This week, there was almost no news (until the last second). Instead, the guys talk about videogames they’ve been playing and the minor news items that popped up.
The one major news item:
Let us know what you think.
This double stuffed episode makes up for last week’s week off, even without Paul in the podcast.
The news covers the following items:
They then covered the top stories of the year, which leads to the Question of the Week, “What was the biggest news item in 2012?”
It’s official, EA has given up their talks with Take-Two and, as a result, the stock of both companies is falling like a stone. While gamers may cheer knowing the Grand Theft Auto and 2K Sports product lines will continue to compete with EA products, share holders are doing a WTF?
Take-Two has had its share of financial difficulties, but nothing shakes up a stock more than a break in discussions when the words acquisition have been spoken. It causes uncertainty and lack of understanding on the part of the game industry and share holders. EA’s stock dropped 2.7% upon opening this morning but has begun to stablize as it’s clear EA isn’t in any financial peril from this breakup in discussion.
Take-Two’s stock, however, is in epic free fall with a 25% decline since the discussions ended. One theory is that, “is taking a huge beating as everyone and their mother tries desperately to sell the shares the figured EA was going to to buy.” (kotaku)
As the game industry gets more competitive, builds bigger bank-roll and becomes a staple entertainment icon there is always more business savvy people getting into the game trying to make a fast buck. In this case, the shareholders obviously aren’t pushing for Take-Two’s future decisions or product launches — this is the reaction of business folks trying to make money.
There is huge risk with block buster 100-million dollar titles and all the crazy hype involved with some of the biggest games in history. They break sales records, smoke box-office numbers and bring new gamers into the industry but it’s all at risk when money gets involved. One bad move and a company making a title like GTA can find themselves in financial peril.
With risk comes reward, but failure is always sneaking up around the corner so watch out!
We’re back! This week we’re hitting some fun news articles and kicking it back with a little gaming flashback about Columns. We also break the news about our brand new console that we purchased last week before vacation and touch on KOEI in our gaming history. This weeks news includes:
Portable Xbox Device Coming?This weeks question, we’re wondering what your break point is for purchasing a console or a video game, is there a magic number where you finally break down to buy it?
