For The Win: 'Anthem' and 'Red Dead' delayed, 'Mario Kart' coming to mobile - InvestingChannel

For The Win: ‘Anthem’ and ‘Red Dead’ delayed, ‘Mario Kart’ coming to mobile

Welcome to “For The Win,” The Fly’s weekly recap of the stories powering up or beating down video game stocks. NEW RELEASES: Among this week’s game releases is the high-definition remake of Sony’ Interactive’s (SNE) “Shadow of the Colossus,” which comes out today as an exclusive title for PlayStation 4. The game is a remake of the PlayStation 2 title of the same name, which came out in North America in October 2005. Also coming out this week is Take-Two’s (TTWO) “Civilization VI: Rise and Fall,” the first expansion pack for turn-based strategy game “Civilization VI,” which launched in 2016. The expansion is available in North America for Microsoft Windows (MSFT) on February 8. RECENT EA RESULTS: Last week, Electronic Arts (EA) reported results for its fiscal third quarter, reporting Q3 GAAP earnings per share of (60c) on net bookings of $1.97B. The game maker added that the lower-than-expected Q3 bookings figure was due to low sales of “Star Wars Battlefront II.” The company also noted that it recognized $176M, or 57c per share, of incremental income tax expense due to the application of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. In addition, the game maker provided better-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter, but cut its fiscal 2018 EPS view to roughly $3.25 from the previous view of $3.63, saying the updated view includes the net impact of roughly (48c) per share due to the new tax law. MAJOR GAME DELAYS: Along with its quarterly report, EA confirmed that its upcoming online multiplayer action game “Anthem” will be released in early 2019, which is later than its previously planned launch window of fall 2018. The company noted on its quarterly earnings call that it does not view the new “Anthem” launch date as a delay and that it is “very confident” with the new ship date. Two days later, Take-Two subsidiary Rockstar games delayed the release of upcoming Western action game “Red Dead Redemption 2” to October 26, 2018. The company, which originally saw the game coming out in Spring 2018, said that the delay will allow for additional time to “further polish the final product.” In its announcement of the matter, Take-Two also reiterated its outlook for fiscal 2019. MOBILE MARIO KART: Last Thursday, Nintendo of America (NTDOY) tweeted that a mobile version of the “Mario Kart” series is currently in development and will launch in the fiscal year ending in March 2019. “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe,” the most recent version of the series that launched last year on the Nintendo Switch, was the fifth-highest selling video game of 2017.