You are preaching to the choir, partner. I am an attorney who has participated in a shareholder derivative action, and have helped manage investments and assets as part of a commercial transactions practice. but my education, licenses, and experience all pale in comparison to what some people read on Reddit or Vox, I guess.
At this point I’m going to say:
Will you all shut up about shareholder rights and capabilities? It’s clear that everyone is an armchair broker but it’s really irrelevant to the influences of choosing a stress test date or release date.
Blizzard wants to look good to shareholders, and will make decisions based on how they think it will play with their share price.
That’s why the stress test can slip, but the release date cannot.
No, they just need to care more about their product instead of just trying to pump out garbage at the speed of light hoping to get it right for every 1 out of 100 things you do.
The better public perception of a company’s product and more sells, the higher their value in theory.
You’re not wrong, but you’re also not the only one replying in this thread. Your point is well taken to a degree, but what myself and others take issue with are the people claiming that there are mysterious, mustache-twirling groups of shareholders that are directly pulling strings or influencing corporate decision-making.
To say that corporate executives are going to attempt actions and directions that benefit shareholders is like saying the sky is blue or water is wet. That is what corporations do after all. But to make asinine statements like others are doing that there is some kind of weird bat phone that connects directly to large bloc investor-shareholders is paranoia founded on ignorance of the process/law/reality.
For someone that claims to study law, you’re awful at communication. Maybe try specifying that your’e talking about Blizzard when we’re talking about shares?
Anyway, Blizzard directors are required to gain stock equal to their annual salary within 5 years of being put on the board of directors. This is ONLY to give the directors stake in the company to motivate them to make the right decisions.
But regardless, Fidelity Management has absolutely 0 say in what Blizzard does. They’re not allowed to influence Blizzard’s decisions. THE SHAREHOLDERS DO NOT OPERATE A BUSINESS! THAT ENDS YOUR INCORPORATION!!! The business, by law, has to have autonomy, as in the directors operate the business, not the shareholders.
The ONLY way shareholders can influence the business is if they’re on the board of directors, or the board puts something up to a shareholder vote. Otherwise, liability laws don’t allow it. And you cannot be incorporated without a functioning board of directors.
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I have a family member who works for a large corp who has 70k in stocks, but she can’t touch it until retirement. I’m not sure how this works for employees of those company’s that have millions invested at the top levels, but I do know that insider trading is extremely illegal.
The stress test has nothing to do with shareholders.
Putting off the stress test just means they don’t have all their ducks in a row to handle the crowds.
More like they are running behind schedule a bit.
lol…get caught at insider trading and it’s a trip to “club fed” not to mention you won’t have that cushy job anymore.
That was my point. Slipping the stress test doesn’t look bad to shareholders. Slipping the release date would.
Likely happens more often than we think.
In theory yes…that is the way it should work…but practically that isn’t how it does…the shift in the way that gaming companies do things is evidence of the contrary…companies like EA and Activision and Konami have proven that as long as they release a game, no matter what the condition it’s in, they get their money back to give back to their investors. I give you Metal Gear solid V as an example. Konami couldn’t get the entire game out in time, so they released basically the first mission by itself with a 30 or 40 dollar price tag and people ate it up even knowing that it was literally only about 30 minutes to an hour to complete the game. Then people turned right around and spent another 50-60 bucks on Phantom Pain when it came out too…even though both of them should have been released together for one price tag. But Konami made plenty of money on that one. Then there’s BFA. From what I’ve heard about the release of it, it was a buggy piece of garbage, nowhere near the quality that we are used to from Blizzard, and yet Blizzard claimed HUGE earnings on the release of BFA.
So yes…ideally the company’s image is important, and that’s the way it should be. But practically the way the gaming industry is trending right now…that is not how it’s working.
No they could slip the release date with no issues as long as they do it before 3Q numbers have to be in.
3Q numbers are up to 9/30.
And shareholders don’t follow release dates for games.
They follow quarterly reports.
It still wouldn’t. If classic releases late, that’s because Blizzard doesn’t feel that it’s ready.
And About Metal Gear Solid. Single player offline games tend to be rushed for budgeting reasons, they need to make returns by a certain point. Classic, a subscription based game, is a different story.
On that point I will agree. Which is why I clarified my statement later in the thread because I saw where people were taking my post a little out of context in that my whole “as long as the shareholders say it’s ok” was meant a little more in jest, but to also provide context for what my point actually was.
If they’re smart, they follow the news about games. Including “Blizzard fails again! Classic release slips!”
That matters to players, not shareholders who avoid bad press.
It mostly does, though.
This isn’t ture. EA stonks have lost 50% since 7/11/18, and Act. Blizzard (ATVI) has also lost about 50% of their value since 10/01/18
That the ONLY people that would be talking about that is the classic fanbois, while the rest of the gaming industry and the players and news outlets that live in reality, it’s not even news-worthy.
I really don’t think you’re understanding what shareholders do
my point is though that they continue on with this corrupt practice as noted in my post using the MGS5 example. It’s infuriating because I agree with you that company’s should be trying to protect their image, but for some reason they seem to not give a single damn about that anymore and are more interested in releasing tripe and feeding that to us.
No, they follow the reports with the numbers.
If ATVI revenue goes up due to let’s say a King mobile game even though classic slips then shareholders don’t care because revenue is UP.
As a shareholder I don’t give a crap about which game is coming out when. Just that games are coming out and that people are buying them as well as overall sub/player numbers that the company can retain.