“What I think is something that we’ve missed in the industry and is something other participants have been doing is the proportion of business that is used,” Robinson told DJ Newswires. “We’ve not developed the capability to the extent that other participants have. It’s a very margin-rich portion, so I think there’s opportunity in that business.”

This is all in response to the site Bloggingstocks.com, which speculated on Tuesday that GameStop could be an acquisition target. Of course, it might also cost north of $US4 billion to do that, which is dough Best Buy doesn’t have. Leveraging the deal or doing a stock swap then commits Best Buy to the bricks-and-mortar game retail business for the long term, and Robinson noted the industry’s shift toward digital distribution. He also pointed out the company’s test of in-store kiosks that buy back used games.

Best Buy US CFO: Used Video Games ‘Strategically Interesting’ [Dow Jones Newswires on The Wall Street Journal.com]

Philip Veneziano, say hello to a customer base even more finicky and prone to complaint than high-strung white collar workers: the video gamer. In a statement announcing his arrival, Veneziano said Atari faces “a tremendous opportunity to gain market share”.

In a way, it already is. Atari also announced its first quarter revenue grew 30% compared to 2008, attributed to two factors: Ghostbusters: The Video Game, and the fact Atari published about zero titles in the preceding year.

Atari Appoints Chief Financial Officer [Edge Online]

I don’t know MLG’s financials but, usually, you don’t get another round of funding because you’re insanely profitable. At least it’s from one of MLG’s original partners, Oak Investment Partners, which gave them US$25 mil back in 2006. But it is growing — even if the three- and four-figure growth percentages it quotes mean it was starting with comparatively small numbers.

Here is MLG’s full press release. Note the leet online broadcast audience growth:

Major League Gaming, the professional video game league, announced it has received a $7.5 million follow-on investment from Oak Investment Partners. MLG’s explosive growth in online and live audience, as well as its continued success in attracting major sponsors, has made it the premier competitive video gaming property in the world.
“MLG has become a cultural phenomenon, and the management team has made competitive gaming really matter for pros, fans, and marketers,” said Ed Glassmeyer, managing partner, Oak Investment Partners. “We have great confidence that the company will continue this path to success and that the challenging economic environment will provide new opportunities for investment and growth.”

“We set out to build the first digital sport the world had ever seen. From the beginning, Oak has been there to provide the capital and expertise to enable us to create a global, cross-platform business to support that vision,” said Matthew Bromberg, president and CEO of Major League Gaming.

2008 was a breakout year for Major League Gaming as its sports media business saw triple- and-quadruple digit growth:

• 1337% year-over-year growth in its online broadcast audience, with 503,000 unique men under 30 watching the Dallas Playoffs in early October

• 4.4 million online matches played in 2008, up 625% over 2007

• 7.0 million unique users each month according to Google Analytics, up 109% over 2007

• An average of 15,000 attendees at each of the live competitions in 2008, up 500% over 2007.

Major League Gaming

Founded in 2002, Major League Gaming (MLG) is the dominant media property exclusively targeting the approximately 40 million consumers in North America who have a passion for playing video games as a competitive social activity. The company exclusively represents the best professional gamers and gives millions of aspiring gamers around the world an opportunity to compete, improve their skills, and socialize through our thriving online competitive community and live Pro Circuit competitions. MLG sponsorship partners include Dr Pepper, GameStop, HP, Old Spice, Ballpark, Panasonic, Stride, Ubisoft, Bungie and Xbox 360. For more information: www.mlgpro.com.

Major League Gaming Secures Additional Funding [Daily Games News]

Hardest hit? It’s looking like Activision Blizzard in the States, which dropped nearly 14% today. GameSpot ran the numbers on the publishers trading on the NASDAQ and it’s not looking pretty. Foreign stocks got a beating today too, with Ubisoft losing value to the tune of $17.92 over a period of a few hours. Ouch.

Careful out there, kids. Watch out for falling investors.

Market freefall drags down game stocks [GameSpot]

That’s right, a game about the stock market crash of 1987, made in 1987. By current standards 500 points in a day is just a hiccup, but back in the early days it was enough to fuel a whole game. Wonder if there will be a game soon called “The Big Bailout”, featuring real-time Henry Paulson supplication controls. Anyway, at least the current financial situation isn’t very dire for computer-based games, sales being up 43% and all. Guess people may not want to play a game about the fall of the financial system during the fall of the financial system, but I wish they would. It’s a great opportunity to teach and engage with a current problem that is definitely predicated by the playing of financial games in the late-80s, okay maybe not.

It’s a fun look back at some not terribly scintillating-sounding titles (but leaping brokers? C’mon).

Financial Woes [How They Got Game]

I’m a little surprised that they weren’t able to grab up more of their stock, but I’m even more surprised that they planned on financing the entire buy up with cash on hand. Am I the only one who thinks that the BlizzAct folks walk around with life-sized, solid-gold avatars that they dress up for fun. Wasteful! I’d spend all my WoW loot on monkeys and monkey training. And maybe monkey nappies… maybe.

Activision Blizzard Announces Final Results of Self-Tender Offer
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug 19, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced the final results of its tender offer to purchase up to 146,500,000 shares of its outstanding common stock at a price of $27.50 per share, net to the tendering stockholders in cash, less any applicable withholding taxes and without interest. The tender offer expired at 5:00 p.m., New York time, on Wednesday, August 13, 2008.
Pursuant to the tender offer, Activision Blizzard has purchased 85,916 shares of its common stock at a purchase price of $27.50 per share for a total cost of approximately $2.3 million, excluding fees and expenses relating to the tender offer. Activision Blizzard is funding the purchase of shares in the tender offer with available cash on hand.
The tender offer was agreed to be made in connection with the business combination between Activision, Inc., now known as Activision Blizzard, Inc., and Vivendi Games, Vivendi’s interactive entertainment business — which includes Blizzard Entertainment’s(R) World of Warcraft(R). In accordance with the business combination agreement, the purchase price per share for the tender offer was equal to the price per share that Vivendi paid for the stock it purchased from Activision.
About Activision Blizzard
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Blizzard, Inc. is a worldwide pure-play online, PC and console game publisher with leading market positions across all categories of the rapidly growing interactive entertainment software industry.
Activision Blizzard maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Romania, Australia, Chile, India, Japan, China, South Korea and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision Blizzard and its products can be found on the company’s website, http://www.activisionblizzard.com.

The $AU 25.12M loss however is one-third the $AU 74.18 fiscal assbeating Atari took in FY07, precipitating the whole Infogrames merger/buyout/$AU 21.29M loan announced April 30 and taking effect the third quarter of this year. Also, Atari’s loss includes about $AU 6.92 million in corporate restructuring charges. rather than regular business. Still, revenue was about $AU 85.14 million, less than $AU 129.84 million of a year before. So there wasn’t the kind of expenses that go toward publishing crappy games games, but there wasn’t anything to sell either.

Some brands, no matter how sickly they become, can just go on forever because they got in the race early, no matter where they dropped out. Just ask United Press International. Or Ovaltine. So if Atari is shifting to social, casual, whatever you want to call it, that’s probably going after brand of low-awareness game consumer who thinks Atari’s been around forever and will give games under its title a benefit of the doubt that the publisher didn’t earn in the past five years.

Atari Reports 23.6M Loss for FY2008[Shacknews]

THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell said that most of its struggles were due to a crowded and competitive market for kids’ games, as well as key franchises — Juiced, Stuntman and Conan that ultimately “were simply not competitive.”

“Insufficient game quality led to inadequate sellthrough, resulting in markdowns at retail,” Farrell said.

Farrell said the company spent heavily to promote Juiced and Stuntman, and had to take a loss when those titles fail to perform. What growth THQ did see, Farrell credited to Frontlines: Fuel of War, MX vs. ATV Untamed and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, all of which exceeded expectations.

Farrell also said the kids’ market, in which THQ has several franchises, was the most competitive in years, and that the company’s currently struggling to compete with music games and Nintendo first-party titles.

Nonetheless, THQ appears to have placed its faith in the Wii, concentrating much of its upcoming original IP there. Although Saints Row 2 and Red Faction Guerrilla are still the “anchors” of its lineup, Darksiders, De Blob, Deadly Creatures, Big Beach Sports and All Star Cheer look likely to be slated for Wii along with other unannounced projects, though the company did not announce specific platforms.

New instalments in existing franchises for fiscal 2009 include WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, Disney/Pixar’s Wall-E film tie-in, and its previously-revealed Nickelodeon portfolio. The company will publish a game based on DreamWorks’ Animation’s unannounced 2010 fall film, and has slated WWE: Legends of Wrestlemania for 2009.

Notably, the company seems to have an eye on the free-to-play, microtransactions-driven online gaming market in Asia, highlighting the co-publishing agreement it’s signed with Shanda Interactive to bring Company of Heroes Online to China in 2009.

THQ is more confident about the year to come, with three new initiatives in place: “We are rolling out a stronger slate of products. We have put in place and are executing against initiatives to improve our product quality and competitiveness. We are also realigning our cost structure to generate significant operating leverage in fiscal 2009. We believe these initiatives will restore profitable growth and improve value for shareholders,” said Farrell.

“We faced a number of challenges, but I believe we have the right strategy to overcome these challenges and achieve significant growth.”

“We are continually looking for ways to enhance the player experience on the PLAYSTATION®Network, and downloadable content through the PLAYSTATION Store is just one of our areas of focus,” said Grace Chen, Senior Manager for the PLAYSTATION Store. “We anticipate that this price adjustment will meet the expectations of our Canadian consumers and provide them with a better PLAYSTATION Network experience.”

The adjustment will occur over the day and should be in full effect by the time tomorrow’s scheduled update hits. I wonder if they’ll be doing this in other markets as well? Seems like this is something Microsoft should be looking into too.