The Stock Surfer

Why I Bought Activision After Electronic Arts Disappointed the Street

In my opinion, there's not much insight to be had by looking backward at numbers on a video game publisher. You can get that information anywhere. The Street knows the numbers, but is more concerned about future catalysts.

So where's your edge? You need to know the games. You might disagree on which games will be successful, but if you don't know about StarCraft (to pick one example), you are missing an important catalyst. It has nothing to do with hype.

Why did ERTS and THQI have poor earnings? Weak game sales and weak projected sales. Why did ATVI have good earnings? Solid game sales and solid projected sales. That's the business after all--they sell games.

On Nov 02 10:37 PM 1 o 4 wrote:

> How about more commentary on ATVI fundamentals, as opposed to game
> hype?

Not All Gaming Stocks are Worth Playing

Thanks for the comments. Interesting how Spore has drawn reaction. I'm a gamer, and until it's released it's a matter of opinion at this point. Of course I could be wrong, it could be revolutionary. But what worries me is that EA needs it to be revolutionary. They have a huge investment in the game, and they expect people to create worlds and then others can visit their worlds in a completely new way (i.e. not a massive multiplayer game, but a massive single player game with a wide reach). It's a big risk, and from where I sit, the game looks silly, not revolutionary. Perhaps a Wii version will help...