| zarx said: All numbers in millions EA Revenue $3,589, net loss $276 Ubisoft Revenue $1,267, Profit $35 Activision Revenue $3,257, Profit $1,085
I know which I would prefer as an investor, it's not like CoD and WoW are going to die overnight they will have plenty of time to deversify and as they say make hey while the sun shines. Making less money today so you can maybe make the same ammount of money by spending more in the future is not good business. And as I have said many times they are not a one trick pony they do have other investments hell they just announced 2 new games. Sure they might end up losing money in the future if their big franchises die faster than they can aquire new ones but that is a risk you have to take to turn a profit. |
http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/07/ea-2012-mass-effect-3-takes-200m-ea-swings-to-profit/
"EA made a profit last year [2011-2012], the publisher said today, and is now looking forward to heavy investment in next-gen consoles."
"Total profit at $76 million from $4.14 billion in revenue, up from a loss of $276 million last year."
Your numbers are outdated.
And, using the same period for Activision (year ending March 2012 - I'm going to add Q1 2012 numbers and subtract Q1 2011 numbers, source), Activision had $2,980 million in revenue and $966 million in net income.
And the whole point of this argument is whether Activision is worth purchasing. Current profit isn't really the point when you're investing - it's future profit you have to be concerned with when you're investing long term, as one would be doing when buying the company. Q1 income for Activision this year decreased by almost 24% from last year, despite a decrease in costs.
Meanwhile, Activision has been cutting jobs and then some more jobs (the main reason for shuttering Radical was that Prototype apparently didn't have enough of a following - the first one sold over 1 million each on PS3 and 360, and the sequel hadn't even been out for three months, and hadn't been through a holiday season). They lost big names from Infinity Ward, which have now set up a competing studio that has yet to release its first game (meaning, it may pull sales away from CoD 2013).
Activision had a batch of games in development, including a Crash Bandicoot game, a couple of years ago - they were cancelled, including some that were nearing completion, so that they could focus on their cash cows. So I say again - Kotick's activities with Activision make it a product that, right now, is not a good purchase for Microsoft. Time Warner may get more value out of it, but that value comes from the studios, not the management, and they should get rid of Kotick if they do it.
