News Summary for Thursday, July 19, 2012
There's a surprising amount of news out today, including layoffs at three companies, a claim from Ubisoft that sales are up and a Wall Street Journal report that Vivendi has hired bankers to sell Activision Blizzard. Oh... and Microsoft released its fourth quarter and full-year financials. Read on for links and more details...
- Capcom confirmed on its twitter feed that it has fired 7% of the staff (around 20 people) from its Vancouver studio.
- Bigpoint, a German online game company, has fired 29 staff while closing its mobile operations.
- The Wall Street Journal reports that Vivendi is working with Goldman Sachs and Barclays to try to sell off Activision Blizzard (61% owned by Vivendi).
- Ubisoft reported its sales for the first quarter (ended June 30, 2012) of its 2012-2013 fiscal year. Ubisoft reported sales for the period of €131 million (around $161 million), up 27% from the same period the prior year.
- Microsoft announced its financials for its fiscal fourth quarter and year ended June 30, 2012. The Entertainment and Devices Division (that includes gaming operations) posted an operating loss of $263 million for the quarter (compared to $13 million of operating income in the same quarter the previous year) and operating income for the year of $364 million (compared to operating income in the previous year of $1.257 billion). From Microsoft's high-level summary, it sounds like most of that relative change comes from the acquisition of Skype (now part of EDD).
- THQ is closing its QA facility in Phoenix, Arizona. This will put 57 employees out of a job (unless they move to the Montreal facility).
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