quote:
I''m not sure why they would be cutting such an annual loss with all of Microprose''s great franchises (Rollercoaster Tycoon, MechWarrior, Falcon 4, XCOM, Civilization, etc.).

I suppose it''s funny to see two Hasbro titles on PC Data''s top-ten chart, but them still cutting a loss. ;]

Revolver, there is a history of large distributors with
hit titles lossing their shirts. The key is, you have to
be smart with fundamental business issues when you have a
hit. If you sell a million copies of something, and have
500,000 returns, I guarantee you are not being smart
(and probably not going to make a profit). If a title
brings in 10 million, but you spend 13 million promoting
it, you are lossing money, not making money. All you are
succeeding at is putting yourself and everyone else out
of business. I believe that''s one of the reasons for the
sick game business today. Stupid stupid stupid corporations
poisoning the market with tactics such as these.

Now, that sounds kind of dumb and obvious, doesn''t it?
I mean spending 13 million on a title that only brings in
10 million. But it happens *all the time*. Probably
because with large corporations, no one person is in charge
and keeping a close enough eye on the big picture? I don''t
know.

Are you familiar with the history of the ''hit title'' Riven?
There''s a success story that didn''t help Broderbund, in
fact, helped kill it.

What about Havas/TLC/Mattel Interactive? They show up at
the top of PC Data charts for a while, and then kill
themselves. Hasbro seems to be acting in an equally
stupid manner. Who on earth knows *why* these companies
are so stupid? Others are smarter and make huge profits.
Others are stupid. I''m just glad Hasbro falls into the
"stupid can''t figure out how to make a profit" category.

A big reason why Hasbro is losing money is the cost of acquisitions. They are running their interactive business like an internet startup, looking to buy market share.

I don''t see how Microprose fits into that strategy. The brands that Microprose had aren''t strong enough in Hasbro''s core market -- the casual user -- to warrant Hasbro extending themselves in that direction.

Now buying Atari, that''s a different matter. That fits into Hasbro''s core market nicely because the Atari game brands are well known outside of the hard core gamer market.

I also like the games.com strategy, which is really about leveraging their brands in a potential growth area.

The bottom line is that Hasbro can afford to lose money on the interactive side of their business as long as they are being smart about how they are developing that business. In my view, they have made some smart and some dumb moves. Games.com and Atari have the potential to be smart moves; Microprose and the decision to skimp in developing good games are bad decisions. There is no substitute for good games in the long run.

Microsoft is publishing Mechwarrior 4.

Hmm, Microsoft or Hasbro. Tough call, but I think I''d go with Microsoft any day.

Hasbro can bite me.

quote:Original post by Buster
Hmm, Microsoft or Hasbro. Tough call, but I think I''d go with Microsoft any day.

Hasbro actually makes M$ look like a *nice* company!

READ THIS!

http://www.avault.com/news/displaynews.asp?story=282000-145422

So could a story end.

Thursday, March 9, 2000 - 10:37 am CT
Project 2 Goes Down

After a long struggle, Dutch games publisher Project Two Interactive has been declared insolvent through the Court of Haarlem. Rob Ercevic, founder and co-president of Project Two, filed the petition himself because the company could no longer manage its debts. One of the firm''s main benefactors, Banque Artesia, had decided to withdraw its loan. According to Ercevic, debts totaled around 11.5 million guilders, or close to $5 million.

http://www.avault.com/news/displaynews.asp?story=392000-10373

quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster
After a long struggle, Dutch games publisher Project Two Interactive has been declared insolvent through the Court of Haarlem. Rob Ercevic, founder and co-president of Project Two, filed the petition himself because the company could no longer manage its debts. One of the firm''s main benefactors, Banque Artesia, had decided to withdraw its loan. According to Ercevic, debts totaled around 11.5 million guilders, or close to $5 million.

What does this have to do with the Hasbro case? Technology companies go backrupt all the time, all over the globe, nothing unusual about that ... Hasbro Interactive had $53 million losses, and last quarter eGames had losses, but both are projecting profits for this year. So what about Project 2?