Tom, <<<< How to make BZ sell better>>>>
Well, i don't know about you Tom, but
have you played a game all the way through
lately?. I'm buried in games at the moment
and see no end in sight. I remeber reading
in CGW that 70% of the people who play
computer games don't finsh them. We are
totally overwhelmed with games now. BZ
was selling great until Rebellion came out,
Rebellion was selling great until Starcraft
came out, Starcraft will sell great until
TA's expansion pack comes out. It's just
going to keep rolling along.
As far as incentives go, ATVI already has them,
timing of the release and DISTRIBUTION are the
key now.All of the companys are spending millions
promoting their games. Look what GTIS spent for
Abes World, 11 million for a flop. I can't imagine
what BROD paid for Riven promotion. It sure didn't
help though. Starcraft is everywhere because Cendant
is spending millions of dollars to put it everywhere.
Eventually these companys will be spending more
on trying to sell the product than they make on it
if they keep this up. ATVI makes good games, releases
them on time, gives rebates,has a web page,answers
questions and tech support on Usenet,has cable TV
ads,has console games,makes money, buys other games
companys, buys distribution companys, has good shelf
space at all the retail stores, gets great ratings on their
games,(except Heavy Gear), what else can they do?
I suppose they could price all their games for $19.99, like
GTIS did with Deer Hunter. Then they would only have to
sell 1.5 million copies to make money. It's going to be
a very interesting year, this is the year of 6 Billion in
sales, well people better get busy:-)
I would never invest in a game company these days just
because it has the "Hot" title. Those days are over. A couple
of years ago you could play that game, wait for the 4th qtr
etc. Now it doesn't matter, 2 weeks from now Starcraft will
be history, and MSFT's Outwars will be hot. Then it will be
ATVI's turn with Sin,then it will be????
As long as ATVI keeps the machine running i'll hold on to
what shares i have, so far it's well oiled and running
smooth. I'm not counting on sub 1,000 dollar PC's or
the rugrats out growing their consoles, I'm counting
on management. When people see the name Activision,they
will know they make quality games, and hopefully buy
them.
I will sell if they spend to much money trying to
keep up with the jonses though. I already have 1 stock
like that, ROSS. They make millions every qtr, sign
millions in contracts every week, but they spend more
selling the software etc. It's the only dog i own,
and man it's got fleas.
Alex |
