14 DAY TRIAL // These are troubled times, the economical situation in the United States isn't very good. With stock prices falling for almost every company, some analysts said that one of the most sure investments these days are in the large companies in the gaming industry. Names such as Electronic Arts or Activision Blizzard are sure bets for a decent profit, taking into account that the holiday season is coming and sales are bound to be good. Well, yesterday they were proven wrong. After the decision of the US House of Representatives of denying a 700 billion dollar bill that would help the economy in the country, the Dow Jones stock market saw an 800-point fall, the largest in one day, and the NASDAQ market also saw a big fall. This affected all the companies listed on the markets, including the big games publishers.
Activision Blizzard, currently the best selling publisher in the world with titles such as World of Warcraft or Guitar Hero, saw a 13.8 % fall, reaching 14.12 dollars per stock. Electronic Arts, the publisher with titles such as Madden NFL or the Need for Speed franchise, saw a smaller decline, 9.16 %, but at the end of the day had a price of 36 dollars. Other big publishers, like THQ or Take-Two Interactive saw similar falls, of 7 and 4.52 %, respectively.
Don't think that the big gaming console manufacturers were left unharmed: Microsoft registered an 8.72 percent decrease, ending the day with a price of 25.01 dollars. Sony, the producer behind the PlayStation 3, saw a 5.09 % fall, registering a price of 30.76 dollars per stock at the end of the day.
Although this measure should have affected the companies present in the United States, Europe also felt the negative wave, with major European publishers Ubisoft and Eidos Interactive losing quite a lot in stock value. The French publisher was hit the worst, recording a massive loss of 17.92 dollars, reaching a price of 65.37 dollars.
These are very tough times, but we hope that better things will come; until then, let's hope that the crisis won't affect the smaller companies which can't really afford to register such massive losses.