Interplay Entertainment’s Results Restated

Interplay Entertainment Corp., an Irvine maker of entertainment software, said Monday that it restated its fourth-quarter and annual financial results to show a greater loss caused by changes in the results of a minority-owned subsidiary.

Interplay said that a $1.7-million reduction in income from restated results of Virgin Interactive Entertainment Ltd. pushed its own fourth-quarter loss to $9.6 million, or 35 cents a share, from its previously posted loss of $7.8 million, or 29 cents a share. For last year, Interplay’s loss widened to $41.7 million, or $1.86 a share, from previously reported loss of $40 million, or $1.78 a share.

Virgin’s restatement came after Interplay announced its results a month ago. Interplay said its reduced share of Virgin’s earnings did not affect its operating income.

The Irvine game maker attributed its losses to delays in the releases of three new games and one-time expenses for bad debt, restructuring charges and discontinued operations. The company also took a $5.4-million charge to reserve its deferred tax asset.