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Your goblin with a laptop has heard your cries for more details about the PC release of BG:DA.
— Black Isle Studios (@BlackIsleStudio) September 27, 2021
The Black Isle team wanted me to pass along that in the coming weeks they will have much to share with you!
Hang in there, warriors!#BaldursGateDarkAlliance / #DnD / #RPG pic.twitter.com/LJJlHKuDnA
Publisher Weekly Best Seller: Hardcover Front List
#25
Conference call notes:
Last comment was, (paraphrase) they are going to make us happy this year.
Started with a repeat of financials released in report. They did mention expanding merchandising. They are still having discussions on the strategic review. YouTube business is growing. Will start producing original content and helping creator owned IP people. IP projects segment is growing, goal to get to 50-50 (IP animation-service animation). The company is on course for an exciting 2021 (maybe 2022? notes are messed up, need to listen again).
Q&A highlights
IP 44 episode series should be finished by end of year 2022.
All restricting benefits have been captured. Company will concentrate on growing revenue streams, depends on going to events, will start to participate more in virtual events.
Company is engaged in E-commerce, especial with Frederator Books.
Goal is for 50-50 IP animation-service animation. The company was at 80 to 85% service. The company is heading to 50%, but, depends on green lighting projects. Company is careful about green lighting projects. Can't predict when will reach 50%
On seasonality, later half of the year tends to be better than first half. For YouTube stuff Q4 is best. Animation side, service tends to be even throughout the year, IP animation is harder to predict, projects can be pushed back or customer may delay delivery.
Spinmaster project: Sounds like new property (? not sure). Just starting production, delivery estimated for 2022-2023.
Again, last comment is them making us happy this year.
Q2 earnings's report is out.
$18.8 million (Canadian ) revenue
EBITDA + $1.858 million
Operating Profit +0.549 million
Edit
Backlog as of June 30, 2021 was $77.5 million. Does not include $3.2 million additionally signed contracts after quarter's end.
Frederator Studios Options Abigail McGrath’s Play ‘Hidden Heroes’
https://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/frederator-studios-options-abigail-mcgraths-plays-hidden-heroes/
WOW! Unlimited Media to Host Second Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/08/20/2284200/0/en/WOW-Unlimited-Media-to-Host-Second-Quarter-2021-Earnings-Conference-Call.html
‘Castlevania’ Producer Sues After Being Excluded From Netflix Spinoff
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/castlevania-adi-shankar-sues-excluded-netflix-spin-off-1234999490/
WOW!’S Mainframe Studios Establishes Eastern Canadian Presence with New Toronto-Based Virtual Studio
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/08/16/2281555/0/en/WOW-S-Mainframe-Studios-Establishes-Eastern-Canadian-Presence-with-New-Toronto-Based-Virtual-Studio.html
Octonauts: Above & Beyond NEW Series Trailer | Netflix Jr
I saw this last night. It has nothing to do with WOW, except it frees up some animators. This studio, also, was working on some projects with Netflix.
Tangent Animation Closes Down - Hundreds of Talented Artists Laid Off
https://www.blendernation.com/2021/08/04/tangent-animation-closes-down-hundreds-of-talented-artists-laid-off/
It's still generating interest:
The Fake Interplay Revival is Proof How Much Fans Want More Fallout, New Vegas 2
https://gamerant.com/fallout-new-vegas-2-interplay-entertainment-revival-fake/
I agree with that. A lot of the fans on IPLY's (real) Twitter page are agreeing too. And IPLY/Herve is getting blowback, as some people prefer what the fake press report was promising.
Lack of communications was a big problem the last time I had bought into IPLY.
IPLY/Herve has access to a PR guy/firm and is still not informing shareholders on what is going on with the company.
Are you suggesting it was just a premature announcement?
Given the amount of attention this created, that might have been a good idea. But, IPLY would have taken credit for it, instead of discrediting it as a hoax.
I hope the person/people responsible are caught and appropriately punished.
Having said that, this may lead to more attention to IPLY, which may lead to something.
I tend to think that IPLY was already working with a company, on the release of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. And, whatever company that is may be interested in IPLY's older games. IPLY has a PR guy/firm working with them, that I doubt they would otherwise have or afford.
It could have come from someone/ones from outside the USA. If a lot of shares started trading it would have made it harder to trace.
Early last year I had stock, in a company that normally had a hard time trading 10-20,000 shares in a day. Volume spiked into the 100-200 million shares traded in a single day (more than the outstanding shares at the time). That kind of volume can hide someone dumping shares.
Edit
Both IPLY's Twitter and Black Isle Studios' Twitter account has posts calling it an hoax.
Yeah, I think they tried to get people excited before that timeline, when it would be hard to buy.
It looks like an attempt at a "pump and dump" as suggested.
It fooled me (and a lot of other people), initially.
Herve being quiet about what the company was doing moving forward of the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance re-release, allowed this to happen.
Someone Has Been Faking a Relaunch of Fallout Studio Interplay
https://www.ign.com/articles/interplay-fake-twitter-account-fallout-baldurs-gate-clayfighter
edit
I didn't know they issued a fake press release
edit 2
I see on Black Isle Studios (BIS) Twitter page fans were giving IPLY/BIS a hard time for not having plans like the fake.
⚠️ We have found that there are accounts impersonating Interplay across social media platforms.
— Interplay (@InterplayGames) July 28, 2021
The only official social media accounts for Interplay are:
✅ Twitter (This account): https://t.co/fqJpVUhtdI
✅ Facebook: https://t.co/0BN1Zvuh7u
(RTs are appreciated) pic.twitter.com/OF4EqFO7US
I don't know. It isn't how public companies are supposed to act.
I do see someone is gambling (buying shares) on something positive.
Edit
It could be something that doesn't even involve us IPLY shareholders, like just selling the Interplay name, not the company.
The more I think about this, the more I get a bad feeling about it.
I'll look for the reference.
Edit
It's still up at the time of this post.
I still see it. How did you find out it's a hoax.
We should find out tomorrow.
I tried to do a quick Google search, but, nothing old turns up. Linkdin page turns up, but no other work. But, his positions, to date, would not make the news.
I should mention, I just saw, that the "new" Interplay Twitter account is different than the old one.
I'd say caution is needed on this, because of the lack of information.
Edit
New: https://twitter.com/interplayent/status/1419990139447627779
Old: https://twitter.com/InterplayGames?s=20
I'm not sure to what extent people can buy the stock, but there doesn't seem to be much trading on this. I believe the Twitter post was up all day, before I posted it here, so no trading on it yesterday.
We don't know the terms of the change of "ownership" or what the plans are for keeping the company public.
Too many questions.
Usually, I would be cautiously optimistic, but, I don't like how this is unfolding.
Edit
There are a few websites talking about this, but, not ones I recognized.
No idea. I saw the Twitter post last night, the other stuff this morning.
I'm a bit perturbed by the amount of info available without an official statement from the company.
I'm guessing we need to read the news tomorrow to figure out what it means for us.
This:https://www.resetera.com/threads/interplay-entertainment-relaunching-in-october-2021-announcement-to-be-made-on-july-28th.462924/
Led me to this:https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-murdock-126162208/
Twitter:
July 28th, be prepared for the new Interplay.
https://twitter.com/interplayent/status/1419421041454030851
Veteran Entertainment Lawyer, Elyot Waller, Joins Mainframe Studios
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210726005744/en/Veteran-Entertainment-Lawyer-Elyot-Waller-Joins-Mainframe-Studios
I don't know if this is the same series, a different series, or even done by, WOW. But, it was at the (virtual) San Diego Comic Con 2021 (worlds largest comic convention) and WOW's share price went up Friday, for no apparent reason.
So, caveat warnings, aside:
Adventure Time Distant Lands: Wizard City Key Art Revealed - Comic-Con 2021
https://www.ign.com/articles/adventure-time-distant-lands-wizard-city-hbo-max-art
I received my email from Schwab, yesterday, about IPLY.
Thanks for looking it up.
what's what I thought, but the article credits IPLY (at the end) for Claymates. I was too lazy to research it and posted the article.
Nintendo News: Shape Your Next Adventure With Three Additional Super NES Games Arriving to Nintendo Switch Online
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210720006106/en/
Thanks. I see it now. I didn't see it, before.
Some of the symbols seem out of alphabetical order.
I believe from most of the consoles, the Playstation has the most devices available. BG:DA made the top selling list for about a day (not several days or months). It was competing with older games or several week old new games.
Older games (not re-released games) would not have high sales numbers, BG:DA seem to fall into the category of good sales for about a day, then sales dropped off the map.
Edit
It's hard to say how much they made, without knowing how the re-release was funded and who did the work on it.
I'd guess IPLY's end was in the 5% to 20% range of sales after, the gaming services took their cut.
The last time IPLY/Herve filed an 8K was in April of 2012. The last Earning's report was June of 2011.
I don't expect IPLY to start filing again. I'm expecting the company to keep running the same as the last decade or to be sold off. I'm no longer looking for the company to grow and start SEC filing.
It doesn't look like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance re-release is making the type of revenue I had hoped for (half a million or more on IPLY's end), making a comeback for the company more likely. There haven't been any updates for weeks on PC-mobile releases.
Shareholder interest in holding the stock has dropped off.
The strategic review also mentions selling company assets. I hadn't given much thought to this, before. There seems to be good synergy between the different parts of WOW. I would have thought that breaking the company up and selling pieces would significantly diminish the rest of the company.
But, Mainframes 3-D modeling animation didn't really seem to fit in with the 2-D stuff on Frederator Networks or the 2-D animation service business. Mainframe did 3-D animation as a service and I presume it was profitable, so it wasn't a drain on company resources and no need to get rid of them. Also, Mainframe is moving into more traditional 2-D animation.
Caveat on my next statement. I don't watch much (any) of Frederator Network animation series, so I don't know what the quality and types of series being shown are.
WOW could sell off it's interest in the Castlevania animated series license. It has to have gone up substantially in value due to the success of the Netflix series. Other than WOW's Kevin Kolde being the Showrunner for the series, WOW doesn't seem much involved in producing the animated series, Powerhouse Studios is. Castlevania seems to be a quite different type of series than the usual fair coming out of WOW/Frederator ("Bee and Puppcat", Bravest Warrior", Costume Quest (?), etc...). I don't know how much selling the Castlevania license would bring in, though.
Any money brought in could be used to expand/support the rest of the company.
As I said before, when the company first mentioned the strategic review, I was thinking the company possibly being sold would be the likely outcome (at a reasonable price). After the annual meeting conference call, I had the impression (I could be wrong), the strategic review was heading towards "inorganic growth", not a sale. WOW has barely attained profitability, I don't see borrowing money a viable option for inorganic growth.
I think the best case scenarios, for shareholders, are, a large equity investment or a sale of the company. I think other actions would have a smaller impact, that would take longer to achieve, on the company.
If you or anyone else has thoughts on this, I'd be interested in hearing them. I know I have overlooked a few things and I am biased against other actions the company can take.
I found an email from Schwab, sent back in April, about "Caveat Emptor" securities being restricted to liquidation only, starting May 25th. I did not see IPLY on the list.