5 Things You Need to Know to Play Videogame Stocks

When “Spider-Man 3” opened on May 4, 2007, it racked up $151 million in ticket sales over three days, setting a box office record. When “Halo 3” went on sale last September, it generated $170 million in sales in its first 24 hours.

Now “Grand Theft Auto IV” is making cash registers melt – with analysts forecasting first week sales of up to $400 million. (No one’s willing to predict the first day numbers, which are not yet available.) Ultimately, the game could be the biggest entertainment event of the year, something that’s making piquing investor interest in the video game space.

The gaming industry is more complicated than it might appear from the outside, however. Before you jump in, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Things are consolidating – and that period isn’t over

Electronic Arts’

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[ERTS  Loading...      ()   ] $2 billion takeover offer for “Grand Theft Auto” publisher Take Two Interactive Software

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[TTWO  Loading...      ()   ] has been pretty well documented. Those talks follow last December’s merger of Activision

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[ATVI  Loading...      ()   ] with Vivendi Games, which formed Activision Blizzard, the world’s largest video game publisher.

GTA IV from TakeTwo's Rockstar Games.

While it’s unlikely we’ll see anything on a similar scale, there are smaller publishers that may be aggressively courted. UbiSoft, for instance, has been considered a target for years. And Midway Games

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[MWY  Loading...      ()   ] has failed to make a significant dent in the industry, despite the millions of dollars Sumner Redstone has invested in the company.

Independent development studios, meanwhile, remain ripe targets for takeover. Typically privately held, these companies often find themselves the subject of a bidding war after they have a hit title or two – as publishers try to boost the talent pool of their in-house teams.

“I don’t think we’re at the end here,” said Colin Sebastian, Senior Vice President of Equity Research at Lazard Capital Markets. “I think we’ll see a few more.”