How to Change Acceptance of Discrimination in the Workplace

The show Next Fashion on Netflix is the first show I’ve seen address the hard conversation of discrimination.  The judges scored two contestants low for no one reason and one judge stood up and said this isn’t fair and made him uncomfortable. The two contestants with low scores technical skills were better than the other contestants, worked with the Big Three clients in the industry, and had successful projects for top revenue generating brands. 

The judges said they were not happy with being the ones that keep discrimination alive. The judges said they know this important to the contestants bc they have been in their shoes and don’t want their career journey to end bc of discrimination. The judges also knew if they got attached to discrimination practices with their professional reputation on the line it would hurt their brands. 

One judge said give me a reason why you are trying to eliminate these two contestants and give negative strikes on their reputation when they are the best in this competition based on the qualifications that were set for the competition. 

The other judges had to admit they discriminated on the two contestants based on how they look without judging based on their qualifications and what they can do for business or have done. They redid the competition and evaluation until a wrong had been made right #blackhistorymonth 

Will Activision Blizzard Stock Rise After Youtube Streaming Deal?

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) dropped a big announcement just days before its Q4 earnings are due. On Jan. 24, the video game company announced a new partnership with Alphabet’s(NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google. The deal will see Activision Blizzard’s popular esports leagues stream exclusively on YouTube. In addition, Google Cloud becomes the preferred provider for the company’s online gaming. After a disastrous 2018 that saw the stock fall off a cliff and lose over 40% of its value in three months, Activision was in recovery mode in 2019. The Google deal, added to the boost from new game console launches this fall, will help ATVI stock continue on the growth path.

Activision will be dumping Amazon’s(NASDAQ:AMZN) Twitch to stream its esports league events exclusively on YouTube. This brings the popular Call of Duty, Hearthstone and Overwatch leagues to YouTube.

Esports not only helps to drive video game sales, the popularity of live streaming games is becoming an advertising bonanza. According to Neilson, Overwatch had a global average-minute audience of 313,000 viewers. That’s enough to bring in big-name advertisers including Coca Cola (NYSE:KO). Those numbers were up 18% last year, and the reach of YouTube could drive growth higher.

Terms of the deal weren’t released. However, Amazon had paid Activision $90 million for a two-year deal on Twitch for Overwatch. The YouTube deal is almost certainly richer.

Could the Relationship With Google Expand?

One interesting possibility that’s been raised by the deal with YouTube, is ATVI’s relationship with Google. There haven’t been any Activision Blizzard titles released for Google’s Stadia video game streaming service. However, as part of the YouTube deal, Google Cloud becomes the preferred provider for ATVI’s online gaming infrastructure.

This has raised hopes that the close relationship could turn into popular Activision Blizzard games like Call of Duty making their way to Stadia. 

New Game Consoles Will Spur Sales

Activision Blizzard Stock was relatively flat between 2009 and the start of 2013. That’s when it entered a period of rapid growth. ATVI ended 2012 under $11, and by the fall of 2018, it had topped $83. One of the biggest catalysSts for that performance? Video game consoles. In 2013, Microsoft(NASDAQ:MSFT) launched the Xbox One and Sony (NYSE:SNE) released the PlayStation 4. The next-gen game consoles kickstarted demand for video games.

Bottom Line on ATVI stock

Those who bought Activision Blizzard at its peak in 2018 watched their investment break a five-year growth streak to plummet in value. In the final three months of that year, ATVI stock lost over 40% of its value. Last year, the company had its ups and downs and it was a period of slow recovery, with the stock gaining 27% over the course of the year.

This year has the makings of a banner year for the company. Investment analysts see that, and ATVI stock continues to be a consensus “buy.”

Esports saw revenue top $1 billion globally in 2019, and Activision Blizzard is well-positioned to take a bigger chunk of that. The new deal to have Call of Duty, Hearthstone and Overwatch leagues stream exclusively on YouTube, is expected to expand the company’s reach. Add the launch of new game consoles in the mix — just in time for the holiday shopping season — and ATVI stock is poised to continue its 2019 recovery through 2020.

#YouTube, #google, #Activision, #blizzard, #esports, #EA

Lamar Jackson is Unanimous MVP

Lamar Jackson was named the unanimous MVP receiving all 50 media votes. Jackson joins Tom Brady as 1 of 2 quarterbacks to receive the unanimous decision.

Jackson became the youngest quarterback to ever win MVP at 22 years, 358 days old (on Dec. 31, 2019) while leading the NFL's No. 1 scoring offense (33.2 points per game). With Jackson at the controls, Baltimore finished first or second in five key offensive categories: points per game, total yards per game, rushing yards per game, big plays per game and red-zone percentage. 

Activision and EA Stocks Tank, Bethesda in a Historical Lawsuit

Well. Where do I start.  The AAA gaming world is in chaos right now. Whether we talk about EA and Activision losing significant profits or Bethesda being sued for illegal micro transactions, it’s a lot of instability in the video game world.

The stocks for EA and Activision dropped significantly for the consecutive quarters. That’s expected bc the games they released were far below standards. I mean I can list indie games with one developer/programmer that made better content.  It’s like a factory environment with the content those companies are putting out.

Sports games like Madden, FIFA and NBA have been the same game for 10 years, and they still charge max price for it. Well, I will give EA credit bc their most anticipated game of 2019, Anthem, is now selling for $5, and I’m not kidding. I remember when the Mass Effect uproar was the warning for EA to make better games but they ignored customers and put out quickly done and bad games for a profit.

Bethesda really let everyone down with Fallout 76. Not only did the game like a true fallout experience, it was a pay to get ahead online player game.  For years gamers wanted to connect with friends online and share the fallout world together, but the game created gangs, hacks and slavery options that made the game unplayable. Now Bethesda is being slammed by a lawsuit for illegal micro transactions as well.

I hate to say it but karma is hitting the gaming industry hard. For years it’s disrespected it’s workers and belittled on the customers.  Now all that negativity is showing. The best place to retaliate is financially. No one can escape lack of income.