Electronic Arts Chairman Larry Probst in a High Profile Failure -10/02/09 at 2:41 PM CDTby Perry Rod

Larry Probst, current chairman of Electronic Arts (ERTS), served for three years as the company's CEO and is its largest individual shareholder.  In that three years, Electronic Arts stock was flat while the S&P 500 rose 30% and Activision, its biggest competitor, rose 170%.  He stepped down as CEO in 2007 but still holds the position of cha...

Another Day, Another Buyout Rumor - This Time Electronic Arts -09/23/09 at 2:35 PM CDTby Mahyar Hashemi

Why so many rumors in the video game space about acquisitions? Because apparently they work.  THQ Inc. (THQI) was up 13% yesterday as a result of a rumor that Viacom and others are interested in buying them.  But as one poster pointed out, why would THQ raise 100 million in a convertible offering one month prior to a proposed buyout?  It sh...

Why THQ Inc. (THQI) is Unlikely To Be A Buyout Target And Why dealRep... -09/22/09 at 11:49 AM CDTby Perry Rod

Take Two (TTWO) Interactive, a company with a major video game sports division, received a buyout offer last year from video game sports giant Electronic Arts (ERTS) before the market storm.  Today, there is a rumor that THQ (THQI), whose list of internal intellectual property is small and comparatively unimpressive in terms of sales volume, is recei...

Another Take Two Scandal, or Just Another Wall Street Scandal? -09/15/09 at 11:14 AM CDTby Perry Rod

An unusual event occurred at 4:01 PM on September 1st, 2009 as video game investors were staring intently at their Dow Jones Newswire streamers.  Take Two Interactive (TTWO) was to announce earnings on that day and news hit the streamer, “Take-Two Swings To 3Q Loss; Co Cautious On FY Outlook.”  Opening up the report revealed an exten...

Take Two Interactive Burns Through 300 Million Cash -09/02/09 at 12:10 PM CDTby Perry Rod

It was just one year ago that Take Two (TTWO) Interactive Software Inc. announced that it had accumulated 339 million dollars in cash from the success of Grand Theft Auto 4.  They had no debt. Today, just twelve months later, they have managed to burn through almost all of that cash.  With a recent 5 million dollar cash settlement and 138 millio...

Xbox 360 Pricecut Welcomed By Interactive Entertainment: Activision, ... -08/24/09 at 8:36 AM CDTby Perry Rod

At the GamesCom conference last week, eyebrows were raised when Microsoft did not announce a pricecut of the 360 after Sony announced their PlayStation 3 console's drop to $299. Over the weekend, however, a Wal Mart (WMT) advertisement distributed by video game website Kotaku and also another regional chain advertisement appear to confirm the coming of a ...

Sony PS3 Pricecut, Welcome News for Activision, Electronic Arts, Game... -08/18/09 at 12:57 PM CDTby Perry Rod

There is a universal sigh of relief in the interactive entertainment industry today as Sony has just announced at the end of their Gamescon 2009 presentation that the new PlayStation 3 Slim will now be $299 (299 euros, 29980 yen).  That will also be the new price for all PlayStation 3's for sale on the market starting tomorrow, August 19, 2009. Kotak...

Summer Meltdown For The Video Game Industry -07/30/09 at 8:18 AM CDTby Perry Rod

Sony and Nintendo reported disappointing numbers in Japan overnight. Nintendo Wii sales dropped 57% year over year from 5.17 million to 2.23 million units worldwide.  Sales of PlayStation 3 dropped 31% year over year from 1.6 million to 1.1 million units worldwide.  PS3 software sales were down 35% in that same period.  The PlayStation Port...

No Regrets, No Responsibility: Strauss Zelnick, Take Two Interactive'... -07/20/09 at 11:03 AM CDTby Perry Rod

“I don’t engage in regrets,” he said in an interview with CNBC last month. It was a revealing statement by the chairman of Take Two Interactive, Inc. (TTWO). A humble man may have had some regrets, given the dramatic fall of the company’s stock.  But humility is almost certainly not a quality requirement for one who engages in...

THQ Inc. Sells Over 1 Million UFC Undisputed Copies In First Month -06/11/09 at 6:40 PM CDTby Mahyar Hashemi

According to research group NPD, UFC Undisputed moved just over a million copies in its first twelve days on the shelf in North America.  That may explain why THQ stock is up 64% since its release date.  Analysts were expecting much fewer first month sales.  Wedbush Morgan senior analyst Michael Pachter had predicted 400,000 copies to sell ...

THQ Inc. and Take Two Interactive - A Similar Value? -06/10/09 at 11:22 AM CDTby Perry Rod

According to recent trading, video game companies THQ Inc (THQI). and Take Two (TTWO) Interactive Software, Inc. have a nearly identical market capitalization value.  THQ stock has nearly tripled in the last three months on word of solid sales of their new games, UFC Undisputed and Red Faction Guerilla.  But do these companies really deserve sim...