First fiscal quarter was 'a mixed bag for video games' - analyst

A new report from analyst firm Baird Equity Research turns its attention to the first quarter of the current fiscal year, stating that "sluggish" console software sales will have most likely limited any potential upside for numerous developers. While analyst Colin Sebastian describes the quarter as "a mixed bag for video games," he notes that both Activision and Electronic Arts are in line to beat consensus revenue forecasts. In particular, he says that solid Mass Effect 3 and Kingdoms of Amular sales have helped EA to at least meet expectations for its first quarter, along with strong sales of several EA Sports franchises. However, while Sebastian believes that Activision will keep its momentum going into the rest of the year thanks to high-profile launches like Diablo III, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and a Skylanders sequel, he is not so convinced of EA's full year line-up. He notes that EA's expected 30 percent growth for the year is dependent on "strong subscriber trends" for Star Wars: The Old Republic, and while he believes that the subscriber numbers for the game will remain stable, there is definite risk involved. Elsewhere in the report, Sebastian expects Take Two to post financial results for the first quarter in-line with expectations, whlie he expects Zynga to post first-quarter results that are slightly below estimates. "While Zynga continues to dominate Facebook games and is making solid progress on mobile platforms, we believe that slower growth on Facebook limits upside to estimates near term," he explained.