Game Politics ([info]gamepolitics) wrote,
@ 2006-09-12 06:13:00
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Entry tags:chick jaffe, left behind, marketwatch, stocks

Left Behind Bad Investment, Says Analyst

While the upcoming Christian-themed video game Left Behind: Eternal Forces is expected to be a big seller during the holiday season, at least one Wall Street expert thinks investing in the game's publisher could be a deadly sin.

MarketWatch columnist Chuck Jaffe has picked Left Behind Games as a "Stupid Investment of the Week."

Jaffe terms Left Behind Games (OTC: LFBG) "an interesting microcap stock," but adds that current valuations are "sketchy" and lack adequate financial data.

The analyst notes that LFBG has spent $12 million since 2002, but has yet to realize any revenue. That will change soon, of course, with the launch of the game. The company's own accounting firm says that it has "substantial doubt about (Left Behind's) ability to continue as a going concern."

Jaffe worries that small investors may be caught in a no-win position:

"...Left Behind is likely to be like many microcaps whose stocks pop after some good publicity, a hot conference, a new product or even a spam campaign. Its value is likely to fall back until it proves that it has more than just a good story... In that scenario, what will truly be Left Behind would be a lot of investment capital."


(24 comments) - (Post a new comment)

Well..
[info]chrowx
2006-09-12 02:44 pm UTC (link)
It's likely to flop because of another reason.. It's a PC title. Unless it's Half Life or anything else even vaguely related to Valve most PC titles never do as well as console titles.

But, let's put reason aside and look at why this religious rant of a videogame will do poorly. It's an RTS shooter... A terrible idea at best. The story pretty much says as soon as all the Christians are gone the world will go into chaos and start waging wars over territories in new york. And in this terrible chaos caused by the lack of some religious people, 'Angelic Tribulation Forces' and 'Demonic Global Community Peacekeepers' (why are the peacekeepers demonic?) will form and wage war across the world.

Seems like the only people who will buy this game are parents who think their kids don't have enough 'Hip' Christian influences in their lives, and people who want to see just how bad this game will be.

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Re: Well..
[info]jabrwock
2006-09-12 03:45 pm UTC (link)
Just because it's religiously themed though, doesn't automatically make it bad. How many decent RPG's pull in religious symbolism? I can think of several RTSs where playing "the bad side" was quite fun.

If it's done well, it has the potential to be a decent RTS.

The PC market is more aimed at their target market, adults. Name more than a small handful of RTSs that came out for the console anyway...

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[info]jabrwock
2006-09-12 03:38 pm UTC (link)
Considering how many copies of the book sold, and how much this game is like Civ IV/Command & Conquer rather than an FPS, I can see this being a sleeper hit at the least. Maybe not a great investment, but I can see the company at worst breaking even.

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[info]g_dog_dre
2006-09-12 04:21 pm UTC (link)
Trust me. I worked for a Christian TV station that sold it's own brand of Jesus. The people buying this stuff do not have "one of them there com-putie thingies with the interweb" suited for PC gaming.

I myself just find it funny that the same people who burn Harry Potter books take offense with somebody disagrees with them.

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[info]sigma_7
2006-09-12 09:57 pm UTC (link)
Trust me. I worked for a Christian TV station that sold it's own brand of Jesus.


It's been reported on the Daily Show - at the very least, it's caused some interest in the game since it takes a "Good vs. Evil" approach. It's been satirised by the show by stating that the difference between those two opposites is three points, but coverage like that is enough to draw interest. (It might not be the best timing, but as demonstrated by "25 to Life", negative publicity is still good publicity.)

There's no way to be sure about whether it's going to be a hit - but it's receiving a lot of attention for something that's espected to be an initial flop.

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[info]terminator44
2006-09-13 10:48 am UTC (link)
There's no way to be sure about whether it's going to be a hit - but it's receiving a lot of attention for something that's espected to be an initial flop.

Well, 25 to Life and Narc got a lot of attention when they were released. Did that help their sales any? I'll say it again: It takes more than controversy to get even decent sales for a game.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Does the same rule apply?
[info]quad9damage
2006-09-12 04:11 pm UTC (link)
You can't turn a crappy movie into a good video game.

Can you turn a series of crappy books into a good game?

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Does the same rule apply?
[info]konrad_arflane
2006-09-12 06:31 pm UTC (link)
You can't turn a crappy movie into a good video game.

Hey, it worked for Chronicles of Riddick.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Does the same rule apply?
[info]terminator44
2006-09-13 01:40 am UTC (link)
That was more of a prelude to the movie than a direct movie-to-game adaptation. A better example would have been something like The Warriors or Goldeneye.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Does the same rule apply?
[info]ninjagaiden
2006-09-13 06:40 am UTC (link)
Except The Warriors didn't suck.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Does the same rule apply?
[info]terminator44
2006-09-13 10:50 am UTC (link)
I meant a better example that not ALL movie-to-game adaptations suck.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Re: Does the same rule apply?
[info]blackmesaman
2006-09-12 06:33 pm UTC (link)
What about Chronicles of riddick?

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]finaleve
2006-09-12 06:10 pm UTC (link)
The game doesnt peak any interest at all. I'm not too big on PC gaming (let alone Half-life/counterstrike and WoW), and I've played a few RTS games (Dungeon Keeper is awesome) on the PC, and I have tried a console one too (Ogre Battle 64 was really good).
Story and Gameplay are a must to make this game do anywhere close to successful. Dungeon Keeper didn't really need to have a strong story since it was fun to play (play as a demon lorrd, build an army of demon/creatures and defeat the lord of the land/humans). Ogre Battle had an awesome story, and for a console RTS game using the control stick instead of a mouse, it was a good game (The original version was on the SNES and that did well too IMO)

If they can bring both together, they may have something.

(Reply to this)

It's not a good game, really.
[info]esaint
2006-09-12 08:38 pm UTC (link)
... If the demo says anything about the final product (and I am assuming it is, otherwise there would be no point in releasing a demo), Left Behind is not a very good game. All themes aside, the gameplay is pretty bad.

First of all, it is difficult to control. If you zoom in to see the troops, you can't distinguish the buildings and surroundings. If you zoom out, it becoms near-impossible to see your own troops and their individual functions, even selecting them is a pain. Often, the perspective will be awkward and hide your troops behind buildings.

Second, the pace is uneven. Getting your base together and recruiting the people you need can take ages and is a mind-numbing task. After doing that, one step in the wrong direction will kill you off instantly, often forcing you to restart the level.

Left Behind has some good ideas and they've borrowed quite a bit of good stuff from C&C and Starcraft, but they should've paid even closer attention to what made these games fun and accessible. As it is now, Left Behind has an unnecessarily long and steep learning curve and gameplay that lets you know it just isn't worth it.

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Indeed, it's a very bad game.
[info]oz_the_geek
2006-09-13 02:13 am UTC (link)
I need to try multiplayer, if only to see if playing evil is any easier.

Which would be handy. :P

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Re: It's not a good game, really.
[info]mechacrash
2006-09-13 08:56 pm UTC (link)
Wow. It's almost like they got so wrapped up with beating you over the head with Jesus that they forgot to make the game not suck!

I am totally shocked!

It would seem that even God is not immune to the rule of licensed games sucking ass.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]thefremen
2006-09-13 12:20 am UTC (link)
The great thing for gamepolitics is all the possible headlines. "Left Behind is left behind by competitors!" "Left Behind is behind the times, says Times" "Left Behind is behind on revenue" etc.

I don't think they'll do well, even if that game is a hit, studios have to be fairly diverse to make the cash money.

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[info]terminator44
2006-09-13 10:52 am UTC (link)
Good point. The PC market is already crowded shouder-to-shouder with RTSs. I imagine Left Behind will have trouble keeping up with the competition.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
One question:
[info]hayabusa75
2006-09-13 03:51 am UTC (link)
Is anybody on this blog planning on getting this game? For me, even if the game got the best review in the history of gaming, the religious overtones would automatically preempt me from buying it, or even playing it for free.

(I'm not trying to knock religion or Christianity, the point I'm trying to make is that I'm wondering if Left Behind shot themselves in the foot with the subject matter...of course, there are people who will buy it because of it as well)

"There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin." -Linus Van Pelt

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: One question:
[info]gamepolitics
2006-09-13 09:51 am UTC (link)
I'm pretty sure I will be reviewing it for the newspaper.

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[info]slayemin
2006-09-13 06:18 am UTC (link)
you godless sons of bitches better watch out! hiyah! jesus power! If you thought the second coming of crust was going to be peaceful, think again! this time around he's an armed ninja of holy vengeance and mayhem, armed with a pump action shotgun and throwing nails.

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[info]terminator44
2006-09-13 10:53 am UTC (link)
I don't even want to know what store you got that from.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]hayabusa75
2006-09-13 11:45 pm UTC (link)
Actually, I'm kinda curious...

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[info]terminator44
2006-09-14 12:14 am UTC (link)
Hold on, it says "Jesus Christ Superstore" in the lower-left corner. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Chrisitian, so it doesn't offend me. I just wonder why nobody has bitched about that figure yet. Because as we all know, bitching about things is what we Americans do best ;).

(Reply to this) (Parent)

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