Is Everything Around Us Saying That....

[Gregmal]

gaming is going to be a MONSTER theme for the foreseeable future? Todays ATVI deal just another, but gaming and its ecosystem to me look like that new hyper growth area where everyone is starting to rush for gold. Everyone who's anyone in the corporate tech world has been tipping this recently. 

 

Of course the catch is in a tech sell off, you've got some headwinds. But longer term, we are moving into an era where I think this could be almost revolutionary. In the 80s you had Pacman. When I was growing up it was Madden. But things still weren't fully integrated. The next decade is where you start seeing generations of kids who've been raised on electronics and by extension a full wave of people who know nothing but their phone/tablet/laptop. 

 

I guess this may be me starting to see this thing theyre calling the "meta verse"....IDK. Im not totally sold on all the offshoot stuff or degree to which people are optimistic on VR. But gaming to me seems to be a modern age cigarette. Its cool and my friends are doing it. You do it sometimes out of boredom. Its expensive. And its addictive. 

 

Definitely something Im following. Curious if anyone else sees this too and what they think. Nintendo and Sony seem like stupid obvious blue chips who get no respect in the US because of their foreign status. 

[Value_Added]

Definitely seeing this too, though I can’t help but feel it is mostly a race to the meta verse while trying to take large marketshare of mobile along the way.  I think the meta verse is far into the future (not in application, but in wide adoption) and mobile will be the cash cow until then.  It’s interesting to see how the large players are positioning themselves.  TTWO seems to be positioning themselves toward a mobile focus based on their most recent acquisitions being pure mobile plays, while MSFT’s portfolio will be more heavily weighted toward traditional console/PC (King is a huge mobile player, but will account for a small portion of MSFT’s overall catalog).

 

Mobile offers a more competitive landscape because the barriers to entry are much lower (basically nonexistent) than traditional console and PC.  They are all competing for your time and the styles of games can range from ultra simplistic to very in depth - A very important point to take note of is that on mobile, budget isn’t a must for addictive entertainment creation.  Arguably, the simpler the game, the better since most people play mobile in quick spurts.  The TAM is also much larger as everyone has a phone.  
 

the mobile environment is more like Silicon Valley and tech in which the next big thing could be created by some random person in their garage.  I believe that introduces some investment risk in highly focused mobile plays which is why I didn’t love seeing the price TTWO paid for the Zynga acquisition.  It just seems to be banking on so much future success and revenue generation.

 

 

[adesigar]

So since we are talking gaming related companies

 

Here is an interesting company.

 

Embracer Group

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embracer_Group

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/EMBRAC-B.ST/

Edited January 18, 2022 by adesigar

[Gregmal]

^really interesting company at quick glance, thanks. Worth a further look. Lots of times its those exact types that go on crazy runs and then get taken out shortly after everyone sees how special it is. 

[Sweet]

As a gamer I agree.  Annoyingly I’ve never thought about investing in this space despite the obvious trend.

 

Competitive gaming I expect to be as popular as normal sports over time, if not more so.  It is something I watch on a regular basis too.

 

There are platforms that gamers use, Twitch (owned by Amazon) is the undisputed king in the game streaming space.  It has a good platform, and a subscriber model that works.  YouTube and Facebook are taking the space seriously by getting involved but their platforms are well behind.

 

There are a load of competitive esports team - cloud9, team solo mid, complexity gaming, NRG, Faze etc.  They run different teams across multiple competitive games.  The general consensus is that the esport teams are, for now at least, lousy businesses, but in my view they will professionalise and get better.  Currently, Faze is the only esports team that makes money to my knowledge.

 

You could invest in hardware however graphics cards and computer chips are part of normal computers too, so you aren’t really singling out the ‘gaming space’ buy purchasing those companies.  Although gaming focused hardware companies like Razor (just an example) might be worth considering? - no idea, never looked.

 

My initial thoughts: the best way to go about this is to buy a company that focuses on game development.  Games themselves span multiple platforms.  I would avoid companies that don’t offer a concentrated play in games, eg. Microsoft is too big for gaming to have a huge impact on its revenue IMO.

 

Here is a list of companies that produce hardware or software for games:

https://www.alltopeverything.com/top-10-biggest-video-game-companies/

 

Interesting idea - thanks, just thinking out loud above.  Worth a serious consideration for sure.

 

 

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Sweet

[bluedevil]

There is a very good gaming company available for cheap these days — Tencent

[lnofeisone]

I agree Tencent and they also own a chunk of Epic (whose Unreal engine is used for game creation, e.g., Fortnite). If you want mobile, Unity is a way to play it.