Pixar Licenses Drives THQ Results News

THQ has today confirmed that sales of Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille and Cars, and WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2007, helped drive its performance in the first quarter of the 2008 fiscal year.

Despite Ratatouille attaining platinum status in North America (the game is set to hit Europe in time for the movie in September), and continued support for Cars, the publisher experienced a drop in net sales on the year, to $104.5 million (Ãâ??£51.4 million) from $138.8 million (Ãâ??£68.3 million) twelve months ago. Net losses decreased on the year however, from $12.1 million (Ãâ??£6.0 million) to $9.3 million (Ãâ??£4.6 million).

"Fiscal 2008 is shaping up as we anticipated," said Brian Farrell, THQ president and CEO. "Ratatouille is off to a successful start in North America. With five titles based on owned intellectual properties expected to ship more than one million units each and a proven family and casual line-up for the popular Nintendo Wii and DS platforms, we are well positioned for the rest of the year."

THQ has recently experienced flurry of activity, including news that 2006 RTS Company of Heroes is to be given an online makeover for the Chinese market, and that the number of downloads for the Stuntman: Ignition demo has topped over 500,000. The publisher has also recently announced development on two new brands, De Blob (expected before the end of March 2008) and Dark Siders: Wrath of War.

Looking ahead to the full year financial results expected in Spring 2008, THQ has outlined net sales of between $1.12 and $1.15 billion (Ãâ??£551.3 million and Ãâ??£566.1 million).