BioShock Infinite Sells 3.7 Million Units

[Blaster395]

How does a company make over a billion - (B)illion - dollars AND NOT MAKE A PROFIT?! Why is it common that the major players in this industry are saying "we know we did good when our losses are only tens of millions?"

Its really quite obvious. They have expenditures over a billion.

Companies are not money printing machines.

 

[MetalMagpie]

Their situation doesn't look anywhere near as grim as Squeenix's or EA's, so they'll probably be fine.

Actually, EA made a profit in FY12 of about $76 million! Square Enix only managed ¥127 million (roughly $1.2 million) but it's still a profit.

Which is all a bit depressing. :/

I'm thinking that EA's (and Squeenix's) shareholders probably expected a much, much larger profit than that, and thus put more pressure on them as a result, whereas Take-two's shareholders might have more confidence in the company and so don't start yelling like small children as soon as the money flow stops.

Well, EA made a $276 million loss in FY11, so their shareholders ought to bloody well be happy!

That doesn't mean they necessarily are happy. Shareholders are a notoriously unreasonable bunch. I wouldn't hold out much hope that Take-Two's shareholders are any different to the norm, but since the company is moving in the right direction, they will hopefully keep the "why aren't you making a profit?" whining to a minimum.

Looks like Square Enix have seen their profits fall sharply from FY11 and FY12, so I imagine their shareholders are threatening to roast the management team alive!

 

[Vorpal_Smilodon]

Only 3.7 million copies? Such a shame, I guess Bioshock's just not a commercially viable IP, huh EA and Square-Enix?

 

[antidonkey]

Four very successful games in one year and they still can't turn a profit? That's......that's messed up. There is something seriously wrong with video game publishers. I'd love to point it out but I know jack about running a business.

 

[vid87]

How does a company make over a billion - (B)illion - dollars AND NOT MAKE A PROFIT?! Why is it common that the major players in this industry are saying "we know we did good when our losses are only tens of millions?"

Its really quite obvious. They have expenditures over a billion.

Companies are not money printing machines.

True, but constant loss despite having some of the most popular products on the market is baffling as a business model. I know producing AAA games aren't cheap, but having expenditures that cut that deep into such a great revenue stream means something is very, very wrong.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

I'm in the "how the fuck is 1.2 billion dollars not making a profit?" boat.

I mean... I. That's a lot of money. Do the Take Two CEOs all have 50-story mansions or something? What can a company do to make it so a billion dollars won't turn a profit?

That's what I'm wondering.
They probably have those 50-story mansions and their own life-size functioning Songbirds to watch after them.
I'd probably understand after that.
Jeez, billion with a B, what ARE they doing over there?

Captcha: mumbo jumbo

That pretty much sums it up.

 

[crimson sickle2]

That's some pleasant news for once. A publisher actually being optimistic and crediting solid developers, I'm shocked.

 

[P.Tsunami]

Games now cost too much to make.

I think this is a neat summary of why Take Two just reported a net loss, why EA is underperforming, and why the industry as a whole is in a slump.

With that said, I'd love to have an inside look at the numbers. Let's play around with some. The company revenue of a game is about $27. If that's close, Infinite will have brought in about $100 million so far. While the rumor that it cost $200 million in production and marketing has been debunked, I can imagine it can't be much shy of $100 million. It's quite possible that even a big-name title like Infinite has had fairly slim margins. Hell, chances are they still haven't turned a profit on it. And if that's the case, Take Two (and most everyone else in the industry) probably need to rethink their project budgeting.


Edit: Got some numbers from the LA Times citing OnLive. Let's say they're somewhere near close. Plotting the numbers in.
Source - http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/02/anatomy-of-a-60-dollar-video-game.html