The effect of online reviews on the shares of video game publishing companies
Authors
Canto, Cesar Alejandro Arias
Issue Date
2019
Degree
MBA in Finance
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
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Abstract
Video game publishing companies have recently faced the loss of equity due to some under-performing games. Research has shown that reviews have an effect on the performance of game sales, as well as on many other products, and that film reviews have an effect on the shares of producing companies. This research investigates how the valence and volume of professional critic and consumer reviews affect the share of the video game publisher companies. Being that in an industry in the entertainment sector there is evidence that an influence exists, the question is: To what extent does the reviews impact the shares of the publishers? Based on the review of the literature on the effect of reviews on sales and on the shares of the movie publishing companies, an analysis of the reviews of twenty-three video games from three of the most important companies in the industry was conducted. The valence and the volume of the reviews from both professional critics in the industry media and the consumers, as well as an average of the ratings from both sources was analysed. The analysis shows that there is a small correlation between some of the analysed variables. To control for the behaviour of the individual companies, the relation between the individual stocks and the market was analysed. The results indicate that there is a large correlation between the value of the companies and the market. Based on the results, it is concluded that the shares of the publisher companies are not affected by the reviews of the games, as they move on par with the market.