SouthPeak Q1 Revenues Down Sharply Due To My Baby Lawsuit

SouthPeak Interactive today announced revenues for the three months ending September 30 were down over 91 percent year-over-year to $1.4 million as legal problems with My Baby developer Nobilis prevented the company from publishing games in the lucrative series. Last month, a judge granted a summary judgement in favor of SouthPeak in that case, and the company has since resumed making new My Baby games and republishing old ones in advance of the holiday season and a final ruling scheduled for December 2. But the damage has already been felt for the first quarter of fiscal 2011, in which the company saw a net loss of $1.2 million, a reversal from over $686,000 in net income during the same period a year ago. "We simultaneously remain focused on advancing our complementary growth opportunities, continuing to control costs and releasing a prudent selection of titles for the holiday season," SouthPeak CEO Melanie Mroz said in a statement. Mroz added that she expects recent public relations costs associated with the recent release of Two Worlds II and the upcoming release of Stronghold 3 to pay off as those games go on to "gain even more robust market penetration" than their predecessors. She also expressed optimism about SouthPeak's recent release of Get Fit With Mel B. for the PlayStation Move, which was not included in this report, and noted future plans to release games for NVIDIA's Droid and tablet platforms. "Our focus remains on expanding our business and operational improvement," SouthPeak chairman Terry Phillips said in a statement. "As we continue to execute on our strategic initiatives targeting high growth opportunities, particularly in digital and interactive education markets, we are on track to meet our growth objectives for the year."