Weekly Notes On Gaming Industry: Electronic Arts & Activision Blizzard

March 27th, 2015 by Trefis Team
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ATVI: Activision Blizzard logo
ATVI
Activision Blizzard

After the holiday period of 2014, the gaming industry has shown some signs of improvement in the software category. Due to the increase in demand of software titles, released by the top game developing companies, such as Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, and Activision Blizzard, just before the holiday season, the software sales picked up in January and February. According to the NPD report, gamers spent nearly $950 million on new game software and hardware in February, up 8% year-over-year (y-o-y). On one hand, hardware sales were roughly $378 million, up 10% y-o-y, primarily due to sales of PlayStation 4, whereas on the other hand, software sales outperformed last year’s figures by 7% to $339 million. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask and Take-Two Interactive’s Evolve led the charts in terms of units sold in February. [1]

Here’s a quick round-up of some news related to the gaming industry covered by Trefis.

Electronic Arts

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Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA)  recently launched its much awaited Battlefield Hardline title last week in North America and Europe. [2] Battlefield Hardline features new features of gameplay that are different from other traditional Battlefield titles, as the new game focuses on police, heists, and the war on crime, and not the usual military settings. The game features many new gameplay modes, such as Heist, Blood Money, Hotwire mode, Rescue, and Crosshair mode. [3] Recently, EA also announced that the trailers and details of the first downloadable content pack for Dragon Age: Inquisition- Jaws of Hakkon, will be released shortly.  The expansion pack will be first available on Microsoft’s Xbox One and PC.

EA’s stock traded between $55 and $58 during the last week. Our price estimate for the company’s stock is $54, implying a market cap of $17 billion, which is 3% below the current market price.

See our complete analysis of Electronic Arts stock here

Activision Blizzard

Activision Blizzard’s (NASDAQ: ATVI) Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare slipped down in the charts of the highest selling titles for the month of February, being replaced by The Legend of Zelda and Take-Two Interactive’s Evolve. On March 18, the company announced the release of the second downloadable content (DLC) for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare on March 31. It would deliver four new multiplayer maps, bonus weapons, and other exciting features. [4] Moreover, the company announced that the ninth Blizzcon event will be held in Anaheim Convention Center on November 6-7, and its tickets will be on sale on April 15 and 18. [5]

Activision’s stock dropped from $23.38 to $22.48 during the last week. Our price estimate for Activision is $20.68, which is 8% below the current market price.

See our complete analysis of Activision’s stock here

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Notes:
  1. February NPD report 2015 [↩]
  2. EA and Visceral games announce Battlefield Hardline is available now [↩]
  3. Battlefield Hardline: Wikipedia link [↩]
  4. New Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare DLC pack ascendance blasts off [↩]
  5. Play and party at Blizzcon 2015 [↩]