Brian Farrell

THQ Inc., publisher of the WWE wrestling and Wall-E video games, posted a $191.8-million fiscal third-quarter loss and said it would eliminate almost a quarter of its staff. The net loss for the period ended Dec. 31 was $2.86 a share, reflecting a $118-million write-down of acquired assets, THQ said. The loss compares with net income of $15.5 million, or 23 cents, a year earlier. Sales fell 30% to $357 million. THQ has posted losses in five of the last six quarters as the company has struggled to find hits.

THQ Inc. of Calabasas, a maker of video game software, said it had a second-quarter loss because sales fell while players waited for new game consoles to arrive. THQ's loss from operations was $1.88 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with net income of $3.87 million, or 20 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue fell 37% to $32.4 million from $51.6 million the year before.

Video game publisher THQ Inc. posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit Friday, boosted by sales of its new urban action title "Saints Row." Net income was $12.6 million, or 19 cents a share, for its second quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a year-earlier loss of $1.4 million, or 2 cents a share. Excluding equity-based compensation expenses, THQ said profit was 25 cents a share, easily beating the average Wall Street target of 3 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

Calabasas-based T-HQ Inc., a maker of interactive entertainment software, reported a first-quarter net loss of $431,000, compared with a loss of $2.56 million during the first quarter a year ago. Revenues for the quarter ended March 31 were $4.3 million, down 14% from $5 million in sales from a year earlier. Brian J.

THQ Inc., Calabasas, acquired game developer Pacific Coast Power & Light Co., formerly known as Don Traeger Productions Inc. San Jose-based PCP&L, a high-technology game developer of next-generation consoles, is now a subsidiary of THQ. Don Traeger and Dennis Harper will continue to manage PCP&L as president and vice president of product development, respectively. "Acquiring Pacific Coast Power & Light furthers our strategy by bringing high-quality internal development into THQ," said Brian J.

Spurred by the success of its popular wrestling video game, THQ Inc. on Wednesday said it scored record gains for the last three months of 1997. The Calabasas-based game developer's fourth-quarter earnings rocketed to $6.2 million, or 84 cents per diluted share, up from $1 million, or 19 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The performance beat the 48-cent average estimate of analysts polled by IBES International Inc. Sales surged 139% to $49 million.

Nintendo Co., the maker of video games such as Pokemon, reduced the fees it charges software companies that make games for its Game Boy Advance portable system to boost sales, software makers said. Cutting fees may result in cheaper games and increased software sales, said Brian Farrell, chief executive of Calabasas Hills-based THQ Inc., the biggest U.S. maker of Game Boy software. The retail price of Game Boy Advance games made by software developers could fall to between $29 and $34 in the U.

Despite record quarterly sales of its video games, THQ Inc.'s profit tumbled 89% because of higher development and marketing costs and lower than expected sales of its key titles, including "Red Faction 2." The Calabasas company posted net income of just $3.1 million, or 8 cents a share, in the fourth quarter on sales of $217.8 million. A year earlier, it had $28.5 million in profit, or 75 cents, and sales of $196.4 million. For the year, sales rose 27% to $480.5 million.