[massively] Analysts "concerned" about swtor, EA's stock falls

[IonusX]

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/01/19/electronic-arts-stock-in-danger-thanks-to-swtor-fumbles/
EA's stock has fallen 3% a fairly noticeable loss as far as stocks go. anaylsts go on to say that they have creeping concerns about SWTOR's future and that underwhelming launch sales figures coupled by hype-filled assumptions have given them much to dwell upon and have cause some to pull their wealth out of EA in the mean time.
/beer
/lawn chair
cant wait to see bioware cartwheel their way out of this..

 

[KaOTiK]

It would be great if this could take EA down, but they are too big sadly and will continue to destroy dev studios.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I heard the forums were turned off because so many people were complaining... lol.

I'm sure they'll make out fine though, doomsayers are a dime a dozen.

 

[Zenoth]

The only thing I want from BioWare is ME3. The Old Republic reminds me of SW Galaxies all over again (I.E. devs doing things stubbornly, without much consideration from the players' feedback, only to see the game implode eventually).

 

[lothar]

I heard the forums were turned off because so many people were complaining... lol.

I'm sure they'll make out fine though, doomsayers are a dime a dozen.

How many accounts have they banned over that issue?

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Id rather see Activision go down, excluding the Blizzard division.

 

[KaOTiK]

Id rather see Activision go down, excluding the Blizzard division.

Same, but I'll take what we can get at the moment. It would be wonderful to see Activision, EA, and Ubisoft all burn down.

 

[Dumac]

TOR is such a pile of crap. Bioware really is dead to me. I don't even care about ME3 at this point.

Another dev destroyed by EA...

 

[BrightCandle]

TOR is such a pile of crap. Bioware really is dead to me. I don't even care about ME3 at this point.

Another dev destroyed by EA...

Agreed. Before I bought SWTOR I was keen on ME3 even with the Origin annoyance but after playing SWTOR I can see BioWare has become a shell of the company it was. The technical talent walked out the door with the sale. The story may still be good, but don't expect the game to actually work very well.

 

[irishScott]

Agreed. Before I bought SWTOR I was keen on ME3 even with the Origin annoyance but after playing SWTOR I can see BioWare has become a shell of the company it was. The technical talent walked out the door with the sale. The story may still be good, but don't expect the game to actually work very well.

Meh, worst case scenario I imagine they'll stick to formula and it'll be Mass Effect 2: Part 2 with a few new weapons or something. I could roll with that.

 

[BrightCandle]

Meh, worst case scenario I imagine they'll stick to formula and it'll be Mass Effect 2: Part 2 with a few new weapons or something. I could roll with that.

That would definitely show that the talent walked out the door, because they lost their ability to change stuff!

 

[Beev]

/shrug. I love TOR.

If anyone was expecting the game to have the same growth/market share that WoW has then they should definitely not be an analyst regarding anything video games.

 

[Mem]

/shrug. I love TOR.

If anyone was expecting the game to have the same growth/market share that WoW has then they should definitely not be an analyst regarding anything video games.

Very disappointed in TOR,not surprised a lot of users have left and gone on to better games,sales speak for themselves,I knew once the 30 day free play was up they would lose a lot of players.

 

[frozentundra123456]

The only thing I want from BioWare is ME3. The Old Republic reminds me of SW Galaxies all over again (I.E. devs doing things stubbornly, without much consideration from the players' feedback, only to see the game implode eventually).

And KOTOR 3 single player game!!

Even though an MMO is the last thing I wanted and I think Bioware has gone downhill really fast, I dont really understand all the posters wanting EA/Activision/Ubisoft to fail.
(Well, Ubisoft maybe I understand).

What is going to happen to the PC gaming landscape then? Is everyone going to play indie games and old titles? It would be nice to think that the big companies could fail and the talent would go to new start-ups that would make quality games. But given the cost and complexity of modern games, I am not sure that could really happen.

 

[Beev]

Very disappointed in TOR,not surprised a lot of users have left and gone on to better games,sales speak for themselves,I knew once the 30 day free play was up they would lose a lot of players.

Press release link? I haven't seen it yet.

 

[blackened23]

I'm confused, SWTOR has sold 2 million boxed copies NOT including pre-orders and NOT including DD? How is that a failure? It has been in the top 5 of top selling games since release.

What gives? It is by far the highest selling PC game of 2011.

 

[rivethead]

"Electronic Arts' stock appears to be in a bit of trouble following Star Wars: The Old Republic's launch. The company's shares fell by almost 3% to $17.75 US this morning after a stock analyst working with Brean Murray Carret & Co. "cut his price target on the stock to $22 [US] from $28 [US]." In a note to his clients, analyst Todd Mitchell wrote that he felt some "creeping concerns" regarding The Old Republic's performance so far; he added that "initial sales appear to be below expectations, and casual observation of early play is causing us to rethink our churn assumptions."

I wouldn't read too much into this. A 3% change in shareprice is almost nothing in today's volatile market. On the contrary, this smells like a hedgie move. The big hedge funds will pay a shill like a no-name at a smaller research firm to say something relatively bad to shake the weak hands out of the stock. This lowers the price and lowers the cost for the hedgie to take a position in the stock.

 

[pontifex]

I have to question why it's EA fault (not that I am an EA supporter)? Do we have proof that it was EA's fault? How do we know the dev just isn't out of ideas or got lazy?

 

[Mem]

I have to question why it's EA fault (not that I am an EA supporter)? Do we have proof that it was EA's fault? How do we know the dev just isn't out of ideas or got lazy?

It could be Bioware's fault but does that make a difference?..TOR could end up like Warhammer where players rushed out to buy it and sales dropped after ie hard time keep subs going , we all know what happened to Warhammer,another EA failure.

I was also playing Rift yesterday and quite a few players have returned on the server I was on from TOR,common theme when any new MMORPG comes out people leave the old MMORPG then some return.

I was also surprised to see how many new players Star Trek Online now has,must be F2P increasing popularity.

 

[pontifex]

It could be Bioware's fault but does that make a difference?..TOR could end up like Warhammer where players rushed out to buy it and sales dropped after ie hard time keep subs going , we all know what happened to Warhammer,another EA failure.

I was also playing Rift yesterday and quite a few players have returned on the server I was on from TOR,common theme when any new MMORPG comes out people leave the old MMORPG then some return.

I was also surprised to see how many new players Star Trek Online now has,must be F2P increasing popularity.

it wouldn't make a difference on how bad the game was, but you'd be putting the blame on the wrong company

 

[Mem]

it wouldn't make a difference on how bad the game was, but you'd be putting the blame on the wrong company

We all know MMORPGs have peaks then drops epecially after the initial launch ,the trick is keeping players coming back and paying monthly sub fees,only WoW seems to have mastered that theme,and I'm not a WoW fan before anybody asks.

 

[lupi]

Doesn't surprise me. Somewhere on this very forum I probably said something along the lines of if TOR feels like KOTOR with a multiplyer element that they want to charge you monthly for then it could see problems being a success given the likely expectations of grandeur behind it.

 

[darkewaffle]

EA stock is up almost exactly 10% over the course of the last year and has outperformed the Nasdaq index over the same time period (up about 1.2%), as well as maintaining a quite stable value since almost the market's sharp downturn in the final months of 2008. Further, the 3% was only after some analyst lowered his target price for the stock, ironically this means he thinks an $18 stock is worth $22 instead of $28. So supposedly it's a problem that the stock is worth only 122% of itself instead of 156% of itself.

Also after opening this morning the stock is up around 3%.

Press release link? I haven't seen it yet.

To nobody's surprise, there hasn't been one. Everyone just thinks they know.

The SWTOR forums are a cesspool of firebrands who will never, ever be satisfied and are convinced they have the answer to everything. Trying to judge player experience by reading them is like trying to judge political aptitude by reading P&N. I can't begin to fathom why anyone would want them to listen to their players

I agree that I don't see how selling over a million copies of an MMO, likely closer to two million, is falling short of sales targets. It sounds more like the people who placed the targets were out of touch.

 

[Red Storm]

I'm still waiting for a free trial. No way am I going to pay first before trying it out.

 

[Mem]

EA stock is up almost exactly 10% over the course of the last year and has outperformed the Nasdaq index over the same time period (up about 1.2%), as well as maintaining a quite stable value since almost the market's sharp downturn in the final months of 2008. Further, the 3% was only after some analyst lowered his target price for the stock, ironically this means he thinks an $18 stock is worth $22 instead of $28. So supposedly it's a problem that the stock is worth only 122% of itself instead of 156% of itself.

Also after opening this morning the stock is up around 3%.



To nobody's surprise, there hasn't been one. Everyone just thinks they know.

The SWTOR forums are a cesspool of firebrands who will never, ever be satisfied and are convinced they have the answer to everything. Trying to judge player experience by reading them is like trying to judge political aptitude by reading P&N. I can't begin to fathom why anyone would want them to listen to their players

I agree that I don't see how selling over a million copies of an MMO, likely closer to two million, is falling short of sales targets. It sounds more like the people who placed the targets were out of touch.

I avoid TOR forums at all cost,infact don't even go there,everybody has opinions and thats why you and members like myself post here,regardless next 6 months or so will be critical for TOR,subs are their bread and butter for TOR .


EA is a huge company we all know they have loads of game out and in the pipeline,TOR is only one game.

ME3 is around the corner want to bet they don't get a sales increase?