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The video game industry has been a surprising growth market this year, fueled by popular games and new technology. These companies stood out in 2016.
The gaming sector has performed well in 2016, with many of the top names in the space, from Nintendo(NASDAQOTH:NTDOY) to chipmaker NVIDIA(NASDAQ:NVDA), posting solid returns. Well-received new content, impressive new technology, and renewed ideas about how to get both of those to consumers have helped the sector grow this year. Here were some of the winners in 2016, and what the future could hold for these companies.
Nintendo-Go
Of the content creators and licensors, Nintendo was the best-performing in its group in 2016, with more than a 50% rise through the year to date. Though it was up around 80% before a mid-December sell-off, the company has still had a remarkable year. Nintendo's resurgence follows the company's decision to finally develop a mobile strategy and bring its timeless characters and stories into a modern age.
Nintendo was one of the big winners with the Pokemon Go phenomenon that exploded worldwide this year, and the company announced a new game console called Switch to come out in 2017, which has helped to raise its stock price as well. Most recently, Nintendo launched a new mobile game called Super Mario Run, which topped the download charts during its first weekend, with around 5 million downloads its first day. The game has had some disappointing reviews so far, pushing Nintendo's YTD growth lower, but it's still the early days of Nintendo's new mobile game strategy, so it's certainly not game over yet.
Take-Two Interactive(NASDAQ:TTWO) was also a top performer within the gaming content space, posting a 40% jump in share price this year. Take-Two, maker of popular games such as Grand Theft Auto and NBA 2K17, has grown sales 21% in the most recent quarter, year over year. The company has also been able to adopt a more digitally focused strategy, which has helped margins so that, while earnings fell year over year, they were far above analyst estimates in the most recent quarter.
Platform players
Aside from the actual content creators, some gaming platform companies also performed well this year. Sony(NYSE:SNE) gets a spot on this list largely thanks to the launch of its PlayStation 4 gaming system and more recent launch of a premium virtual reality (VR) bundle that brings VR game play to mass-market gamers. Gaming makes up only about 20% of Sony's total revenue, but it's also its fastest-growing division and could help push the stock higher as more games for its VR headset come out in 2017.
In China, where video game sales are booming and there are an estimated 700 million mobile users and growing, local platform company NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) has been a winner, with a 19% jump in share price this year. With an assortment of its own online games (among many online services from email to advertising), NetEase also has a deal with content companies such as Activision Blizzard to distribute its games across China, such as one of the hottest games this year, Overwatch, which has done very well in China.
The biggest winners "inside" gaming
While the content and the platforms for playing it on are the face of the gaming industry, the technology inside the devices -- be it gaming consoles, computers, or virtual reality headsets -- are chipmakers such as Advanced Micro Devices(NASDAQ:AMD) and NVIDIA. These two companies have each made big plays so far in 2016, not just in gaming -- though that has been a growth driver for both companies, with each putting out new high-power chips for intense gaming -- but also in autonomous cars, artificial intelligence, connected devices within the Internet of things, and more. As a result of this growth, AMD and NVIDIA stocks are up 280% and 210%, respectively, year to date.
While these content, platform, and chip companies did well this year as the gaming industry continued to grow, bricks-and-mortar video games and gaming hardware seller GameStop (NYSE: GME) had a rough year, which has pushed its stock down 8% so far in 2016. GameStop's business model has struggled to update amid a changing consumer landscape. Looking forward, this trend is likely to grow, as the gaming industry moves to a more e-commerce-focused market, and content creators continually seek a model of digital downloads. The companies with the best content and the most interesting technology are the ones to expect to lead growth in 2017.
The lack Friday is arguably one of the best days of the year to shell out for shopping, no matter whether you reside in the United States or outside the American soil. You can score the best Black Friday 2016 deals as early as on Thanksgiving Day, November 24. That’s because, in the recent years, more and more retail chain stores are opting to start their Black Friday sale in Turkey Thursday, a day prior to the actual holiday shopping event.
There are a number of great deals coming out this year for in consumer electronics section including gaming system and other tech and related items. Some of the all-time favorite deals are the Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4), Xbox One and Nintendo gaming consoles.
There obviously are a massive number of Black Friday 2016 deals and so the sales are expected to begin as early as a week prior to the November 25 week. The e-commerce giant Amazon and GameStop, as well as the leading consumer electronics retailer Best Buy will be among the first major names to bring out the deals.
PlayStation 4 (PS4) Black Friday 2016 Deals
The standard Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) and Microsoft’s Xbox One gaming consoles are expected to be sold at steep discounts as part of the Black Friday 2016. According toThe Cetureon, the Black Friday deals for the PlayStation 4 bundles with a game title will be priced starting at $299.99. The Black Friday 2016 PS4 deal features an uncharted 4 Bundle including Grand Theft Auto V. Another bundle will be coming on the 25th at $309.99 will include Overwatch and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
Moreover, the PS4 Black Friday 2016 Bundle includes Black Ops 3 and Mafia III. Sony Another PS4 deal this Black Friday is priced at $399.9 that bundled with a variant Rise of the Tomb Raider and an added controller.
XBox One Black Friday 2016 Deals
A number of Xbox One bundles are also available for the upcoming Black Friday 2016. One of the Xbox One Bundles will be bundled with a Samsung 4K UHD TV at $849.99. Another Xbox One bundle includes Gears of War, Rise of the Tomb Raider along with Fallout 4 at just $249.99.
Nintendo is having a rough fiscal year, but the company was able to rub off some shine from Pokémon Go to help buoy its most recent quarterly results.
The 3DS and its Pokémon games saw a boost in sales last quarter thanks to the Google Maps-powered Pokémon Go app from developer Niantic. That game, which debuted in July and has already generated $500 million in spending, has reenergized a generation of fans and they are spending some of their cash to purchase the 3DS handheld and releases like Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. While Go dominated the $36.6 billion mobile-gaming market, Nintendo is benefitting from the residual excitement.
“On the hardware side, Nintendo 2DS saw sales growth,” reads Nintendo’s quarterly report. “The release of the smart device application Pokémon Go led to increased sales of software in the Pokémon series released in the past and drove the Nintendo 3DS family hardware sales growth, particularly outside of Japan.”
During the first six months of Nintendo’s fiscal year, the company sold 2.71 million 3DS systems. That’s up 19 percent compared to the same period in 2015. This suggests that fans got a taste of the pocket monster on mobile, and that led them to seek out a more robust and traditional gaming experience on an official Nintendo platform. As the company moves ahead with its first mobile games, starting with Super Mario Run in December, it wants to continue to use iOS and Android to generate excitement for the larger, more elaborate games in the same franchise on Wii U, 3DS, and the Switch.
While hardware was up, software was flat year-over-year. Gamers purchased 19.23 million 3DS games through the first six months of the publisher’s fiscal year. The year-over-year growth for 3DS software should come this holiday when Nintendo releases Pokémon Sun and Moon.
Finally, if you’re wondering how much money Nintendo is making from Pokémon Go, it doesn’t work like that. The publisher owns a third of The Pokémon Company, which oversees the brand. The value of the equity Nintendo owns in that associated subsidiary jumped $115 million, and Pokémon Go was likely responsible for a lot of that.
