THQ Wins Case Against Jakks Over WWE Game Royalties

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 27, 2009 - 9:25am.

Malibu, Calif. - Video game publisher THQ (NASD: THQI) has received a favorable ruling in an arbitration with fellow game maker Jakks Pacific (NASD: JAKK), and will pay a lower percentage of profits from their joint WWE (NYSE: WWE) wrestling video game to Jakks.

Under the terms, THQ will pay 6% of net sales of WWE video games to Jakks, rather than the 10% rate Jakks had sought.

The decision will see THQ pay Jakks about $34 million, instead of the $57 million the company had expected.

As a result, Jakks said it will take a non-cash charge of about $22.5 million in its second quarter.

The WWE has already awarded its video game license going forward to Mattel.

http://snipurl.com/o2yr5 (DMW previous coverage)

http://www.thq.com

http://www.jakks.com