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[1st Course]

Searched and didn't find anything. Lock if old.

Activision Blizzard (ATVI) reported earnings that were below the expectations of Wall Street analysts during its traditionally strong holiday quarter. And its stock price has fallen 16 percent in after-hours trading as a result.

Activision Blizzard said that Skylanders: SuperChargers and Guitar Hero Live fell short of expectations for the quarter. Skylanders may have suffered from more competition in the “toys to life” market (such as Disney Infinity, which released sets based on Star Wars, and Lego Dimensions) as well as a shift of casual players from consoles to mobile games.

http://venturebeat.com/2016/02/11/d...tly-short-of-expectations-in-holiday-quarter/

 

[Femto.]

Not surprised that Guitar Hero did poorly.

How did Rock band do? For comparison's sake.

 

[jjonez18]

Wait, Skylanders isn't on mobile? Why? If it is, why would a switch of demographic from one platform to the other hurt them?

Might be thinking of tablet. Idk...

 

[Animator]

I can imagine some Activision exec screaming at Bungie over the phone to do whatever they have to do and get an expansion out this year.

 

[lupinko]

Not surprised that Guitar Hero did poorly.

How did Rock band do? For comparison's sake.

Madcatz's top execs all resigned and the company had to restructure due to Rock Band mainly, so there you go!

 

[AstroLad]

Don't understand why anyone would have expected GH to do well. Seemed like a lark that slightly exceeded expectations, not a AAA tentpole. Will the stock go down if the next Tony Hawk does poorly?

 

[Rlan]

Wait, Skylanders isn't on mobile? Why? If it is, why would a switch of demographic from one platform to the other hurt them?

Might be thinking of tablet. Idk...

Actually it is! You can buy a set with an iphone controller so you can play via ipad. There are also some ipad exclusive apps in the universe.

 

[KaYotiX]

Not surprised that Guitar Hero did poorly.

How did Rock band do? For comparison's sake.

I assume it did a little better since they are patching the game constantly and weekly DLC still.

Still love Rockband and I'm glad it's out on this gen.

 

[Doberu]

Madcatz's top execs all resigned and the company had to restructure due to Rock Band mainly, so there you go!

Is there a source on this??? Because this is the first time I hear of this.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Is there a source on this??? Because this is the first time I hear of this.

http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2016/feb/08/mad-catz-ceo-and-other-execs-leave-company/

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Don't understand why anyone would have expected GH to do well. Seemed like a lark that slightly exceeded expectations, not a AAA tentpole. Will the stock go down if the next Tony Hawk does poorly?

Yeah, don't understand why anyone thought GH Live or RB4 was a good idea :/

 

[Orca]

Don't understand why anyone would have expected GH to do well. Seemed like a lark that slightly exceeded expectations, not a AAA tentpole. Will the stock go down if the next Tony Hawk does poorly?

Activision brass thought it would do well and projected it to do well, that's why the stock went down when it didn't.

 

[ZeroX03]

I assume it did a little better since they are patching the game constantly and weekly DLC still.

Still love Rockband and I'm glad it's out on this gen.

Guitar Hero Live is still getting support and new songs too.

 

[Iced Arcade]

What goes up must....

 

[SatoAilDarko]

All Toys to Life seem down.

The discounts are even quicker to happen and better than before.

I see Lego fun packs for half off all the time.

I got almost all the Disney Infinity 2.0 figures for a third of their price. Even the recent 3.0 power discs are on sale this week for 60% off.

It really seems to have slowed down with time and so many competitors. It didn't help that consumers learned to wait a few weeks for discounts and a year for huge ones.

 

[Femto.]

Madcatz's top execs all resigned and the company had to restructure due to Rock Band mainly, so there you go!

Geez.

Their fight sticks are great though. Hopefully they can stay afloat.

I assume it did a little better since they are patching the game constantly and weekly DLC still.

Still love Rockband and I'm glad it's out on this gen.

I'd love to play it...if one of my buddies buys it because I don't want to lol

I still see a lot of units being displayed at retail.

 

[antitrop]

Don't understand why anyone would have expected GH to do well. Seemed like a lark that slightly exceeded expectations, not a AAA tentpole. Will the stock go down if the next Tony Hawk does poorly?

There won't be another Tony Hawk, Activision's contract with the Birdman expired last year. They obviously didn't negotiate a renewal.

 

[ShutEye]

Activision has fostered a very risky long term reliance on milking a shallow set of IPs . Now the bill is due

 

[RealityCheque]

Get ready for bi-annual COD!!!!

 

[Protome]

Kinda a shame that GH didn't do so hot. They took a risk actually making a new game and not just bringing out a stripped down version of their old games like RB. And it paid off in quality at least, it's a really good game.

 

[Jigorath]

All Toys to Life seem down.

The discounts are even quicker to happen and better than before.

I see Lego fun packs for half off all the time.

I got almost all the Disney Infinity 2.0 figures for a third of their price. Even the recent 3.0 power discs are on sale this week for 60% off.

It really seems to have slowed down with time and so many competitors. It didn't help that consumers learned to wait a few weeks for discounts and a year for huge ones.

That high wasn't going to last forever.

 

[Canadian]

I bought Guitar Hero recently and I'm having fun with it. Having to relearn the guitar and having access to all the dlc songs keeps me hooked. I wrote the game off when it was announced, but like they say you can't knock it till you try it.

 

[fernoca]

I assume it did a little better since they are patching the game constantly and weekly DLC still.

Still love Rockband and I'm glad it's out on this gen.

Seems it permormed worse, compared at least. Teased numbers put GHLive higher between October and November.

Mad Catz' recent conference call made note of RB4 underperforming in Europe compared to GH and the guitar bundles in general selling less than GH and them looking for ways to rectify both (like lowering the price of the RB4 guitar bundles). Sales of the band bundles exceeded expectations though.

GHLive is also receiving new content and stuff every week; like the recently added online multiplayer options.


*****


Overall, the thing is that they were optimistic at first and happy with how it was performing. With October opening better than the last games worldwide and November going up in sales in the US.

But seems December wasn't as big as they expected. Even with most retailers cutting the price.

In general it performed better than Rock Band 4 (with under 350k alone in the US) and in both cases they're still commited to supporting the game. For now at least.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Now is the time to put X-Men Origins: Wolverine up on Steam. Stock will soar.

 

[bloodyroarxx]

I wonder if Skylanders sales were influenced by how underwhelming last years Trap Team was.

 

[the_batman]

even with COD? wow

 

[AstroLad]

Activision brass thought it would do well and projected it to do well, that's why the stock went down when it didn't.

Technically though investors should know better and the price should reflect a reality where no one who knows anything about games should expect a Guitar Hero title in 2015 to be a big hit. Maybe that's not a significant part of the valuation though. Hard to break out such things.

 

[ShadowOfTheIco]

Attack activision for massive damage.

The beast is wounded. Critical damage.

 

[fernoca]

I wonder if Skylanders sales were influenced by how underwhelming last years Trap Team was.

Probably them moving on from Wii got some additional effect (since it was the one along the 3DS that got a spinoff); and it didn't helped the different SKUs on Nintendo platforms. They should've included both DK and Bowser .

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

I wonder if Skylanders sales were influenced by how underwhelming last years Trap Team was.

I'd say it's more like plastic figure NFC genre fatigue. Too many players in that space doing annual releases. I didn't even buy the Skylanders base set this year and barely touched trap team. Just not enough incentive to keep going every frickin year.

Technically though investors should know better and the price should reflect a reality where no one who knows anything about games should expect a Guitar Hero title in 2015 to be a big hit. Maybe that's not a significant part of the valuation though. Hard to break out such things.

Well, investors do rely on guidance. That's why stuff tanks when companies don't hit targets.

 

[1st Course]

even with COD? wow

COD actually over performed I think. The overall results are positive, they just were below expectations.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I enjoy Spyro from years back, but I never got into Skylanders at all. I never thought they looked interesting and that's basically obvious. It was something for younger people in a way.

I was a security guard years ago and I knew a guy who liked them. I mean if they were something I'd like id get them, but I never saw the point. I see them at a game store and it feels like the most obscure thing I've ever seen at a game store.

One of my very first times I walked into Babbages I saw a red headset that was like VR and Tomb Raider. That was amazing. Seeing stuff like Skylanders makes me feel like it's a comic book store.


No offense, but I feel like it makes the EC,E, and possibly T rated game section they use to have look better than it did.

I worked at GameStop when Guitar Hero was popular, but so was the Wii. Maybe it's just not selling to the general public as it was. We did have that small revolution 5 or so years ago. I remember all sorts of people walking in, but I also buy more digitally and I haven't had a peripheral in a while. VR is really trying to take that spot and expand on it if you ask me.

I went into a local mom and pop store and they had tons of them. It didn't make sense after seeing the store grow since the late 90's. I wondered where I was for a minute.

Edit: I'm not trying to bash on Skylanders, but it's just not something I've ever wanted to add to my game selection. I'm not really big into Amiibos either. It just isn't my thing.

 

[hodayathink]

Madcatz's top execs all resigned and the company had to restructure due to Rock Band mainly, so there you go!

Not true. The company was in trouble before they made the gamble on Rock Band 4. That whole thing was basically a hail mary on their part and it didn't work out (obviously). The game itself exceeded expectations (except for the guitar bundle).

 

[Head.spawn]

I'm not sure why anyone thought more Guitar Hero was a good idea.

 

[DeadlyParasite]

Makes you wonder what the state of the company would be if Call of Duty wasn't keeping them afloat.

 

[Zalman]

I was soo ready for a new Guitar Hero. I was one of the few who actually wanted it. But I didn't buy GH Live. I just didn't like the new direction they went in.

 

[Flintty]

All Toys to Life seem down.

The discounts are even quicker to happen and better than before.

I see Lego fun packs for half off all the time.

I got almost all the Disney Infinity 2.0 figures for a third of their price. Even the recent 3.0 power discs are on sale this week for 60% off.

It really seems to have slowed down with time and so many competitors. It didn't help that consumers learned to wait a few weeks for discounts and a year for huge ones.

This is crazy in comparison to Amiibo which have poor in game functions generally but are really nice items to collect. The sales of Amiibo have been insane.

I banned Skylanders from my house because of the heavily gated content and new gimmicks with each release, usually requiring another new portal!

 

[jonno394]

Yeah Disney and lego definitely eating in to skylanders. Those are much bigger ip and can't see how skylanders can combat it, which is a shame as I really like swap force, trap team and superchargers (admittedly they were all bought when around £20)

 

[ZeroX03]

I was soo ready for a new Guitar Hero. I was one of the few who actually wanted it. But I didn't buy GH Live. I just didn't like the new direction they went in.

That's a shame. It was exactly the direction I wanted, and it's the best one yet. It's a shame it didn't do better.

 

[Liamario]

Clearly Guitar based games aren't as popular as they once were. I don't perceive a resurgence.

 

[T.O.P]

GHLive is fantastic, such a shame

 

[fernoca]

This is crazy in comparison to Amiibo which have poor in game functions generally but are really nice items to collect. The sales of Amiibo have been insane.

I banned Skylanders from my house because of the heavily gated content and new gimmicks with each release, usually requiring another new portal!

The latest one didn't recquired a portal, hence why they even sell a digital version that can be played entirely without one (and has been on sale too). Limited to only 1 character and 1 car unless you plug any portal which allows to at least use every figure you own.

It also should be noted that while Superchargers didn't met expectations, Skylanders in general still generates a ton of revenue which is why they're launching a TV show and a new game this year.

 

[Crono27]

amiibos taking over! but not surprising that shares dipped

 

[Finaika]

Failzard.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I really figured Guitar Hero would be cheaply made enough to sell small numbers and just sort of coast to success eventually.

 

[jroc74]

Didnt they just buy King, the makers of Candy Crush, etc?

 

[Golgo 13]

Isn't the new Guitar Hero plagued with shitty microtranactions?

If the user reviews on Amazon are to be believed, they really negatively impact the game (it's currently 3 out of 5 stars). I mean, people are pissed.

 

[TwiztidElf]

So Blizzard is propping them up eh? Hearthstone is still going gangbusters right? And the ROI on WoW is still massively in the black.

 

[Acquiescence]

I do remember the last Skylanders game pretty much bombing in the PAL charts. I guess things didn't pick up for it much after that first week of sales.

 

[VexyWexy]

Now is the time to put X-Men Origins: Wolverine up on Steam. Stock will soar.

I'd buy a PS4 remaster, flippin loved that game!