Infogrames benefits from Christmas surge

Infogrames, Europe's largest video games maker, swung into profit at the end of last year, the company announced today.

American game publishers, like industry leader Electronic Arts, have seen a surge following a holiday season that was driven by strong game sales for both existing and new game console platforms.

Infogrames said they were on track to hit the growth rate they were looking for, and hope that the European launch of two next-generation consoles would boost sales further.

Christmas sales in Europe proved disappointing on most gaming consoles, but Infogrames said prospects for video games software were bright, predicting growth rates of over 20 percent in 2002 and probably 2003 in the United States.