ATVI - Activision Blizzard Inc.

Mass Effect: Andromeda comes out next month. I think it's going to sell very well. Wonder if I should add here.

 

Just to be sure, BioWare is owned by EA, right?

Off-topic: this year has been amazing in terms of good games already, and so many of them are PS4 exclusive: Horizon, Nioh, Tales of Berseria, Resident Evil VII (multi-platform), Yakuza 0, Gravity Rush 2, upcoming Nier: Automata looks epic too.

Good job, Sony. Annihilate Microsoft before Scorpio even comes out.

 

Technically speaking, look out as this stock has lost the uptrend (as well as EA and TTWO). But ATVI has a big gap below.

Business-wise is anyone concerned what the Netflix-like service starting up by Microsoft will do to the game business as a whole? As consumers it has the potential to be great. But really how much longer can these companies sell $60 games (that's what those games mentioned above are selling for on Amazon)? I remember when these companies were first trying to get consumers to go along with download codes instead of cartridges/discs: "think of how much money we'll save without having to make physical product". How many years later and games are as expensive as ever.

Now Microsoft is giving unlimited access to games for $10 a month. Just be aware that every hour you spend playing those games, is one less hour you spend playing other games like those $60 new games.

 

So game companies are eager to drop the prices on their $60 games?

You're right they do make a lot of money from micro transactions, currently. But GTA made $1B just from pre-sales of their game (imagine a movie making $1B on opening night), and on top they have in-game purchases. But give up $1B to rely on micro transactions? And I'm not 100% confident that ATVI/EA/TTWO will keep 100% of sales transacted via Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass.

 

Oh yeah, my bad. I thought I was posting it in the EA thread

 

What exactly are they giving access to? Their Microsoft store? Because it barely has any good games and what little there is, is not worth it.
EA's OriginAcсess was super successful because it only cost $4 a month while providing access to every single game EA releases. And they release a lot of games, WAY more than Microsoft, while also selling games from other studios... Although I don't know if Origin Access allows you to play the games from other studios.

You can see how much of a better deal that is when compared to Microsoft's. And significantly cheaper. They are trying to copy that approach, but I doubt it'll fly.

 

I am in at 45.90. Will hold this for long term.

 

I don't think PC will ever squeeze consoles out of the game. In the next decade or two we will get to the point when PC and consoles will be approximately the same in terms of their tech capabilities, so there will be virtually no difference between them other than incremental stuff like aiming in FPS on consoles etc.

 

We may have some cognitive dissonance, so let me say this to be clear: I only buy Humble Bundles and the Steam seasonal sales. I agree that you can get very cheap PC games.

Now, there are still expensive PC games (I'm looking at Resident Evil 7 right now where digital codes are $59.99 on Amazon). And that is one thing I'm salty about: that game companies think they can get away with this, and in fact do

Maybe video games have got this right, charging a price that is based entirely on popularity. But on the other hand I keep comparing this to the CD industry, and Blockbuster/Netflix. Those $60 video games will be gone someday, just as $20+ for a movie in a theater will not be forever (that's another thread...). And then how will these companies make out? Tower Records used to be ubiquitous.

Consumers got tired of $15 for a CD, and now they can't even sell CDs for $5 because kids don't even have CD players nowadays. What happens when they get tired of $60 video games? What happens when they have so many video games available that they don't need the newest ones?

That being said, this stock lost the short-term uptrend however that does not mean a downtrend must begin. On weekly/monthly charts it still looks good.

 

Games like LoL or CS:GO are exceptions though. There are not many games of such scale out there. There are A LOT of free to play games with micro-transactions that failed without making a cent.

As for one-time $60 games, they will never die off. There are people who don't bother playing Multiplayer games at all, and only play for story&new emotions&whatever.

Also, developers nowadays often sell you games that have both micro-transactions AND an initial price. Look at pretty much everything EA releases. Games like Battlefield, for example. Or ATVI's Overwatch.

 

I've always thought people bought consoles to have exclusive games. Doubt that'll change anytime soon.

 

That and a cheaper option as opposed to a gaming PC. Some consoles have considerably better exclusives than the other ones though, imho.

 

Yeah, I have PS4 and the only times I ever actually use it is when Naughty Dog releases a game... which only happens once per 2 years or so. Sad!

 

I would rather they released an awesome game every 2 years than a mediocre one every year!

 

looking to go long soon.

 

Okay,

Agreed. Uncharted 4 was worth the wait. Easily the best game of 2016.
At least for me.