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Frontier haa announced on Steam that it has cut the price of all editions of Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realms of Ruin by 10% and is issuing refunds to all who have already purchased.
I would say that such a dramatic statement of lack of confidence in the value of one's own product at such a late stage in proceedings is extremely courageous.
Which brokers? Let me guess. Katie Cousins of Shore Capital, who called big BUY just before the last 40% day drop. Sorry to be cynical.
Liberum's latest report walks back the Total War comparator. They are now saying Dawn of War, The top conversation on Frontier's Steam forum is Frontier vehemently denying a player saying:
dawn of war 3 again
its looks it and it just has that moba combat feel i hope i am wrong
Dawn of War 3 was a widely derided flop.
The rise this morning is due to a tip sheet pushing FDEV based on bullish broker forecasts for Age of Sigmar... they are taking sales figures from Total War; Warhammer III RTS and trying to claim FDEV's version can replicate it's success. That game was published by Sega & from a quick youtube it unsurprisingly looks leagues ahead of Age of Sigmar, but is at the same price point. Appears naive at best to expect similar commercial performance to a AAA studio with almost unlimited resources.
Therein lies the crux of the problem. FDEV are going head to head with AAA publishers and hoping to come off best - the odds are hugely stacked against them. Age of Sigmar will need to be sensational to generate positive initial reviews for a $60 price tag, if it's got bugs or a lack of depth then the backlash will be ferocious.
My take on any potential capital raise is that it'll be contingent on a poor performance from Age of Sigmar, if that game performs then they won't need to do one but if it bombs then they'll need significant capital asap to avoid bigger problems.
Zero point punting at these levels, I'll wait for the initial reception of Age of Sigmar and make a decision from there - I'd love to see it do well, but based on recent releases & the aforementioned competition, I have serious doubts.
So what's with the Share Options and Director/PDMR Dealing RNS today. Despite the headline, it details no director deals, just share option lapses.
Has FD left out director deals by mistake? Or put director deals in the headline by mistake?
Faulks, Showing good cards is the only way the board can lift the SP and thereby the likelyhood of a new issue raising sufficient cash. Ergo the fact the cards are being held so close to chest is undoubtably because these cards are far from good. A better view of those cards should be afforded by the next trading update.
Thing is LM we’ve mostly all lost a lot of money here, and it looks like the company is riding a thin line between rights issue and an abyss. If there is a future for the company, then the company is holding the cards very close to their chests.
The headcount spiel is simply bizarre. It is like they copy and pasted from the annual report of a profitable company with rising earnings and expanding output ... into the report of their loss-making company with falling earnings and shrinking output ... 'cos they want to be like that profitable company.
Sample below.
_____________________
During FY23 we grew our headcount through both the 800 and the 900 people milestones, finishing with 915 people as at 31 May 2023, across all of our teams. Organic growth is as strong as ever, with over 230 people choosing to join us during the period, and a further 18 people joining us from Complex Games through the acquisition we completed in November 2022.
Growing and investing in our people is a crucial element of our strategy, as we seek to both nurture and expand our game portfolio. For some of our development teams that means growth in terms of both headcount and capability, and over time we will look to increase the number of our development teams in order to grow the number of projects that we can support at any one time.
the Group has been able to continue with current headcount growth plans and has sustained a high level of recruitment to support the roadmap
There's been long-term rumblings that the platform ED was written with didn't scale well. Could it not be that the additional head count is to address that, then once done they have new tools to rapidly roll out games on?
One would hope it would be games that are tested a little better.
Is it too cheap though?
October 2016 they were circa same price as now but they had huge plans for their cash cow Elite.
2019 they launched Foundry which should have begun a success as a 3rd party publisher.
Both currently buried under rubble.
A possibility of a share issue. What for though? Surely they should be cutting headcount and scaling back so it’s not needed.
They floated - they completely balls’d it up. Do they now need another cash injection to do anything substantial?
Prudent - At this price the reverse is more in play. Too cheap now.
Prudent you have some very good DD. Is it only FDEV you are invested in? Would be interested to know any other companies you are involved with.
The realisable value of Mr Braben's shares is a good deal lower than any other FDEV share. Nearer 20p than the 200p your figure suggests.
One reason is the devaluative effect of selling. We saw the IIs' recent disposal of 3% of issued shares depressed their remaining ~12%'s value by ~50%. Had that disposal been Mr Braben's, the devaluation would have been of his remaining 30%. Now consider the same effect upon the next 3%, and the next 3%, etc.
Another reason is the effect of the idetity of the seller on confidence in the company and thereby on share price. Outsider IIs showing they believe the company not worth 200p would be somewhat damaging, but insider Mr Braben showing he believes same would be devastating.
In practice however Mr Braben would probably boost the value to buyer of a disposal by offering his resignation. Indeed his stepping down as President might alone sufficiently raise confidence of major investors and hence his holding's value. This is true notwishstanding that his stepping down as CEO last year for it seems probably the same reason has unfortunately yet to yield the benefit to any shareholder.
Braban’s slice of frontier was worth over £400,000,000 …
Now it’s worth ~£25,000,000 …
These spreadsheet game boffins surely need to learn how to run a publicly traded company?
And topped up with more. Very hard to get a price, however, very easy to get one on the sell side!
Oh. Obsession by... Calvin Hanson
Preorder? Ah, you're one of the gullibles who believed Frontier PR.
Yes Frontier claimed it would offer preorder on Steam but it failed to do so. Very few Steam publishers have the status required to be allowed preorders.
Frontier instead has been selling it on Steam for six weeks as prePURCHASE. If you don't know the difference, go do a little bit of research. While you are at it, see Steam warns publishers against prepurchase, especially for extended time, unless the title is heavily anticipated and heavily marketed.
Tbis is why Frontier are now offering REFUNDS. If you don't know what a refund is, again, research. This is because Frontier have actually been selling the game for 6 weeks, taking money for it. So them dropping the price now forces them to repay the difference from the money they've taken.
Do your research.
Pre-order my friend... Remember when you said that a month was too soon to tell whether "positive" steam reviews would prove consistent (actually I think you said positive didn't really mean positive!), and that pre-order sales were misleading? so let's wait few weeks for it's actual release to see the sales numbers eh?
Anyway - what brings you back here rather than staying on ADVFN board? Nice to see you all the same. Your nitpicking and grumbling has been a source of mirth and a guilty pleasure of mine for 10 years now!
What would you like to actually see FDEV do? Get over this struggle and excel, bringing back the shareprice, or drop a piano on Dave Braben's head because Elite Dangers was not available offline?
I swear you do more research than any investor I have come across!
News for you and anyone else not paying attention. It has been on sale for the past six weeks.
You do realise it doesn't come out for another 6 weeks, right?!
Now now Biglittle/YankHamson/AAAA1111, less cherry-picking
This is part of
"An exciting week awaits from October 9th
as we proudly announce today that Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin will be featuring as part of 'Steam Next Fest' celebrations in a BIG
way..."
"To carry forth the celebrations until launch, a 10% discount for Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin will be available on Steam from October 9th until November 17th!
Those who have already pre-ordered Realms of Ruin at full price
will receive a partial refund of 10% of the value already paid via Steam."
What do you hope to achieve in this 10 year history of posting? You are not invested (well, not financially!) and don't appear to be a gamer, yet you dive into research and find apparent misdleains in the company, have now psted under at least 3 names... This is not normal behaviour! What DID FDEV do you?!
Is it still the Elite Online mode?
So this Warhammer price cut has had no meaningful effect on sales so far. Game is still not even in the Steam chart top 1000. Perhaps there'd be more sales if more players were hearing about it, but for some reason the game is getting very little press coverage.
Why is this import to you Biglittle/YankHanson/AAAA1111?
Did you actually get ditched for the company, or is this still about Elite:Dangerous (ten years ago now)?
Or more accurately, to its lack of customers.
Warhammer Realms of Ruin.
Following dismal sales performance and criticism that the game does not deliver enough to justify the high price, Frontier now announces discount and refunds for the game.
"10% discount for Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin will be available on Steam from October 9th until November 17th! Those who have already pre-ordered Realms of Ruin at full price will receive a partial refund of 10% of the value already paid via Steam."
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1844380/view/3738606975166981547
In the end I bought Nacon instead, at least they make money...
Yeah it's all a bit strange, he's so wound up about the company lol