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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 world is moving toward mobility and portability, and that means now you have more options than ever before to take your gaming with you. Gaming laptops offer a balance between the hardware needed to play demanding 3D games, but the practicality of and portability that laptop users demand.
Those same advances in technology means that now, more than ever, you can get a great gaming laptop for under $500 that is powerful enough to play all but the most intense games on the go.
But to ensure you have what it takes to play your games, you need to make sure you have the right components that will stand the test of time, but will not break the bank.
Graphics Card:
The most important consideration for gaming is going to be the graphics chip your computer has inside of it. You can chose from integrated chips -- meaning that is part of your CPU, or discrete chips, which are separate from your CPU. The former is the cheapest and though it has historically been frowned upon, performance has gotten quite good these days. Depending on what kind of games you play, this could very well be enough. World of Warcraft, or other games with that graphics load will likely be just fine.
A discrete is your best bet if you want to play more intense games, but you will have to pay for the cost of having another chip. If you can find a gaming laptop for under $500 with a discrete chip, that will be a great deal. The consideration also is these use more battery power, so if ultimate portability is key, go integrated but be prepared to take a slight performance hit.
Processor and Hard Disk
For most gaming situations you will want an Intel Core i5 processor or better. The i5 is the mainstream choice, while an i7 will get you better performance, but it will cost you a lot more and if you don’t need to play the absolute best games, then an i5 will do.
When it comes to disks, then solid state disks (SSDs) are best but they do not provide the most space. If you want to load up a lot of games, then having a large SSD will likely blow your budget. While traditional harddrives are a lot slower, they are multiple times as large. They also lead to longer load times, but once the game is loaded you are good to go.
Flexibility
The most important thing to optimize around, however, will be the price tag. You may have a brand that you like, but to hit the price you're looking for, you will need to make sacrifices. The laptop you find may not even be branded as a "gaming" laptop, but whats important is that it has enough power to play the games you want. Thankfully we've weaved our way though this for you to help you find the optimal gaming laptop for under $500.
The Dell Inspiron proves that you can have your cake and eat it too. The laptop, while its not an i5, offers a potent 4th generation i3 that is as powerful as AMD mobile variants, and enough to churn through most games. But what this has that others do not is the ability to flip over as a convertible laptop with touchscreen.
(Photo : Amazon) HP 15-d020nr 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop
Intel is the market leader when it comes to processors. That means they demand a premium for their product to pay for the research and development their company does day in and day out. So a good strategy is to swap out that expensive Intel processor for an AMD, and that is exactly what HP did here.
You get a relatively large screen with touch capability and a quad-core CPU that should make non graphics intense games sing.
This laptop features an Intel i5 processor with a stunning 8gb of RAM. That should be enough for all except the demanding games. Standout features include a massive 1TB harddrive and a nice 15 inch display. Careful, the pixel density is not that great, but it will be enough for full screen tasks and games.
2. Acer Aspire F15 (<-- $549.00 for Used, Click to Buy on Amazon)
(Photo : Amazon) Acer Aspire F15
This Acer does heavy duty work without taxing your wallet. Coming with a bright 15.6" display, it features a fast Intel i5 processor running at 1.7 GHz. This should be enough to get through many of the popular games on the market, and with 8gb, this will also let you have the best experience in your 2D desktop as well.
This is a nice laptop that also has a solid state disk for ridiculously fast load times. The screen is a high resolution 15 inch display, in fact the best display on our whole list, but it also comes with 8gb of memory. The CPU is enough to get through most games and being HP, it even comes with a DVD burner for all of your back up needs.
