THQ profits spike

Publisher THQ reported its financials for the holiday sales period today--and the news was good for shareholders. For the quarter ending December 31, 2003, the company's net income of $30.4 million compared favorably with net income of $3.1 million a year earlier. Sales for the quarter were also sharply higher, coming in at $293.1 million, a 35 percent increase over last year's sales figure of $217.8 million. THQ stood by earlier guidance that forecasts revenues of $90 million for the current quarter, which ends in March.

The good news comes at the expense of a highly-anticipated title, the Pandemic Studios-developed Full Spectrum Warrior, which was pushed back from its previously announced March release.

According to THQ, the quarter saw NPD rank it as the second-largest independent publisher with a 6.6 percent market share for the 2003 calendar year. THQ also trumpeted its sales figures, saying it shipped over 2.3 million units of Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo, 1.6 million units of WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain!, and 1.3 million units of SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom worldwide.

Looking ahead, THQ says it will release eight products in the current quarter, including five new Scooby-Doo! games, to be shipped in conjunction with the Warner Bros. movie Scooby-Doo! Two: Monsters Unleashed. THQ said the Xbox version of Full Spectrum Warrior is scheduled for release this coming June, with the PC version to follow in September.

In a statement, THQ CEO Brian Farrell saved quite possibly the best news for last, saying the publisher would be publishing games based on the upcoming Disney/Pixar computer-animated film, The Incredibles.