(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); I continue to see so many threads complaining about MW2 and game developers. I made a post in another thread, but thought this might prove to have it's own topic of discussion. I know most of the people on this board are younger individuals and don't have a lot of real world business experience so I thought I'd share my experience with you. Hopefully you'll understand the requests that gamers make and the impact it would have on the company to respond/resolve the requests.

Activision owns IW & Treyarch as well as about 85 other companies.

Business profits & EPS:
Businesses look for profits. Profits are gross revenues (income) minus expenses. ATVI is a public company so any person can own a part of the company. ATVI has to look out for share holders and turn a profit each quarter (quarterly earnings per share or EPS). If ATVI spends too much money on a project then it reduces the amount of profit that project makes. This includes labor, dedicated servers, software, marketing etc.

Console Wars:

Everyone wants to believe their console is superior to another. The fact is that ATVI supports XBOX over PS3. The reason for that is that XBOX accounts for 38% of the revenues (2009 figures) versus PS3 accounting for 26%. The Wii accounts for 26% and PC and PS2 come in on distant lasts. PC is 7% of console revenue and PS2 is about 8%.

More revenue is generated by XBOX so more of the focus is towards that demographic. This doesn't discount the other two main consoles. PS3 net revenues (profit) have increased at ATVI from 2008 to 2009 approximately 26%. Now lets compare XBOX 2008 & 2009 net revenues... XBOX had a 54% increase in revenues. You can see why ATVI would spend more effort and energy building a product for a larger consumer base which generates double the profit. Hopefully this makes sense and you're following.

Conclusion:

A company is looking to turn a profit to stay in business. They will do just enough, but not too much to make their products have a value in the eye of the consumer. If you want to respond about the complaints of the game then stop purchasing the game. Don't purchase any DLC and stop buying ATVI's products. If the product (MW2) has some sort of value to you then purchase it. In the end stop complaining about the issues we all face with the game. Nothing is going to change the fact they're there... That is until the revenues come down forcing ATVI to re-evaluate the value the product has to the consumer. You're not going to see dedicated servers for MW2. The cost is too great compared to the return on investment.

Let me know if you have questions. I tried to keep this as simple and brief as possible. I can launch into a ton of segments on how a public company is run and analysis of that, but I'll save that for the big nerds who are interested.

Linky Dinks:
ATVI's investor relations:
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google finance link to ATVI stock:
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NASDAQ link for SEC filings:
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Good post, rjive. Thanks and a nomination are headed your way.. .

thanks man. I know there are a lot rumors that float around and mis-information. I don't want people to think that petitions, complaints on twitter, facebook and IW boards are not heard either. I think it's just important to remember that it's a for profit company. If the costs are too great do something, it probably won't be done.

Not to mention in about the last 36 months ATVI has seen a 44% reduction in it's stock price. This means for the last 36 months the company has continued to reduce costs while trying to increase sales.. resulting in higher profits. It'll be interesting to see how Q1 2010 holds for ATVI's stock price after Christmas sales are reported.

The best part of this is, only intelligent (probably a bad choice of words) people are going to read this and understand half of it. The numpties who don't read it unfortunately are usually the ones who post threads complaining. All in all, you've wasted your time Nice post though.

you're probably right. I guess it makes me feel better that I summarized the information for those to learn/read. It will probably get burried in the posts. It's all good though. Some people will find value in it.

I may be young,but I'm not retarded,I fully (almost) understood all of that,it makes sense to me! +Thanks

no prob. I didn't mean to imply that people on this board are stupid. Sorry if it came across like that. I simply want people to start thinking of the decisions that a company makes and realize the intent behind it is to make a profit and bring in revenues.

Since ATVI is a public company, you can go through their balance sheets and other statements and review information for yourself.

Please let me know if anyone else has questions. I'll be happy to try and answer the best I can.

No lol,I didn't mean it like that,I meant most young people act retarded and give the cleverer ones a bad name,LOL

oh gotcha shadow. I meant the thread to be informative and educational.

You did a great job,I'm not lying,but I actually learnt A LOT (emphasis on A LOT) from this thread.