Activision/Blizzard reports reduced revenues and MAU

[IntentionalPun]

I mean...

In a time post covid where all companies are posting huge drops... Sony holds the revenue... holds the MAUs... and used part of the profit to invest in new game development

But hey 37% less profit without context can create a narrative... you can keep going on.

And per this thread ABK's MAU's are only down 3%... but people are spending significantly less money on games...

Just like they are on Playstation.

You are the one developing a narrative.. Sony didn't downgrade their forecast by 16% for Playstation because they had a "solid quarter."

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

OP should read before thread spamming across the internet.

MAU is down 3% quarter over quarter and 12% year over year.

Not half.

It doesn't matter.

 

[ethomaz]

And per this thread ABK's MAU's are only down 3%... but people are spending significantly less money on games...

Just like they are on Playstation.

You are the one developing a narrative.. Sony didn't downgrade their forecast by 16% for Playstation because they had a "solid quarter."

You seems to look smart but fail to read...

The Revenue was barely changed in their forecast... in fact they told investors they are being conservative and they think they will have more hardware available than what they used to create the shared forecast and that they will revise it in next quarter.

The 16% is about profit that they give the reasons and it include the money they will need to pay early than expected to Bungie.
You are failing to look at the context why Sony is posting decrease in profit and they explained very well the profit being down is most due investment in first-party games and acquisitions.

 

[IntentionalPun]

But their business does include hardware... they are a platform holder.

Xbox was down a lot on hardware too, so it matters in that context. IMO

Not being completely dependent on software is good IMO.

Of course it's part of the business.. it's a part of the business that accounts for a lot of revenue but very little profit if any. And it's one where you can't compare to a non-platform holder publisher very directly.

Either way the entire idea of profit going down by 37% being "solid" is... just.. I duno.. laughable.

I'm not talking about Xbox here.. they didn't do great either by what they said and yes have done worse on hardware "revenue".. which honestly isn't all that meaningful of a stat considering they have a product flush on shelves that is 40% less revenue than Series X.

 

[IntentionalPun]

You seems to look smart but fail to read...

Alright convo over.

 

[kyliethicc]

Industry wide things are returning to normal.. but oof

So Vanguard flopped and Bobby sold at an all time high lol

 

[ethomaz]

Of course it's part of the business.. it's a part of the business that accounts for a lot of revenue but very little profit if any. And it's one where you can't compare to a non-platform holder publisher very directly.

Either way the entire idea of profit going down by 37% being "solid" is... just.. I duno.. laughable.

I'm not talking about Xbox here.. they didn't do great either by what they said and yes have done worse on hardware "revenue".. which honestly isn't all that meaningful of a stat considering they have a product flush on shelves that is 40% less revenue than Series X.

The very ideia of profit going down because the company choose to invest that profit in game development is not only solid... it is pretty great in my view.
I wish all companies to choose to invest most of their profits instead to share them with investors but that is not what happens in most cases.

 

[Bryank75]

Of course it's part of the business.. it's a part of the business that accounts for a lot of revenue but very little profit if any. And it's one where you can't compare to a non-platform holder publisher very directly.

Either way the entire idea of profit going down by 37% being "solid" is... just.. I duno.. laughable.

I'm not talking about Xbox here.. they didn't do great either by what they said and yes have done worse on hardware "revenue".. which honestly isn't all that meaningful of a stat considering they have a product flush on shelves that is 40% less revenue than Series X.

Well, I did explain the higher costs... that leaves less profit.... more studios, more payroll every month.

But they definitely had a soft 3 months for software. Particularly 3rd party software is bad this year.

 

[Bryank75]

Alright convo over.

I edited that.

@ethomaz please do not insult other users, he has respected you all along.

We can have a debate without getting emotional.

 

[ethomaz]

I edited that.

@ethomaz please do not insult other users, he has respected you all along.

My comment was very respectful so I even praised him... I mean I consider him smart since GAF but he fail to get context sometimes.... one point doesn't kill the other

 

[Bryank75]

My comment was very respectful... I mean I consider him smart since GAF but he fail to get context sometimes.

Okay, so you are saying you didn't mean to insult him.... it was just lost in translation.

@IntentionalPun hope you see this and understand English isn't his first language <3

 

[Remember_Spinal]

Industry wide things are returning to normal.. but oof

So Vanguard flopped and Bobby sold at an all time high lol

Yeah he’s making out like a thief in the night. Whats even funnier is he tried to get even more money from facebook.

This was a guy that public enemy number one, even beyond gaming last year.

 

[IntentionalPun]

My comment was very respectful so I made the praise... I mean I consider him smart since GAF but he fail to get context sometimes.

Yeah I think you don't quite get how the wording is a bit of an insult as saying someone "looks smart" makes it seem like they only appear to be smart.

Anyways I believe that you didn't mean to insult.

I just don't get why you are so laser focused on revenue... having to downgrade your yearly profit forecast a significant amount is not a good thing, it's about the worst thing that can happen to a business.

edit: I also don't like being told I'm spinning a "narrative".. that implies I am not being genuine.. I am.. I genuinely believe your profit going down 37% is not a "solid quarter" for any business YoY.

 

[ethomaz]

Okay, so you are saying you didn't mean to insult him.... it was just lost in translation.

@IntentionalPun hope you see this and understand English isn't his first language <3

I can get better at that... but I definitely thinks he looks to be a smart guy... that is not from today.

 

[Bryank75]

 

[ethomaz]

Yeah I think you don't quite get how the wording is a bit of an insult as saying someone "looks smart" makes it seem like they only appear to be smart.

Anyways I believe that you didn't mean to insult.

I just don't get why you are so laser focused on revenue... having to downgrade your yearly profit forecast a significant amount is not a good thing, it's about the worst thing that can happen to a business.

I apology for that... we always have different opinions but I never looked down you due that.
Sorry for the way I said it.

About the revenue I'm not focusing on it alone... analysts praise that Sony holds the revenue against all adversities.
But the 37% (Q1) and 16% (FY forecast) is being taken out of context... Sony said the result of their profit decrease was in part because they used it to invest in first-party development and the forecast revision is part due to account in the Bungie expenses that come early than they expected.

Is Sony wrong to choose to invest profit instead to post them in Q1? I don't think so... we won't know how much they invested so we don't know how much of these 37% was was not a profit decrease.
And Bungie will hit hard in FY results... it is 2.x billion in cash and around 1 billion in employees promotions/bonus (the actual phase looks like these promotions/bonus are coming early than expected... if I have to guess it will be posted that FY instead next FY).

They said around $440m profit will be eaten by Bungie in this FY.

 

[IntentionalPun]

But the 37% (Q1) and 16% (FY forecast) is being taken out of context... Sony said the result of their profit decrease was in part because they used it to invest in first-party development and the forecast revision is to account in the Bungie expenses that come early than they expected.

But they made that forecast only 3 months ago, and knew Bungie deal would close this FY. So they expected Bungie expenses this FY but still downgraded profit significantly.

So you can say that the Bungie expenses hit in a different quarter than they expected, but they absolutely did not expect game sales to plummet..

You really can't ignore those game sales.. it feels like you aren't even acknowledging it. Selling 25% less games when your biggest profit margin comes from.. selling games is going to hit your profit hard. That goes w/o saying... Sony mentioned the other things because they are worthy of mention, but nobody is expected to ignore the dump in engagement/software sales as not being the biggest factor in profit going down.

 

[kyliethicc]

Yeah he’s making out like a thief in the night. Whats even funnier is he tried to get even more money from facebook.

This was a guy that public enemy number one, even beyond gaming last year.

Btw, I assume you wrote “MAU halved” in the title thinking it was down 47% YoY.

But it wasn’t. It’s down 47 million, not percent, which is 12% YoY. Not halved, or even close.

 

[IntentionalPun]

@ethomaz this is right above the blurb you keep posting from their "speech transcript", so why do you keep ignoring that software sales going down is one of the primary factors in profit being lowered?

• Operating income decreased a significant 30.5 billion yen year-on-year
to 52.8 billion yen primarily due to the impact of the decrease in
software sales and an increase in game software development costs.

It's first on the list every time they mention their profit forecast going down.

It does sound like basically Bungie isn't super profitable though, or is less profitable than Playstation normally is.. because they are saying that in general Bungie closing effects all of FY22 which is interesting.

But again when they mention that they start first and foremost mentioning software sales being lower than expected.

 

[ethomaz]

But they made that forecast only 3 months ago, and knew Bungie deal would close this FY. So they expected Bungie expenses this FY but still downgraded profit significantly.

So you can say that the Bungie expenses hit in a different quarter than they expected, but they absolutely did not expect game sales to plummet..

You really can't ignore those game sales.. it feels like you aren't even acknowledging it. Selling 25% less games when your biggest profit margin comes from.. selling games is going to hit your profit hard. That goes w/o saying... Sony mentioned the other things because they are worthy of mention, but nobody is expected to ignore the dump in engagement/software sales as not being the biggest factor in profit going down.

They expected some part of expenses... around $330m... they increased to around $110m difference because it come early than expected... they probably expected that expense to come in FY2023 but due the deal closing so fast it will come this FY (last quarter?).

They dropped the revenue from $2.3b to $1.94b using three main reasons:

• Decrease in non-first-party games and add-on content (note they don't talk about 1st-party that they expected to rise compared with last year due having more big titles releasing).
• Negative impact of foreign exchange rates (the Yen vs Dollar).
• Increase in Bungie expenses... $110m million more this FY.