Beta info. (Pictures on Jace Hall Show)

[Coldasblues]

I still think blizzard would be more likely to release beta before the conference call. Investors knowing that the game will be out soon is good. Investors getting info showing the game has promise of producing a large amount of profit? Even better. Announcing beta just shows them that there is a final product on the way. If they show the results of beta they will see evidence suggesting that the final product will do very well.

[rcp181]

I still think blizzard would be more likely to release beta before the conference call

Agreed, and I think it will happen before the call

[Nuke]

Yeah, it would be pretty amazing if beta was released before the call. Not too far fetched either.

[TheEconomist]

Agreed, and I think it will happen before the call

I could see that happening. Things like the Jace Hall show make this seem even more possible.

[Coldasblues]

Also something to remember is that there are about 15 different products coming out this year most of them will produce more money then all of activision-blizzards games combined. Things that are going to be purchased in high quantities by companies, and regular people alike. If investors are given a choice to either invest in a product that replaces something like firewire, or investing in a gaming company that will produce a game that has a good chance of producing a lot of money. I'm willing to bet they are going to invest on the new technology.

[Domi87]

Also something to remember is that there are about 15 different products coming out this year most of them will produce more money then all of activision-blizzards games combined. Things that are going to be purchased in high quantities by companies, and regular people alike. If investors are given a choice to either invest in a product that replaces something like firewire, or investing in a gaming company that will produce a game that has a good chance of producing a lot of money. I'm willing to bet they are going to invest on the new technology.

People put their money where they can make money. If your statement were true small companies would not have stocks, but even penny stocks exist because people want to try and make money off them.

Also, in regards to your comment about products making more money. It doesn't work that way. You have to look at stocks by INDUSTRY. If you invest in a company thats going to corner an entire market and industry, how are you going to lose? People will invest. Modern Warfare 2 is 1 title. It made over a BILLION dollars. Out of THOUSANDS of videogame titles released last year, mw2 made up 6-7% of the entire videogame revenue generated in 2009. Thats pretty epic and will catch investor's eyes.

[Coldasblues]

Thats great but at the same time you have a lot of software and hardware development companies that are putting out new products that will kill the competition. If you want an example Google the USB 3.0 and take a look at that. Its going to completely replace fire-wire. If investors have the choice between that a product that will be replacing the competition, and a product like starcraft being developed by a company who hasn't produced an RTS in 5-6 years. Which would they choose? In my opinion I'd rather go with the first option.

Compare activisions earnings from modern warfare 2 to that of a dozen other companies who are in stable markets. I promise your going to see that the billion dollar profit they made is a drop in the bucket in comparison.

[Gifted]

Thats great but at the same time you have a lot of software and hardware development companies that are putting out new products that will kill the competition. If you want an example Google the USB 3.0 and take a look at that. Its going to completely replace fire-wire. If investors have the choice between that a product that will be replacing the competition, and a product like starcraft being developed by a company who hasn't produced an RTS in 5-6 years. Which would they choose? In my opinion I'd rather go with the first option.

Compare activisions earnings from modern warfare 2 to that of a dozen other companies who are in stable markets. I promise your going to see that the billion dollar profit they made is a drop in the bucket in comparison.

Coldas has a solid point and further supports the need for Blizzard/Activision to show a solid face publically for the benefit of the gaming industry as a whole. While this may seem like a pessmistic reaction, in terms of investments... moves like this change stocks industry wide as it is a representation of two of the leaders of the industry.

It's not only about people who are investing in them. It's about people who would consider the option of investing in them. (or others in the industry by their example)

[DemolitionSquid]

Thats great but at the same time you have a lot of software and hardware development companies that are putting out new products that will kill the competition. If you want an example Google the USB 3.0 and take a look at that. Its going to completely replace fire-wire. If investors have the choice between that a product that will be replacing the competition, and a product like starcraft being developed by a company who hasn't produced an RTS in 5-6 years. Which would they choose? In my opinion I'd rather go with the first option.

Compare activisions earnings from modern warfare 2 to that of a dozen other companies who are in stable markets. I promise your going to see that the billion dollar profit they made is a drop in the bucket in comparison.

People who invest in USB technology aren't usually the same people investing in video games. They may be the same market but they're not the same.

Do you even realize how much new technology Blizzard is inventing to create their video games? You sound pretty clueless to me.

[Coldasblues]

Which is why I think its more likely for them to use the beta to produce numbers to present the investors. If they announce the beta to investors they will just look at it like. Okay... You announced something that you should of several months ago.. Why am I giving you my money again?

The technology blizzard is inventing is great, and it might be used by other companies in the video gaming industry. However it still pales in comparison to other industries and the products they produce. For example the same company putting out USB 3.0 this year is the same company also releasing fiber optic technology for SSD's which will start the down fall of the typical magnetic disk hard drive. They are also producing an 8 core processor.

Then another industry is producing a new piece of software that is going to be the industry standard in producing other software(including video games.) Then another company is producing a new form of ink thats going to replace circuit boards in every single product that has one. Get the point? While video games might be a big deal in the future. Right now they are nothing of interest to major investors. Even when comparing them to smaller industries like retail it still isn't anywhere near the same amount of profit.