Rob Fahey
13:18 (BST)
30/06/2005
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Analyst downgrades Majesco as new IPs underperform
Psychonauts and Advent Rising face tough sales despite good reviews
Publisher Majesco, which recently listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol COOL, has seen its stock price slide after being downgraded to Market Perform from Market Outperform by JMP Securities.
Analyst Ingrid Ebeling dropped JMP's rating of the company based on poor sales of two major recent launches, namely former Lucasarts designer Tim Schafer's Psychonauts and the Orson Scott Card penned science fiction title Advent Rising.
While Advent Rising, which is intended to be the first part of a trilogy, sold strongly at the outset, it has slowed down since then - and Psychonauts, despite excellent reviews, has been something of a niche title, selling only to the hardcore audience.
Both titles seem to be suffering from what's widely seen as a hostile market to new IP in the latter stages of a console cycle - although the success of other new IPs such as Sony's God of War tends to suggest that this is by no means a hard and fast rule.
Shares in Majesco dropped by just over 15 per cent yesterday on the downgrade, leaving the stock at $6.15 at the closing bell.
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