Time Warner video game revenue ‘flat’ for 2016

Time Warner has released its Q4 financial earnings for the full year ended December 31st 2016. While the company’s overall revenue increased 4 per cent to $29.3bn, its video game revenue was "essentially flat", hitting $13bn.

Theatrical and television revenues were higher this year, says Time Warner, but this figure was offset by lower video game revenue and the impact of foreign exchange rates. The company puts this down to the lack of a big blockbuster release in 2016 compared to 2015.

"Theatrical revenues increased primarily due to the box office releases of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," the report reads. "Television revenues grew primarily due to increased production. Videogames revenues declined as the prior year benefited from the releases of Mortal Kombat X and Batman: Arkham Knight."

This year, Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment’s release schedule included titles such as Lego Marvel Avengers, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Batman: Arkham VR and Batman: Return to Arkham.

This year, however, might be a bit brighter for Warner Bros’ games division, thanks to the upcoming releases of Lego Worlds, Lego City Undercover and Injustice 2. A new Cars 3 title is also in the works for 2017, thanks to Warner Bros’ recent rescue of ex-Disney Infinity developer Avalanche Software.

Time Warner’s operating income, which grew 22 per cent to reach 1.7bn, was also affected by lower video game revenue, but the media giant said its theatrical contributions and its $90m gain from the sale of Flixster in April 2016 "more than offset [its] impact."

Time Warner is just one of the many companies to release its financial earnings over the last few weeks. Also announced today, Take-Two reported that its net revenue for fiscal Q3 was up 15 per cent, and that it had its best quarter ever for recurrent consumer spending. Meanwhile, Sega said yesterday that its physical game sales was the main driver for its video game profits.