Officials from Atari have reported the company's results for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2005. For the three months ended June 30 sales dropped from $110.3 million in 2004 to $41.1 million. Net income also dropped from $23.8 million last year to $12.1 million this year.
The results appear particularly poor due to the release of
Enter the Matrix last year, which helped to greatly inflate figures during the 2004 fiscal year.
Company CEO Bruno Bonnell pointed to the success of other recent titles, particularly the controversial
DRIV3R and – oddly, considering the rights to the series were bought by Midway yesterday –
Unreal Tournament 2004.
The company expects to loose $19 million through September, with projected sales of $470 million and profits of between $25 to $30 million for the fiscal year.
Future success for the company was largely pinned on two addition The Matrix titles and more titles using the Dragon Ball Z and Dungeons & Dragons licenses.
Source:
Atari
