Jesse Divnich
Encyclopedia
Jesse Divnich is the Vice President of Analyst Services for Electronic Entertainment Design and Research
(EEDAR).
, but currently resides in Carlsbad, California
. Divnich graduated college with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Eastern Michigan University
and started his endeavors in the financial sector with the Gerson Lehrman Group
. After that, he then became a consultant for private investors. On the back of his success with the financial sector of the video game industry, Divnich earned the recognition of several journalists from both the gaming and financial media industry. Divnich is most known for his appearances on G4TV, Forbes
, The Street
, Reuters
, Market Watch
, GameSpot
, GameDaily
, and his own "Divnich Tapes" on Gamasutra
. As of 2009, Divnich publishes regularly through his own articles on IndustryGamer.com called the "Divnich Debriefs". Some of his known favorite video games are the Call of Duty franchise
and the Quake franchise
.
with peer Brain Shiau. He was the Director of Business Development; this is what Shiau had to say: "Jesse Divnich will be providing analysis of the video game industry on the simExchange. He has assumed many professional roles including; beta tester, programmer, publisher analyst." For the last 6 years, Divnich has served as a private consultant and analyst for buy-side investment firms. Divnich has received many awards for his work in the private investment sector as an analyst covering publicly traded video game companies.
After he published several research based articles at the simExchange, on April 16, 2008 Divnich was appointed the Director of Analyst Services at EEDAR. With EEDAR Divnich has continued to produce accurate predictions and represent the company in a positive way with a strong presence at industry events. He helps investors make more informed decisions using EEDAR’s proprietary database and his own experience by delivering products under the "Analyst Services Division". President and Chief operating officer of EEDAR Geoffrey Zatkin had this to say about the addition of Divnich to the firm: "We are delighted to have Mr. Divnich join the EEDAR team. Jesse's deep roots in the community, in-depth knowledge of the financial sector and strong industry relationships will assist EEDAR in achieving our goal – that of improving the efficiency of the videogame industry by enabling informed decision making,"
Divnich is best known for a speech he gave at the Montreal International Game Summit in 2009 where he declared that marketing and brand awareness
were more important to a games financial success than its actual quality. In a follow-up interview with GamesIndustry.biz, he says "I'm not here to instill false hope into developers, they need to know the truth. We are bombarded with over 1000 new games every year and while having a high quality product certainly helps in contributing to a game’s commercial success, it is far from the only factor."
In December 2009, he came to Reggie Fils-Aimé, Nintendo
Of America President's defense, on the claim that New Super Mario Bros. Wii would be a worldwide success, even though it would not outsell the top-selling title at the time, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
. In an interview with 1Up he said, ""The odds certainly look bleak that the New Super Mario Bros. will outpace the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 by the end of January...But in Reggie's defense, Call of Duty pushed over 4 million units on one platform in three weeks. That is just ridiculous...4 million in one month wasn't even considered achievable number by any video game, ever."
After Steve Jobs
' announcement of the iPad
, Divnich spoke out against its ability to be a "primary gaming device" in an MSNBC interview. He continued in another interview and said "If third-party publishers are going to treat the iPad as a serious gaming device, the average selling price per game has to at least double, which is difficult to achieve, especially when you consider that your $19.99 game in the App Store is competing against games that sell for $1 to $5."
On July 6, 2010, Divnich and Electronic Entertainment Design and Research released a behavioral study showing the influence professional game critics can have on consumers' willingness to purchase and willingness to recommend video games. The study was formally released on G4 TV's Attack of the Show with Adam Sessler
. Vice President of Public Relation for PopCap said, "We've always known that good reviews are beneficial to a game's sales, but we didn't realize just how significant a role they play in the purchasing decision process."
Electronic Entertainment Design and Research
Electronic Entertainment Design and Research is a video game industry specific market research firm headquartered in Carlsbad, California...
(EEDAR).
Background
Divnich was born in LaSalle, OntarioLaSalle, Ontario
LaSalle is a town in Essex County, Ontario, Canada, on the Detroit River. It is a bedroom community of the City of Windsor and part of the Windsor Census Metropolitan Area, and is located south of that city. LaSalle, along with Windsor, is the oldest French settlement area in Southwestern Ontario,...
, but currently resides in Carlsbad, California
Carlsbad, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Carlsbad had a population of 105,328. The population density was 2,693.1 people per square mile . The racial makeup of Carlsbad was 87,205 White, 1,379 African American, 514 Native American, 7,460 Asian, 198 Pacific Islander, 4,189 from other...
. Divnich graduated college with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...
and started his endeavors in the financial sector with the Gerson Lehrman Group
Gerson Lehrman Group
Gerson Lehrman Group , founded in 1998 and headquartered in New York City, operates an expert network platform of more than 300,000 subject matter experts who provide independent consulting services to companies around the world....
. After that, he then became a consultant for private investors. On the back of his success with the financial sector of the video game industry, Divnich earned the recognition of several journalists from both the gaming and financial media industry. Divnich is most known for his appearances on G4TV, Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
, The Street
The Street
The Street may refer to:*The Street , a drama shown on BBC One in 2006, 2007 and 2009*"The Street" , by H. P. Lovecraft*The Street , a 1946 novel by Ann Petry...
, Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
, Market Watch
Market Watch
Market Watch is a show on CNBC that aired from 10AM to 12noon ET, hosted by Martha MacCallum and Tyler Mathisen , and Bob Sellers and Consuelo Mack . It was replaced by Midday Call on Feb 4, 2002....
, GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
, GameDaily
GameDaily
GameDaily was a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 by entrepreneur Mark Friedler under the name Gigex and focused on free game demo downloads, The site changed its business model from a flat fee per download CDN distributed service network to an...
, and his own "Divnich Tapes" on Gamasutra
Gamasutra
Gamasutra is a website founded in 1997 for video game developers. It is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb , a division of United Business Media, and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine Game Developer...
. As of 2009, Divnich publishes regularly through his own articles on IndustryGamer.com called the "Divnich Debriefs". Some of his known favorite video games are the Call of Duty franchise
Call of Duty (series)
Call of Duty is a first-person and third-person shooter video game series franchise, created by Ben Chichoski. The series began on the PC, and later expanded to consoles and handhelds. Several spin-off games have also been released...
and the Quake franchise
Quake (series)
The Quake series is a line of first-person shooter video games produced by id Software.-Overview:The Quake series is somewhat unusual in that its focus changes frequently; the story of Quake II has nothing to do with Quake, and Quake III Arena has little to do with either of its predecessors...
.
Career
In July 2007 Divnich helped found the site The simExchangeThe simExchange
The simExchange is a web-based prediction market in which players use virtual money to buy and sell stocks and futures contracts in upcoming video game properties. The main purpose of the web site is to predict trends in the video game industry, particularly how upcoming products will sell and how...
with peer Brain Shiau. He was the Director of Business Development; this is what Shiau had to say: "Jesse Divnich will be providing analysis of the video game industry on the simExchange. He has assumed many professional roles including; beta tester, programmer, publisher analyst." For the last 6 years, Divnich has served as a private consultant and analyst for buy-side investment firms. Divnich has received many awards for his work in the private investment sector as an analyst covering publicly traded video game companies.
After he published several research based articles at the simExchange, on April 16, 2008 Divnich was appointed the Director of Analyst Services at EEDAR. With EEDAR Divnich has continued to produce accurate predictions and represent the company in a positive way with a strong presence at industry events. He helps investors make more informed decisions using EEDAR’s proprietary database and his own experience by delivering products under the "Analyst Services Division". President and Chief operating officer of EEDAR Geoffrey Zatkin had this to say about the addition of Divnich to the firm: "We are delighted to have Mr. Divnich join the EEDAR team. Jesse's deep roots in the community, in-depth knowledge of the financial sector and strong industry relationships will assist EEDAR in achieving our goal – that of improving the efficiency of the videogame industry by enabling informed decision making,"
Divnich is best known for a speech he gave at the Montreal International Game Summit in 2009 where he declared that marketing and brand awareness
Brand awareness
Brand awareness is a marketing concept that enables marketers to quantify levels and trends in consumer knowledge and awareness of a brand's existence...
were more important to a games financial success than its actual quality. In a follow-up interview with GamesIndustry.biz, he says "I'm not here to instill false hope into developers, they need to know the truth. We are bombarded with over 1000 new games every year and while having a high quality product certainly helps in contributing to a game’s commercial success, it is far from the only factor."
In December 2009, he came to Reggie Fils-Aimé, Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
Of America President's defense, on the claim that New Super Mario Bros. Wii would be a worldwide success, even though it would not outsell the top-selling title at the time, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles and the Microsoft Windows operating system. Officially announced on February 11, 2009, the game was released worldwide on...
. In an interview with 1Up he said, ""The odds certainly look bleak that the New Super Mario Bros. will outpace the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 by the end of January...But in Reggie's defense, Call of Duty pushed over 4 million units on one platform in three weeks. That is just ridiculous...4 million in one month wasn't even considered achievable number by any video game, ever."
After Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
' announcement of the iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
, Divnich spoke out against its ability to be a "primary gaming device" in an MSNBC interview. He continued in another interview and said "If third-party publishers are going to treat the iPad as a serious gaming device, the average selling price per game has to at least double, which is difficult to achieve, especially when you consider that your $19.99 game in the App Store is competing against games that sell for $1 to $5."
On July 6, 2010, Divnich and Electronic Entertainment Design and Research released a behavioral study showing the influence professional game critics can have on consumers' willingness to purchase and willingness to recommend video games. The study was formally released on G4 TV's Attack of the Show with Adam Sessler
Adam Sessler
Adam Donovan Sessler is co-host of X-Play on G4 with Morgan Webb and, as of December 17, 2008, editor-in-chief of G4's game content for the network. He is the only remaining television personality from the G4's origin network ZDTV.-Background:Sessler was born in Berkeley, California...
. Vice President of Public Relation for PopCap said, "We've always known that good reviews are beneficial to a game's sales, but we didn't realize just how significant a role they play in the purchasing decision process."