November 28th, 2001 (12:00am) - Video game maker Activision Inc. (NasdaqNM:ATVI - news) on Tuesday said U.S. retail sales of its newest games soared during the Thanksgiving holiday week, in step with high demand for the latest Xbox and GameCube game consoles.
``We are thrilled with our sell-through results for the first big week of this year’s holiday season,’’ Activision President Ron Doornink said in a statement.
``This bodes very well for both Activision and the video game industry overall, in that it suggests that this year’s holiday season is off to a very strong start,’’ Doornink said.
Activision shares rose 37 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $21.70 on Nasdaq after rising as high as $22.58 earlier in the session. The stock is off a year high of $27.43, but strong growth in the game industry has kept it well above its year low of $6.88.
Shares of rival game makers were mixed. Electronic Arts Inc. (NasdaqNM:ERTS - news), the industry leader, fell 10 cents, or less than one percent, to $54.21, but THQ Inc. (NasdaqNM:THQI - news) was up $1.12 at $54.25.
Activision, the No. 2 U.S. video game maker, said preliminary data indicated that during the week of Nov. 18 to 24, U.S. retail sales of its newest games rose 44 percent from a year earlier. The company did not provide figures for its total sales.
Activision’s games includes extreme sports, adventure, fighting and strategy games for Sony Corp.’s (NYSE:SNE - news) PlayStation systems, Microsoft Corp.’s (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) Xbox, and Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s GameCube, Game Boy systems, and personal computers.
A company spokeswoman could not provide details on which titles were selling, but the most important new games include ``Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3’’ for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube, ``Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2x’’ for the Xbox, ``Shaun Palmer’s Pro Snowboarder’’ for the PlayStation 2, and ``Return to Castle Wolfenstein’’ for the PC.
A Merrill Lynch analyst last week had claimed the snowboarding title was not selling well and questioned Activision’s strategy of developing extreme sports game.
Analysts have expected the twin launches this month of Xbox and GameCube, combined with sales of PlayStation 2, will ignite a growth cycle in the game industry, which already outranks Hollywood movies as a magnet for U.S. entertainment dollars.
A Goldman Sachs survey of retailers in major metropolitan areas on Nov. 19 found brisk sales of the new consoles, with many stores sold out.
By year-end, no fewer than 225 video games are expected to be available for the next-generation platforms, which feature faster processors and richer graphics.
The glowing industry outlook contrasts with the turmoil last year, when the much-heralded PlayStation 2 was hit by shipping shortages.
