TalonBot
09-16-2008, 03:10 PM
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/analysis-opinion/), Blizzard (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/blizzard/), Expansions (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/expansions/), Making money (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/making-money/), Hardware (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/hardware/)
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.wowinsider.com/media/2008/06/danielw_activision-blizzards-pet-1.jpgActivision Blizzard (the parent company of Blizzard Entertainment) held an Analyst's Day earlier this week (in which a bunch of stock analysts sit down to crunch numbers and predict the future), and they came out of it really well -- according to those in the know, Activision Blizzard is set to do very well in the future (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20264). Buoyed by Blizzard and their other big franchises (do we have to name them by now? Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, etc.), 99% of analysts give the stock a "Buy" or "Hold" rating, and many were impressed with what Activision told them about their releases in 2009.
And we got another interesting insight into just what kind of money Blizzard is looking at -- they reported on the call that since 2004, they've spent $200 million (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3169949) on the upkeep of World of Warcraft alone. That includes things like payroll, customer support, and hardware updates, of which there have been plenty of those (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/06/30/server-prepares-for-wotlk-in-july/). $200 million does seem like a lot, but of course when you consider just how much revenue they've pulled in via subscriptions (ten million players paying up to $15 a month, though Blizzard has all kinds of different subscription plans (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/01/24/how-much-money-blizzard-is-really-making-from-10-million-subscri/) around the world), $200 million over four years isn't all that much.
We're told, though, that that money doesn't include any development costs (pre-release, and we're not sure if it includes patch/expansion development or not, either). And it certainly doesn't include Blizzard-wide costs, like their new HQ (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/03/11/a-peek-at-blizzards-pimpin-new-pad/), or what they spend on advertising, promotion, and those big events (http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y) held around the world. There's no question, however, that there's plenty of money coming both in and out of Blizzard's doors.
Read (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20264) | Permalink (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/16/activision-doing-well-blizzard-has-spent-200m-in-upkeep-on-wow/) | Email this (http://www.wowinsider.com/forward/1315846/) | Comments (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/16/activision-doing-well-blizzard-has-spent-200m-in-upkeep-on-wow/#comments)
More... (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/16/activision-doing-well-blizzard-has-spent-200m-in-upkeep-on-wow/)
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.wowinsider.com/media/2008/06/danielw_activision-blizzards-pet-1.jpgActivision Blizzard (the parent company of Blizzard Entertainment) held an Analyst's Day earlier this week (in which a bunch of stock analysts sit down to crunch numbers and predict the future), and they came out of it really well -- according to those in the know, Activision Blizzard is set to do very well in the future (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20264). Buoyed by Blizzard and their other big franchises (do we have to name them by now? Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, etc.), 99% of analysts give the stock a "Buy" or "Hold" rating, and many were impressed with what Activision told them about their releases in 2009.
And we got another interesting insight into just what kind of money Blizzard is looking at -- they reported on the call that since 2004, they've spent $200 million (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3169949) on the upkeep of World of Warcraft alone. That includes things like payroll, customer support, and hardware updates, of which there have been plenty of those (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/06/30/server-prepares-for-wotlk-in-july/). $200 million does seem like a lot, but of course when you consider just how much revenue they've pulled in via subscriptions (ten million players paying up to $15 a month, though Blizzard has all kinds of different subscription plans (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/01/24/how-much-money-blizzard-is-really-making-from-10-million-subscri/) around the world), $200 million over four years isn't all that much.
We're told, though, that that money doesn't include any development costs (pre-release, and we're not sure if it includes patch/expansion development or not, either). And it certainly doesn't include Blizzard-wide costs, like their new HQ (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/03/11/a-peek-at-blizzards-pimpin-new-pad/), or what they spend on advertising, promotion, and those big events (http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y) held around the world. There's no question, however, that there's plenty of money coming both in and out of Blizzard's doors.
Read (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20264) | Permalink (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/16/activision-doing-well-blizzard-has-spent-200m-in-upkeep-on-wow/) | Email this (http://www.wowinsider.com/forward/1315846/) | Comments (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/16/activision-doing-well-blizzard-has-spent-200m-in-upkeep-on-wow/#comments)
More... (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/16/activision-doing-well-blizzard-has-spent-200m-in-upkeep-on-wow/)