Activision Blizzard's (ATVI) Destiny is going to be big. After all, the title racked up 75 awards at last year's Gamescom, including Best in Show. Based on pre-orders for the game, Activision is expecting the release to count as one of the biggest launches of a new intellectual property in history. At the very least, it will quickly join World of Warcraft and Call of Duty as one of the publisher's rare billion-dollar franchises.
Source: Bungie.
But even a title that's sure to sell millions of copies could disappoint, as any new game launch comes with some hefty risks.
In the video below, Fool contributor Demitrios Kalogeropoulos highlights two of those potential letdowns that could disappoint investors. The main one, he says, is technical difficulties with the launch. Sure, developer Bungie boasts a stellar track record and has been crafting Destiny for years, which should mean the game has plenty of polish. But multiplayer functionality heightens the risk for swamped servers and sluggish gameplay. Just ask Electronic Arts (EA 0.79%), which had to apologize to gamers after last year's botched rollout of SimCity.
Another worry for investors is costs. After spending heavily on development, Activision is planning a further massive investment in marketing for Destiny's launch. That makes sense given that the publisher has plans for the franchise that stretch out over a decade. But most of those costs will hit Activision's results in the third quarter, while sales benefits won't start boosting the top line until future quarters -- so investors will have to be patient.
Watch the video below for Demitrios' full take.
