NEW RELEASES: This week's major video game release is Sony's (SNE) baseball sim "MLB The Show 19," which launches today exclusively for the PlayStation 4. Also out this week is Nintendo's (NTDOY) "Yoshi's Crafted World," which rolls out exclusively for the Nintendo Switch this Friday.
APPLE ARCADE: As part of a series of product announcements yesterday, Apple (AAPL) unveiled Apple Arcade, a video game subscription service that will features over 100 new and exclusive games. The service will be the first game subscription service for mobile, desktop, and the living room, according to Phil Schiller, senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing at the U.S. tech giant. Apple Arcade is set to launch in fall 2019 in over 150 countries from a new tab on the App Store, though the company has not yet revealed pricing for the service.
Following the announcement, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak said in a research note to investors that the service does not currently pose a major competitive threat to large game publishers Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Electronic Arts (EA), or Take-Two (TTWO). The service doesn't include AAA quality content substitutable for the publishers' key franchises, and the company didn't disclose plans to create its own first-party content, the analyst noted, adding that Apple could potentially be a direct competitor to mobile-focused Zynga (ZNGA).
STEPHENS ON TAKE-TWO: In a research note to investors released today, Stephens analyst Jeff Cohen said that Gearbox Software will unveil "Borderlands 3" when the company presents at PAX East in Boston on Thursday. The analyst said that the potential of "Borderlands 3" on Take-Two shares, as the company has published previous entries in the franchise, may be overlooked by some investors, as he believes "Red Dead Online" will likely drive the stock's near-term performance. Cohen backed an Overweight rating and $110 price target on Take-Two, adding that there is a "strong monetary incentive" to release "Borderlands 3" exclusively on the Epic Games Store. Investors in Epic include Tencent (TCEHY), Disney (DIS), and KKR (KKR).
SUNTRUST ON 'APEX': Last Thursday, SunTrust analyst Matthew Thornton backed a Buy rating on Electronic Arts, noting that the battle royale mode for "Battlefield V" had received "generally positive" early trade press reviews. In addition, the analyst highlighted SuperData's monthly report, including that the firm estimated "Apex Legends" did roughly $92M in revenue in February, which would be the best launch month of any free-to-play game in history, and that "Anthem" is estimated to have done greater than $100M in digital revenue in February.
OTHER STORIES TO WATCH:
"Game On" is The Fly's weekly recap of the stories powering up or beating down video game stocks.
Symbol now SONY
+0.585 (+1.39%)
Nintendo
+ (+0.00%)
Apple
+2.22 (+1.18%)
acquired by MSFT
-0.35 (-0.74%)
Electronic Arts
+0.7 (+0.69%)
Take-Two
+1.1 (+1.15%)
Zynga
+0.005 (+0.09%)
Tencent
+ (+0.00%)
Disney
+2.15 (+1.99%)
KKR
-0.02 (-0.08%)
Microsoft
-0.25 (-0.21%)