Helmed by one former EverQuest designer and one former EQ fanboy, game statistics firm Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) announced today that they are adding an analyst to the mix — Jesse Divnich, formerly of online video game prediction market The simExchange.
For EEDAR, the research firm that made headlines at the 2008 MI6 conference for revealing that game demos might actually hurt sales, Divnich’s appointment has great significance. First, as they state in the press release, Divnich will give them an edge in interactions with the financial sector; but second, the gentleman from The simExchange might also provide insight into what might be one source of competition for EEDAR — crowd-sourced prediction markets like simExchange itself.
GameCyte spoke to EEDAR chairman Greg Short about the appointment, and while maintaining that EEDAR was mainly drawn to Divnich’s career as analyst and investment advisor, Short also admitted a certain interest in his previous position:
We’re very interested in predictive markets because they are the complete opposite of how we do business. The predictive markets are future-looking, while statistical regression looks at the past.
According to his new bio on the EEDAR website, Divnich will be responsible for “the development and execution of new products and services for the financial sector,” and will contribute to unnamed “new product lines” related to industry trend analysis and risk management. Short added that Divnich will also continue to provide NPD preview reports, only now based on EEDAR data.
Press release:
San Diego, CA., April 16, 2008 - Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR), a business intelligence and research firm specializing in the videogame industry, today announced the appointment of Jesse Divnich to Director of Analytical Services. In his position, Divnich will continue his work as one of the leading analysts for the videogame industry, while spearheading both new products and business development for the financial sector.
“EEDAR’s vast collection of proprietary data and research tools allow publishers and developers to increase product quality, sales and efficiency throughout the development cycle,” said Divnich. “I am eager to begin leveraging these technologies in my new role, while contributing to the development of new products for EEDAR in the areas of due diligence, risk management and analysis of industry trends.”
“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,” said Geoffrey Zatkin, President and COO of EEDAR.
Most recently, Divnich served as the Lead Analyst for videogame sales prediction web site “The simExchange” where he helped to expand the popularity of prediction markets as a means to more accurately predict sales within the interactive entertainment industry. Divnich has worked as an independent industry consultant and analyst with numerous private firms and institutions with strong financial interests in the interactive entertainment sector.
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