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Game publisher Majesco's bid to become a higher-profile outfit has taken a temporary setback, after potentially disappointing sales of high-profile titles _Psychonauts<...

June 29, 2005

1 Min Read

Author: by Nich Maragos, Simon Carless

Game publisher Majesco's bid to become a higher-profile outfit has taken a temporary setback, after potentially disappointing sales of high-profile titles Psychonauts and Advent Rising were cited by an analyst as a reason to downgrade the company's stock rating, and a single-day shareprice dive resulted. The company's stock, which trades with the wonderful ticker name 'COOL' on the NASDAQ fell a significant 15.2% to $6.15 a share today, largely as a result of the recommendation, sliding slightly lower still in after-hours trading, following JMP Securities' downgrading of the stock from "market outperform" to "market perform". JMP Securities analyst Ingrid Ebeling wrote in her report that, according to sales data she had received, Advent Rising did well in its initial release, but slowed down afterward due to somewhat unflattering game reviews and word-of-mouth. The Xbox release of Psychonauts, meanwhile, never found the mass audience its large ad campaign was intended to draw, and ended up as more of a niche title. Ebeling said that she expects Majesco's earnings to stay on track with the previously anticipated values, but indicates that she hoped to see the company return to its previous strategy of concentrating on budget releases, such as Game Boy Advance titles and its $20 console games like Phantom Dust and Guilty Gear X2 #Reload. However, with a number of other high-profile games in the pipeline, including Jaws and Taxi Driver, there's no sign that Majesco intends to do this in the short-term.

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