2018-08-21 12:16:23 | Game On: Cowen sees 'rough go' for EA's upcoming 'Battlefield V'Welcome to "Game On," The Fly's weekly recap of the stories powering up or beating down video game stocks. NEW RELEASES: This week's major releases are high definition ports of Sega's (SGAMY) "Shenmue" and "Shenmue II," role-playing games which originally rolled out for the Sega Dreamcast in 1999 and 2001, respectively. The HD ports are available today on PlayStation 4 (SNE), Xbox One (MSFT), and PC. COWEN SEES 'ROUGH GO' FOR NEW BATTLEFIELD: Cowen analyst Doug Creutz said in a research note to investors yesterday that Electronic Arts' (EA) upcoming shooter "Battlefield V" is tracking "very weakly" according to his firm's Ordometer analysis, which tracks upcoming video games. The analyst noted that the new title is tracking over 85% behind Activision Blizzard's (ATVI) "Call of Duty: Black Ops 4," which the analyst said is "very far off" the tracking levels of previous "Battlefield" games in 2011, 2013, and 2016. Creutz added that because the new "Battlefield" has a release date directly in between the new "Call of Duty" and Take-Two's (TTWO) "Red Dead Redemption 2," he worries that EA's new shooter could be headed for a similar fate as the 2016 EA game "Titanfall 2," which got squeezed out because of its launch date directly between "Battlefield 1" and "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare." Creutz reaffirmed a Market Perform rating on EA. CHINESE REGULATORS FREEZE NEW GAME APPROVALS: Last week, Bloomberg reported, that regulators in China have frozen approval of gaming licenses amid a government overhaul. The freeze comes after restructuring of power among departments and an emphasized concern over violence and gambling in certain games, according to Bloomberg. The whole sector has seen a negative impact from the move, with publishers like Tencent (TCEHY) losing $150B in market value and smaller publishers struggling to keep up without releasing new titles. 'DIABLO III' COMING TO SWITCH: Last week, Activision Blizzard announced that its dungeon-crawling role-laying game "Diablo III," which originally launched on PC in 2012 and on consoles in 2013, will be coming to the Nintendo Switch (NTDOY) later this year. The "Diablo III: Eternal Collection" for the Switch will include the main game, the "Reaper of Souls" expansion, and the "Rise of the Necromancer" pack. The Switch port will include exclusive content from Nintendo's "Legend of Zelda" series, Blizzard noted. The port marks Blizzard's first game on a Nintendo console since 2003. | |
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