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Activision stock reaches a new 52-week high
Steven Mallas over at BloggingStocks notes that Activision's stock (AVTI) capped a new 52-week high yesterday at $36.84. By the end of the day, the final price was slightly lower, but overall it grew nearly 5%. Mallas mentions what's on all of our minds -- Guitar Hero for DS, sure, but Activision is about to pick up a 10-million subscriber powerhouse called Blizzard. That's worth a little something to investors. So while other, similar companies lost share price yesterday (Electronic Arts and Take Two, for example), our Activision overlords (whom I, for one, welcome with open arms) continues to do well. With Wrath of the Lich King pending around the corner, we can hope for the stock to pick up a few additional pennies. I don't know what effect the whole eSport buzz might have, but it could still be too early to tell.
TTWO shares drop on earnings warning, stock option investigation
Take Two just warned Wall Street analysts that their estimates for Take Two earnings in upcoming quarters are "too high," and disclosed new subpoenas from the NYC district attorney's office for documents related to stock options grants. Company shares dropped over 8% to $11.20 in after-hours trading. Some gamers might be tempted to shrug off all this bad news and what it's done to Take Two's shares, figuring that what happens on Wall Street doesn't matter so long as Take Two delivers the goods next October with Grand Theft Auto IV. But Take Two's financial woes do matter because the company uses its stock as compensation. When the company's shares drop, employees take a de facto pay cut, making it more difficult for the company to motivate and retain the brains that create hit titles. In the software and creative industries, it's said that 100% of company value walks out of the door every evening. If this keeps up, Take Two's going to have a harder time convincing employees to return the next morning. [Disclosure: I own way too many shares of Take Two. My wife reminds me of this almost daily.]
GamePolitics: Congress should grill Take Two
Dennis McCauley, the big cheese over at GamePolitics, is running an op/ed at industry-site Next-Gen.biz (the .biz is how you know they mean business!) about why, if he had his druthers, Take Two would be the ones in Congress' hot seat and not "intermediaries like [the ESA's] Doug Lowenstein and [the ESRB's] Patricia Vance."The idea is simple: Take Two and Rockstar Games are, by and large, responsible for the increasing backlash against violent games thanks to a little bit of wayward code we've all come to know and love. Yup, Hot Coffee. Point is, instead of extrapolating this one case out to represent the the entire gaming industry, Congress should isolate their investigation on this one instance. Even notable game designers like Warren Spector have called Rockstar out for their irresponsible behavior and Take Two's bungling of the controversy (lying ... eh, not such a great idea) only exacerbated the issue. McCauley's even made a list of questions for prospective congress-peoples just to get 'em started: Who conceived the Hot Coffee idea? Who created the animations? Who eventually decided to nix it from the final version? Why it wasn't removed from the disc entirely? Did insiders realize the active and highly-skilled GTA mod community would find the sex animations? Why did Rockstar and Take-Two lie about Hot Coffee when it was revealed? Why did they try to blame the mess on their biggest fans, the GTA mod community? Ouch! Those are sure to leave some bruises. So what say ye? Should Take Two and Rockstar be taking the beatings for all this anti-gaming hysteria?See also:ESRB: Lie to us, pay up to $1 million in finesTepid Coffee: Take-Two gets foreboding slap on wrist by FTCSpector clarifies GTA comments
Metareview - Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (Xbox 360)
When Rockstar announced their top secret new game, gamers were floored that the San Diego branch of the house that GTA built had traded in their baseball bats for ping pong paddles with Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis. Big question is, how did they do with this smaller-scale, (relatively) budget-priced title? According to the reviews that are beginning to appear, pretty darned well. The complaints focus on the title's sparse feature set while the praise focuses on the Xbox Live integration and the tight, elegant gameplay. Seriously, read through the reviews if you have a particular affinity for the words "subtle" and "nuanced." According to the reviews, Table Tennis provides a streamlined sports sim that's short on features but full of subtle gameplay, reflected in the (next-gen) budget price of $39.99. IGN (78/100) - "If you want a table tennis game that's strictly focused on great mechanics and addictive gameplay, but that lacks a reasonable single-player mode and is shockingly sparse, Rockstar Presents Table Tennis is your game." GamePro (85/100) - "The best thing about the gameplay is that it's all about reflex and intuition -- accessible to all, but hard to master online competitive play. Setting up power shots, killer topspin, and hitting the corners of the table becomes easy in short amount of time. This game is an instant classic and is guaranteed to please the masses." Eurogamer (90/100) - "It's the sign of a great sports game when you can't think of anything you'd want to change in the next version. It doesn't need another version."
What investors think of Take-Two today
A picture is worth a thousand words. A graph, about 555 words, because there aren't as many pretty colors. This graph (modified after being taken from the latest issue of the Video Game Journal research report published by Susquehanna Financial Group analysts Jason Kraft and Chris Kwak) shows Take-Two's stock (Nasdaq: TTWO) performance since May of last year, when the company's shares were flying high on the release and success of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The Hot Coffee scandal isn't the only thing that wiped out nearly a billion dollars in Take-Two share value. The launch of the Xbox 360 has reduced demand for the company's titles on older-generation consoles, resulting in a string of disappointing sales figures. Then there's the whole public spat with a member of the Take-Two board, lawsuits in California, and a Banc of America Securities report suggesting that the company was running low on cash. For context, we'll post the graphs for Electronic Arts, Activision, and THQ next.
