Like virtually every other stock in the world, Activision/Blizzard took a dive when the financial crisis broke out in October, losing 25% of its value. However, the company has good earning prospects, the gaming industry is somewhat recession-proof, and ATVI might be a good stock to hold onto for future. So says this analysis, anyway.
So, as you can see, the company is holding up fine so far in this environment. Yes, the consumer should theoretically weaken as we move forward, but ATVI has solid titles, is selling cheaper items, and is selling to a consumer who is not likely to give up their products, despite the recession. If you want any evidence that ATVI has a comparative advantage in titles, then simply compare ATVI’s most recent quarter to rival THQ’s quarter. Yea, that wasn’t pretty.
In other news, if you didn’t get enough of being insulted and belittled for having a dissenting opinion on the whole art design controversy back in July, there’s a hyperbolic, chronologically-challenged rant in the gaming section of the Sydney Morning Herald that should do the trick:
Let’s start with Diablo III. If you based your knowledge of Diablo from what you hear on the internet then your perception would be as follows. Diablo is a game where the objective is to adjust your gamma setting until you can’t see anything; then you dupe a bunch of items and get banned from Battle.Net. Some people find this entertaining. The problem started when Blizzard, the developer of Diablo III, had the audacity to up the contrast and brightness of the game to the point where the artists could actually see what they’re working on. This caused many die-hard fans to create internet petitions, and we all know how awesome internet petitions are, claiming that Blizzard had destroyed the look and feel of the series.
...if you still have a problem with the look and feel of Diablo III then “Your Turn” has a few tips for you.
1. Play the game with sunglasses on.
2. Go to one of those car tint places and get your monitor tinted.
3. Stop playing games, you’re making the rest of us look like idiots.
