Frontier Developments Share Discussion Threads

[yankhanson] 02/10/2023 13:23

Gotcha. "Number go up".

[sbb1x] 02/10/2023 11:25

More likely heading to 600+

[yankhanson] 02/10/2023 11:24

The last four big new games from the same developers all tanked the share price.

Any rational investor would want to see some basis from your prediction this next one will double the share price. Especially considering that this game's poor reception from players so far strongly indicates another suicidally misconceived and overpriced flop.

[sbb1x] 02/10/2023 09:11

New game being released in November.... back to 450+

[sbb1x] 02/10/2023 08:21

Looking better today

[sbb1x] 29/9/2023 16:58

Unbelievable we finished blue.

[mortal1ty] 29/9/2023 08:48

Let's see what the volume is at the end of the day.

[sbb1x] 29/9/2023 08:45

This gapped up, think we have back ground buyers now and that the bottom is in.

[cirlbunting1] 29/9/2023 08:43

Yh i had to avg down after I bought at 3. 2/4 tranches (will buy 3rd tranche at 1.6... 4th at 1.1 etc if we get to those lvls). Avg price 2.61

[sbb1x] 29/9/2023 08:34

Found some buying after dropping from 600

[cirlbunting1] 29/9/2023 08:24

No regulated portfolio manager will let this stock go down more than 30-50% without averaging down/cutting or removing it from their portfolio completely.

[yankhanson] 29/9/2023 00:16

phowdo, sector drop is only a small part of FDEV's drop e.g. the last year saw TM17 drop by 20% but FDEV by 84%. I.e. FDEV's underperformance is mostly its own fault alone.

[phowdo] 28/9/2023 19:18

Gaming downturn continues, even Epic laying off staff now

[phowdo] 28/9/2023 10:05

Gaming was a growth sector to be in but its always been cyclic and post-pandemic is now shrinking fast (except those companies with the biggest franchises). Eg the likes of Embracer desperately disposing of studios (A roll-up company that took on too much and has now imploded) the writing has been on the wall for a good while.
See also shareprice performance of KWS,TM17 and many foreign listed videogame companies. Some of us remember the first time around with the likes of EID,RGE,AGT,SEG listed in the UK all going to the wall.

[mortal1ty] 28/9/2023 09:40

As I have said before, portfolio managers might have had 0.5% of their fund in a stock like this. After the drop it might be 0.1% now?

Even if FDEV shares went to 0, they might lose another 0.1% performance. They don't care if they crush the share price, they have already written it off in their own minds and their portfolio.

Imagine if you had £1k of your £200k portfolio in it. Now its worth £200. Do you really care if you have to smash the share price to get out? I mean, its just £200 at risk now.

So... its going to go towards net-cash like the rest of these sorry video games companies.

[sbb1x] 28/9/2023 09:33

Seller /shorter is unstoppable here.

[fuji99] 27/9/2023 13:14

mortaL1ty: This is the bleakest account on a company I have red for many years. a testimony of staff losing any hope and just surviving till something happens - basically a sinking boat till the end.

[p1nkfish] 26/9/2023 19:46

Only a BoD purge will right this boat imho. A clean sweep.

[mortal1ty] 26/9/2023 16:48

Just spent some time reading the glassdoor reviews on FDEV. It sort of echos the discussions we have been having on here, but to be honest everything sounds worse than I thought. Include some below. Interestingly, pretty much every single review states that the pay is below average for the industry, especially given people live in Cambridge.

"Unclear what the future plan is Poor/no top down communication Many poor performers are able to cruise through unnoticed All work is to please shareholders Getting promoted seems inconsistent and depends on which management sign it off Some teams work very long hours while others down tools at 4pm on the dot Salaries are well below current market rates with no inflation based increases"

"The games felt rushed in development. And hurt their reputation. Was hard to be proud of the product you worked on when no one seemed to really care about quality control. High turnout, people coming and leaving quickly, people who left usually were core members and replaced with interns. Promoting from within to seniors. Which is good for employees. But bad for overall growth if they have never worked elsewhere and could have brought valuable insight and skills."

"The company culture is tainted with laziness and people who have been worn out over the years and thus don't care any further. Game sales have been so low that the bonus has been terrible, which makes a difference for a lot of people as salaries are also some of the lowest in this industry that I have encountered in the UK. Execs have been blaming this on the economy but the fact is the games aren't competitive enough and don't appeal to new players and certain design features have lost an enormous amount of casual and even hardcore players. Frontier operates on a status quo basis that may have worked 10 years ago but isn't adequate for what players nowadays want. Player research isn't a given on each project and interesting features are cut for more traditional but increasingly outdated design. As a senior designer I have witnessed too many times that graduates aren't shown the ropes, get lost, develop bad habits, and become very ego-driven as opposed to engaging with team spirit. This isn't surprising as the culture at Frontier is almost non-existent. Most leads don't like devs who challenge and push for new and improved ways. On the other hand I've witnessed fantastic, experienced designers also become totally ego-driven, uninspired and spiteful, which is a culture testimony. Anyone with ambitions will become jaded after a few months. A director once said to me 'Frontier is the Pleasantville of game studios'. It's very true - superficially friendly, complacent and colourless. It's been a miserable few years being surrounded by this kind of unproductivity and I'm sad to say that I regret having joined Frontier. It has stalled my career and it's been strikingly eye-opening now that I've worked in a different studio for a few months. Sadly I've also experienced Frontier not being the most LGBTQ+ - friendly environment. HR had no interest investigating concerns and thus a bunch of LGBTQ folks left silently. I know of 2 who were even too afraid to state these reasons as the person who did speak out was under so much scrutiny, it was affecting their mental health. The fact is Frontier mostly hires the standard white straight male graduate and doesn't invest in representation. Thus this isn't an isolated experience but most departments have stories of active discrimination from leads or seniors towards dev. The strict hierarchy and culture of not challenging the status quo, isolating devs who disagree and disinterest from HR and recruitment to make actual changes lend themselves to these avoidable developments."

[mortal1ty] 26/9/2023 13:29

agbag, there is a black-out period... but we are not longer in it. The blackout I think is c. 1 month before a trading update is released.

[mortal1ty] 26/9/2023 13:27

I know. To be honest, looking forward to have a nibble on these at properly distressed levels.

[sbb1x] 26/9/2023 13:18

This drip drip drip is just continuous from 6 quid

[agbag] 25/9/2023 17:47

Isn't there a black-out period where directors can't buy in, eg before an announcement that they know about that might change the share price?