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Despite sickness in the economy and with individual companies in the sector like EA and Midway (more here), the broader video game industry’s retail heartbeat is pulsing strong and steady. For the second month in a row, NPD Group’s retail survey shows above average health.

Year over year, total sales for November were up 10% to $2.91b.  Hardware and software categories saw near equal growth with software up 11% and hardware up 10%.

The sales results were easily good enough to best analyst projections predicting sales gains in the range of 5% to 7%.  Impressively, if adjusted to normalize for the different number of post-Thanksgiving sales days between the two years (Thanksgiving was Nov. 22, in 2007, and Nov. 27 this year), they’d have been even better.

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Google’s library is growing.  In addition to serving as the card catalog for the ever-changing mass of digital content on the net, the search giant’s archived rare books and snagged Life Magazine’s photo catalog. They’re also now playing host to a collection of magazine back issues – full spreads, not just links.  

So far, Google has quietly made copies of more than one million articles.    According to a company blog, this is part of a broader initiative to bring more magazine archives and current stock online.  According to Google financials, it may serve another purpose too.

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The November NPD gaming statistics are due within the week but even without the register receipt detail, it’s clear the economy is having an impact on the industry.  While some companies are thriving, others are falling apart.

Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata recently told Reuters that Wii sales more than doubled over the Thanksgiving holiday to nearly 800k units.  Microsoft similarly reported a positive initial surge.  Xbox sales were up 25% the Black Friday weekend.

Closer to the other pole, fortunes (or shoppers) aren’t being as kind to Electronic Arts.   In light of weaker than expected sales, EA announced today that they are lowering their fiscal year 2009 guidance for both earnings per share and net revenue. (The year ends in March).

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Earlier this week, Sumner Redstone sold his majority stake in Midway Games at a substantial loss.  He took $100,000 and the assumption of debt in trade for an investment he spent more than $500m accumulating.  The decision, many believe, was made in part to help with ongoing negotiations to restructure an $800m loan held by his National Amusements company.  Turns out, however, his sales decision may force Midway’s management to renegotiate some debt of their own too.

The Chicago area game company is currently carrying more than $150m in senior convertible debt due in 2025 and 2026.  The contractual agreements for these loans, according to SEC filings, included repurchase obligations that are triggered by a material change of control.  Redstone’s sale of his 87%  stake is just such an event. 

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Sumner Redstone has often shown a deft hand in his media investments. Gaming just hasn’t been his thing. Through 2005, he acquired about 87% of Chicago area gamer, Midway.  The average purchase price was probably close to $8 a share but, over several years of buying, he paid as much as $20 to $24 a share.  In the time since, the company has failed to perform or thrive.

In the quarted ended Sept 30, Midway reported a $76 million loss on revenues of just $36.7 million. Friday, the stock finished at just 38cents a share. With other issues lingering, Redstone hit the eject button. Friday, he reached an agreement to divest his stake entirely – at a fire sale price.

According to regulatory filings, Redstone, his family’s theater holding company, National Amusements Inc., and Sumco Inc. (a company he formed in 2005 to shift debt obligations created in acquiring Midway stock), agreed to sell their 87.2 percent interest in Midway to private investor Mark Thomas.

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Started in 1888.  Financial supporter for the first expedition to the North Pole.  Photographs from the first flight over the South.  Presence on the first orbital space flight.  Present on the moon -  from the Far East to the home front, from the icy north to the deepest ocean depths, in its first hundred years National Geographic was a pioneer of exploration.  It the last fifteen, it’s been a pioneer in the evolution of media.

Today, there are 31 local language editions of the National Geographic magazine reaching forty million people a month.   The TV shows, distributed on branded cable channels, beam to 250 million households in over 160 countries.  The website hosts more than ten million people a month.  National Geographic is available in Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Arabic, Spanish, even Serbian. 

In September, embracing technology, a Mobile division was launched.  In early October, the brand’s website National Geographic.com launched a portal for user-generated video.   Today, a gaming division was added to the expanding digital media mix.

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Is there an Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) with a Hollywood connection in Ubisoft’s future plans?

The convergence of Hollywood with the video game industry is a recurring theme.  Traditional studios like Paramount and Disney have expanded their game offerings.  Publishers like EA, have signed up talent agents and sought out visual storytellers to partner with; striking development deals with luminaries like Spielberg and up and comers too.  French publisher Ubisoft is as much a part of this process as any studio. 

Arguable, Ubisoft may even be blazing part of the trail.   In the past couple years, the company has made significant strides to align itself with the movie (and TV) industry.   Click to Read More