Activision: What Recession? We Want to Buy!
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Activision, Blizzard, Buy
Many investors will admit that a good time to buy is when the prices are lower than low, yet those words of wisdom doesn't seem legitimate during current economical conditions. Apparently, Activision Blizzard's wallet doesn't agree.
The market can be tricky: invest in something while the prices are currently low, and hope it will increase in value when the economy begins to climb back out of its current dismal hole of depression. If the investment tanks, then so does the initial investment. With that said, it's hard to imagine Activision Blizzard shelling out money for new properties even though the company is currently the largest gaming publisher on the planet.
But with $3 billion in cash burning a hole in its pocket and no debt to speak of, the company is definitely considering acquisitions while the prices are down to the ground. Buying new intellectual property licensing rights would certainly open doors for the company, especially those that would eventually fill holes in Activision Blizzard's overall portfolio... which the company is looking to do as well Activision Blizzard already started the process with two upcoming games: Singularity, DJ Hero and an unnamed racing title.
“The combination of Activision holding a fair amount of cash and presumably prices being depressed, not only for publicly traded companies, but also likely for new intellectual property licensing rights, should certainly create opportunities,” admitted Activision president and CEO Mike Griffith in his interview with Bloomberg.
According to Bloomberg, Activision rose 20 cents (2 percent) to $10.07 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading as of Wednesday; its shares have gained 17 percent this year alone. Although sitting pretty with mammoth franchises under its belt including Call of Duty, Guitar Hero and the uber-popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, it's interesting to speculate what and whom Activision is likely to assimilate next. With Midway Games ready to throw the mortal Kombat franchise on the chopping block, the infamous fighting IP would certainly fill a void in Activision's portfolio.
"We won’t rush to judgment just because we have cash," says Griffith. "We will be very disciplined."
Although Activision Blizzard is sitting on piles of cash and looking for new blood, the company certainly isn't hording IPs. In fact, by the end of 2008, the company purged many of its Sierra-branded franchises including Ghostbusters, Brutal Legend and even 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. With that said, the company isn't looking for just any IP to fill the gaps, but those with high potential.
On another note, Activision Blizzard today announced that Thomas Tippl, CFO of Activision Blizzard, Inc, will be presenting at the 7th Annual Wedbush Morgan Securities New York MAC: Management Access Conference on Wednesday, March 11th at 8:00 a.m. (ET) at the Le Parker Meridien Hotel. Those interested can listen to the broadcast here.
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i say maybe try to get Eidos or get the Mortal Kombat license Midway is selling
Meh, MK is dead. In general nowadays its all about FPS/MMO/RTS. I SO miss nineties platformers and adventure games.
Yeah I would love a great old school, modernized side scroller. Even another great Mario64 style game, anything to break this mold of CoD20+/WoW model of gaming.
That's why you write for a tech site, not an investment site. In addition to several flagrant grammar errors, your premise that purchasing licensing rights is somehow a worse idea during a bear market than during a boom is outright fallacious. It's freaking on sale right now. If you've got the cash and no debt, now is an EXCELLENT time to make such an investment. Please, Kevin, a news article is no place for your personal opinion. Just give us the facts, please.
Meh, MK is dead. In general nowadays its all about FPS/MMO/RTS. I SO miss nineties platformers and adventure games.
FPS/MMORTS games is pretty much all Activision has at the moment. Perhaps thats why they're so successful, but I think they're looking to expand. I think Street Fighter IV will bring back the fighting game genre. Tekken will also do well. If Mortal Kombat was done right and had proper marketing it could be successful again. I like MK vs. DC, but I think it was a starnge mix and I don't like how they had to tone it down for the DC characters. I think they should go retro like SF IV did. Sports games are also huge and should be looked into. Stealing the Baseball and Football licenses from 2K Games and Electronic fArts could be a big win and would practically crush their competition. For a worldwide audience they could get exclusive rights to FIFA as well. I dont know if they can do this, but if they can afford to buy Rockstar Games from 2k games, or even buy 2k games outright I think that would be a big win and a kick in the nuts to Electronic tarts.
PS theyre not typos
how bout they finish diablo 3.. damnit.. OH or i'll send them an email and say "Hey, if you're so eager to spend, i need some financial help, i'll put the money to good use..har har?
eh.. speakin of blizzard, pretty snowy here
Activision Blizzard is now bigger than GM, GE and Citigroup. Dow Industrial should include Activision Blizzard in its index.
Max Payne 3, StarTrek something, Hitman something, Knight of the Old Republic 3.
Get Mechwarrior License back dammit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mechwarrior 5 is waaaayyy over due.
Dont think mechwarrior is popular anymore, google mechwarrior living legends and check out the amount of people that are flocking to this mod just for some more mech action. Better yet use some of that cash to employ the mod dev's. Gamers making games, thats where theres money to be made.
They should finish Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. In it's original form.
Meh, MK is dead. In general nowadays its all about FPS/MMO/RTS. I SO miss nineties platformers and adventure games.
Me too , infact i miss the wide variety of genre's that used to get released every year .. space sims , 3rd person adventure games , REAL RPG's (not this MMO crap that fills our store shelves now). part of my missings has been in aprt cos i ahdn't owned a console in aogod while till i reccently got the 360 (wich i bought with halo 3) now im dyign for some money so i can get some game genres you jsut don't see very often on pc (such as fighting/martial arts games or 3rd person adventure) but now i got the 360 most of what i see on teh shelves is FPSer this FPSer that. to find compelling generes that don't involve shotting at stuff , i've had to do a search on amazon.com it's getting rediculous .. seems for the most part the console mnarkets have latched on to the same three old genres as teh pc industry (thee are getting rtses on 360 now even) It.s starting to piss me off, I got a console for console style games if i want a RTS FPSer or MMO i'll play one on PC, for console i want fighting games sports , 3rd person adventure /action, and platformer games ... not the same thing my 850 dollar PC can do 10x better. granted i say i want this on console .. i would also like to see the days of teh 90's return to pc when msot any genre of play could also be found on PC. Point overall is the whiole gaming industry has gotten "green eyed" and only care about what makes money it's gottn to where PC game companeis are droppign any thing that remotely resembles soomethin you'd see on console ... adn well seems the consoles are starting to do it too LOL
Activision Blizzard is now bigger than GM, GE and Citigroup. Dow Industrial should include Activision Blizzard in its index.Max Payne 3, StarTrek something, Hitman something, Knight of the Old Republic 3.
why are you listing these games ??? thier ip['s atnt even upf or sale and as far as i knwo blizzard nore activision ahs any thign to do with making them with perhaps teh exception fo that star trek one.
max payne is onwed by aspyr(aka 3d reamls)
KoTOR3 is being made by bioware
hitman is owned by eidos
wut?
That's why you write for a tech site, not an investment site. In addition to several flagrant grammar errors, your premise that purchasing licensing rights is somehow a worse idea during a bear market than during a boom is outright fallacious. It's freaking on sale right now. If you've got the cash and no debt, now is an EXCELLENT time to make such an investment. Please, Kevin, a news article is no place for your personal opinion. Just give us the facts, please.
The point is that new spending on entertainment has nearly stopped. That's no opinion; that is fact. Also, the best time to buy is after the market has hit rock bottom. Do you, in all of your financial wisdom, believe that the market will drop no lower? If so, I have some ocean from property to sell you in Nevada.
i think Blizzard itself could turn around this recession with the release of Starcraft II and Diablo 3. not to mention the unannounced new MMO IP they are working on!
but i agree with everyone else, i'd love to see another platformer/2d (with nice updated graphics) sidescroller! Donkey Kong? Castlevania? Little Big Planet 2?!!!
or Vertical/Horizontal shooters a la Raiden, R-Type, or Ikaruga.
That's why you write for a tech site, not an investment site. In addition to several flagrant grammar errors, your premise that purchasing licensing rights is somehow a worse idea during a bear market than during a boom is outright fallacious. It's freaking on sale right now. If you've got the cash and no debt, now is an EXCELLENT time to make such an investment. Please, Kevin, a news article is no place for your personal opinion. Just give us the facts, please.
God I *facepalm*'d when I read what he wrote...Jeez.
If what they're doing is working well and they have no debt and 3 billion $ in the bank why would they waste money on buying companies that are doing badly (i.e. make inferior games to Bliz/Activision) and are failing. Seems like a money sink. Just keep doing what you're doing Bliz, let the producers of bad games go bankrupt and fade away.
PS theyre not typos
You mean like this one?
[citation]"...yet those words of wisdom doesn't seem legitimate during current economical conditions."[/citation]
I think it should be "don't" and not "doesn't".
If what they're doing is working well and they have no debt and 3 billion $ in the bank why would they waste money on buying companies that are doing badly (i.e. make inferior games to Bliz/Activision) and are failing. Seems like a money sink. Just keep doing what you're doing Bliz, let the producers of bad games go bankrupt and fade away.
The advantage to buying up smaller software developers (or ones that are sinking) is to quickly get rid competition. If you don't go out and waste $50 on a failing game title, you may be more likely to buy Activision's latest game instead. So that could also be a part of their strategy.
Of course, as you've suggested, they also take the risk of financially investing themselves into game genres that simply aren't making money.
Activision Blizzard is now bigger than GM, GE and Citigroup. Dow Industrial should include Activision Blizzard in its index.Max Payne 3, StarTrek something, Hitman something, Knight of the Old Republic 3.
Dunno if I can see that happening. Many large companies who's stocks are dropping below $10 a share are being removed from the stock exchange all together. Activision is listed in the above article as being just over $10 a share. So it's not like it's a big player on the exchange.
It would be very good though to see Activision excel in other genres. I'd like to see more solid game titles out for PC. To many games lately are coming out for XBOX 360/PS3 only that I'd like to play.
The point is that new spending on entertainment has nearly stopped. That's no opinion; that is fact. Also, the best time to buy is after the market has hit rock bottom. Do you, in all of your financial wisdom, believe that the market will drop no lower? If so, I have some ocean from property to sell you in Nevada.
I think you misunderstood me. I'm not saying that now is the time to BUY BUY BUY because I don't believe it's possible to win long-term by trying to 'play' the stock market. My point was that the author's false premise that it's somehow a WORSE time to make such an investment than it was during good times. The fact is that no one knows when the market will turn around. If you try to time your investments with the roller coaster ride of a market driven by emotion and fear, you'll get burned. I say, if you have the money, now's as good a time as any.
Also, I doubt your premise that the best time to buy intellectual property rights is right after the bottom. Perhaps stocks, but not intellectual property. Once the market's on its way up, who's gonna sell their goose now that it's laying golden eggs again? Right now there is a spirit of fear that has gripped the nation, and a wise investor can take advantage of eager sellers.
@jerreece Not to mention the fact that he wrote "those words of wisdom" without including a direct quote before. The whole thing is so unclear. It's like a six-year-old with an attention span of one second wrote it.
I think this would be a great time for them to take on the mechwarrior series. there is a huge fan base that is screaming for a new Game to hit the mass market.
mk is dead. what made mk is not the fighting, but the fatalities [finishing moves]. the only way to revive it is to bring back those finishing moves and at the same time reinvent it. to bring it back, they need to go back to 2d and start over.
the only thing making money is diablo 3, star craft 2 [if i comes out], and the guitar hero games. looking at the many fps games or the many games for 360/ps3/pc, they will sell modestly. but knowing that guitar hero world tour is selling better on wii then any other console, you know that this is the butter. how come they aren't making more wii games when that is where they should be focusing on?
if activision didn't have blizzard, they would be facing what ea, and espcially midway is facing. like what bill gates said once, success makes you weak.
MechWarrior MMOFPS FTW.. I miss those days.
why are you listing these games ??? thier ip['s atnt even upf or sale and as far as i knwo blizzard nore activision ahs any thign to do with making them with perhaps teh exception fo that star trek one. max payne is onwed by aspyr(aka 3d reamls)KoTOR3 is being made by bioware hitman is owned by eidos
Blizzard is looking for IP so I am suggesting what they should buy as the companies you listed aren't making new/good sequels.
Dunno if I can see that happening. Many large companies who's stocks are dropping below $10 a share are being removed from the stock exchange all together. Activision is listed in the above article as being just over $10 a share. So it's not like it's a big player on the exchange.It would be very good though to see Activision excel in other genres. I'd like to see more solid game titles out for PC. To many games lately are coming out for XBOX 360/PS3 only that I'd like to play.
Just a suggestion; virtual entertainment is bound to be big in the future.
The problem is that their golden egg, World of Warcraft, will NOT go on forever. They have great minds working for them. It is hard to get a new idea out to the public. Even the best of games, like Psychonauts for example, can be awesome. But people like to stick with what they know. Buying up int rights for some games at cheap could revive some dying games/genres and bring them a small profit in the mean time.
why are you listing these games ??? thier ip['s atnt even upf or sale and as far as i knwo blizzard nore activision ahs any thign to do with making them with perhaps teh exception fo that star trek one. max payne is onwed by aspyr(aka 3d reamls)KoTOR3 is being made by bioware hitman is owned by eidos
Though, I'm not sure why these are listed either, it doesnt stop you from being totally wrong in your thinking too. First off, KotOR3 doesnt exist. Bioware is making a new Kotor MMO, and Who publishes it is anyone's guess, since EA owns bioware now. So now bioware is just an in-house studio for EA.
The other two you say own the IP's are developers. Doesnt matter which dev studio owns the IP, they'll still have to get someone to publish it, unless we're going to see another valve pop up. They may very well go with Bliz/activision. Who knows?
Why buy someone else's IP? Whatever happened to building up your own IP based off the type of game you think people want to play. Soon you get your own fan-base and your own cash-cow series. Why not muscle in on EA's territory even and develop some sports-sims, city sims, people sims, and racing games? If the games are good, I'll buy it, and I'll probably buy their sequels too.
Why buy someone else's IP? Whatever happened to building up your own IP based off the type of game you think people want to play. Soon you get your own fan-base and your own cash-cow series. Why not muscle in on EA's territory even and develop some sports-sims, city sims, people sims, and racing games? If the games are good, I'll buy it, and I'll probably buy their sequels too.
You have a great point. I can't think of any game I've played that was really any good after another company took over its development. I look at my copy of Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 and yearn for the days of the original, old school RCT1.
they need to buy 3Drealms and put some man power behind duke nukem forever and make it a great game. That\'s an IP that still has huge potential as a continuing franchise.
even though the company is currently the largest gaming publisher on the planet.
I thought EA was the biggest? They must be close, or EA just lost a lot more value than I expected.
As for IP - I'd pray they'd buy 3do/nwc's might and magic/heroes of might and magic titles and make a new turn based game. Or make a new Dr. Drago game (bluebyte mid 90s) ... that'd be awesome! we could get rid of the vmware player with w98 & the drago iso ....
If i were them i would buy Aventurine SA darkfall is going to be another hit like wow.