Interest in social gaming is jumping to new heights. One of the players in the space, Playdom Inc., just raised a giant-sized $43 million round from Lightspeed Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Norwest Venture Partners and Rick Thompson, one of the co-founders and an existing angel investor in the company.
Google Inc.’s announcement that it will buy AdMob Inc. for $750 million brought a media spotlight on Accel Partners, an investor in both AdMob and Playfish Inc., which said today it will sell to Electronic Arts Inc. for at least $275 million.
Videogame publishers, pushing to expand their businesses, are making games that target girls and women a new industry battleground.
This holiday season, more games than ever are being geared toward female players. Electronic Arts Inc. is releasing the latest installment of its “Littlest Pet Shop” game for young girls and introducing a series of fashion-themed games called “Charm Girls Club” for older girls later this month.
Fantasy video games and heavy metal music seem like a perfect marriage, given that both often rely on Tolkien-esque imagery and create elaborate, male-centric alternate worlds.
But while games use metal songs in their trailers, during play the soundtrack usually transitions into orchestral music. “Brutal Legend” on the other hand, a game for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 that’s being released tomorrow by Electronic Arts, is all metal, all the time.
How does Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello see the videogame industry shaping up in the recession? He provided a glimpse of his viewpoint in an email to EA employees Wednesday that was obtained by The Wall Street Journal. EA has a strong product lineup for this holiday season, with the Need for Speed Shift racing game, FIFA 10 soccer game and The Beatles: Rock Band music game, so Riccitiello’s tone was positive overall.
Last November, the Wall Street Journal ran a Heard on the Street column that proposed that Disney ought to buy Electronic Arts. The following month, they revisited the idea.
This morning, Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Tony Wible dusted off the concept in a report in which he launched coverage of Disney with a Buy rating. The logic isn’t that hard to figure out.
Metacafe, seeking to reach more “media-snacking” consumers, is launching a section of its video site devoted to short clips from “Nurse Jackie,” “Weeds,” “Big Brother” and other television shows.
The Palo Alto, Calif., company, which is funded by Highland Capital Partners and DAG Ventures, focuses on what it sees as a middle ground between YouTube and Hulu — short-form videos that are professionally produced or poised to go viral — said its chief executive, Erick Hachenburg, a former Electronics Arts executive.
Videogame creator Will Wright’s employment at Electronic Arts is toast–the very breakfast food that’s helped to inspire the next stage of his career.
The morning after top U.S. videogame maker Electronic Arts missed sales and profit estimates for its fiscal third quarter, cut its forecast for next year, and said it will cut 1,100 jobs, or 11 percent of its workforce, the stock is up $1.75, or 11 percent, at $17.25.
The troubles are mounting for Electronic Arts.
The videogame company today reported disappointing results for its fiscal third quarter ended December, cut its full year guidance, and announced plans to chop its workforce by 11 percent, or 1,100 people, while closing 12 facilities.
Last year Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello told The Wall Street Journal that his company was “boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play.” Prophetic words, though no one was listening at EA.
Is Electronic Arts producing games that people just don’t want to play? Because they’re sure not buying them. Countless analysts are downgrading the stock–and while many are convinced the slowdown is just EA’s problem and not prevalent in the industry, skeptics attribute most of it to the economy. Which all begs the question: Is the company vulnerable to a takeover?
A little bit of vulnerability surfaced in the videogame industry today. Electronic Arts, admitting that its holiday game lineup isn’t selling as well as hoped, warned that its revenue and earnings would be below guidance for the March 2009 fiscal year.
Comments from Merrill Lynch analyst Justin Post this morning are affecting the outlook for videogame stocks. Post cites data that indicate a drop in consumer spending in November–and he states that even though Merrill’s overall thesis is that the videogame category will remain strong, pricing pressure and the reality of the unfolding economic downturn dictate a more cautious view.
Kaufman Brothers analyst Todd Mitchell this morning raised his ratings on Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Electronic Arts (ERTS) and THQ (THQI), While Mitchell also is cutting estimates and price targets for the stocks, he thinks they are “oversold in a tough market.”
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