Publisher SouthPeak's revenues hit $13.5 million in its fiscal third quarter -- and the company is investing heavily in new properties, believing major publishers' core market focus makes room for indie successes.
Publisher SouthPeak's revenues hit $13.5 million in its fiscal third quarter -- up from $2.2 million year over year, thanks to what it says was "strong momentum across new platforms." The results represent a continued period of growth for the Two Worlds and Roogoo publisher, whose revenues hit $17.3 million in the holiday quarter after it re-oriented its strategy following losses at the start of its fiscal year. The publisher cites "post-holiday consumer demand" and the release of Big Bang Mini and X-Blades as key growth drivers. The latter was critically panned on its release, so it's likely that SouthPeak's casual My Baby franchise is also providing it a good deal of growth support. Catalog titles pitched in for 10 percent of sales, says chairman Terry Phillips. The company says it sold a total 711,000 units of software in the quarter, as compared to 497,000 units for the same period in 2008. "Recent comments by several large industry players indicate that they are retrenching amidst the recession," says Phillips. He says the return to core property focus by major publishers like Electronic Arts, Activision and THQ makes room for the success of smaller publishers' independent titles. "These companies are focusing on their largest IPs and brands, creating an opportunity for an independent publisher like SouthPeak to bring more high-quality titles to market." SouthPeak says it has over 60 titles in development for all platforms, and it has just shipped Pirates vs. Ninjas and Velvet Assassin -- both of which once under the purview of defunct Gamecock, which it acquired late last year. "We are aggressively investing in our future, with over $14 million invested in IP and game development, compared with approximately $4 million this same period last year," says CEO Melanie Mroz. "These investments continue to fund a diverse pipeline of games, including high-quality releases such as our first marquee fiscal 2010 title: Section 8, which we are preparing for launch by the end of the [Summer 2009]."
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