Vivendi’s Blizzard could have a new trick up its sleeve in MMORPG (massively multi-player online role playing games) besides its pending merger. There is a report on the MMORPG Blog noting a "rumor" that the crack-like addictive World of Warcraft may actually be coming to video game consoles rather than solely being available on PC’s. Normally we might not address this one, but on the heels of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and having been a longstanding reader of this site it has broken some development issues in the past.
If this occurs, there may be a few million more WoW addicts out there. And they’ll be paying a monthly fee for it too. There are some discrepancies here and there are no assurances this will occur for the already existing game.
Activision (NYSE:ATVI) would also stand to benefit here as its shareholders will own a part of the combined Blizzard-Activision. WoW is one of the few ongoing games in the MMORPG that has had this long of a run with the continued fervor and enthusiasm.
What is probably in the works is that the natural evolution of this MMORPG trend is one that is leaving millions of gamers out of the action (and out of the MMORPG revenue stream). Many gamers, including your truly, play video games via their consoles to escape the confines of being at the PC. This is a natural progression even if it is not WoW that makes it to consoles. Future editions could make the jump, and many others will in the future. Most online sessions on console sessions tend to involve a handful or two of players rather than Millions of users. We think this is just the natural progression whether the current versions of WoW or future versions make it or not.
When you combine this with a soon to be independent Bungie Studios out of Microsoft (still pending status) (NASDAQ:MSFT), it looks like the video game sector will have some excitement this year even without any new console system releases this year or next. In theory this could lead to more Xbox 360 console sales, and it likely wouldn’t be bad for Sony’s (NYSE: SNE) PS3 either.
GameStop (NYSE: GME) shares are trading lower despite raised guidance as a weak consumer may still affect some video game spending. Shares of Activision are down roughly 1% today too.
Jon C. Ogg
January 11, 2008
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