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| Porn Users Forum » Legal robbery. |
| 1-3 of 3 Posts | Page 1 |
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| 05-24-13 11:18am - 4242 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User  Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Legal robbery. You buy a video game. That gives you the right to play it. But now it appears that if you sell the video game, Microsoft and Sony are sticking their fingers into your wallet, and will demand a cut of the sale price. Or if you lend that video game to a friend, that friend may not be able to play that game, without paying Microsoft or Sony a fee. Welcome to the world of Cloud computing, where your video games are no longer your sole property, but the shared property of you and your financial partner, Sony or Microsoft. ========= ========= Stocks To Watch News and commentary about the stocks you need to know about today May 24, 2013, 12:35 P.M. ET GameStop’s Terrible Week, Down 17% By Sam Mamudi Videogame retailer GameStop (GME) wins this week’s Standard & Poor’s 500 wooden spoon as the biggest decliner on the index. The stock has fallen 7.8% today, and is off about 17% this week, in the wake of first-quarter earnings and news that Microsoft‘s (MSFT) forthcoming Xbox One console may charge users to play pre-owned games (or even games they’ve borrowed from friends). It’s fair to say GameStop’s latest earnings weren’t great, with sales down, and the current quarter heading for as much as a 16% drop in same-store sales. The Grapevine, Texas, company has attributed recent sales weakness to a dearth of new game titles. In response, it has been focusing on new initiatives, such as offering digital download codes to customers, refurbishing Apple (AAPL) mobile devices and selling tablets that run on Google (GOOG) Android software. As countless companies have shown (most recently Sears Holdings (SHLD)), it’s a tough time to be a bricks-and-mortar retailer. But GameStop is likely also suffering because of the action’s of a core part of its industry — namely, the efforts by Microsoft and Sony (SNE) to address the second-hand games market. The sale and resale of preowned games is “multibillion dollar business” as the Journal’s story notes, and a big part of GameStop’s revenues. But of course it also means fewer new game sales and revenue for Microsoft and Sony. It was widely expected the two would take measures to “address” preowned games for their new consoles which will go on sale later this year. And thus, Microsoft’s Xbox One launch earlier this week was overshadowed by the controversy over what it plans to do about preowned games. The latest suggestion comes today from a speculative piece on the GameSpot website: The system will reportedly work as such: consumers can trade in physical Xbox One game discs only at retailers that have agreed to Microsoft’s terms and conditions and have integrated the company’s cloud-enabled Azure preowned technology into their own. The traded in title is then registered on Microsoft’s systems as having been re-sold and the data files will be cleared from their Xbox One account. Such a system would explain Microsoft’s position that the Xbox One must “check in” with its servers once every 24 hours. Retailers are then able to re-sell the used game at whatever price point they see fit. As part of this initiative, the publisher of the game will automatically receive a cut of the sale, along with Microsoft. The rest is revenue for the retailer. While such a system may keep the second-hand games market alive and may not cause as much outrage among gamers as some people expect, it’s still likely to hurt GameStop’s margins. All of which helps explain this week’s drop. It should also be remembered that the retailer’s stock is — even after this 17% decline — up 32% in 2013 and 73% in the past year. And Wall Street analysts still like the company — it has an average rating of ‘Overweight’ according to FactSet, and a mean price target of $41.25, a 24% premium from today’s trading price. Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter yesterday reiterated his Buy rating and $49 target price for GameStop, writing: We do not expect either next gen console to block used gaming. We believe the HW manufacturers would be foolish to block used gaming on the next gen consoles because it would negatively impact trade-in credits used for purchases of next gen consoles and games. GameStop management disclosed it generates over $1 billion in trade-in credits every year, with 70% used for new games. Credits fund 17% of the total spending on new games and digital content at GameStop. In a note published this morning, Needham analyst Sean McGowan wrote: GME also believes pre-owned sales will benefit from new console introductions as the install base expands and consumers trade in old systems and software when upgrading. Regarding what impact the new consoles would have on the used game market, GME deferred to manufacturers for details, but confidently predicted it would be an active player in the used market for the new consoles. We have modestly raised our 2013 and 2014 EPS estimates, and maintain our Hold rating. In other words, the consensus seems to be that if you have faith in Microsoft and Sony not shooting themselves in the foot over the preowned games issue, GameStop is a good bet. | |
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| 05-24-13 09:39pm - 4241 days | #2 | |
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turboshaft (0)
Active User Posts: 1,958 Registered: Apr 01, '08 |
The previews of the new PS4 and the XBox One looked cool...but good lord, do these companies know how to nickel and dime people. I understand there's a technological limit to backwards-compatibility--which both of these upcoming systems are planned to lack--but this whole Cloud gaming bullshit is taking a good idea too far. Removing physical media from the picture is inevitable; it's cheaper for the manufacturer and the consumer, and simplifies the process of buying and then playing a game. But it also unfortunately puts increasing power into the parent company's greedy hands. Besides the system and its accessories, what's left for gamers to actually own? (I'm sure they'd lease systems if they could get away with that too.) I currently have a PS3 and enjoy it along with its free online network*, but it is getting close to seven years old in the U.S. and a next gen system would be very welcome at this point. I'll just be watching my wallet as well.  *XBox Live, PlayStation Network's rival, supposedly requires that you pay an annual subscription--even for other online subscriptions you're already paying for. Any XBox 360 owners' extra input or experience would help here because this sounds almost too stupid to be true. "It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hardcore Commie works." - Gen. Jack D. Rippper, Dr. Stranglove | |
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| 05-25-13 07:42pm - 4240 days | #3 | |
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PantyhoseFan (0)
Active User  Posts: 4 Registered: May 20, '13 |
All this advancement in systems, but each time the games get released with more and more bugs. Patches barely fix the main issues and usually create new ones. In today's market this is accepted practice. 10-15 years ago anything released on a console had to work out of the box. Now with the next systems, you would hope they could just patch easier and more often. However I bet they console makers will still limit them to 1-2 free fixes. The issue of re-selling games is why I never do. I rather let it collect dust or give it to my nephew then let gamestop give me $2 and make $30-40 in return. Now the console companies are going to get even further into this practice(started by making it unplayble online for used games without paying them again on a used disc) by setting up this system. I certainly will be holding off for at least a year or two after they first come out. Most of the games and features are terrible when they get the first crack at it anyway. | |
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