this new brand identity. Activision O2's line includes all future versions of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder, Shaun Murray's Pro Wakeboarder, Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX, and Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer.[blockquote]"The introduction of Activision O2 further strengthens the company's position as a leading developer of compelling action sports games," said Kathy Vrabeck, Activision's EVP of worldwide publishing and global brand management. "The brand underscores our commitment to consumers by providing us with a clearer and stronger voice in the marketplace--a voice that more accurately reflects the innovations we have and will continue to bring to the category. Activision also reinforces the company's goal of continuing to build on the category that we pioneered with the best-selling action sports franchise to date, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater."[/blockquote]We'll have more on this as more becomes available.
+ OTHER NEWS - Thus far, all Square is willing to talk about reguarding their E3 presense are three main products. Of course, Final Fantasy X will be on display, much to the delight of everyone. Additionally, Square's PSOne offering, Final Fantasy Chronicles, will also be present and announted for.
Lastly, Square is also admitting they'll display a trailer from the upcoming summer film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. However, it's unlikely this is all Square has planned for E3 or for the year 2001. If it were, it would be their lightest year ever.
It's highly likely Square will have a lot more surprises in store for us all at E3. But they know everyone will show up simply by revealing these three items. The rest, they're keeping under their hats for dramatic effect.
+ OTAKU NEWS - Onimusha: Warlords is ruling the Playstation 2. Recent sales reports show that 10% of PS2 owners (more than 10 million of us) have snatched up the game in Japan or the United States.
Yes, I know this is a weak Otaku News article, but it was this or more tales of Sam's supposed "monkey attacks." I saved you the pain.
+ PICK OF THE WEEK - For this week's pick, I have choosen something some of you may not be able to get your hands on (sorry). I have chosen the Red Faction demo (ver. 2) for the PS2 because the Geo-Mod technology will truly revolutionize the way you and I will look at First-Person Shooters in the future. While there was a limited-time deal to get one through THQ's website, that demo seems to be in the same warehouse as Sony's PS2 demo disk. Try a specialty videogame store like Babbage's or Electronics Boutique and see if they have one on a demo system. You will be blown away.
That's all for now, come back next week 'cause the fun never stops around here! WooHoo!
+ TOP STORY - Shrinking losses in its PlayStation 2 video-game business combined with robust electronic sales helped Sony Corp. turn profits of 15.7 billion yen ($127 million) for the quarter ending in March. The Tokyo electronics giant made a strong recovery from losses of 36.7 billion yen ($295 million) for the same quarter a year ago, largely caused by the huge costs of launching the PlayStation 2 console, Sony said Friday.
Sony Executive Deputy President Teruhisa Tokunaka said Sony's game business will finally stop losing money in the new fiscal year starting this month, as more games hit stores and software sales pick up.[blockquote]"The year 2000 was the year of electronics," he said. "The big change in the year ahead is that the game business will start making profits."[/blockquote]New games have been slow in coming because game-designers need money and time to develop them for a sophisticated machine like PlayStation 2. Worldwide, Sony has now sold 10.61 million PlayStation 2 consoles. For the January-March period, sales in Sony's game sector totaled 191 billion yen ($1.5 billion), up 24 percent from the same period a year ago. Overall sales for the quarter totaled 1.9 trillion yen ($15 billion), up 16.5 percent from 1.7 trillion yen ($14 billion) the previous year.
For the fiscal year ending in March, group net profits at Sony plunged 86 percent to 16.7 billion yen ($135 million), down from 121 billion yen ($976 million) a year ago on sales totaling 7.3 trillion yen ($59 billion), up 9.4 percent from 6.7 trillion yen ($54 billion). Sony blamed an accounting change in the movie industry, which cost the company $228 million, or 28 billion yen, for the loss. A new film industry accounting standard required advertising and marketing costs to be figured in quickly. Under the previous standards, companies could write off the expenses over up to 10 years.
Despite deep worries that the recent U.S. economic slowdown would hurt electronics sales, demand was strong all over the world. Global electronic sales were up 21 percent for the year, excluding the impact of currency fluctuations, Sony said. For the quarter just ended, electronic sales totaled 1.4 trillion yen ($11 billion), up 22 percent from 1.2 trillion yen ($10 billion) the same quarter a year ago. Selling strong in Japan were cell phones - where Sony had been a relatively minor player up to now- as well as Vaio personal computers and digital cameras. Vaio PCs and camcorders sold briskly in the United States.
Sales at Sony Pictures Entertainment were up about 30 percent at 192 billion yen ($1.5 billion) for the quarter on the success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which won the Best Foreign Film Academy Award. Music sales inched down 1.2 percent to 158 billion ($1.3 billion), although Ricky Martin, Sade and Jennifer Lopez albums were selling well, Sony said. Sony forecast Friday that profits for the coming fiscal year ending in March 2002 will surge nearly eight-fold to 150 billion yen ($1.2 billion) on sales climbing 9 percent to 8 trillion yen ($65 billion).
There will be no accounting-related loss in films and the game business is expected to start turning profits, it said.
+ HEADLINES - With E3 about to break out all over LA, news is a-popping and one of today's biggest surprises was Activision's announcement that their line of extreme sports titles, headlined by Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, will now receive their own unique brand identity, much like EA Sports has its own identity within the Electronic Arts empire.
The new line will be called Activision O2. All new titles under this series will now be released under this new brand identity. Activision O2's line includes all future versions of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder, Shaun Murray's Pro Wakeboarder, Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX, and Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer.[blockquote]"The introduction of Activision O2 further strengthens the company's position as a leading developer of compelling action sports games," said Kathy Vrabeck, Activision's EVP of worldwide publishing and global brand management. "The brand underscores our commitment to consumers by providing us with a clearer and stronger voice in the marketplace--a voice that more accurately reflects the innovations we have and will continue to bring to the category. Activision also reinforces the company's goal of continuing to build on the category that we pioneered with the best-selling action sports franchise to date, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater."[/blockquote]We'll have more on this as more becomes available.
+ OTHER NEWS - Thus far, all Square is willing to talk about reguarding their E3 presense are three main products. Of course, Final Fantasy X will be on display, much to the delight of everyone. Additionally, Square's PSOne offering, Final Fantasy Chronicles, will also be present and announted for.
Lastly, Square is also admitting they'll display a trailer from the upcoming summer film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. However, it's unlikely this is all Square has planned for E3 or for the year 2001. If it were, it would be their lightest year ever.
It's highly likely Square will have a lot more surprises in store for us all at E3. But they know everyone will show up simply by revealing these three items. The rest, they're keeping under their hats for dramatic effect.
+ OTAKU NEWS - Onimusha: Warlords is ruling the Playstation 2. Recent sales reports show that 10% of PS2 owners (more than 10 million of us) have snatched up the game in Japan or the United States.
Yes, I know this is a weak Otaku News article, but it was this or more tales of Sam's supposed "monkey attacks." I saved you the pain.
+ PICK OF THE WEEK - For this week's pick, I have choosen something some of you may not be able to get your hands on (sorry). I have chosen the Red Faction demo (ver. 2) for the PS2 because the Geo-Mod technology will truly revolutionize the way you and I will look at First-Person Shooters in the future. While there was a limited-time deal to get one through THQ's website, that demo seems to be in the same warehouse as Sony's PS2 demo disk. Try a specialty videogame store like Babbage's or Electronics Boutique and see if they have one on a demo system. You will be blown away.
That's all for now, come back next week 'cause the fun never stops around here! WooHoo!