Financial Analyst Claims Investors Overreacted to SWBF2 Loot Box Controversy - Star Wars: Battlefron

SBFord · January 2018

Financial Analyst Claims Investors Overreacted to SWBF2 Loot Box Controversy - Star Wars: Battlefront II - MMORPG.com

Star Wars: Battlefront II News - According to one BMO Capital Markets analyst, EA investors overreacted to the Star Wars Battlefront 2 loot box controversy last year. Gerrick Johnson has written that stocks should outperform in 2018 despite the outrage.

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Alverant · January 2018

In other words, the investors matters more than the players.

SBFord · January 2018

Alverant said:

In other words, the investors matters more than the players.

Well...pretty much.

MadFrenchie · January 2018

Says consumer backlash was overrated.

Proceeds to support this by stating how EA is poised to cut costs and nickel and dime customers harder this year to make their money.

Beautiful.

Albatroes · January 2018

I feel bad for anyone who feels Anthem will be 'safe.'

TalulaRose · January 2018

"the transition of physical software sales to digital downloads, which offer higher margins"

Translation: It cost us less but we will charge you the same.

Stop buying these at full price. I know it means not playing when the hype is at its peak but it really is the only way.

nolic1 · January 2018

This is why big companies like EA think that there games are better then others is there investors control the company not them. This is what many do not like in the gaming industry is when companies listen to there investors over there player base the companies will make better many off there investors then there players.

jonp200 · January 2018

I cast my vote. I didn't buy it and won't. I love all things Star Wars but refuse to put up with this model.

People are right about the digital channel too. It costs them a whole lot less than physical media.

I used to represent a software distributer years ago. The shipping, ordering, returns were a lot of work and their (Retailers) margins were still amazing. (50% or so) Retail is pretty much out of the games business and while game box media held on a little longer but that is pretty much dead now too.

What was interesting is the model was based on physical inventory. Most sales take place during a games first 45 days of release then retailers would write down the boxes; sometimes with assistance from the distributer.

They should have ample profits to do a better job supporting games given the pay model.

MaxBacon · January 2018

Investors tend to overreact, that's their job, after all, play safe with money so everyone goes craze. Then the recovery happens and all is fine and dandy once again.

Sovrath · January 2018

Alverant said:

In other words, the investors matters more than the players.

Why wouldn't they?

jonp200 · January 2018

Sovrath said:

Alverant said:

In other words, the investors matters more than the players.

Why wouldn't they?

Well not catering to your end-user doesn't leave much of an investment does it? If people continue to purchase, you would be completely right however.

bartoni33 · January 2018

TalulaRose said:

"the transition of physical software sales to digital downloads, which offer higher margins"

Translation: It cost us less but we will charge you the same.

Stop buying these at full price. I know it means not playing when the hype is at its peak but it really is the only way.

Anyone that does not utilize key sites like G2A, HRK, cdkeys (my favorite 3, saved hundreds over the years) is throwing away money. Significant savings before launch usually.

Don't be scared off by corporate shills (some showing up soon in this thread I'm sure), those sites are 100% legit.

Sovrath · January 2018

jonp200 said:

Sovrath said:

Alverant said:

In other words, the investors matters more than the players.

Why wouldn't they?

Well not catering to your end-user doesn't leave much of an investment does it? If people continue to purchase, you would be completely right however.

I think people are purchasing. You're correct, if a company doesn't have customers there is no investment.

But without investors money there isn't really much of a company for a publicly traded company.

Aeander · January 2018

That's right. You should just keep buying their games and let the whales buy this guy his 3rd sports car.

mnemic666 · January 2018

EA has been benefiting from higher margin digital downloads for years. They smartly saw the market going that way and have been pushing hard on that front for many years, and it's definitely been showing in their quarterly reports thus far.

As for this guy...I don't get it. Most sales metrics peg Battlefront 2 as selling well below Battlefront 1, both at retail and digitally (it didn't crack the top 10 PSN downloads on PS4...though the original Battlefront 2 made the top 10 on Vita!), so it's likely not going to have strong sell through numbers, even if retailers ordered large shipments, which isn't a good thing, and there's no evidence that it sold any better digitally. And given that they currently have no MTX in the game still, that's a large source of revenue that's unavailable as well.

Are analysts overreacting overall? Perhaps slightly, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Battlefront 2 hasn't met expectations and that it hurt EA's overall quarterly performance on the next earnings call. And that's even with a $1B+ "numbered" Star Wars film launching this year.

GeezerGamer · January 2018

F**K YOU GAMERS!
"You WILL give us your money........you know it and we know it."

Alverant · January 2018

Sovrath said:

jonp200 said:

Sovrath said:

Alverant said:

In other words, the investors matters more than the players.

Why wouldn't they?

Well not catering to your end-user doesn't leave much of an investment does it? If people continue to purchase, you would be completely right however.

I think people are purchasing. You're correct, if a company doesn't have customers there is no investment.

But without investors money there isn't really much of a company for a publicly traded company.

You can have investors without putting them above the people who buy your product and the people who make your product. Most investors are things like IRAs, run by bankers and owned by people who have problems making heads or tails out of financial talk and just want to save money for retirement.

nate1980 · January 2018

jonp200 said:

Sovrath said:

Alverant said:

In other words, the investors matters more than the players.

Why wouldn't they?

Well not catering to your end-user doesn't leave much of an investment does it? If people continue to purchase, you would be completely right however.

What makes people think investors aren't gamers too? I think people have this idea in their head that investors are these old geezers in suits trying to maximize profits.

Albatroes · January 2018

EA already laying down the foundation for 2018:

JudgeUK · January 2018

Zegaloth said:

Time to prove them wrong. My new year pledge is to not buy a single game that involves EA, and I am encouraging others to vote with their wallets as well.

Is it not a case then of singling out one company when there are a pile of games out there with unknown lootbox odds.
Predominantly eastern ones where you've got a hard job trying to get any rng looting odds out of the companies, probably due to the fact you'd run out of zeros after the decimal point before you got to the figure.

Octagon7711 · January 2018

Albatroes said:

I feel bad for anyone who feels Anthem will be 'safe.'

Yeah, I wouldn't touch Anthem now even if it came with a gold bar.

SEANMCAD · January 2018

too early to say 'well try indies?'

Sovrath · January 2018

nate1980 said:

jonp200 said:

Sovrath said:

Alverant said:

In other words, the investors matters more than the players.

Why wouldn't they?

Well not catering to your end-user doesn't leave much of an investment does it? If people continue to purchase, you would be completely right however.

What makes people think investors aren't gamers too? I think people have this idea in their head that investors are these old geezers in suits trying to maximize profits.

Oh, I'm I bet (and certainly hope) that there are investors who are gamers.

Good points though as I've worked for companies who were very focused on their investors and their stock prices and the company I work for now is more focused on the customer and making great products.

Essentially having the attitude that if you take care of your company, the company's goals and milestones and the customers then the stock price will take care of itself. I forget that sometimes.

MadFrenchie · January 2018

JudgeUK said:

Zegaloth said:

Time to prove them wrong. My new year pledge is to not buy a single game that involves EA, and I am encouraging others to vote with their wallets as well.

Is it not a case then of singling out one company when there are a pile of games out there with unknown lootbox odds.
Predominantly eastern ones where you've got a hard job trying to get any rng looting odds out of the companies, probably due to the fact you'd run out of zeros after the decimal point before you got to the figure.

None of which are targeted at our market, nor are as popular as Star Wars in our market or EA.

It always starts somewhere, and that somewhere is usually high-profile cases with industry big shots.

BossDoc · January 2018

In cases like this, where media support unjust behavior from a company, against the people and also they give excuse for that crappy decision is where we have to stand united and say a big NO THANK YOU(polite) we don't want this $&^# attitude,Say no to EA products

Scorchien · January 2018

Sovrath said:

nate1980 said:

jonp200 said:

Sovrath said:

Alverant said:

In other words, the investors matters more than the players.

Why wouldn't they?

Well not catering to your end-user doesn't leave much of an investment does it? If people continue to purchase, you would be completely right however.

What makes people think investors aren't gamers too? I think people have this idea in their head that investors are these old geezers in suits trying to maximize profits.

Oh, I'm I bet (and certainly hope) that there are investors who are gamers.

Good points though as I've worked for companies who were very focused on their investors and their stock prices and the company I work for now is more focused on the customer and making great products.

Essentially having the attitude that if you take care of your company, the company's goals and milestones and the customers then the stock price will take care of itself. I forget that sometimes.

Im an investor , In EA and others , but it was my love of gaming that got me to invest , i saw something that i knew would be huge ....and i started out on C64 playing text muds , i knew then that this was going to be a massive market one day .... And to add i didnt blink when the SWBF2 problem cropped , a small a meaningless hiccup

So its really a conundrum for me , as a gamer i despise the loot boxes/cashshops etc...And it pisses me off a bit the way the genre i love has turned out ..

But as an investor i feel better each time i look at my stock portfolio...

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Financial Analyst Claims Investors Overreacted to SWBF2 Loot Box Controversy - Star Wars: Battlefron

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Financial Analyst Claims Investors Overreacted to SWBF2 Loot Box Controversy - Star Wars: Battlefron

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"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey