Gaming - Page 354

Take-Two Interactive stock is down 18% after yesterday's earnings call, but company CEO Strauss Zelnick is still optimistic about the company's trajectory.

Yesterday Take-Two Interactive upset investors with downward revisions for its Fiscal Year 2023 earnings forecast that shaved off roughly $320 million on both the low and high-end; Take-Two previously forecasted $5.73 - $5.83 billion in net bookings for FY23, and the new revision is at $5.41 - $5.510 billion. This downgrade coupled with lower-than-expected monetization revenues and key statements that in-game purchases are "under pressure" led to a significant drop in stock price.

At the time of writing, Take-Two stock is trading at $93.57 USD, down 18.68% in the past 5 days. Now company CEO Strauss Zelnick gives a response on the share drop:

Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two Interactive pledges more support for the Microsoft-Activision merger.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick gives a frank response to the Microsoft-Activision merger: "We have no concerns."

Zelnick says that Take-Two Interactive was contacted by worldwide regulators concerning the megaton $68.7 billion Microsoft-Activision merger, and that the company itself didn't have any issues with the combination.

Sony is reportedly working with NCSoft to develop a new online game based on the Horizon franchise, sources have told Korean news network MTN.

Sony is shifting its focus to live service games and is currently working alongside some of the best online developers in the business, including Bungie, who it recently acquired for $3.7 billion, and external worldwide partners. One of these partners is reportedly NCSoft, one of the best live operators in the business.

According to Korean news media, Sony has entrusted the development of a new MMORPG set in the world of one if its best-selling PlayStation 4 franchises, Guerrilla Games' Horizon series. The game is codenamed Project H and is currently in active recruitment phases. It is unknown when the game will be ready, but this is likely the co-op project that was previously rumored.

The European Commission today announced that it would not outright approve the Microsoft-Activision merger, and the regulatory body has expressed its concerns about the merger.

Microsoft's proposed $70 billion buyout of Activision-Blizzard is being closely scrutinized by worldwide regulators. The merger has entered in investigation phases across multiple regulators including the FTC in the United States, the CMA in the United Kingdom, and now the European Commission in Europe.

The European Commission is prepared to closely examine the deal, but preliminary findings suggest that the Microsoft-Activision merger could significantly reduce competition across multiple gaming segments including PC and console game distribution, multi-game subscription services, and the nascent cloud streaming market. The EU regulators make similar arguments as the CMA, who has been the most vocal regarding the merger.

Today Nintendo announced that it is forming an official joint venture with DeNA in order to help bolster its network and services integration for its games.

After 7 years of collaboration, Nintendo is entering into a joint venture agreement with DeNA. The two companies will share resources (and more importantly, risk) as they work together to build things like Nintendo Account integration into online titles across mobile devices.

The purpose of the deal is: "Research and development, as well as operations to strengthen the digitalization of Nintendo's business, in addition to the creation of value-added services." Nintendo Systems Co. Limited will retain 80% of the capital structure whereas DeNA will have 20%, and the joint venture is expected to be approved in April 2023.

Activision does plan to release a premium Call of Duty game in 2023, but it won't be a mainline sequel or spin-off.

Today Activision confirmed that Call of Duty's annual release structure will not be interrupted. The publisher says that a premium Call of Duty game is set to launch in 2023, but gave no further details on what it could be.

Sources have told Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that Call of Duty 2023 will actually be a big paid expansion to Modern Warfare 2. The game will be developed by Sledgehammer Games (Advanced Warfare, WWII) and is planned to have a dearth of content.

The humongous popularity of Keanu Reeves' performance in the hit movie series John Wick has sparked ideas for a video game adaptation to be created.

The movie franchise began in 2014, and since the release of the first movie, the former hitman John Wick starring Keanu Reeves, has received massive popularity for its incredible fight scene choreography, a gripping revenge story, and the exponential number of victims that Wick leaves in his wake. The movie franchise has collectively grossed more than $587 million worldwide, and the fourth installment, John Wick: Chapter 4, is currently in post-production with a release date set for March 24, 2023.

With all of the success behind the John Wick franchise and the inherit high levels of action ingrained in each of the movies, it seems like a no-brainer to explore the idea of creating a video game adaption of John Wick. At least that is what Lionsgate's CEO, Jon Feltheimer thinks as he recently confirmed that his team is "fielding proposals" for a "AAA" John Wick game. The Lionsgate CEO said that nothing has been confirmed as of yet, but the company believes that "there is a big AAA game to be made out of John Wick", but isn't prepared to "say anything more" on that topic.

Following its combination with Zynga, Take-Two Interactive is now interested in pursuing subscriptions, game streaming, and even Web 3 technologies as potential growth vectors for its business.

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick is typically conservative in its views, and has expressed lots of skepticism against emerging trends like game subscriptions like Xbox Game Pass and game streaming. Now in a recent Q2 investors briefing, the company has outlined a few interesting pathways to potential future growth, including Web 3 integration.

The emerging growth opportunities include possible exploration in things like:

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick is still skeptical about video game subscriptions, and agrees with Sony's opinion of the Xbox Game Pass model.

The Xbox Game Pass model is a big hit among consumers who want to access Microsoft's first-party games with no extra cost. But for Sony and major players like Take-Two Interactive, who make hundreds of millions of dollars a year from premium game sales, the Game Pass model is just too disruptive. Take-Two's Strauss Zelnick says that day-and-date launches are actually a lost opportunity for publishers.

Although Grand Theft Auto V certainly has enjoyed a healthy earnings jump from its brief stint on Xbox Game Pass, the day one release cadence just isn't something that major publishers like Take-Two are willing to pursue. Zelnick shared his thoughts on subscriptions in a recent Q2 earnings call:

The recent GTA 6 was confirmed real by Rockstar Games and Take-Two, but the leaker apparently did not steal any important game assets or content from Rockstar Games.

Back in September, Rockstar Games suffered one of the largest leaks in the history of video games. Tons of video and screenshots of an early build of GTA 6 were released, and the hacker had boasted to multiple message boards saying that they had internal files from Rockstar. The GTA 6 leaker, colloquially known as "teapotuberhacker" has since been caught, and now Take-Two has issued more comments on the security breach:

"In regard to the leak, it was terribly unfortunate and we take those sorts of incidents very seriously indeed. There was no evidence that any material assets were taken, which is a good thing. And certainly the leak will not have any influence on development or anything of that nature," Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said.

After nine years of sales across three console generations, Grand Theft Auto V sales are finally starting to slow down.

GTA V is a powerhouse sensation that has generated billions of dollars for Rockstar Games. Since its release in 2013, the title has been a tentpole that helped prop up three console generations with megaton sales. From launch to present, GTA V has shipped over 170 million copies, and now the game is starting to get long in the tooth.

Take-Two Interactive's recent Q2 FY23 earnings report confirms GTA V sales are stalling. The company says GTA V has now sold-in "over 170 million copies," as compared to the "nearly 170 million copies" figure from Q1'23. Throughout the last couple of quarters, GTA V shipped 5 million copies per quarter for five quarters in a row (from Q4'21 to Q3'22). That exponential growth is starting to slow down.

The best-selling Call of Duty franchise has now made $31 billion in lifetime revenues thanks to a significant boost from the newly-released Modern Warfare 2.

Today Activision announced that Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 has made $1 billion in just 10 days time, making it the fastest-earning game in the entire franchise. This development not only underlines the might of one of the most powerful forces in all of media, but also updates total series revenues.

Based on Modern Warfare 2's numbers, total Call of Duty franchise sales have now broken $31 billion. Back in June, The Washington Post published an article that confirmed the series had earned a cumulative total of $30 billion. That number was up from the $27 billion figure that was presented as of December 2020, which meant the series had made $3 billion in all of 2020.

Modern Warfare 2 game sales have broke $1 billion in revenues in just 10 days time, breaking all previous franchise records.

As we predicted, Modern Warfare 2 is fast becoming the most successful Call of Duty game ever released. The new reboot has amassed an incredible $1 billion in game sales revenues alone in just 10 days, setting new records for the megaton video game franchise. The previous figure was $800 million in 3 days.

"Activision's Call of Duty Modern Warfare II continues to smash franchise records as the new blockbuster has crossed $1 billion in worldwide sell-through following the first 10 days from its release on October 28, 2022. The new mark tops the previous franchise record of 15 days set in 2012 by Black Ops II," reads a press release from Activision.

Total PlayStation game unit software sales have broken 5.8 billion across all Sony PlayStation hardware generations.

Sony's latest Q2 earnings report refreshes all of PlayStation's key metrics including revenues, hardware shipments, and software. Today we'll be taking a closer look at software shipments across both physical and digital channels.

According to data published by Sony and compiled by us, total PlayStation software units have reached 5.827 billion across all video game hardware generations from the PSP to the PlayStation 5. Oddly enough, Sony does not publish PlayStation Vita software sales, so this figure is actually higher.

From the original PlayStation to the new-gen PlayStation 5, Sony's total video game hardware has shipped over 579 million units worldwide.

According to the latest figures from Sony's Q2 2022 earnings brief, total cumulative PlayStation hardware shipments have reached 579.1 million across all console generations and handhelds. The data include an estimated 16 million PlayStation Vita shipments and confirmed data directly from Sony.

The numbers reflect the generational shift from the 2013 PlayStation 4 to the 2020 PlayStation 5. The PS4, which has capped out at 117.2 million shipments (Sony no longer reports PS4 shipment data), is handing off the baton to the newer PS5, which has now reached 25 million units shipped.

Sony was just hit with the largest PlayStation Plus subscriber loss across the PS4 and PS5 generation, but its Network Services revenues are are stable.

PlayStation's major metrics are have slid downward throughout Q2 as pandemic highs start to ease. PlayStation's total monthly active users are down to 102 million, the lowest Q2 since 2019, microtransaction revenues are down 20% to $1.36 billion, total revenues dropped by 11% to $5.2 billion, operating income slide 59% to $304 million, and overall game unit sales and total video game revenues were down 18% and 14% respectively.

On the subscription front, Sony lost 1.9 million PlayStation Plus subscribers throughout July - September 2022. This is the largest loss in many years, but data shows that spending is still high among the current subscribers.

PlayStation Plus loses nearly 2 million subscribers during a critical expansion point for the popular subscription service.

Back in June, Sony combined PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus together in a value-oriented mega service. The new PlayStation Plus has three tiers, Essential, Extra, and Premium, all of which offer distinct advantages--Premium, for example, is quite expensive at $119 per year but will eventually offer access to over 700 games across six generations of PlayStation consoles.

Unfortunately for Sony, the PlayStation Plus revamp has not gained traction. Instead of gaining new subscribers, Sony actually lost 1.9 million users in the quarterly period shortly after the new service launch. This represents the largest subscriber loss since 2018. PlayStation Plus subscribers went from 47.3 million at the end of June to 45.4 million subscribers at the end of September. PS Plus subscribers have reverted to pre-pandemic levels and are currently the lowest they have been since Q4 2019.

Elden Ring's massive worldwide success has sparked astronomical growth for FromSoftware parent company Kadokawa Group.

With over 16 million units sold across all platforms, Elden Ring is an outstanding smash-hit sensation that could end up being the best-selling game of 2022. The game's incredible performance has helped spike both sales and operating profit of FromSoftware's owner, the Kadokawa Group.

According to Kadowkawa's latest earnings briefing, the company saw net sales rise to 17.137 billion yen ($116.892 million based on current conversions), up 255% over the last six months. Operating profit skyrocketed by over 1110% to 7.592 billion yen ($51.785 million) from the year-ago earnings of 623 million yen.

All subscriptions succeed or fail based on the value they offer, but video game subscriptions have a unique opportunity to provide value in creative ways.

Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft are doing great things with their respective game subscriptions. Sony's PlayStation Plus offers three separate tiers of across a vast library of titles, Nintendo Switch Online is essentially a vault of nostalgia that contains a dearth of beloved old-school video games, and Game Pass is arguably the best per-dollar value with over 400 games across PC and console. There's just a little something missing: Creativity.

These subscriptions offer value across a wide spectrum of gaming content but there's more ways to provide value outside of a massive games library. The games themselves might be unique, but there's not a lot of things that set these subscriptions apart in terms of form and function. The basics are the same across all three: Pay a monthly fee to play X amount of games.

Amid weakening yen and sales slips, Sony's Games and Network Services division reported noteworthy losses for the Q2 period.

Sony's latest Q2 FY2022 earning report shows significant year-over-year losses for its PlayStation games business, including a 59% drop in operating income when converted to USD. While most of PlayStation's business channels were affected by the Q2 drop, its most lucrative segment was hit the hardest: Microtransactions.

According to the figures provided by Sony and converted by us, PlayStation's Add-On Content segment revenues dropped to the lowest point since 2019. Add-On Content includes microtransactions from both premium and free-to-play games, DLC, and expansions, and typically makes most of Sony's quarterly and annual revenues.