Diablo 3 and Analyst Fun

Diablo 3 sold around 6 million in its first week. But what did our analysts, those glorious heroes, say?

Cowen and Company said it would sell 5 million in one year.

Stern Agee said Diablo 3 would sell 3.5 million this year.

“But Malstrom,” you say, “not even Blizzard anticipated the sales would be so fast.” You have a point reader. But I always have fun with our friends, the analysts.

Strangely, I don’t see anything about Diablo 3 sales from Wedbush Morgan. However, Pachter has been in the news lately because he criticized the CEO of Facebook for appearing before investors in a hoodie.

Apparently, the tech blogs responded with a ‘fuddy duddy’ response. But Pachter was correct about the hoodie. As Captain Obvious, he says you don’t go asking to borrow money from people wearing a hoodie.

I’m becoming concerned with the ‘tech sphere’ people trying to put jeans and hoodies into everything while running away from the traditional clothing of business. Remember Christensen’s prediction that Silicon Valley will become Detroit.

I come from the experience of a salesman. Anytime you are in public representing the company, such as on stage or talking to investors, you better be wearing a suit. And not just any suit, a damn nice one.

I can understand not wanting to wear ties. Ties suck. But the rest of the outfit isn’t bad. And I find a suit more comfortable than jeans (which hurts if you sit in them too long).

Above: Even the Beatles dressed nice.

I don’t think people realize how much power a choice of clothes can give. Women understand this power. Just by switching out their outfits, which takes a minute, they can create a totally different and unique response to themselves.

Above: IBM salesmen

The tech world’s attitude to dress is a distortion of how Bill Gates and Steve Jobs responded to IBM. IBM utilized salesmen to a heavy degree. People like Steve Jobs wanted the emphasis of the company to be more on the product rather than the salesmen. But even Steve Jobs wore suits getting Apple off the ground (which stunned Woz). Bill Gates wore suits. I believe the tech world is confusing the issue of a company relying on salesmen with the dress itself. A good suit is always a good thing to wear.

Pachter tried to claim the hoodie was the cause for Facebook’s stock plunge in the typical desperate Pachter way.

“Why would Pachter say this?” asks the gentle, innocent reader.

Perhaps to distract that Pachter was 100% wrong on the Facebook stock. Pachter was extremely bullish on the stock and said to buy, buy, buy! Then Facebook plunges 18% below IPO price.