The China Stock Blog analyses a Business Week article on Shanda:
Key points from article:
* Major worldwide gaming boom.
* Increasing convergence of video games and movies.
* Game developers are licensing and using movie characters and titles to produce hit games, and studios are increasingly turning successful games into hit movies.
* As broadcast TV audiences dwindle and movie-going stagnates, gaming is emerging as the newest and perhaps strongest pillar of the media world.Conclusion:
* The smartest strategy is for game developers and media companies / film studios to find partners.
* While the media companies desperately need the game companies, even the strongest game makers are looking to Hollywood for its movie and TV properties.
* In the end, the winners will be those with the best and broadest portfolios of properties and alliances.
In a separate development, Shanda acquired a 19.5% stake in China’s leading portal, Sina.com, for $230 million.
