According to the NPD’s latest annual survey of consumers’ holiday spending intentions, 30% of consumers intend to spend less this holiday season than they did last year; that’s a 4% increase compared to 2008. Although the recession is clearly having an impact on the market, it could have been worse, NPD noted.
“That 4 percent increase is certainly a sign of the times. On the other hand, that 4 percent is not as dramatic as it could have been,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst, The NPD Group. “I think consumers will be looking for the right gift, rather than the most extravagant or expensive one. That combined with the soft numbers we are up against from holiday last year, and I think we will see growth, albeit a modest 0.5 to 1.5 percent.”
In addition to the Ratchet & Clank space in the video above Sony is making a special personal apartment for Halloween that will turn anyone who enters into a Zombie. Click the link to get the full scoop at PlayStation.blog.
SouthPeak Interactive Achieves Record Sales of $47.4 Million in 2009
MIDLOTHIAN, Va., Oct 14, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — SouthPeak Interactive Corporation (OTCBB:SOPK), one of the fastest growing videogame publishers, today announced financial results for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009.
SouthPeak reported net revenues of $47.4 million in the fiscal year 2009, as compared to $40.2 million for the fiscal year 2008. Net loss in fiscal year 2009 was $12.1 million compared to net income of $1.5 million in fiscal year 2008. SouthPeak’s fiscal year 2009 figures include: i) approximately $3.9 million of non-cash charges relating to write-downs on software values and sequel right values to certain Gamecock titles (see Supplemental Information for further detail); ii) approximately $740,000 of stock-based compensation expense; iii) $1.6 million of expenses relating to the Gamecock acquisition and our reverse acquisition with Global Services; and, iv) approximately $4.0 million in marketing expenses for products being shipped in future periods and significant investment in the creation of the brand for the “My Baby” franchise. Additionally, SouthPeak incurred increased expenses related to its first year as a public company.
NEW YORK, Oct 14, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ — Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) today announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 19,382,945 shares of Viacom’s Class B common stock offered by National Amusements, Inc. (NAI). The offering was priced at $28.25 per share, resulting in gross offering proceeds to NAI of approximately $547.6 million (and could increase to approximately $602.3 million if the underwriters’ 30-day over-allotment option is exercised in full). The offering is expected to close on or about October 20, 2009, subject to customary closing conditions. Viacom did not sell any shares in the offering and will not receive any of the proceeds from NAI’s sale of shares of Class B common stock in the offering.
1 [1] – Contra Rebirth
2 [2] – Reel Fishing Challenge
3 [3] – My Aquarium
4 [4] – World of Goo
5 [5] – Tetris Party
6 [6] – Texas Hold’Em Poker
7 [10] – Dr Mario Online Rx
8 [12] – Driift Mania
9 [-] – Word Searcher
10 [8] – Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
11 [9] – My Pokémon Ranch
12 [11] – Arkanoid Plus!
13 [7] – You, Me, and the Cubes
14 [13] – Sexy Poker
15 [14] – Defend Your Castle
16 [17] – Family Mini Golf
17 [16] – Brain Challenge
18 [15] – Water Warfare
19 [18] – BUST-A-MOVE Plus!
20 [19] – Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 1
“We have a few more details on what has supposedly been happening with Playfish. A reliable industry source says EA may have even acquired the company several weeks ago, with an announcement possibly happening in the next few weeks. We believe that Playfish could be on track to make as much as $75 million this year. An EA acquisition of Playfish would also help validate many successful social gaming companies, as would a successful Zynga IPO. There have been no major liquidity events yet for social gaming companies, just purchases of small developer teams by larger shops.”
“There are two ways that WiiWare and DSiWare offer benefits to retail of physical goods. The first is having more people being able to play games. We know from all our experience that what people enjoy on the services makes their appetites for playing games far bigger. That’s the first benefit to retail”
“The other way is that WiiWare is a laboratory. What we know is that some of the games that are – you could say ‘tested’ through this platform – they may one day get access to the normal retail channels. That’s because the developers have managed to polish their software through the WiiWare experience. That is going to provide sales. – Again, our core business is in the retail, and our other download services are complementary. They just provide something that can’t exist alone in the retail system.” – Laurent Fischer, Nintendo European boss
I don’t know about being a benefit but WiiWare and DSiWare are not a threat to retail because the products offered on them are different than what you find at retail stores. The services that offer downloads of full retail games are a whole other story.
