As much as I love online games, I'll concede that I hadn't visited THQ's (NASDAQ:THQI) SlingDot.com until yesterday. That's when MarketWatch interviewed a Pacific Crest Securities analyst who was gushing about THQ's prospects in casual Web-based gaming. The analyst believes that in just two years, SlingDot can be generating the same kind of subscription-based revenue that Electronic Arts' (NASDAQ:ERTS) Pogo.com is producing at the moment.
Right. And my name is Lord Tetris.
No offense to SlingDot. It's got a slick interface, and it offers plenty of free games for those who don't want to sign up for a premium subscription of $4.95 a month or $29.95 a year. It's just no Pogo. Many of the games are similar and potentially addicting. SlingDot uses a dot-based point system, similar to Pogo's, to keep rewards-driven players online longer. But two years until it hits Pogo status? Don't hold your breath.
Even before EA acquired Pogo five years ago, it was a strong online brand, generating 800 million monthly ad views. SlingDot is starting from scratch. It's got a tongue-twister of a name -- sling dot dot com -- that some may confuse with the Sling Media's hot Slingbox gadget.
Similar names can be forgiven in the world of video games. Folks confuse video game retailer GameStop (NYSE:GME) with CNET's (NASDAQ:CNET) active gaming-enthusiast hub GameSpot all the time. Neither one seems to be any weaker for the brand-name similarity. This is a bit different, though, since SlingDot is entering a crowded market without the necessary distinction to stand out as anything more than a Pogo clone.
This doesn't mean I don't like THQ. I think the company is doing some great things by making attractively priced games based on popular licensed characters. The company also bucked the trend over the holidays by not warning of weak sales the way larger houses like EA and Activision (NASDAQ:ATVI) did.
It's just that investors shouldn't put too much of an emphasis on THQ's move into casual online games. SlingDot has a long way to go-go before it's the next Pogo.
So sayeth Lord Tetris.
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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is old enough to remember playing on an Atari 2600 before it became a relic. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
