Gameloft Q3 Sales Up 8 Percent To $33M

Mobile and casual games developer and publisher Gameloft reports an 8 percent rise in third-quarter sales to €26.2 million ($33.3 million) compared to €24.4 million ($31 million) during the same period in the previous year, which is in line with the company's expectations. Gameloft's consolidated revenue for the first nine months of 2008 comes out to €76.5 million ($97.2 million), up 9 percent over the €70.2 million ($89.2 million) in sales reported during the first nine months of 2007. Mobile games, such as Miami Nights: Singles in the City and The Oregon Trail, accounted for 98 percent of the company's third-quarter revenue, with the remaining 2 percent generated by Gameloft's console titles for the Nintendo DS, Xbox Live Arcade, and WiiWare. North American sales were up 18 percent during the three-month period, which the company attributes partly to its iPhone catalog. Europe represented 48 percent of the company's Q3 revenue, North America 31 percent, and the rest of the world 28 percent. Gameloft believes that the emergence of more sophisticated mobile gaming platforms from Apple, Nokia, and Google have been critical to its growth. The studio is also confident in its efforts towards developing for digital distribution platforms, which Gameloft predicts the entire video game industry will have moved to by the end of 2009. Says the company in its third-quarter sales statement, "Gameloft positioned itself in the top ranks as a game publisher for Xbox Live Arcade, Wiiware, iPhone, iPod and N-Gage. This strategy of mass market and multiplatform games is now fully bearing fruit and allows the company to weather the impact of the worldwide economic slowdown." The statement continues, "Today's markers for growth, iPhone, N-Gage, iPod, Wiiware and Xbox Live Arcade, will soon be joined by Google's Android, Nintendo's DSi and Sony's PS3 Store in which Gameloft will be present each time with a quality game offering. Therefore, Gameloft is therefore positioned to reach its annual financial objectives despite the unfavorable market conditions."