Activision Blizzard Stands Tall; EA Stumbles

[Guest]

On the same day that Intel reported less than stellar earnings and Electronic Arts is starting another round of layoffs, some analysts are saying that Activision Blizzard is the nest company to invest in come 2009.

Activision Blizzard Stands Tall; EA Stumbles : Read more

 

[aevm]

Diablo 3 will be one of the best selling games of 2010. The demos are extremely promising, and there are fans like me who have been waiting since 2004 or so for it.

That's another good reason to invest in Activision Blizzard, I guess.

 

[jalek]

EA just needs a better rootkit to distribute with it's games. That should make them profitable.

Calling all your customers thieves and any who disagree pirates really isn't good business. Their job cuts need to start at the top.

 

[coldmast]

EA has gotten pretty fat, during recessions: gaming is relatively cheap entertainment.

Smaller studios make the best games and offer creativity that goes outside the box, I hate playing games that feel like they had some sort of cookie cutter success formula applied.

When am I going to get a High-Definition SSX from EA BIG?
I bought Tricky, 3, On Tour, and the Wii one.

 

[pochacco007]

i believe activision is doing well because of blizzard. it's a good thing too.

ea is doing bad because they're stupid as well as those other companies. there is only one console company that is profiting from all this recession. so i don't understand how people can say that video games isn't recession proof. how do you explain the profitability of the wii. nintendo is profiting and as a company like ea, it tells you where the money is at. but for some reason, the company doesn't want that money. why?! i have no idea.

 

[gm0n3y]

Any gamer could have told you this a long time ago.

 

[Tekkamanraiden]

I actually was thinking today about how much money blizzard makes with World of Warcraft and it kinda shocked the hell out of me. They have 10,000,000 (10 million) players paying $15 a month. So 10,000,000 x $15 x 12 months. That's $1,800,000,000 a year (1.8 billion) in gross profit.

 

[jwl3]

Awesome! EA sucks! With their insane draconian DRM and their hatred of PC Users (canceling all EA Sports games this year because of alleged piracy.), I hope they go under.

Intel is suffering because who's going to upgrade your computer if there are no blockbuster titles? Grand Theft Auto IV was absolutely horrid with its DRM. All these games like Far Cry 2 now have ridiculous DRM. Personally, I've been playing PC video games exclusively for the last 15 years and I feel like the end is near for the PC as a gaming platform. Sucks for Intel, ATI, and Nvidia.

 

[dieseldre2k]

is the decline in profits the reason that EA is now releasing their games on steam? i wonder.

now if only they would learn and completely drop DRM...

 

[davidgbailey]

The companies will provide what the market demands, if they don't, someone else will step in and do it. Is EA feeling the pressure of creative destruction?

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_destruction

 

[pochacco007]

it's blizzards games and how they are targeted for the audiences which creates the massive audiences, which develops the income. when diablo 3 is released, it'll be a big seller because the people of blizzard is like nintendo, that is they think outside the box when they make games, which creates uniqueness. if activision can learn and use this to their advantage from blizzard, they can actually be a good third party supporter for wii and make loads of money like nintendo. but of course, we live in an imperfect world, so that won't happen.

 

[gm0n3y]

The only problem with your Nintendo analogy is that Blizzard actually makes a lot of good games whereas the vast majority of Nintendo's games are terrible. I'm pretty sure that, like Apple, Nintendo's success is much more to do with marketing and hype than their actual product.

 

[knightmike]

[citation][nom]Tekkamanraiden[/nom]I actually was thinking today about how much money blizzard makes with World of Warcraft and it kinda shocked the hell out of me. They have 10,000,000 (10 million) players paying $15 a month. So 10,000,000 x $15 x 12 months. That's $1,800,000,000 a year (1.8 billion) in gross profit.[/citation]

Want to know what their net profit is?
(Average number of active accounts since release) x (cost of original game) x (expansion) x (expansion) x (monthly subscription) - (250 million) = Net Profit.

 

[zodiacfml]

yep, disagree too with the analogy.
blizzard games actually don't have uniqueness in them. i know a lot of gamers not fans of blizzard games but still play them.
they just work hard and make the game of best quality, thereby, mass appeal. they even produce game patches non stop.
i still remember the quality of diablo 1 during its time, quite scary and immersive for the hardware back then.

 

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]jalek[/nom]EA just needs a better rootkit to distribute with it's games. That should make them profitable.Calling all your customers thieves and any who disagree pirates really isn't good business. Their job cuts need to start at the top.[/citation]


to badteh A-holes at top are teh oens doing the cutting work , i'm pretty sure they won't be cutting thier own jobs, even though theya re the ones that have screw the compnay into the spot it is in right now

 

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]jwl3[/nom]Awesome! EA sucks! With their insane draconian DRM and their hatred of PC Users (canceling all EA Sports games this year because of alleged piracy.), I hope they go under.Intel is suffering because who's going to upgrade your computer if there are no blockbuster titles? Grand Theft Auto IV was absolutely horrid with its DRM. All these games like Far Cry 2 now have ridiculous DRM. Personally, I've been playing PC video games exclusively for the last 15 years and I feel like the end is near for the PC as a gaming platform. Sucks for Intel, ATI, and Nvidia.[/citation]


it'sfar from the end , there are still plenty of honest companies , out ther that refuse to use any root kit like DRm , and they will be sticking with good ol cd key DRM , or better yet no drm (such as edios with the tomb raider series) I used to hate EA over thier drm (securom) ,but after thinking about it , i'm quite glade teh jerks in EA showed thier true colors, now pc gamers can focus on companies that don't use securom or other root kitish DRm's these companies al;l tend to be the little guys, the only out come i can see is better growth for siad little guys , while EA continies to lose money for thier DRm and thier Upper managament's behavior and insults they directed at the customers

 

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]pochacco007[/nom]it's blizzards games and how they are targeted for the audiences which creates the massive audiences, which develops the income. when diablo 3 is released, it'll be a big seller because the people of blizzard is like nintendo, that is they think outside the box when they make games, which creates uniqueness. if activision can learn and use this to their advantage from blizzard, they can actually be a good third party supporter for wii and make loads of money like nintendo. but of course, we live in an imperfect world, so that won't happen.[/citation]

unique ? ummm no , as a student for game art design, i can 100% guarantee you that activision and blizzard in aprticular are far from unique , both compnaies hinge on a formulatic buisness model, with only activision breaking the ice occasionally and making new ip , blizard hasn't done new IP since the mid 90's , every game they have made since thin has been eitehr a sequel , or a off shoot of an exsiting IP, This is no wher near the definition of unique. However , in today's world it definitely spells MONEY , you amke a good solid sequel that works mechanically and it will sell regardless of rather or not it is mediocre, or even if you make a totally mediocre game it is gauranteed to get some profit at elast from fans of that genre (look at activisons 08 turok, totally mediocre but it had just enough "newness" to make a small profit)

now what blizzard does , is make Great formulatic games , every one is based of IP's that were started in teh mid 90's many of the sequels don't cahnge any thign or they change so little it is hardly noticable thus the original joy of the first game is cept intact in the sequel this ensures sucess. but FOR god's sake IT IS NOT unique.

 

[falchard]

The gaming market is unilaterally posting higher sales figures except for EA and Sony. So its not really the economy garnering this but the actual business.

 

[Guest]

EA is economically unsustainable simply because it has no organic growth. They need to buy all their big titles unlike Activision.

 

[megamanx00]

[citation][nom]JohnnyExtreme[/nom]EA is economically unsustainable simply because it has no organic growth. They need to buy all their big titles unlike Activision.[/citation]

That's because they treat their developers like crap and fuddle their minds with making them churn out crappy sequels (another madden anyone?). Of course suggesting your loyal customers are thieves and punishing them with destructive DRM measures won't win you any brownie points *cough spore cough*.