Which publisher could be next on the chopping block?

[JEBWrench]

Sega is doing decently well.

They have been turning half a billion a year in pure profit for the past couple of years.

And what most places forgot is that they dont NEED console games to do well, there are LARGE numbers of PC gamers who are more than happy to give them their money so they can turn those profits with strategy games and the like.

Hell, Sega has one of the most popular PC games in the world under its flag. Football Manager.

 

[MortisLegio]

I would have to go with Capcom or Square-Enix. Both haven't had a good track record as of late but both could come back with a big hit or even a few reasonably good selling titles.

Though I would love to see EA hit the ground like a ton of bricks, I think they're going to be around for awhile.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Keep in mind that the whole Mass Effect 3 controversy gave them a major hit to their stock prices. Stocks reflect confidence in the market, and when news like that hits, investors get scared. And EA is most certainly worried about investors.

That reflects investor ignorance into the nature of the market more than anything. They hear epic scale fan whinging, and think that fans might actually do something proactive.They've realized that's not the case now, so I doubt a similar action will have a similar effect on their stock.

You're right about the ME3 debarkle not having that much of an affect on EA's stock price.

However, The Old Republic and MOH Warfighter's poor performance compared to both EA and investor predictions are the main suspected reasons for EA falling off the NASDAQ-100 list and their fall in stock price as I have previously posted before.

 

[pat34us]

My vote goes for Square/Enix. Their stock has been in free fall for going on 3-years now, they are dumping tons of time and money into a pay MMO, in a time when MMO's are going free to play (except WOW). And their recent games have been disappointments (13,13-2, and 14). Lastly they are throwing good money away, I read that they spent 3 years working on that demo when they could have spent that time on a game that would actually make them money (like KH3, or a FF7 remake). Unless they change their leadership it is only a matter of time.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Ubisoft and/or Square-Enix are probably next. High development costs, recent risky investments. Their IPs are flagging somewhat, and don't have the same power they did before.

Square-Enix has nothing to worry about. Their RPGs sell like hot-cakes in Japan (and incidentally hot-cakes sell like crack in Japan for some reason), and they publish a lot of really successful games. Remember, Square Enix published Deus Ex Human Revolution and the Batman Arkham Asylum games recently.

Wait, WHOA, since when was Rocksteady bought out by Squenix? More importantly, when did Squenix get the DC franchise rights?

Rocksteady developed the game, but it was published by Square Enix and Warner Bros Interactive. In the US and Europe the game was published by Eidos, which is owned by Square Enix, and in Japan the game was published by Square Enix directly. Square Enix was also the distributor in conjunction with Warner Bros Interactive.

A publisher doesn't have to own a developer in order to publish that developer's games.

 

[Nero18]

I can´t believe that some people really think that EA is going to next, THQ and Midway had been on the brink for quite a while when they went bankrupt, EA is no way near that. Its strange how people really haven´t mentioned SEGA more. They have a few franchises that make them some money but overall they are in desperate need for a hit or something. Relying on games like Alien probably will not keep them afloat for long.

Also would like to mention Konami. They basically have only two big franchises that sell well and from what I know PES has started a decline with Fifa being so extremely dominant. Even MGS is not a sure hit these days with the market changing and we have seen long lasting franchises like Halo taking a dip in sales.

 

[Keoul]

Now what you have done there is mistaking a massive franchisee with a proportional upset fanbase for a massive upset fanbase.

ME3 did as well as you could hope for so to call it a fiasco is so out of touch with reality I dont even know where to start. SWTOR has cost EA a lot of money, but the thing about MMO's is that they are always an investment forward. Still I doubt they will see proper returns from that.

Sim City is in Beta so yeah.... there will be problems. They are supposed to be ironed out before launch. If you truely believe that this is DOA then you are living in an echo chamber. As of right now it can swing both ways.

Just saying that the way they've been acting they certainly won't be earning more, they're only heading downhill from here unless they make some major changes. I mean jeez have you seen the articles about EA? they had a stock price drop of 40%[footnote]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121129-EA-No-Longer-Relevant-to-NASDAQ-Top-100 as of june 2012 a bit old but that's still a massive drop[/footnote]

I can´t believe that some people really think that EA is going to next, THQ and Midway had been on the brink for quite a while when they went bankrupt, EA is no way near that.

Heehee I may have started that, I just don't see EA surviving the next couple of years, it's stock has dropped dramatically. I mean come on it's only worth 14.77 dollars as of today, just 5 years ago it was at 48 ish, in just 5 years they've lost more than 50% in value.

Also Adept Mechanicus mentioned SEGA, 2nd page 2nd post.

 

[Terramax]

With THQ dissolved, it makes me wonder who could be the next publisher to fail. My lead contender is Sega since they don't seem to have any huge games in the works and they can only make so many sonic games.

What do you guys think?

I doubt it.

Sega are part of the Sammy Company, a HUGE gambling company in Japan. The most that would happen would be that they close several offices in places such as America and Europe, but I doubt there will be a demise anytime soon.

EDIT: I'm going to agree with the guy that mentioned Funcom. I think they've had financial problems several times due to bad predictions on game sales. It's only time before they make that one fatal mistake that finishes them off.

 

[Keoul]

No what you are saying is

Correlation = Causation

And that is false logic.

You are tieing your own personal grievances to a much bigger picture when you tie specific games to their stock drop. I did not deny their stocks going down. I denied that the reason for the stock going down was Sim City and ME3.

Obviously not Sim City, that was just an example of bad decisions that could possibly lead to their downfall. ME3 was just another example of how they've lost public trust and whatnot and the bad publicity they've got.

The fact of the matter being that they're sock has gone down dramatically and hasn't climbed back up yet, and with all these bad decisions they've made recently I just don't see their stock climbing back up.

Also I'm apathetic to the situation either way, I wouldn't say I'm tieing in my own personal grievances when I don't really care, EA just happened to be the first company to pop into my head when we're talking about gaming companies that aren't doing that well.

 

[Nero18]

Heehee I may have started that, I just don't see EA surviving the next couple of years, it's stock has dropped dramatically. I mean come on it's only worth 14.77 dollars as of today, just 5 years ago it was at 48 ish, in just 5 years they've lost more than 50% in value.

Also Adept Mechanicus mentioned SEGA, 2nd page 2nd post.

I dont know how Madden is doing in the states but there are still franchises that sell millions. They are far away from actually going bankrupt.

 

[Max_A_Buck]

I'm surprised no one's said Rockstar. Let's just see how GTA V goes.

 

[BrotherRool]

I'm not sure, Sony and MS possibly, if their companies are really as badly hit as people say. It won't be the fault of their gaming division, but I could believe that Sony's electronics division ends up taking everything else with it. But maybe Sony will live on but cutting it loose. They own most of the good small scale MMOs and have a good games library.

I think if Sega were to go they would have gone now. 2K is always a bit dodgy, they rely on big hits that are expensive and take a while to come out, but the ball has rolled with them so far. It couldn't survive a GTA not selling well, but all GTA's are going to sell well.

Ubisoft and/or Square-Enix are probably next. High development costs, recent risky investments. Their IPs are flagging somewhat, and don't have the same power they did before.

Ubisoft is doing great stock-wise right now, which is a solid (albeit not the only) indicator for their health. I'm pretty sure their last couple of years netted good profits.

Square's been losing consumer and investor confidence, has a declining stock, isn't making anywhere near the money it made even a couple years ago, and even its lead franchise doesn't seem to be saving it.

I think Ubisoft's going to do fine in the short run, but Squeeeenix is a far bigger question mark.

Though I still wouldn't be shocked to see EA go down.

Remember the Squeenix owns Eidos now. They aren't going down, they've got Tomb Raider, Hitman and Deus Ex to keep them strong.

On top of that Square Enix is a lot of companies Japanese publisher. I think even Modern Warfare got pushed out in Japan by Enix.

Really? EA may have a lot of failures but I think they have enough successful franchises to stay a float.

True but they've lost a LOT of money recently.
What with the SWTOR flop, Mass effect 3 fiasco, and now the Sim City Beta problems. A lot of people have lost faith in that company and that's gunna show in a the form of lost sales.

Which inevitably will lead to their downfall.

Mass Effect 3 sold 3.5 million copies and grossed $200 million, with several game of the year awards (boo) and extra income from DLC and an online-store. ME3 did well and made money.

The truth is, EA is probably making more money now they've gone back to evil. People hate the way the Sims is run yet game stores have entire sections dedicated to selling Sims expansions that everyone buys. FiFA can outsell CoD in any one country that likes football and Madden is similar in the US. They own all the sports games, the premier RPG manufacturer (and as much as everyone hates Bioware, I bet you the next Bioware RPG stills outsells the next Witcher game. Fan support keeps Double Fine alive, but thats the sort of scale it has an affect on. People don't need our love to make big money as a publisher. Mass Effect 3 proves that)

 

[The White Hunter]

With THQ dissolved, it makes me wonder who could be the next publisher to fail. My lead contender is Sega since they don't seem to have any huge games in the works and they can only make so many sonic games.

What do you guys think?

I don't really see Sega going down, they may not produce a vast quantity of triple-A games, but they do put out a fair few new IP's and are usually the one that publishes for Platinum, not to mention they have a healthy relationship with Nintendo and are advising on Bayonetta 2.

Sonic sells well if nothing else, but they do make a fair bit on RTS games like totalwar.

If they started making games with the goal of selling 5 million copies or the franchise wouldn't b worth investing, then Sega would be fucked.

I can't begin to imagine a publisher that would slate a game that they pretend is part of a rather niche genre (when it isn't at all, it's part of one of the most dominant of genres), and expect it to hit 5 million units...

Honestly EA is gonna end up in some trouble, the share prices are dropping and consumer and share-holder confidence is low indeed. But it's unlikely to happen soon, it'd take a couple more years and who knows, next gen could drag them back from the abyss.

I'd like to see Ubisoft go these days but it wont happen until AC10: FAFFING EDITION!

 

[The White Hunter]

Snip

I would like to affirm that Squeenix are indeed the Japanese publisher for Call of Duty.

Squeenix is doing well these days, sucesses like Sleeping Dogs kinda fuel them, just because shouty internet people don't like the latest FF iterations doesn't mean Squeenix is losing out.

 

[Lilani]

Really? EA may have a lot of failures but I think they have enough successful franchises to stay a float.

True but they've lost a LOT of money recently.
What with the SWTOR flop, Mass effect 3 fiasco, and now the Sim City Beta problems. A lot of people have lost faith in that company and that's gunna show in a the form of lost sales.

Which inevitably will lead to their downfall.

SWTOR did flop, but even though ME3 was met with a lot of criticism it still made them a very good pay day. And I'm not so sure we should count out Sim City just yet, they've still got time to pull it off and there are still people eagerly waiting for it.