Banc of America Securities Analyst Report on Video Game Industry

[SFLUFAN]

This is a 45 page report from Banc (yes that is spelled correctly - the investment arm of Bank of America is spelled "Banc") of America's Equity Research Department.

The gist of the report is that this fall/winter is the BIGGEST in gaming history - they haven't seen anything like it. The report speculates that Doom 3/Half Life 2 will have a spillover effect into hardware.

If you ever wanted to see how the business side of gaming works, here is a glimpse:

http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/july04/bancofamerica.pdf

They also mention some "tension" between Valve and VU - that's not surprising now is it?

 

[Shuzer]

45 pages.. wow, long read. I skimmed it briefly, interesting read indeed

 

[Adidajs]

i think their analysis on doom3 sales doing well because it's coming out before hl2 will be quite accurate. They note that hl2 preorders number more than d3 - it would definitely hurt d3 if it came out after. I think many people will buy d3 for it alone if not out of frustration waiting for hl2. i didn't realize that it appears that d3 for xbox will be coming out soon, they estimate before even hl2 comes out for pc.

 

[ShadowFox]

It would be funny if HL2 and Halo 2 came out on the same day. Some of the folks here's heads would explode.

 

[blahblahblah]

I just read that - very interesting. I learned a lot of stuff about the video game industry.

They seemed dead accurate with their Doom 3 release. I wonder if their HL2 release date is accuract...

 

[ThomasToad]

I read just about the whole thing and found it very interesting, I thing doing something like that for a living would be the only way I would want to get into business. As for the HL2 release date I have a feeling they are just playing it safe.

I found it rather funny how the casual gamers will buy into most of the popular franchises without thinking twice about it, like medal of honor(rising sun). It really does seem like people won't take any risks with buying games or are willing to try anything different.

It seems like all the racing games have to reflect "The Fast and Furious" to sell well too.

I really do hope their predictions are right in that Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 will resurrect pc gaming and get people to buy new hardware, I think in general these two games could be enough to push the limits of future game makers into creating better games.