Yesterday after the close, French video-game software publisher Ubisoft (UBSFY.PK) delivered pretty lousy first-quarter results. The stock got absolutely creamed – but is the move justified?
And more importantly – has the recession killed the video-game industry?
Not quite. Casual gamers are pulling back quite a bit, but the hardcore players are still out there playing. Here’s a quick excerpt from the above story:
On the positive side, Ubisoft’s full-year guidance reduction doesn’t look so bad – it was mostly driven by pushing back key titles like Splinter Cell Conviction and Ghost Recon. And the company has actually raised its expectations for Assassin’s Creed 2, due out in November.
That’s one piece of anecdotal evidence that the hardcore gamer is still playing and spending. There are others.
THQ’s (THQI) UFC 2009 Undisputed continues to smash expectations with over 3 million unit sales in as many months, while Activision’s (ATVI) state-of-the-art bang-bang Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is rocketing up the charts despite its premium price. There also appears to be enormous pent-up demand for Microsoft’s (MSFT) Halo 3: ODST.
Continue reading about the recession’s impact on the video-game industry here.
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