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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Blizzard CEO's Statements Rain on EA's Parade
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
According to a report from Reuters.com, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick believes that "downward pressure on profits" will hurt EA's chances of making a gigantic profit from Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Kotick points out that the main beneficiary of the game's sales and subscriptions will be LucasArts and that EA will likely see less money incoming due to licensing agreements. "Lucas is going to be the principal beneficiary of the success of Star Wars," Kotick said. "We've been in business with Lucas for a long time and the economics will always accrue to the benefit of Lucas, so I don't really understand how the economics work for Electronic Arts."
Activision-Blizzard is understandably nervous about SWTOR's arrival, particularly in light of recent reports that show declining subscriptions for World of Warcraft. WoW subs are down approximately one million since late 2010. Some reports have said that WoW could lose up to 500,000 more subscribers to SWTOR.
Read the full article at Reuters.com.
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Comments
Talk about a CEO stating the obvious in addition to being a known fact since the first Star Wars film. The merchandising and marketing are Lucas' strongest points. This is where they have always made the most money and I can't see how it would be any different for this game. It's Lucas' pie to share in whatever way they want.
I serioulsy doubt EA was unaware of that fact before, during or after what's happening lately. We're just watching a sore loser whine over nothing. It's sad when you think on it. But that's life. Blizz squeezed us dry for the last 7 years, and they're loathe to see the juice flowing down another stream now. Tough luck.
Anyone into stock markets happen to know why EAs stock is worth twice as much as Activisions and what that means for both companies?
Currently playing:
EVE online (Ruining low sec one hotdrop at a time)
Gravity Rush,
Dishonoured: The Knife of Dunwall.
(Waiting for) Metro: Last Light,
Company of Heroes II.
Blizzard shares are down 5.5% and EA's shares are up 27%. It's not a stretch to think that players aren't the only things Blizzard might be losing to EA. This is how corporations compete when they can't compete on the merits of their products.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Comparing stock value by itself is not accurate. You have to compare stock price relative to the total volume of stock available.
For example, If the company is doing extremely well and the stock price goes high enough, it usually splits and the price effectively halves, but anyone holding any stock now holds twice as much in the volume of stock, which is worth the same as before it split.
A single stock for a company could be 1/1,000,000 of the toal stock, or 1/10,000,000 of the total stock. But if they're both worth $1, then it means the total valuation of the stocks for the second stock are ten times that of the first.
For the end consumer it means about the same as the price difference between Apple (~$375) and Microsoft (~$25) stock: Nothing.
Until you cancel your subscription, you are only helping to continue the cycle of mediocrity.
MW3 sold so many copies EA could only hope to ever have a game sell as well, but since kotek has no say over what Blizzard does its funny he's even talking.
http://www.vgchartz.com/charts/weekly.php
here's a chart you can see MW3's total sales per system, i really doubt they can't compete with EA the destroyer of game companies.
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
Current valuations show Activision to be worth $2.9 billion while Electronic Arts is worth $5.2 billion. Zynga however just out of interest is worth $5.5 billion and has only been going for a few years.
What is it with this world of warcraft shit ?
I played several times, and the last couple of times, I seem to remember it being rather empty, that was about 3 years ago now.
How can there possibly be approximately 8 million people playing world of warcraft, if i couldnt get a group together, 3 years ago !
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1651869499.png
My first thought was, who? And then I googled... Afterwards I died a little on the inside.
Yup, just shows what you can do with a few crappy facebook games don't it.
Maybe dont play on a LOW populated server? I havent played WoW in awhile myself, but i know there are alot of server that are very overcrowded.. and some that are very empty. They have hundreds of servers you know!
Currently Playing Path of Exile
And a much, much larger target demographic... When you don't limit your potential audience, the sky is the limit.
All I'm hearing from Bobby is. "You're not getting full profits from your game that's better than mine. THERE! Take that!"
Seems like nothing more than a pissing contest.
-Azure Prower
http://www.youtube.com/AzurePrower
Because 7.5 million of those people playing live in China and are on the Chinese servers, lol.
Seriously, I've played within the last year and wondered the same thing myself. However, the last time I played was shortly after the launch of RIFT, which I'm sure was the majority of the reason why the servers were a ghost town at the time.
its not his game though and he's a douche thats why no one likes him. Blizzard maintained their independence when that deal with vivendi was made, they just got to use the blizzard name with theirs which causes confusion. Kotick has no say on what Blizzard does.
So just ignore him, just like all us Blizzard fans do lol.
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
There's also the fact that stock prices fluctuate largely on perceived value.
The market currently believes there is a lot of value in Zynga due to the potential profit it can make in the future. Which similarly why Facebook is so horrendously overpriced. There is a perception that a lot of money can be made from Facebook/Zynga... and while Facebook/Zynga are both profitable companies, they have yet to actually generare revenue anywhere close to enough that it actually justifies their bloated company valuations. Where as companies like EA ad Activision-Blizzard actually produce tangible products and have revenue and expenses that are much more easily quantified.
Well Mr Kotick, if you could desist in tongue kissing your own ring for a minute you might actually gain some understanding.
A massive story driven themepark game based on Star Wars made by Bioware, a company with a massive fan following, and backed by Lucas Arts, the masters of merchandising madness, and he doesn't think that EA can turn a massive profit off this game? What a smug little jackass. I ended up not liking this game but even I can see how well it will appeal to quite a large number of gamers.
While I don't know much about the man I'm starting to gain understanding into why so many diehard Blizzard fans seem to hate his guts.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
someone is getting worries here...HA..Blizzard and there silly WoW
It is better to share profits and launch the highly demanded SW game on the market than to come out with your own stupid ideas and just fuk the product up. The pandas expansion is a good example - we already know that it would be unsuccesful. But yeah Bobby - you still have all the problems with WoW ahead of you, so why not to spil some coffee on the TOR while you are idle.
To be fair Tard, he didn't say that the game wouldn't make a ton of money... he said the percentages that Lucas demand will impact heavily on EA's take home pay.
I can see where he is coming from.
The merchandising you mention for example... who do you think make off that? EA or LA?
I'm no Blizz fan and I have never played WoW, but I don't see the worry in his observation.
What part did you see the 'worry' in?
Maybe if SWTOR ha 1/10 paying subs that WoW has in a year (which I sincerely doubt personally) they will start to maybe worry. But by then ofc Diablo III will be their new cash machine, at least until their new MMO drops.
Blizzard worrying? hehe I bet just about every other game dev in the world had their worries.
It just strikes me as pointless and lacking class, you'd think he's be trying to hype his next project, not come off as a sore loser already.
Even if Lucas took even more of the profit, its stll a massive bonus to Bioware to get so many players into their product, and therefore possibly others, (gateway to ME?) not to mention their rep for a project this prestigious.
http://www.vgchartz.com/charts/weekly.php
here's a chart you can see MW3's total sales per system, i really doubt they can't compete with EA the destroyer of game companies.
I was referring to the mmorpg market. Activision's value is so tied to WoW's performance, it's not funny (if you're an investor). If WoW actually tanked, Activision's stock would take a major hit. If WoW tanked at the same time as SW:ToR became a hit, it would be even worse. It doesn't matter that MW3 sells 4* times as many copies as BF3.
* That number is going to get bigger.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.