The Gaming Industry: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

[LieutLaww]

I think it's hilarious that EA blames the lack of copies (9 million isn't anything to sniff at) on the controversy the one that they created themselves with rubbish decisions and now to make up the so called shortfall they will be bring back the thing that annoyed everyone, cmon MS time to buy em and put a bullet in them, get some of the very talented studios to create some new exclusives for you, say Star Wars 1313 and then have the others doing the usual suspects for everyone else to keep the cash flowing in

 

[Mike S]

This is often the difference between a private and publicly traded company.

A company like Valve only has to satisfy themselves. Gabe Newell might have wanted to make 100 million on X, but he will deal with only making 90 million.

EA has to deal with shareholders that will jump ship over a fraction of a cent in the stock price. Selling 9 million copies and turning an 8 figure profit is not enough when the analysts were predicting a 9 figure profit.

One reason I kind of hate investors. Another is that sometimes they want the stupidest things just to quickly turn a profit and to Hell with the actual company. They don’t care for the long haul. Can you imagine if Nintendo actually listened to some of their investors during the Wii U era and went full mobile dumping consoles?

 

[Jahona]

This is often the difference between a private and publicly traded company.

A company like Valve only has to satisfy themselves. Gabe Newell might have wanted to make 100 million on X, but he will deal with only making 90 million.

EA has to deal with shareholders that will jump ship over a fraction of a cent in the stock price. Selling 9 million copies and turning an 8 figure profit is not enough when the analysts were predicting a 9 figure profit.

Oh I know. It's the sad truth of public companies.

 

[Jahona]

So a tidbit about Star Wars Battlefront 2, that I didn't pick up on in the EA quarterly report, is that loot boxes will be making a return later this year. That little tidbit of news helped soar EA's stock to it's highest ever yesterday.

 

[LieutLaww]

The stock will soar but gamers will go meh and then the stock will tumble again because EA can't seem to read the mood of their customers

 

[Master Yoda]

The stock will soar but gamers will go meh and then the stock will tumble again because EA can't seem to read the mood of their customers

The investors don't care. They want what makes them money right now and they don't care if they destroy a company to do it.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

MS acquiring EA would be a very good thing for MS. They basically need their catalog to make their $10 a month game pass a no brainer purchase. After that they can put a bullet in it. If they do not mind taking the income hit, they could go Xbox exclusive which would not do Sony any favors.

The rumor that really interests me is MS acquiring Valve. While I think it is an unbelievable long shot, there is major upside for MS. Valve instantly fixes the MS store and it makes PC and Xbox cross platform play a done deal, which Sony will not be happy about at all.

Then there is also THE Half Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress, Counter Strike and DOTA franchises. Sequels to the first 5 are all but guaranteed wins and DOTA flat out prints money.

MS buying EA humors me personally. EA was one of the first, (actual first?), who delved into multi platform sales, that's where their value is. For MS to potentially buy EA and tell people Madden, FIFA, or a BioWare exclusive is only on the Xbone or PC, thats a pretty tough pill to swallow for the gaming community. I could not see MS dropping 30-40 billion for EA to not do that. People thought loot boxes were bad.

As for MS buying Valve, I cannot see that happening at all. Valve is a private company that owns digital delivery of PC games, whats a fair price? I wouldn't even open my door to MS unless they hint at 100 billion, a handshake and bubble bath. What would Half Life 3 make in its lifetime? What would it make if it was actually great?

As for Battlefront 2, I'm not surprised its sold 9 million copies, as hard as people tried to dog it for the loot boxes, halfway decent gameplay and Twitch made it sell even in the face of pretty horrid adversity. No matter what people think, it will probably go down as one the best selling games of all time.

Glad I picked up some EA stock when the loot box crisis was in full swing, those gaming pundits are complete dopes, but great for investors.

 

[Mike S]

Glad I picked up some EA stock when the loot box crisis was in full swing, those gaming pundits are complete dopes, but great for investors.

Not if the legislators have anything to say about that which has actually gained a bit of traction.

Also to be truly in the top selling of all time it would have to at least crack the top 31 of this list making it a 20,000,000 seller, imo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games

 

[Bacon]

Follow my Nintendo News Twitter!
https://twitter.com/your_nintendo

 

[TwilightZone]

Looks like mario the movie is happening! I'm personally optimistic and excited.

 

[Bacon]

Looks like mario the movie is happening! I'm personally optimistic and excited.

And it’s made by Illumination

 

[TwilightZone]

And it’s made by Illumination

Most people consider that a negative, but I consider it a positive because Illumination makes some decent movies. Burn me on the cross but I even found enjoyment out of the minion movie.

 

[Bacon]

Most people consider that a negative, but I consider it a positive because Illumination makes some decent movies. Burn me on the cross but I even found enjoyment out of the minion movie.

The only thing is there business model is make a cheap movie release it rinse and repeat

 

[LieutLaww]

Nintendo won't accept cheap, Mario is the flagship of the company if Illuminations didn't come to them with a great pitch they would have been shown the door very quickly.

 

[Master Yoda]

MS buying EA humors me personally. EA was one of the first, (actual first?), who delved into multi platform sales, that's where their value is. For MS to potentially buy EA and tell people Madden, FIFA, or a BioWare exclusive is only on the Xbone or PC, thats a pretty tough pill to swallow for the gaming community. I could not see MS dropping 30-40 billion for EA to not do that. People thought loot boxes were bad.

As for MS buying Valve, I cannot see that happening at all. Valve is a private company that owns digital delivery of PC games, whats a fair price? I wouldn't even open my door to MS unless they hint at 100 billion, a handshake and bubble bath. What would Half Life 3 make in its lifetime? What would it make if it was actually great?

As for Battlefront 2, I'm not surprised its sold 9 million copies, as hard as people tried to dog it for the loot boxes, halfway decent gameplay and Twitch made it sell even in the face of pretty horrid adversity. No matter what people think, it will probably go down as one the best selling games of all time.

Glad I picked up some EA stock when the loot box crisis was in full swing, those gaming pundits are complete dopes, but great for investors.

Yeah. I do not see MS going exclusive if they buy EA. There is way too much money left on the table if they do that and while thy do have a ton of cash right now I don't think it is enough to just do it to spite Sony.

I don't see the Valve thing happening either. Like you said, it is up to Gabe and there is zero reason for him to want to sell a company that is basically printing money with no end in site.

 

[ShoalFox]

Nintendo won't accept cheap, Mario is the flagship of the company if Illuminations didn't come to them with a great pitch they would have been shown the door very quickly.

And if anyone else wants evidence of this, just take a look at Ubisoft's Mario & Rabbids Battle Kingdom. It was developed entirely by Ubi with minimal help from Nintendo, and it ended up being an incredibly fun and well-polished game. In fact during development, Ubisoft's models of Nintendo characters were so high quality that they were asked where they got Nintendo's assets from.

If that doesn't speak to Nintendo wanting their properties treated well, then IDK what does. Let's of course ignore those 4 games that happened on the Phillips CD-i.

 

[Mike S]

And if anyone else wants evidence of this, just take a look at Ubisoft's Mario & Rabbids Battle Kingdom. It was developed entirely by Ubi with minimal help from Nintendo, and it ended up being an incredibly fun and well-polished game. In fact during development, Ubisoft's models of Nintendo characters were so high quality that they were asked where they got Nintendo's assets from.

If that doesn't speak to Nintendo wanting their properties treated well, then IDK what does. Let's of course ignore those 4 games that happened on the Phillips CD-i.

The CD i games were completely out of their control and only made due to their contract for a CD add on for the SNES with Phillips. This is of course part of the same move that gave birth to the PlayStation.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

Definitely have to change my 2017 game of the year from Cuphead to Divinity Original Sin 2, all I can say is WOW. I've dropped almost 100 hours into it, I can't believe it took me so long to play such a masterpiece. I personally have to roll my eyes it didn't win more game of the year awards, good old fashion payola via ad revenue is still king in the video game world.

Speaking of WoW, new expansion has gone into presale, with a generalized "release date" around September. The pundits will fearlessly proclaim WoW's demise while it sells four million copies day one.

 

[Mike S]

Definitely have to change my 2017 game of the year from Cuphead to Divinity Original Sin 2, all I can say is WOW. I've dropped almost 100 hours into it, I can't believe it took me so long to play such a masterpiece. I personally have to roll my eyes it didn't win more game of the year awards, good old fashion payola via ad revenue is still king in the video game world.

Speaking of WoW, new expansion has gone into presale, with a generalized "release date" around September. The pundits will fearlessly proclaim WoW's demise while it sells four million copies day one.

I think it’s just that not many people played it. What I roll my eyes at are the nominations for PUBG, a broken game that wasn’t even a full release yet.

 

[LieutLaww]

Yea PUBG should be excluded for GOTY etc as it was still essentially a beta game and has only just been officially released. People have been saying for years that WOW is dead yet Blizzard still seem to make expansions for a dead game, kind of like all those failed Disney movies that make over a billion dollars