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[Valjean Lafitte]

game is a verb

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/game

intransitive verb
: to play for a stake
transitive verb
1 archaic : to lose or squander by gambling
2 : to take dishonest advantage of : cheat <game the tax system>

Not the definition you were looking for?

 

[mantidor]

...

I'm not accusing Patcher of doing anything unethical but the fact still remains that if he reports to his clients privately and they pay him to keep that information exclusive to them, then anything he has to say publicly falls into the category of "read with skepticism" according to my dad. He is very good at his job.

...

Oh good read! this is something that honestly I was suspecting, not that I'm accusing Pachter of anything as you said already, but with how ignorant are people about the videogame market is really easy to fool them into believing whatever you want them to believe so I wouldn't be surprised if some videogame analysts are playing that game.

 

[1-D_FTW]

Oh good read! this is something that honestly I was suspecting, not that I'm accusing Pachter of anything as you said already, but with how ignorant are people about the videogame market is really easy to fool them into believing whatever you want them to believe so I wouldn't be surprised if some videogame analysts are playing that game.

It certainly makes a lot more sense than the alternative: that a complete idiot made his way to that position.

This would explain why he's consistently wrong. If he's "publishing" the opposite of his private reports, it would explain why you can almost certainly book the opposite of his predictions. Maybe I've been underestimating the sly fox.

 

[orion434]

Everyone always insults Pachter but the guy ranks in the top 10 in the GAF NPD predictions consistently. The Wii U is the first time the market leader from last generation is the first to the next generation. It's supposed to release in 9 months... is it unreasonable to question the release price?

 

[CoffeeJanitor]

Everyone always insults Pachter but the guy ranks in the top 10 in the GAF NPD predictions consistently. The Wii U is the first time the market leader from last generation is the first to the next generation. It's supposed to release in 9 months... is it unreasonable to question the release price?

They literally haven't announced anything yet, so yes?!?!

 

[orion434]

They literally haven't announced anything yet, so yes?!?!

It's unreasonable to question the price because they haven't announced it yet... got it! Makes perfect sense.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

It's unreasonable to expect a price announcement so early, so it's weird to look at it as a good or bad thing. The only time I can remember a price being known so early was N64, but that ended up not being the final price anyway, thanks to a delayed launch and matching the new lower price of PS1.

 

[Kusagari]

We still don't even know the finer details of the console.

It's absurd to predict a price at this point.

 

[jump_button]

He was wrong about the Wii why would anyone take what he say about Wii U

 

[StevieP]

He was wrong about the Wii why would anyone take what he say about Wii U

To be fair, everyone was wrong about the Wii. Even years after it caught fire you still had large firms putting out graphs like this:

 

[CoffeeJanitor]

It's unreasonable to question the price because they haven't announced it yet... got it! Makes perfect sense.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. You can't "question the price" when there isn't a pricetag.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

To be fair, everyone was wrong about the Wii. Even years after it caught fire you still had large firms putting out graphs like this:

PS3 and 360 are totally wrong predictions on that graph, but Wii doesn't seem too far off......

 

[mantidor]

PS3 and 360 are totally wrong predictions on that graph, but Wii doesn't seem too far off......

which is the normal curve of any console in existence, what makes that graphic so funny is the linear progression of the PS3.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

PS3 and 360 are totally wrong predictions on that graph, but Wii doesn't seem too far off......

Yeah, they saw the PS360 balance all out of whack.

 

[Criminal Upper]

Any man who feels the 3DS was underpriced at launch is a man who knows the video game market.

 

[orion434]

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. You can't "question the price" when there isn't a pricetag.

The Wii U is priceless! Sweet! That will go over well with investors.

If the Wii U is scheduled to release in NOV 2012, what would be a reasonable time when the price is announced? E3 in June? Sooner? Later?

 

[MisterHero]

The Wii U is priceless! Sweet! That will go over well with investors.

If the Wii U is scheduled to release in NOV 2012, what would be a reasonable time when the price is announced? E3 in July? Sooner? Later?

E3 seems to be a good time for listening to significant videogame news, yes.

If they sell at a very low mass-market price, and if Nintendo eats a loss per console sold, customers might be happy. However, it's still a loss, and shareholders who don't know better are still going to have the same knee jerk reaction.

What does anyone gain from knowing the price now?

 

[CoconutTank]

The Wii U is priceless! Sweet! That will go over well with investors.

If the Wii U is scheduled to release in NOV 2012, what would be a reasonable time when the price is announced? E3 in June? Sooner? Later?

Before November 2012 sounds reasonable. After E3 when they've announced the launch software lineup (and hardware specs) sounds reasonable too.

Why is now reasonable? What kind of information do you get if the price tag is $150? $300? $1024?

 

[Snytbaggen]

How much money have your clients made on the gaming industry in the past 7 years Patcher? Honest question. I know you can't give us specifics but how about a round about figure?

The following is not directed at you but rather just sharing some insight with gaf.

My old man is a financial analyst to a very large investment firm, who normally had never invested in anything in the field of video gaming. He does a lot of things in finance/investment/insurance that require several licenses like advising hedge funds. My dad and his company were able to make money for his clients off of the massive success of the Wii and DS. Fairly large amounts of money.

From what I can tell he got his clients in around late 2005 and got them out in time to more than quadruple their investments. They were so happy with his company's work, relating to the money they made from Nintendo stock, that they are now actively investing in video gaming and looking for more vg related investments (Social and traditional gaming companies alike).

Rockstar, Vivendi Universal and EA were the only game related companies whose portfolios were even glanced at by his clients before the success of the Wii and DS.
Before Nintendo accomplished what they did, the video game industry was considered to be a black hole for investment by many large investment firms and analyst.

Nintendo was the first traditional gaming company to convince some of these firms that wisely investing in game companies could lead to extraordinary profits because of the market segment they were able to reach.

He spoke with me about counter-trend and counter-market strategies that some analyst employ. He said it was unusual for a financial analyst to share their real projections for future growth or decline, within any given market, with anyone other than their clients, who in turn pay them to keep that information private.

He also talked about unethical tactics that are commonly being used. Some analyst publicly say one thing and privately tell their paying clients another.

Lets say the financial analyst has projected the stock price of a company to greatly increase in value, at a certain point in time, due to a potential merger/acquisition or projected higher profits/return to profitability. An investment firm can increase its potential profits by having market analysts publicly release negative projections about said company. When a negative public perception of said company has declined the stock price enough, they tell the preferred clients the optimal time to buy the company's stock, at a much cheaper price than they possibly could have before, for maximum profits.

Some even tell their paying clients 2 different things.

For Example: Tell preferred clients to buy bad stock at dirt cheap price. Then proceed to tell non-preferred clients to invest in said bad stock in order to artificially inflate the stock price. Finally tell preferred clients to sell toxic stock right at the peak of the artificial inflation. Of course they insure themselves from the financial repercussions of losing their non-preferred clients lots of money.

Both are quite ethically illegal but rarely enforced. Illegal tactics like this have become quite common since 2000 when the financial regulatory system was severely weakened. My dad feels it still hasn't been fixed. The second example was a key reason for the financial crisis from the toxic loans that were made and the derivatives taken out on those loans by preferred clients.

My dad explained to me that any intelligent financial analyst wouldn't pay too much attention to any publicly disclosed market predictions from another analyst who has clients they report to privately.

Regulatory agencies and other official financial channels are good to take into consideration but someone who is privately employed by their clients is not going to divulge important future market analysis publicly or to anyone but those clients, unless they are told to do so. In fact most high profile financial analyst sign an exclusivity agreement to that affect. My dad has had such an agreement with his clients for more than 30 years.

I'm not accusing Patcher of doing anything unethical but the fact still remains that if he reports to his clients privately and they pay him to keep that information exclusive to them, then anything he has to say publicly falls into the category of "read with skepticism" according to my dad. He is very good at his job.

Do you have an exclusivity agreement with your clients Mr. Patcher? Again just an honest question.

I feel this needs to be quoted.

 

[orion434]

Before November 2012 sounds reasonable. After E3 when they've announced the launch software lineup (and hardware specs) sounds reasonable too.

Why is now reasonable? What kind of information do you get if the price tag is $150? $300? $1024?

I don't know.. announcing your console @ $599 had a significant impact.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

June-September would be the expected, based on history.

 

[DrWong]

I feel this needs to be quoted.

Indeed.

 

[CoconutTank]

I don't know.. announcing your console @ $599 had a significant impact.

Well yeah exactly with the bolded. What kind of significant impact would $599 have for you? What kind of rational expectations would you have right now?

 

[orion434]

Well yeah exactly with the bolded. What kind of significant impact would $599 have for you?

An impact of not purchasing a Wii U at launch.

 

[Shaheed79]

I was beginning to think that no one was willing to read that wall of ASCII text I wrote. It didn't look that bad while I was typing it up but after I posted it I felt I went overboard lol.

I normally stay out of topics like these because 90% of the people posting in them have no idea what a financial analyst really does and how much they are paid to keep that information private. Nor do they realize the level of manipulation that goes on everyday in this particular field so they end up concentrating on the wrong things.

The financial market is practically unregulated in that regard. Some people may disagree with me on that but if you have read as many books as I have about financial corruption in the States then you would agree with me and my dad on this issue.

But I do want Patcher to answer those two questions I asked him without telling me to "ESAD" or something to that affect.

Here they are again Patcher.

How much money have your clients made on the gaming industry in the past 7 years? I know you can't give us specifics but how about a round about figure?

Do you have an exclusivity agreement with those clients?

We know that you are paid to write articles related to the market in which you specialize but that normally has nothing to do with the kind of market research and projections your clients are paying you for.

 

[EloquentM]

it would be stupid to announce a price if devkits aren't final yet. of course they probably have a projected price they want to launch at but until everything is final its silly for anyone expect a price announcement already.