Backbreaker producer comments on Madden

[thomonkey]

Quote: Originally Posted by canes21

Natural Motion is not going to be bought. Backbreaker is not the only thing they do. They are a big big company that does a lot of work outside of making football games. I highly doubt EA even has the money to buy them. I don't see EA buying the rights to Euphoria. So many different companies use from video game developers t people like Pepsi who have used it in their commercials before. Natural Motion makes a ton of money off licensing the engine, I highly doubt they are willing to sell it. They will make more money licensing than selling it for a large sum. Also, EA has not been doing well at all recently. I doubt they have the cash to buy the rights, they might have the money to get a license, but when losing $667 million is improving 30%, then they aren't doing well at all.

EA almost made 1 billion dollars last quarter. when they say that they "lost 667 million" what they really mean is "last quarter we made 1.5 billion but this quarter we only made 900 million."

http://news.bigdownload.com/2010/05/...ncial-numbers/

don't let EA trick you into believing that they aren't getting filthy rich.

[ChampN252]

Quote: Originally Posted by thomonkey

EA almost made 1 billion dollars last quarter. when they say that they "lost 667 million" what they really mean is "last quarter we made 1.5 billion but this quarter we only made 900 million." http://news.bigdownload.com/2010/05/...ncial-numbers/ don't let EA trick you into believing that they aren't getting filthy rich.

werd

[Exonerated]

Quote: Originally Posted by thomonkey

EA almost made 1 billion dollars last quarter. when they say that they "lost 667 million" what they really mean is "last quarter we made 1.5 billion but this quarter we only made 900 million." http://news.bigdownload.com/2010/05/...ncial-numbers/ don't let EA trick you into believing that they aren't getting filthy rich.

I don't let EA trick me. I read their public available financial reports. Since they are on the stock exchange i took a look.

For 52 weeks ending 2009-03-31, EA lost 1 billion dollars. The 52 weeks before, they lost 400 million.

But none of that tells the big picture. If net profit is the only figure you look at, then you need to take a course in accounting.

[Exonerated]

Also, please understand the difference between revenue and net income.

EA took in 4.2 billion last year. And 3.6 billion the year before. BUT THEY LOST A TONNE OF MONEY.

EA should bring in close to 5 billion this year. But that doesn't mean they will be making a profit.

[burnwood]

Quote: Originally Posted by Exonerated

Also, please understand the difference between revenue and net income. EA took in 4.2 billion last year. And 3.6 billion the year before. BUT THEY LOST A TONNE OF MONEY. EA should bring in close to 5 billion this year. But that doesn't mean they will be making a profit.

Hey mister wallstreet. Don't let your fears of your favorite-to-be football game blind the facts.

EA may have lost money, but they are still buying companies and IP. Playfish for $300M, for instance.

Since you're throwing around numbers, at least you heard or read the transcript of the Q4 2010 earnings conference call. Let me bore everybody with an excerpt from the transcript (in case you don't understand, the consensus is pretty good!):

Quote:

FY '10 was EA's highest revenue year in history. We had a strong financial rebound and FY '10 versus FY '09 increasing EPS by $0.74. We made significant progress on each of our four strategic objectives: Cost management, fewer but bigger games, improving game quality and driving digital revenue streams.

Quote:

On cost. We successfully implemented a restructuring program, significantly reducing our cost base, packaged goods fewer but bigger gains. We were the number one publisher overall in Europe and North America combined. We're the number one publisher on PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2. We achieved share growth in FY '10 versus FY '09 on 20% fewer titles.

-- John Riccitiello - Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director

http://bit.ly/aRzrFF

Anyone who follows financial markets with real financial knowledge understands that a company's past is irrelevant. It's all about guidance for the future. That is, of course, what a company's stock price represents anyway.

Bottom line: money talks. greed wins in capitalism, not sentiment. NM could be bought. It's not impossible.

[Exonerated]

Quote: Originally Posted by burnwood

Hey mister wallstreet. Don't let your fears of your favorite-to-be football game blind the facts. EA may have lost money, but they are still buying companies and IP. Playfish for $300M, for instance. Since you're throwing around numbers, at least you heard or read the transcript of the Q4 2010 earnings conference call. Let me bore everybody with an excerpt from the transcript (in case you don't understand, the consensus is pretty good!): -- John Riccitiello - Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director http://bit.ly/aRzrFF Anyone who follows financial markets with real financial knowledge understands that a company's past is irrelevant. It's all about guidance for the future. That is, of course, what a company's stock price represents anyway. Bottom line: money talks. greed wins in capitalism, not sentiment. NM could be bought. It's not impossible.

I'm fully aware that EA is still powerful and not in any danger at all. They have over 1.6 billion in cash reserves that they could dispense immediately.

Also, they've had the highest revenue year in history for at least the last four years. I'd be totally flummoxed if they didn't have higher revenue each year.

[Old Mr T]

On the subject of EA and their vast wealth; although they have huge revenue streams and they're a very wealthy company, Exonerated is correct about EA's share price. It has decreased massively since 2008 - a fall from 51 to 17.5 per share - which is a massive decrease. Some analysts believe even more downward activity is expected.

In terms of Backbreaker, I will buy it because I agree with their MO. I realise that presentation, Franchise etc, won't be as deep as Madden 11, but the attempted introduction of physics into football is long overdue and needs to be supported.

I do enjoy Madden each year, but it does feel very scripted at times and the persistent issues which re-emerge each year are ridiculous (suction blocking/WR CB interaction/tackling etc).

After watching the early promo videos for Madden 11, and hearing the same old feature-led approach (Locomotion this time), I've made the decision not buy it on release but instead wait for customer feedback from the good people of OS.