I’ve been all kinds of lawyer over the last 23 years, and while gaming is my first love; lawyering pays the bills. There is nothing a lawyer likes more than a finely balanced dispute that will inevitably to go to court. Firstly that means that the legal fees are going Read more…
Starbreeze is one of the hyped Swedish gaming companies over the last few years. With a longer pedigree than most, it has ridden the wave of gaming hype post their IPO, with the share trading at 1kr or less from 2011-2013, reaching 20-24kr in 2016 on the back of some Read more…
Above the scrabbling, creative world of game development swim the leviathans of the tech oceans, ghosting above it all with their apetite for acquisitions, deep pockets and 20-year investment horizons. These leviathans have their teeth firmly embedded in the gaming value chain: Google (Google Play Store), Tencent (Wegame, Epic), Apple (App Read more…
It is two years to the day that the Nikeforos portfolio made it’s first investments. The portfolio was put together based on my philosophy of where the gaming industry was going and what its role was in the economy. I drew a line around the industry that was wider than most people would have drawn, hoping to catch all parts of the value chain and focus on larger trends rather than hot tickets.
The portfolio included some hardware makers, some developers, of course, but also distributors, IP originators (film industry), key suppliers (chip makers), and would keep an eye on e-sports and gaming accessories. While not directly investing in Amazon, Google, Tencent and Apple, it kept an eye on the movements of these top predators in the gaming universe.
Two years later the result is an auditable ARR of 50.43%, a Sharpe ratio of 1.67. The portfolio outperforms the only gaming ETF in the world (ETFMG Video Game Tech ETF – US26924G7060) by 44% over these two years.
Nordic Game 2017 is booked. My first gaming conference since I was 15 and at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre looking to meet the giants of Spectrum 48k game development. I wonder what has happened since days of “Elite” and Crash Magazine?