Acclaim Revenue, Profits Up In Q1

The company also raised its sales and profit guidance for the fiscal year, citing strong sales of titles for the newest game consoles. The news sent the company's stock up over 15 percent in after-hours trading last night. Revenues for fiscal Q1, which ended December 2, increased from $72 million last year to $81 million this year. Profits hit $17.4 million (21 cents per share), up from $10.8 million (18 cents per share) last year. Executives also raised guidance for the current quarter, saying that Acclaim will hit $65 million in revenues, up from an earlier estimate of $60 million. Surprisingly, the company said that sales of its GameCube titles accounted for 23 percent of the quarter's revenue, even though that console was released just two weeks before the end of the quarter. Acclaim's six internal development studios generated 42% of the company's gross revenue during the quarter, of which All-Star Baseball 2002, Crazy Taxi, Legends of Wrestling and 18 Wheeler American Pro Trucker accounted for approximately 30% of total revenue. "We remain confident that the industry is poised to grow 25 percent per annum over the next 5 years," said Greg Fischbach, Acclaim's co-Chairman and Chief Executive.