Video game console makers Microsoft and Nintendo have reported earnings for the most recent quarter. This week, companies that make games started issuing their quarterly reports. Here's a look at reports and results for selected companies that make or sell video games. — July 12: NPD Group reports that U.S. retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories fell 29 percent in June to $700 million. It's the seventh consecutive month of decline. Sales of console and portable software — the video games themselves — fell 29 percent from a year earlier, while sales of hardware fell 45 percent. Sales of accessories grew 4 percent. Excluded are sales of used games and rentals as well as digital and social-network spending. — July 19: Microsoft Corp. says it sold 1.1 million Xbox 360 consoles, down from 1.7 million a year earlier, in what it calls a soft console market. Membership in its Xbox Live service increased more than 15 percent. — July 25: Nintendo Co. says it sold 710,000 Wii units in the April-June quarter, down from 1.56 million a year ago. Nintendo is coming out with a successor, the Wii U, this year. It is forecasting 10.5 million units for the full fiscal year, which ends in March 2013. — Tuesday: Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. reports a wider net loss and lower revenue in its latest quarter, but results are largely in line with expectations. It also announces a stock buyback of up to $500 million. Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., another game publisher, says its loss in the latest quarter was much bigger than expected, because sales of "Spec Ops: The Line" and "Max Payne 3" were not as high as the company hoped. Coming up: — Thursday: Sony Corp., Activision Blizzard Inc. — Aug. 6: THQ Inc. |