I'll say this: a company's products are IMO a far better predictor of future success than any of its ledgers and reports.
RIM was financially extremely successful for years, even though they were no longer building competitive products. It takes time for the books to catch up to reality.
Looking at Zynga's products, and looking at Activision's products, I know who my money is on for still existing in five years. The only thing I hear about Zynga outside of startup-IPO talk is about people quitting their games. Social gaming, in its current incarnation (that dastardly, insidious, vampiric incarnation) experienced a surge of novel popularity, and is quickly fading.
Contrast with Activision (and EA, and any of the major publishers) who seem to be selling more and more copies and gathering more and more fans with every iteration of their major franchises.
One company stands atop products with increasing popularity and mass-market appeal. The other has ridden past the highs of a fad and is on a slow spiral to irrelevancy.
Who else here feels like there are parallels to be drawn between this and Groupon? Companies past their prime, products with dubious futures... and overall widely criticized by industry insiders for being poor bets. Yet IPOed anyways, all smelling like just a way for people to cash out while they still can.
> I'll say this: a company's products are IMO a far better predictor of future success than any of its ledgers and reports.
Generally I'd agree. Although you get companies like Blizzard who (counter to usual advice) seem to put all their eggs in a couple of baskets, and other companies spread themselves way too thin. Titus' destruction of Interplay and Black Isles speaks of this; I don't think anyone has a clue of why Titus managed to pitch a profitable company into the dirt inside months.
Although again it speaks worlds that one IP (Fallout) was of enough value to resurrect a company from the brink of bankruptcy.
RIM was financially extremely successful for years, even though they were no longer building competitive products. It takes time for the books to catch up to reality.
Looking at Zynga's products, and looking at Activision's products, I know who my money is on for still existing in five years. The only thing I hear about Zynga outside of startup-IPO talk is about people quitting their games. Social gaming, in its current incarnation (that dastardly, insidious, vampiric incarnation) experienced a surge of novel popularity, and is quickly fading.
Contrast with Activision (and EA, and any of the major publishers) who seem to be selling more and more copies and gathering more and more fans with every iteration of their major franchises.
One company stands atop products with increasing popularity and mass-market appeal. The other has ridden past the highs of a fad and is on a slow spiral to irrelevancy.
Who else here feels like there are parallels to be drawn between this and Groupon? Companies past their prime, products with dubious futures... and overall widely criticized by industry insiders for being poor bets. Yet IPOed anyways, all smelling like just a way for people to cash out while they still can.