Activision-Blizzard stock drops - investors concerned about SC 2

NEW YORK -- A weaker-than-expected outlook for the current quarter sent shares of Activision Blizzard Inc. lower in after-hours trading Thursday, though the video game publisher reaffirmed its outlook for the full year.

The publisher of the blockbuster "Call of Duty" and "Guitar Hero" games reported a higher net income for the second quarter as development expenses and other costs declined, but fewer game launches pushed revenue lower, shy of Wall Street's expectations.

"I think we could have done better on the revenue side," said Chief Operating Officer Thomas Tippl. In addition to the strength of the dollar hurting revenue, "some of our new releases did not perform up to expectations," he said.

"Shrek Forever After" and the shooter "Singularity" are among these titles.

But strong sales of digital add-ons for "Call of Duty" games and a steady stream of revenue from loyal "World of Warcraft" subscribers helped offset the weaker titles.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said Activision didn't do a very good job of meeting expectations. Investors, he said, are concerned about how well Blizzard's "StarCraft II" is selling.

"Investors are rethinking how powerful 'StarCraft' is," he said. "Expectations were way too high."

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Thoughts?

Best selling RTS in history, can't really beat that, I don't see how expectations are too high.

ya pachter is an idiot.

They are just used to seeing games like COD selling 10 million copies in a couple of weeks. They've never released a real PC exclusive before. If they put it on steam i might actually consider buying it if it goes on sale.

They are just used to seeing games like COD selling 10 million copies in a couple of weeks. They've never released a real PC exclusive before. If they put it on steam i might actually consider buying it if it goes on sale.

hoola

The drop is more onActivison side, unfortunelly they are in the same bandwagon now.

Thinking about it, is there anygood game Activision is making besides CoD or any Hero series?

The drop is more onActivison side, unfortunelly they are in the same bandwagon now.

Thinking about it, is there anygood game Activision is making besides CoD or any Hero series?

Nowhere did Blizzard or Activision said that they were displeased with the sales of Starcraft II...I don't know where this guy got his info.GeneralShowzer

Tbh, I for one don't believe that Pachter ever gamed in his life...he'd get pwned trying Tetris.:lol:

pachter says a lot of ****. None if it is true honestly.

Hes just their to put words into peoples mouths.

pachter says a lot of ****. None if it is true honestly.

Hes just their to put words into peoples mouths.

JangoWuzHere

The drop is more onActivison side, unfortunelly they are in the same bandwagon now.

Thinking about it, is there anygood game Activision is making besides CoD or any Hero series?

Nowhere did Blizzard or Activision said that they were displeased with the sales of Starcraft II...I don't know where this guy got his info.GeneralShowzer

Nowhere did Blizzard or Activision said that they were displeased with the sales of Starcraft II...I don't know where this guy got his info.GeneralShowzer

[QUOTE="GeneralShowzer"]Nowhere did Blizzard or Activision said that they were displeased with the sales of Starcraft II...I don't know where this guy got his info.spank_thru101

[QUOTE="GeneralShowzer"]Nowhere did Blizzard or Activision said that they were displeased with the sales of Starcraft II...I don't know where this guy got his info.spank_thru101

The drop is more onActivison side, unfortunelly they are in the same bandwagon now.

Thinking about it, is there anygood game Activision is making besides CoD or any Hero series?

[QUOTE="kieranb2000"][QUOTE="w4rrior17"] Activision doesn't make games. I swaer, Publishers get wayyy to much credit.Fenix113

Blizzard should LEAVE activision RIGHT NOW and make their own Publisher. Hekynn

Activision Blizzard doesn't own Blizzard, they're both owned by Vivendi.

Nowhere did Blizzard or Activision said that they were displeased with the sales of Starcraft II...I don't know where this guy got his info.GeneralShowzer

[QUOTE="Hekynn"]Blizzard should LEAVE activision RIGHT NOW and make their own Publisher. Tuzolord

Activision Blizzard doesn't own Blizzard, they're both owned by Vivendi.

[QUOTE="Tuzolord"]

[QUOTE="Hekynn"]Blizzard should LEAVE activision RIGHT NOW and make their own Publisher. Im_single

Activision Blizzard doesn't own Blizzard, they're both owned by Vivendi.

Anyone of us can do pachter job. We can talk.

So why aren't you making as much money as him? All you guys slamming him calling him an idiot, why aren't you a super cool analyst at a major firm with a nice big salary? It's so easy an idiot can do it right?

So why aren't you making as much money as him? All you guys slamming him calling him an idiot, why aren't you a super cool analyst at a major firm with a nice big salary? It's so easy an idiot can do it right?

Renevent42

To earn big/become famous there are two ways, the hard way, to have talent and to work hard and the easy way having friends or relatives that don't mind wasting their hard work for somebody that can't even get a job at all and make that person "big" over night.

Anyway fact is this guy doesn't know what he's talking about, he probably googles companies and makes up random facts because that's what it sounds like.

So why aren't you making as much money as him? All you guys slamming him calling him an idiot, why aren't you a super cool analyst at a major firm with a nice big salary? It's so easy an idiot can do it right?

Renevent42

you make it sound like us peasants can't criticize the nobility.

wtf man?

I won't say the guy is an idiot, or he doesn't do a good job (I do not know enough about him)...but in this specific scenario I do not know why he is A.) saying such rubbish, and B.) telling himself and others that SC2 did not sell that well.

I played SC2 the day after release and bnet said there were over 1 million players. That is damn good for a PC game

Yeah sure that's how the world is...but only in the movies. It's a kids view of the world...the reality is most people (especially in fields that require a high level of education) are actually pretty smart folks. I'm not saying his word is infallible...or that he is always correct. But it's pretty obvious that his insight on stocks are good enough that he has been doing it for years and making a good living from doing so.

If you really truly believe this man is an idiot, it's time to take a good long look in the mirror.

[QUOTE="Renevent42"]

So why aren't you making as much money as him? All you guys slamming him calling him an idiot, why aren't you a super cool analyst at a major firm with a nice big salary? It's so easy an idiot can do it right?

mrbojangles25

you make it sound like us peasants can't criticize the nobility.

wtf man?

I won't say the guy is an idiot, or he doesn't do a good job (I do not know enough about him)...but in this specific scenario I do not know why he is A.) saying such rubbish, and B.) telling himself and others that SC2 did not sell that well.

I played SC2 the day after release and bnet said there were over 1 million players. That is damn good for a PC game

That's not what he is saying at all. He is saying that INVESTORS are concerned that the sales might not be living up to EXPECTATIONS. He is discussing this from a financial/investor mentality. When buying a stock people probablly tried to predict (and possibly over shot) SC2's sales...so if the game doesn't match their predictions the stock won't perform as expected.

He is not saying the game isn't selling well or anything like that...

[QUOTE="Renevent42"]

So why aren't you making as much money as him? All you guys slamming him calling him an idiot, why aren't you a super cool analyst at a major firm with a nice big salary? It's so easy an idiot can do it right?

mrbojangles25

you make it sound like us peasants can't criticize the nobility.

wtf man?

I won't say the guy is an idiot, or he doesn't do a good job (I do not know enough about him)...but in this specific scenario I do not know why he is A.) saying such rubbish, and B.) telling himself and others that SC2 did not sell that well.

I played SC2 the day after release and bnet said there were over 1 million players. That is damn good for a PC game

Yeah sure that's how the world is...but only in the movies. .Renevent42

Don't know how much contact you have with the real world but it does work like that, mostsmart people living in this world won't make it far, while stupid people take advantage of opportunities given by other people because they're the son/daughter/cousin of etc. You've been watching way too many movies if you think that smart people with studies will automatically get a decent job or they'll surely reach a place in several years where they'll earn money to last them for decades.

I wonder what you'd say about Fox and gaming...

Yeah sure that's how the world is...but only in the movies. It's a kids view of the world...the reality is most people (especially in fields that require a high level of education) are actually pretty smart folks. I'm not saying his word is infallible...or that he is always correct. But it's pretty obvious that his insight on stocks are good enough that he has been doing it for years and making a good living from doing so.

If you really truly believe this man is an idiot, it's time to take a good long look in the mirror.

[QUOTE="mrbojangles25"]

[QUOTE="Renevent42"]

So why aren't you making as much money as him? All you guys slamming him calling him an idiot, why aren't you a super cool analyst at a major firm with a nice big salary? It's so easy an idiot can do it right?

Renevent42

you make it sound like us peasants can't criticize the nobility.

wtf man?

I won't say the guy is an idiot, or he doesn't do a good job (I do not know enough about him)...but in this specific scenario I do not know why he is A.) saying such rubbish, and B.) telling himself and others that SC2 did not sell that well.

I played SC2 the day after release and bnet said there were over 1 million players. That is damn good for a PC game

That's not what he is saying at all. He is saying that INVESTORS are concerned that the sales might not be living up to EXPECTATIONS. He is discussing this from a financial/investor mentality. When buying a stock people probablly tried to predict (and possibly over shot) SC2's sales...so if the game doesn't match their predictions the stock won't perform as expected.

He is not saying the game isn't selling well or anything like that...

ahh you are right, my mistake

Don't know how much contact you have with the real world but it does work like that, mostsmart people living in this world won't make it far, while stupid people take advantage of opportunities given by other people because they're the son/daughter/cousin of etc. You've been watching way too many movies if you think that smart people with studies will automatically get a decent job or they'll surely reach a place in several years where they'll earn money to last them for decades.

I wonder what you'd say about Fox and gaming...

DanielDust

hurpderp...where did I say:

"...if you think that smart people with studies will automatically get a decent job"

I never said that. As far as how much contact with the real world I have...I have worked at a few Fortune 500 companies and currently work for one of the largest companies on the planet. The people I work with (the overwhelmingly majority, at least) are exceptionally bright folks...even (especially) upper management. I have never worked for a company as a professional (not talking about the crap jobs I did as a teenager) that is full of idiots. How much "contact" do you have...I can't imagine much considering the juvenile outlook on professionals in general you seem to hold.

[QUOTE="hoola"]

They are just used to seeing games like COD selling 10 million copies in a couple of weeks. They've never released a real PC exclusive before. If they put it on steam i might actually consider buying it if it goes on sale.

TerrorRizzing

Um... Yes he does have a clue... See investors give out money in hopes of getting it back plus interest... Starcraft 2 has been in development for YEARS...

The people that invested in this game are the same people that invested in MW2... And that game took 2 years and cost ~$50 million to make... Then sold 25,000,000 copies and made over a billion dollars... That shot the stock way up, making investors a LOT of money... Starcraft 2 was hyped to hell and back about how overwhelmingly successful it was going to be... And it has been in developement for what, 3 or 4 times as long as MW2... So it easily cost more than MW2 cost... And it hasn't sold 25,000,000 copies...

The game has sold well, but it hasn't sold like investors want it to sell.

[QUOTE="TerrorRizzing"][QUOTE="hoola"]

They are just used to seeing games like COD selling 10 million copies in a couple of weeks. They've never released a real PC exclusive before. If they put it on steam i might actually consider buying it if it goes on sale.

Buttons1990

Um... Yes he does have a clue... See investors give out money in hopes of getting it back plus interest... Starcraft 2 has been in development for YEARS...

The people that invested in this game are the same people that invested in MW2... And that game took 2 years and cost ~$50 million to make... Then sold 25,000,000 copies and made over a billion dollars... That shot the stock way up, making investors a LOT of money... Starcraft 2 was hyped to hell and back about how overwhelmingly successful it was going to be... And it has been in developement for what, 3 or 4 times as long as MW2... So it easily cost more than MW2 cost... And it hasn't sold 25,000,000 copies...

The game has sold well, but it hasn't sold like investors want it to sell.

[QUOTE="TerrorRizzing"][QUOTE="hoola"]

They are just used to seeing games like COD selling 10 million copies in a couple of weeks. They've never released a real PC exclusive before. If they put it on steam i might actually consider buying it if it goes on sale.

Buttons1990

Um... Yes he does have a clue... See investors give out money in hopes of getting it back plus interest... Starcraft 2 has been in development for YEARS...

The people that invested in this game are the same people that invested in MW2... And that game took 2 years and cost ~$50 million to make... Then sold 25,000,000 copies and made over a billion dollars... That shot the stock way up, making investors a LOT of money... Starcraft 2 was hyped to hell and back about how overwhelmingly successful it was going to be... And it has been in developement for what, 3 or 4 times as long as MW2... So it easily cost more than MW2 cost... And it hasn't sold 25,000,000 copies...

The game has sold well, but it hasn't sold like investors want it to sell.

Starcraft II has been out in what a week? Don't you think it's effects will be noticed in the next quarter?

How does one even take that statement and...sigh...oh lord just forget it lol. This site has some of the most frustrating posts on any game site bar none.

As someone heavily invested in ATVI, we look at this overcorrection of price due to slightly missing earnings as a great opportunity to buy. I for one will be adding more to my ATVI position and am happy to do so as ATVI has a RIDICULOUS amount of cash/free cash flow. They are easily the most solid of the big game publishers and are a very well managed company.

Yeah sure that's how the world is...but only in the movies. It's a kids view of the world...the reality is most people (especially in fields that require a high level of education) are actually pretty smart folks. I'm not saying his word is infallible...or that he is always correct. But it's pretty obvious that his insight on stocks are good enough that he has been doing it for years and making a good living from doing so.

If you really truly believe this man is an idiot, it's time to take a good long look in the mirror.

[QUOTE="mrbojangles25"]

[QUOTE="Renevent42"]

So why aren't you making as much money as him? All you guys slamming him calling him an idiot, why aren't you a super cool analyst at a major firm with a nice big salary? It's so easy an idiot can do it right?

Renevent42

you make it sound like us peasants can't criticize the nobility.

wtf man?

I won't say the guy is an idiot, or he doesn't do a good job (I do not know enough about him)...but in this specific scenario I do not know why he is A.) saying such rubbish, and B.) telling himself and others that SC2 did not sell that well.

I played SC2 the day after release and bnet said there were over 1 million players. That is damn good for a PC game

That's not what he is saying at all. He is saying that INVESTORS are concerned that the sales might not be living up to EXPECTATIONS. He is discussing this from a financial/investor mentality. When buying a stock people probablly tried to predict (and possibly over shot) SC2's sales...so if the game doesn't match their predictions the stock won't perform as expected.

He is not saying the game isn't selling well or anything like that...

But the expectation was 7 million by years end. They are probably already 1/3 of the way there. He is an idiot.

Nope. And if he's an idiot...I wonder what that makes you?

And what's this...another one from a different analyst:

http://gamepolitics.com/2010/08/05/sc2-sales-great-not-good-expected

StarCraft II sold over 1.5 million copies during the first 48 hours after release, according to reports from Activision Blizzard earlier this week. Yet despite these record-breaking numbers, analysts are noting that sales aren't quite living up to expectations. According to investment group Lazard Capital's analyst Colin Sebastian, "[T]his number is light of some forecasts, [but] we view this as largely a U.S./Europe number, with the majority of users in Korea still not reflected in the count." Sebastian notes that distribution models in Korea are often different than in the West, where users typically purchase a game outright, at or near launch. As a result, U.S. and European sales tend to be "front-loaded" towards heavy sales at launch that trail off fairly quickly. In comparison, even for games like StarCraft II (which is something of a national pastime in Korea), Koreans are more likely to purchase a game after launch, or pay for access through a LAN center, or even pay for the game using time cards. Korean sales, therefore, can be expected to remain strong for longer periods of time, but to start off much more slowly than in the U.S. Sebastian predicts that overall sales of the game could reach 4 million users in the first couple of months, and up to 6.5 million users within a year. anotheranylyst

I dunno...maybe investors expected 2 million in this time? Unreasonable? Too ambitious? Sure...maybe. But the fact is investors for whatever reason are a bit weary about the initial sales numbers. They were going off forecasts that perhaps were more aggressive. But like mentioned there's more to be seen (like Korea's numbers coming in).

Nobody is calling SC2 a failure. It just appears investors expected more and are reacting to that. Maybe sales will continue as strong as they are now and meet their expectation..maybe not.