Majesco Announces Loss, Continued 'Value' Plans

Officials from struggling U.S. Psychonauts publisher Majesco have reported the company’s results for its first fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2006, showing revenues of $24.1 million, compared to $30.7 million reported for the same period in 2005, and a loss was $2.6 million for the 2005 quarter, versus a loss of $400,000 for the same period one year ago. Majesco's issues started earlier in 2005, when an intended move into high-budget console games such as Advent Rising and Psychonauts resulted in much lower revenues than intended, and led to the resignation of the CEO, as well as various shareholder lawsuits and a serious devaluing of the stock, which is now delisted from the Nasdaq National Market to the Nasdaq Capital Market. This change in ethos is largely now complete, with Majesco announcing a "shift in the product mix from premium console games to value and handheld games" such as Age Of Empires and Guilty Gear for the Nintendo DS, as well as numerous Game Boy Advance multipacks, although it did note the "first quarter of meaningful sales" under its international distribution agreement in Europe with major publisher THQ. Morris Sutton, Majesco's newly appointed Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer, commented of the results: "We are pleased with our results for the quarter and the progress we are making towards implementing our new product strategy. For the first time, international contributed a meaningful portion of our overall revenues and we have successfully re-positioned the Company to focus on providing high-quality handheld and value products during this time of industry transition." He continued: "Going forward, our focus will be on enhancing our software product line up for the remainder of 2006 and 2007, continuing to reduce costs, streamlining our business, and actively seeking incremental revenue opportunities related to emerging technologies and peripherals", indicating a return to the strategy which saw Majesco a successful budget publisher for a number of years.