Publisher Majesco Entertainment tallied net revenues of $23.5 million in the first quarter of its 2013 fiscal year, a 65 percent drop from the same quarter in 2012 that it attributed primarily to declining sales of Wii software in its earnings report today.
Majesco posted a $2.1 million net loss for the quarter, which consists of the three months ending Jan. 31, 2013. In the same period last year, the company reported $7.7 million of net income.
"Sales patterns during the holiday period reflected declining demand for products on the Nintendo Wii game platform, including our Zumba Fitness titles," said Jesse Sutton, Majesco CEO, in the fiscal report. "Already we have taken the necessary steps to lower our fixed cost base and we plan to introduce a smaller slate of high-profile branded console and mobile games during fiscal 2013."
The steps Sutton referred to were the layoffs of 40 employees in January. Those cuts included 14 layoffs resulting from the closure of Majesco's mobile game studio, which had been located in Foxboro, Mass., and another 14 individuals from the company's Edison, N.J.-based quality assurance facility.
Sutton also said Majesco expects to report a loss for its full 2013 fiscal year because of the poor first quarter and the company's "light product release slate for the next two quarters." Majesco's announced release schedule for 2013 consists of four games: Monster High: Skulltimate Roller Maze on Nintendo 3DS; Young Justice: Legacy on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U; the next Zumba Fitness game; and a multiplatform title based on the Disney animated series Phineas and Ferb.