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 only major game release is the PC launch of Capcom's (CCOEY) "Monster Hunter World: Iceborne," an expansion to 2018's "Monster Hunter World." The expansion, which came out on PlayStation 4 (SNE) and Xbox One (MSFT) in September 2019, becomes available on PC on January 9.
PS4 SALES: Sony Interactive Entertainment announced on Monday that PlayStation Network's December 2019 monthly active users have reached 103M, demonstrating that gamers worldwide are enjoying PlayStation's offerings. Additionally, the PlayStation 4 console has sold through more than 106M globally, and the cumulative sales of PS4 software titles from retailers and PlayStation Store have reached 1.15B as of December 31, 2019, the company said. “I am very pleased to see that so many PlayStation fans value the unparalleled entertainment experience on PS4,” said Jim Ryan, President and CEO of SIE. “This has been made possible by the support we have from our partners and fans since launching PlayStation in 1994, and I would like to truly thank everyone. We’ve consistently delivered innovative products like PlayStation VR, which has reached its 5 million unit sales milestone. There is much more entertainment experience to look forward to that the PlayStation ecosystem will provide that we can’t wait to share with our fans.” The news comes ahead of the upcoming launch of the PlayStation 5, which is expected to roll out later in 2020.
NEW SWITCH: DigiTimes reported that Nintendo (NTDOY) plans to release a new model of its Switch console in mid-2020. The new model will start volume production at the end of the first quarter of 2020, DigiTimes said, citing sources form the related upstream supply chain. The news follows a previous report from the Wall Street Journal last summer which said that the Japanese console maker has ideas for "further updates to the Switch lineup after those two models to make the platform’s lifecycle long.”
CREDIT SUISSE ON ATVI: Last week, Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju maintained an Outperform rating on Activision Blizzard (ATVI) but raised his price target to $69 from $67, saying that the company's previously announced release slate expectations and his assumption for a "longer-term product roam map", with the "Warcraft III" release date being pushed back to the end of January and his estimates for "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" title sales rising from 21M to 22M. Ju added that he continues to be positive on Activision's ability to produce "high-quality franchise content" and for its management to execute "consistently," further citing the game maker's position in the sector's transition to online and mobile gaming.
OTHER STORIES TO WATCH:
Capcom
+ (+0.00%)
Symbol now SONY
+1.09 (+1.58%)
Microsoft
-0.28 (-0.18%)
Nintendo
+ (+0.00%)
acquired by MSFT
+0.06 (+0.10%)
Tencent
+ (+0.00%)
Electronic Arts
+0.05 (+0.05%)
Take-Two
+0.82 (+0.66%)
Ubisoft
+ (+0.00%)