Kuju PLC, the UK-based developers recently responsible for the multiplayer portion of
Call of Duty: Finest Hour and an tech demo used as a mini-game in Sony's
EyeToy: Play 2, released its financial statement covering the six months leading up to September 30, 2004. In the introduction, Chairman Dominic Wheatley notes that though "the Group has made considerable progress in the second half of last year," Kuju, who have development studios in Guildford, Brighton, London, and Sheffield, still finished the six-month term with a period loss of 174,102 pounds.
Though still operating in the red, this performance actually marks a vast improvement from the same period in 2003, when the company lost over 1.5 million pounds across the six-month term. Reasons cited for the company’s improved performance were the successes of its contributions to
Call of Duty: Finest Hour and
EyeToy: Play 2, as well as steady revenue increases in its wireless publishing division. Wheatley expressed hope that their recent successes would "enhance the company’s reputation in the critical North American market," but cautioned that the strength of the dollar may play an adverse role in the company’s next six months.
One interesting thing about Kuju's future prospects as listed was the absence of some notable projects. Though they mention that they’ve "commenced work on a PlayStation Portable prototype," the Kuju-developed
Advance Wars: Under Fire for GameCube is omitted. However, it seems that this is simply due to the game being scheduled outside the immediate release window, since there are open level designer positions on Kuju's website referencing work on this GameCube update to the
Advance Wars franchise.
