or~ When the Real ISKbears Run EVE…
In EVE Online Maker CCP Games Raises $20M, an article on techcrunch.com by Anthony Ha, CCP Chief Financial Officer Joe Gallo states, near the end after some interesting financial and DUST info, that:
“In addition to launching DUST, Reid says the funding will allow CCP to prepare for an IPO. The company doesn’t have any immediate plans to go public, but he says the money “allows us is to do some of the things you need to do for IPO preparedness,” such as building greater redundancy into its computer systems, so that it’s ready to go public when and if the time is right.”
Now… as I see it, and this is JUST my personal opinion but… once the Board of Directors is accountable to the stock holders I foresee the following exchange at the First CCP Stock Holders Meeting…
Q. “What is ‘griefing’?”
A. “It is just another player activity, EVE is a sandbox MMO and allows a wide variety of playstyles, this is one of its strongest qualities.”
Q. “What is ‘rage-quitting’?”
A. “uh, ummm, well.. it’s ahhh… basically when a new player quits EVE due to… ummm… being repeatedly attacked, scammed or killed by older, veteran players.“
Q. “Really? But… doesn’t that reduce the number of paying customers?”
A. “uhhh, well, yes.”
Comments from around the room…
“That needs to be stopped.”
“Yea, and Now.”
“This cannot possibly be good for the bottom line.”
“You mean, they allow other players to make new players QUIT?”
“You allow them to do this? Intentionally??”
“No, no, no!”
“This can’t be allowed!”
“We need this game to make money… like that World of Warcraft game…”
Q. “What does Sony have to say about this ‘griefing’ and ‘rage quitting’ issue?”
Does anyone really see this going any other way?
It will be judged by its success relative to itself, not (thank god) by its success relative to the biggest fish in the pond as SW:TOR is.
ReplyDeleteSome investors will be fans of course. If I had £10000 I wasn't depending on to keep the wolf from the door when I'm too old to work I'd cheerfully buy shares - in 5 years time they could be double or nothing.
Many investors will be representatives of institutions that offer high risk tech stocks. Two things change price - perception and change. Perception covers things like new game launches - the price will rise when World of Darkness launches in anticipation of 10 million Twilight fans playing then crash shortly after launch when that doesn't happen. Change covers things like last year's Jita riots and mass quits - the price will drop by a greater proportion than the profits dropped because the perception will be that the product is less of a sure thing (inexorable 20% growth per year up till that point).
Once an IPO is bruited it's almost inevitable because an IPO means the individuals who currently own the company sell part of their ownership to shareholders for millions of dollars (or whatever). It would be very irrational for someone like Hilmar not to want $5m just because he prefers owning some of CCP.
Oh please do not misunderstand me, I fully appreciate the forces that drive investments and profit/loss... and Himar's best move is an IPO... but, sellng 'ownership' of anything entails some transfer of 'control' also. And while Himar et al have so far been very successful, this success is in a niche market game.
ReplyDeleteI believe everyone who is involved, whether as a CCP employee or a paying customer, can agree or at the least understand EVE is not a PG rated 'family' entertainment. EVE is not for 'everyone' and if ever icreasing profits is your goal, as itis with all 'for profit' companies, whether private or public, then limiting your sales is not a viable business model unless your product is limited to tha tmarket, IE Surfboards, not a lot of cross over business in surfboards, a very niche market that is well saturated yet sustainnable due to losses and new business.
EVE is not 'limited' in thisd way. It is a suite of program, client and server, that can be changed at will. And MMO gaming is a relativley new, volitile and growing market, and limiting your product, when you do not 'have to' is not an acceptable business model to those who invest and are interested in increased profits.
Thos people do not care to limit themselve to a niche market, which is why I believe CCP is working on DUST. If they are tied together they can be percieved as a single, 2-part commodity and if DUST grows and maintains its growth then EVE can remain a niche game as 'part' of a 'product' that can have that increased profitability.
I hope.
(and I do know how to spell Hilmar, what I dunt know is why the 'l' was dropped both times...)
DeleteHey Stabs, I hope you see this as I cannot find a way to reach you outside of our blogs so...
ReplyDeleteIn an article on 'develop' (http://www.develop-online.net/) CCP's David Reid states:
"Many publisher-owned studios can’t afford to take creative risks the way that independent developers can..."
Ref:
http://www.develop-online.net/news/41733/Publisher-owned-devs-cant-take-creative-risks
and
http://www.develop-online.net/features/1690/CCP-The-King-of-independence