RealNetworks' Games Unit Reports 5% Revenue Drop In Q2, Appoints New Head

Multimedia group RealNetworks reported a 5 percent drop in revenues for its Games division during Q2 2010, and announced the promotion of chief revenue officer Matt Hulett as the new head of that unit. The company's revenues from its Games business during Q2 2010 (ending June 30th) was $28.1 million, 5 percent less compared to the $29.6 million the department generated in the same period last year. RealNetworks' total revenues for the quarter from all of its units came out to $88.9 million, down from $135.7 million in Q2 2009 (includes $40.5 million in revenue from Real's music business and Rhapsody joint venture, which wasn't factored into its results this time around due to a restructuring of Rhapsody). For the third quarter of 2010, the firm expects its overall revenue to be "slightly lower" sequentially and less than its Q3 2009 amount, attributing the decline primarily to "softness" in its Games business. It also predicts that its future revenue statements will be affected by foreign currency trends. With its quarterly results announcement, RealNetworks revealed the appointment of Matt Hulett as the new head of its Games business, as John Barbour steps down. Hulett was previously CRO of the department, and has held executive roles at Expedia and Shockwave.com "Given the urgent need to pivot our Games business to social and online games, we think it is critical to have a leader based here in Seattle," says RealNetworks CEO and president Bob Kimball. "Matt has the right combination of leadership skills, online business experience and support from the team to refocus our Games business on the growth markets, including social games." Hulett's promotion comes a month after the company laid off most of its internal PC casual game studio GameHouse (Super Collapse and Little Shop) as part of a wider series of layoffs and a restructuring plan designed to "reduce the spans and layers of management to create greater efficiency, teamwork, and customer focus". RealNetworks retained its casual/social game team in the Netherlands, and said that its Seattle-based GameHouse studio will continue to operate its game portal, create titles for Facebook, and pursue second-party development contracts. "We made strong progress transforming RealNetworks during the second quarter," adds Kimball. "Our restructuring efforts are ahead of plan. In the first six months of the year, we cut more than $30 million in annualized operating expenses from our ongoing businesses." "Now it is time to focus on growing the business by improving our sales and marketing of existing products and building a strong pipeline of innovative products for the long term."