The covid-19 effects on the video game industry -a comparative ratio analysis on activision-blizzard, electronic arts and konami

Abstract

The video game industry has evolved from having just a children-focused target market to a more sophisticated one with a widespread and mainstream audience with no age limitations. After the COVID-19 outbreak, it is mainly stated as one of the industries that faced little to no issues, so the main aim behind this research is to investigate how the giants of this industry confronted the financial challenges of pandemic. We conducted a comparative profitability, liquidity, asset and debt utilization ratio analysis relying on the annual reports of 2021 and 2020 (2020 and 2019 for Activision-Blizzard), published by three of the biggest video game development companies. The time frame was chosen to reflect the position of the companies before and after the first year of the pandemic. The results vary due to the companies’ business models. Based on these results, we tried to identify any possible changes and variations, assessing the financial performance and position of the companies. In the case of Activision-Blizzard, we mostly came up with increases in all of their major ratios, which derives from a successful business model they follow. In Electronic Arts’ case, we noticed an increase in revenue expenditure that led to a decrease in its profitability ratios. We also found out that the company has slight reduction in liquidity and asset utilization, but the results still indicate a good performance and do not reflect any serious predicament. While Konami, we saw a significant growth in their profitability and liquidity ratios, but on the other side there is a decrease in their total asset turnover and increase in the debt ratio. In overall, we can state that the companies managed to cope with pandemic and financial challenges during the first year and even to expand their presence in the video game industry, but not without having to face some difficulties.