Gets lonely on this thread, don't it?
Two of the more daunting challenges for Activision IMHO
are the sheer number of good action titles out there fighting
for shelf space, and the fact that consumer confidence
is trending down, meaning they will probably be tightening
their pocketbooks down the road. While this won't affect
the "enthusiasts", it does mean continued slowness
regarding broadening ATVI's reach into 85% of computer
users who don't normally buy PC games/entertainment software.
Regarding ABC, from what I've heard from someone who does
occaisional projects for ABC, things are pretty tough there,
and when people leave, positions aren't being filled.
Agreed with your comment:
<<Kotick has said in the past that they have focused on prim-
arily on action/strategy games for the teen male generation.
This however, was when ATVI had limited resources and needed
to focus on core brands. The problem with this segment is that
many of ATVI's own games cannibalize sales from each other....
ex: Hexen II, Quake, Heretic II, etc. because they feed on the
same group of consumers.>>
One of the main problems seems to me is that just about every
software developer piles into this area as well. I guess it makes
sense when you look at the movies that are out there and how
many of them are action/violence based. Maybe someday ATVI
(or someone else) will think of a way to tap into romance/soap
opera area where legions of housewives spend hours watching
the soaps, and money on romance novels...or a Jerry Springer
game, where you have video clips with varied outcomes, and
you play one of the characters, and if you mouth off to the
wrong person you get hit over the head with a chair. Anyway,
that's what I liked so much about the Deerhunter article.
Deerhunter broke a lot of new ground (even though it was at
Walmart!), and didn't cost a lot of money to make.
Was wondering if you went to the ATVI annual meeting last
month or heard what may have transpired there?
Peter.
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