THQ ups Wii drawing tablet sales expectations to 1.3 million units through March, plans four to five new games for peripheral next year, considers licensing the hardware to other publishers.
While Nintendo is coping with a slowdown in system sales, one of its third-party partners has found itself facing the same problem the Wii did for years after its debut. Speaking at UBS’s 38th Annual Media and Communications Conference this week, THQ executive vice president and CFO Paul Pucino said that sales of the uDraw tablet for the Wii are currently “supply constrained.”
Pucino said the company was so encouraged by initial sales of its uDraw tablet that it raised expectations on the unit to 1.3 million sold through March, with half of those accounted for by the end of this year. Previously, the publisher had expected to sell only 1 million units through March.
The uDraw launched in North America on November 14 for $69.99. The tablet came packed in with the uDraw Studio art utility and was released alongside two compatible $30 titles: Pictionary and Dood’s Big Adventure. Pucino said that during THQ’s next fiscal year (beginning April 2011), the company plans to release four or five new titles, including one starring SpongeBob SquarePants.
However, gamers may wind up with more uDraw games than that. If the tablet turns out to be a big hit, Pucino said THQ might be able to license out the ability to make games for it. In addition to possible royalties, that would benefit THQ in boosting sales of the tablet itself, which Pucino called a piece of hardware that generates “software-type” profit margins.
For more on uDraw, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.
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