GigaMedia (GIGM) bullish on online gaming; seeing success from poker (4Q04 conf call)

GigaMedia (ticker: GIGM), a Taiwan-based provider of broadband and entertainment services reported Q4 and FY 2004 earnings results today. Here are key quotes attributed to CEO Arthur Wang and CFO Thomas Hui from the company's earnings results conference call:

....we are very encouraged about our online entertainment subsidiary, Cambridge Entertainment Software, or CES. In the past year, CES has invested heavily in new gaming products, including both new variations of our traditional gaming offerings, as well as new product lines, such as multiparty poker, under the brand Everest Poker. I think most of you are familiar with the amazing success of online poker in North America. Our strategy is to become a first mover and market leader in Europe and Asia.

....we are happy to announce that Everest Poker is now available in native language offerings in 16 languages. While we're not releasing numbers at this time, we are very encouraged by the numbers growth, which has exceeded our internal forecast....(and we are) strongly focused on further penetrating the online gaming market through organic growth and....acquisition....

....we believe that the online gaming industry continues to offer significant growth potential. Our entertainment software unit is well-positioned to capitalize on the rapid growth of this market. Our online casino game software is one of the only end-to-end solutions that offers localization in up to 16 languages, and our poker product remains the only poker software available in up to 11 languages.

(Quotes are from the CCBN StreetEvents transcript.)