Frontier Developments Share Discussion Threads

[yankhanson] 22/10/2023 14:57

FDEV's Warhammer game is due to launch soon, six months late. The delay throws it up against two much-stronger competing releases.

Focus Entertainment's Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2
62,959 followers, wishlist rank #15

Owlcat Games's Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader
41,487 followers, wishlist rank #33

Frontier Developments' Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realms of Ruin
20,452 followers, wishlist rank #100

Frontier's licence "exclusivity" looks less valuable than they might think.

[yankhanson] 21/10/2023 19:51

Your chance to tell the CEO and CFO in person what you think of the job they are doing.

Frontier Developments - Jonny Watts (CEO) & Alex Bevis (CFO)
Berenberg Video Gaming Conference October 31 2023
hxxps://www.berenberg.de/uploads/web/INVITATION-Berenberg-Video-Gaming-Conference-Tuesday-31st-October-2023-London.pdf

[gucci] 20/10/2023 16:14

breaking out

[volsung] 20/10/2023 08:34

Bought a few on the dip
Recovery play

[yankhanson] 19/10/2023 14:48

I was not referring to rating (score), which anyway is absent - because Frontier disabled review scores. Wisely. I was referring to the review content at hxxps://steamcommunity.com/app/1844380/discussions/. Sample below.

So you use Youtube gameplay recordings to decide whether you'll buy the game. I doubt serious investors use that to decide whether to buy shares, but anyway, the problem in Warhammer's case is there is so little gameplay being recorded. Youtube creators are largely ignoring the game.

REVIEW hxxps://steamcommunity.com/app/1844380/discussions/0/6393480947862690910/

Update: minutes after I posted that link, the article was deleted, presumably by Frontier damage managers reading this board.

[cirlbunting1] 19/10/2023 10:30

I dont trust Steam either. Handful of AAA games which were best sellers and then were rated poorly by those in steam - 'Last of us' being a prime example. For games, Youtube is the best source because you actually get to see the gameplay. As a gamer myself, I never rely on reviews. I always go on youtube to see the gameplay and then consider if I should buy the game or not.

[darlocst] 19/10/2023 09:05

Very positive reaction to the latest trailer for Realms of Ruin - excitement building:

[yankhanson] 17/10/2023 22:33

The CEO, COO and CFO presiding over the 90% of loss of value over the last three years have in that period taken remuneration totalling £11m.

Yes, £11m.

For scale, that's 12% of the current market cap.

If the current embarrassment does light a fire under them, let's hope that drives them to seek what they think they're worth at a job with a company that can afford them. That company is not Frontier.

[cottlet] 17/10/2023 13:49

top heavy workforce and wages are a killer........
as is WFH...........I wonder how many WFH are still on London salaries????

[bat5hit] 17/10/2023 10:06

Think it's no coincidence that they just had the embarrassment of their performance-related options lapsing and this statement coming out. Good. Perhaps it'll light a fire under their behinds.

[cirlbunting1] 17/10/2023 10:01

Fantastic pressure from shareholders. Another event trade but failed to take.

[kemche] 17/10/2023 07:30

Whoosh in 2026!

[john09] 17/10/2023 07:10

On the sidelines here but a useful update

[yankhanson] 16/10/2023 22:21

Point of information. Frontier doesn't own the Elite franchise. See the legals on the Elite Dangerous game webpage.

marta1ity's "fire all staff and just run the games for cash" sounds reckless. Much of Frontier's dwindling earnings are from new addons which take staff and money to develop.

And that can easily go wrong e.g. Elite Dangerous. One of the top youtubers covering it recently mined some earnings details showing "it seems the game is only just breaking even". hxxps://youtu.be/v-zo2PzLtvY?si=-p8oubvYYfJqGGEi&t=511 That due in part to still-ongoing costs of fixing the huge and hugely defective Odyssey addon of two years ago.

[phowdo] 16/10/2023 18:49

For sure the Elite franchise is worth something, just might not be as much as some people think. From memory Eidos raised £25M from shareholders and then a while later were bought out at £40M (below the placing price) as they continued to haemorage cash. Making all their IP including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Hitman etc worth some £15M. Predators dont pay top dollar in a firesale.

[mortal1ty] 16/10/2023 17:34

Nah there is value in this business. It is net cash and has some decent IP. Someone could buy this business, fire all 1000 staff and just run the games for cash.

Not saying that will happen.. but jts definitely not a 0.

[phowdo] 16/10/2023 16:27

1000 staff. Thats some cashburn each and every month. If the recent games are not hits then they probably need to raise money and make layoffs. Tencent and the Saudis are not spraying the games industry with free cash anymore. I suspect this will be like the 00s where all the listed UK gamedevs went bust or were bought out for a pittance. TM17,FDEV,TBLD,DEVO,KWS could very well all go the way of RGE,WHOG,AGT,EID,SEG. Then in 10 years the cycle starts over again...

[aishah] 16/10/2023 15:49

SP back to 2014 levels. Has this fallen too far now? Mkt cap down to £84m

[yankhanson] 11/10/2023 23:27

"If Warhammer is a flop"

Player reviews on the current free demo release are 80% negative. The number playing is mere hundreds, down 50% from the previous release. Stream views are down 90% from the previous release. Games press are giving very little coverage.

Now we see why Frontier just reduced the price and gave refunds to existing purchasers.

Flop or hit? You decide.

[sbb1x] 11/10/2023 08:49

Hopefully can break 253 on this rise

[mortal1ty] 11/10/2023 08:35

I believe it is finding a floor. If Warhammer is a flop, we take another big leg down, probably into the mid 150s.

Eye on a possible recovery in late 2024 when the company might release content people actually want.