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What’s McCall’s “Hollywood Blockbuster Deal?”

Checking out a teaser pitch for McCall's Private Deal Group about a "potential 16X gain"

By Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe, November 17, 2020

This is the pitch that caught a lot of Gumshoe reader eyes over the past couple days:

“This is essentially the opportunity we have before us today…

“To not only be an investor in a Hollywood brand, but to earn multiple checks per year…

“While seeing a realistic chance for 16X gains or more.”

It’s from Matt McCall, who’s peddling this intriguing-sounding “buy into entertainment residuals” investment… which, if you’ve been around Stock Gumshoe for a while, means he’s really talking about something like royalties, and we looooove royalties. Investing once and reaping recurring and perpetual returns is one of the best ways for the lazy man to invest, and I’m nothing if not a lazy man.

So McCall got his hooks into me a bit with this one, and I decided to figure out what he’s talking about.  This is from the order form for his Private Deal Group ($3,499/yr, no refunds), summing it up:

Getting Rich From Hollywood’s Next Blockbuster Franchise. This report lays out, in detail, exactly how to buy into the private business targeting major Hollywood brands. I believe this one opportunity alone could see 16X gains. You’ll receive two checks annually — once in May and again in November — if you decide to invest.”

So that’s the promise of this particular private deal offering that McCall says he can tell you about, though, of course, he also says that he’ll be recommending lots of other deals if you subscribe — these kinds of “private placements” and “private deals” are all the rage for newsletter publishers who are trying to differentiate themselves with their high-cost “private investing” services, will this one be better than past ideas we’ve considered?

Well, let’s at least figure it out and take a look. Bear with me.

More from the ad:

“$2 billion is paid out in residuals EVERY year.

“It’s an enormous amount of passive income the average investor is clueless about.

“And today you have an opportunity to tap into a similar type of income stream and use it to better your own life.

“This is not something that is reserved for A-list actors or insider film producers anymore.

“Thanks to the mega-deal I just recently discovered, which is targeting Hollywood’s next billion-dollar franchise…

“Viewers at home tonight can learn about an investment opportunity that could end up changing their situation forever.”

How can you resist, right? And better yet, it’s somehow exclusive…

“This is NOT a stock market investment of any kind.

“It has nothing to do with options, bonds, cryptocurrencies, or any other traditional investment.

“In fact, what he’s about to reveal is not an investment the average Joe normally takes part in.”

We aren’t average! No-siree, we are entirely above average and absolutely super cool and smart… so this is definitely right up our alley, right? So what is it?

“This might be the best and only chance you ever get to be part of Hollywood history…

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“A real-life blockbuster deal.

“And potentially make A LOT of money in the process…”

So what is this investment? We’re told that it is “currently targeting a major Hollywood brand,” and that it comes with “revenue rights.” And the ad dangles plenty of examples of huge hits that brought massive returns for their investors and creators, like the Marvel superhero movies, Star Wars, Harry Potter, James Bond… you get the idea. RICHES.

And he makes the notion of residuals sound almost magical, noting that Leonardo DiCaprio is still earning income from Titanic 20+ years later, and that Tom Hanks has now earned more than $60 million from Forrest Gump over the past 30 years, among other examples.

So what is this “billion dollar franchise” McCall has found? What’s the “mega deal” he’s talking about?

He hints some at it…

“The Hollywood franchise that’s being targeted all started in 2011 as a massively successful, bestselling novel.

“This novel spent 62 weeks on The New York Time’s Best Sellers list….

“In 2018, this novel became a Hollywood film.

“Directed by none other than the greatest director to ever live: Steven Spielberg.”

And apparently this movie made buckets of money…

“… the film generated nearly $580 million from global box office sales.

“This doesn’t include an additional $29 million from DVD and Blu-ray sales….

“And today, viewers have a new way to profit from a deal that’s targeting this Hollywood brand.

“This is your chance to own revenue-sharing rights tied directly to the success of this franchise.

“You could be collecting checks because of this blockbuster years from now….

“If you’ve ever dreamed of earning passive income from a real-life blockbuster brand, this could be the only chance you’ll get.”

So how is it that you can get “residuals” on a movie whose financial life is mostly over now? I’m sure it’s still making money from TV and other sources, but the lion’s share is done… McCall says that’s because this one title is about to become a franchise…. more from the ad:

“Because a sequel to the first novel is already planned.

“This is why I’m calling it a full-fledged Hollywood franchise.

“In fact, the author has already finished the manuscript for the second novel….

“Casting for the sequel has already begun….

“…it’s been reported Spielberg is assisting the author with the sequel’s storyline…”

That’s all teasing Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, the best-selling book about an immersive video game, which led to a successful film from Steven Spielberg a couple years ago (I guess it would have been a blockbuster for a smaller filmmaker, but it certainly doesn’t make Spielberg’s “top ten”). And we’re far past a manuscript now, the second book, Ready Player Two will come out in a week, and presumably it will do well. There is no second film in the making, nor a promise that Steven Spielberg would be involved, but, of course, Hollywood loves a sequel and it’s entirely possible that one could be written and produced at some point — probably it’s not something we’d see until 2023 at the earliest.

So what connection does that have to any investment? It’s a little tenuous, so bear with me for a moment while we go through the more useful clues…

“You have an opportunity to join a deal targeting a proven Hollywood film franchise which already has millions of fans.

“And has already banked hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.

“The profit potential is enormous here…

“Your risk is lowered because this brand has already launched and is a massive success.

“The key takeaway here is: merchandising rights lead to serious wealth.”

And apparently there is a private deal, with a minimum investment of $1,000…

“It’s open to anyone.

“In fact, the minimum investment amount is only $1,000.

“As long as you have $1,000, you can become an early investor in this private company.

“And that’s good news…

“Because this is THE merchandising dealmaker in the industry.”

So what specific clues do we get about this private company we’re able to invest in?

Here’s a bit more from the ad:

“This private company has already built a sophisticated system.

“It has a proven track record of taking well-known brands and turning them into million-dollar ventures.

“Only we’re not talking action figures and comic books here…. This is much bigger.

“You see, this company’s specialty is in the booming $135 BILLION video game industry.”

OK, so it’s a company that makes video games… are they making something specifically to do with Ready Player Two? Or is that just an oblique reference, because Ready Player One integrated vintage video games into a new story and perhaps reinvigorated interest in them?

Let’s check some more clues…

“This private company created the first arcade video games for Apple’s Macintosh in 1992….

“It has since moved its offices right next door to Pixar, Disney’s animated film studio….

“This private company has developed proprietary software with capabilities that exceeds its competitors.

“It allows them to create a single video game — then translate its code and distribute the game on dozens of platforms….

“… this private business’ specialty is to create massively successful video games based on iconic pop culture franchises…

“They have a proven track record of taking some of the biggest and most successful movie franchises and turning into profitable video game ventures…”

OK, so we’re getting warm here — that sounds like it’s very likely a reference to Digital Eclipse, which was indeed located just down the road from Pixar in Emeryville, CA (it may still be headquartered in that town, I’m not sure), and had as its first commercial products the ported-over versions of arcade games that could be played on the Apple Macintosh in the early 1990s. And they did come out with some movie-inspired games in later years, mostly for the various Game Boy platforms from Nintendo.

This all sounds a bit odd and old, though, so what is it we’re really talking about? More from McCall’s ad:

“Both Aladdin and Lion King were huge box office hits, earning more than $1 billion collectively. But their video game sales were only around 10,000 copies.

“Then this private business, which viewers have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest in, got involved.

“Along with its skilled team of engineers and proprietary technology, this company completely revamped the Aladdin and Lion King video games.

“Now it’s estimated they’ll see 500,000 units sold.

“That’s a fiftyfold increase in sales.

“And because these games are higher quality, the retail price for each game was raised threefold.

“This is just a single case study of how this private business uses famous name brands to make huge returns.”

OK, that’s not true (there were several games based on the 1992 Disney film Aladdin, and at least two of them were huge hits for the Sega Genesis and Nintendo Super NES, which is why there is nostalgic demand… and why Disney thought it worthwhile to have the game restored and republished), but that’s almost certainly still Digital Eclipse — the company’s best-known employee is probably Frank Cifaldi, who is a pioneer of video game preservation and is trying to make sure older games remain available and viable, using the company’s Eclipse Engine.

Here’s how it was described in an interview with one of the producers of a different Disney nostalgia package they put together in 2017:

“The Eclipse Engine effectively decompiles the game data and rebuilds it into a different programming language for new platforms. This process preserves everything from the original games as they played on their original consoles, including frame rate quirks and flickering that those of us who grew up playing these games experienced.”

The classic 1990s video games based on the Aladdin and Lion King movies were indeed re-released recently, with the new versions developed by Digital Eclipse and Nighthawk Interactive. They’re generally not new games, they’re old games that are in demand because of nostalgia — people want to play those games they remember from their childhood, but they want those games to be ported to new systems, so they can play them on their phone or Xbox or Nintendo Switch instead of on an old Sega Genesis or Nintendo 64 console that can no longer even be plugged into a modern TV, and on higher resolution monitors, with improved gameplay, with perhaps a few new camera angles or levels thrown in as a bonus. That’s generally what Digital Eclipse has been doing over the past five years, since the company was restructured with that clear focus on video game preservation.

There’s an interesting blog post here about the demand for vintage video games, and about the financial challenge of bringing them back into “print,” in case you’re curious… just like with TV shows and movies, the availability of older stuff is almost overwhelming and we’ve recently gotten used to being able to find whatever we want, whenever we want — but there are always a few things that you remember from your childhood that just aren’t available anywhere anymore.

There are a few other hints that make it sound like they’re doing something revolutionary…

“This private business not only redesigned one of the most classic video games…

“But they took the Street Fighter game and gave it 21st-century technology.

“They did this by adding online play, which was previously unavailable. It allows users to “fight” each other from across the world.

Street Fighter has sold one million copies since this private business launched its redesign.

Mega Man was a similar situation.

“This science fiction, action-packed video game became popular in 1987.

“But just recently, this private business took over development.

“When the new Mega Man game was released, IGN.com said it was a ‘lesson for how games… should be engineered.’

“And just like Street Fighter, Mega Man was a financial success too.

“It sold over one million copies in recent years.”

OK, so that’s sort of true — Digital Eclipse did reissue a version of Street Fighter, but from what I can tell they did not invent the online play feature, they’re trying to recreate the experience of old games, not come up with something new.  And, yes, arguably their most successful game reissue was a series of the early Nintendo Mega Man games. I don’t know where McCall’s getting his “financial success” or “over one million copies” data, but I guess we’ll just take him at his word there.

So that still tells us we’re looking at some kind of Digital Eclipse investment… but it’s a small private company with only a handful of employees, so what’s the story here? It’s not directly investable, and there’s no obvious call for investments from the company.

More clues, then…

“Like I said, this company takes iconic and valuable pop culture franchises and turns them into mega-selling video game ventures….

“This business prefers to turn to the private market to fund its projects…

“Especially for the really big projects, like the ones we’ve been talking about today.

“In return, folks who join in share the revenue these video games generate.

“And we’re not talking chump change. This is big money.”

I’d step back from that for a moment, this company isn’t taking “pop culture franchises” and turning them into video games… it’s taking old video games that have pop culture significance and nostalgia appeal and preserving and reissuing them, generally in as faithful a manner as possible (including recreating that “smudgy glow” of the pixelated cathode ray TV in HD). There may be money in this, but this is not the creation of new hit products — it’s essentially making money from reruns, it’s just that making a “rerun” of a game is more complex than reprinting a book or even remastering a movie or song.

And apparently they’ve got other plans, too…

“The private video game company I’ve been discussing is also targeting the James Bond GoldenEye brand.

“Investors have the chance to benefit from this brand…

“Just like the people who grew richer from the first game back in the ’90s.”

That James Bond Goldeneye 007 game was indeed a huge hit, one of the first real “first person shooter” games that became popular on the N64 console… so much so that a little studio put a lot of sweat into trying to recreate the game over the past few years in a new “Goldeneye 25” edition, though the rights holders shot them down this year. Maybe Digital Eclipse will get involved in trying to resurrect that game, too, but if so that news is not public anywhere I’ve seen.

And there’s some more promise of potential big-name deals in sports, though not much in the way of specifics…

“The videogame company with licenses for both the NBA and NFL is being targeted by this private business for a potential licensing deal.”

OK, so I’m satisfied that he’s talking about Digital Eclipse to some degree… but what on earth is the investment? We do get a few more clues…

“We’re talking about a private revenue-sharing opportunity.

“You can own a piece of the future sales of this private video game company…

“That’s currently targeting Hollywood’s next major franchise.

“Investors collect their share of the revenue over and over and over again.

“You’ll have the opportunity to receive two checks per year. One on May 15. And another on November 15.

“You’ll receive them year after year. There is no time limit. As long as sales are made, you get paid.

“That’s why I’ve been saying 16X gains here isn’t out of the question.”

And some more specifics that will be helpful in confirmation…

“You are entitled to earn a portion of 50% of this company’s revenue until they 3X.

“After this event happens, you will then receive your share of 25% of revenues.

“Now it’s important to point out, your earnings are NOT capped.”

And just to be fair, about 2/3 of the way through they finally get to the obligatory disclaimer…

“Now of course, just like with any other investment, this investment involves risk as well. Past performance does not indicate future success. And I would never recommend investing any amount you aren’t willing to lose.”

But how does one get “residuals” from Digital Eclipse?

Well, it’s a little complicated… but I think it’s very likely that what Matt McCall is talking about here is a private investment in a rights fund being raised by Fig Gaming for a Digital Eclipse publishing partnership. Fig is a publisher that has been offering private video game investments for several years now, essentially a crowdfunding platform that offered actual equity or revenue share rights instead of just gamer perks, and was recently bought by the private investing platform Republic.

This isn’t like Fig’s primary business of raising money from individuals for specific games, they offer that on their website and you can get involved with deals for different developers to help fund their game development and share the revenue,  but this offering is a more typical raise of a private fund that will be used for developing unnamed future Digital Eclipse games, with a revenue share for those who invest.

What they’re offering is called Fig Gaming Shares — Digital Eclipse, and according to their SEC filing the goal of this Reg. A fundraising is to raise $10 million at $1,000 a share. They filed the original registration for Reg. A a few months ago, but it looks like the offering went “live” on October 29.

And yes, the goal is for this to be a revenue share agreement that pays two dividends a year, based on their share of the sales receipts of those future Digital Eclipse Games… assuming, of course, that such games are published and become successful enough to generate meaningful revenue. They say they’ll return funds to investors if they aren’t used within three years to develop or acquire licensed games.

This Reg. A offering is not limited to accredited investors, but, of course, if you’re considering an investment in even one share that means you’re risking $1,000 on something that’s essentially “sight unseen” — you don’t know which future Digital Eclipse projects it will fund, there are not many specifics in the offering, and there’s a very real chance that you’ll never come close to getting your investment back as those games are developed and sold over the next few years. I don’t know what the probabilities are, of course, we’re all guessing at this point and it’s entirely possible that this investment fund will fund duds and lose all your money, or develop a big nostalgia hit and generate solid royalties that are passed along to you — we don’t know, I just would go into any such investment with the assumption that great returns are a remote possibility, not a likely probability.

What are the games they’ll be developing? We don’t know. Is there a connection to Ready Player Two? We don’t know that, either. There is a connection to Ready Player One, sort of, in that the story of that book (and movie) was connected to vintage video games, and might have spurred some additional interest in such games, so perhaps Ready Player Two will lead to more of the same… but there isn’t an actual Ready Player One video game that I’m aware of (there is a beta version on Steam of Ready Player One: Oasis, though it doesn’t seem to have gotten far in the past couple years), and I don’t know if the role that vintage video games like Joust played in Ready Player One led to any particular resurgence in the Joust game (or any financial returns for such — that was one of my late-80s faves, personally, and there are ported “arcade” versions of classics like Joust, Gauntlet, Paperboy and Spy Hunter sometimes sold for new platforms like Xbox, and some of those were originally ported by a previous iteration of this same company, Digital Eclipse, though I don’t have any idea how much money they make… and, of course, the experience is completely different than the real vintage arcades of my youth, for that you have to visit a vintage place like our local Quarters or the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas).

The critical note is that this is the early-stage funding of creative work, and that’s inherently risky even if the nostalgia factor might mean that there’s likely to be at least a baseload audience who will be excited to see their favorite game (whatever it might be) brought back to life.  If it was an easy return, they probably wouldn’t be crowdfunding — if restoring a vintage video game was widely seen as an automatic annuity return, they’d be able to get a check from a large investor for $10 million in a heartbeat. Yes, it’s possible for companies to want to be democratic and want to include the little guy, and it’s possible that it will work out, but when you’re being sold something it’s important to realize how much of that is a promise and how much is a tease.

What’s in McCall’s presentation is a tease, as I see it, with lots of promotional exaggeration, but, assuming I’m right about the fact that he’s pitching this Fig — Digital Eclipse investment, what’s in the actual SEC filings is much more specific financially and much less specific creatively (despite McCall’s hints about Ready Player Two and Goldeneye 007, we don’t know what games Digital Eclipse might develop).  That makes it sound much less dramatically appealing.   Maybe McCall has been told by the company some things about what games Digital Eclipse intends to try to develop with this funding, or maybe he’s guessing or there are some investor presentations on this that I haven’t seen yet, I don’t know… the one thing he notes in the ad that seems entirely wrong is the “perpetual” bit about revenue continuing to roll in indefinitely, my reading of the offering indicates that there’s definitely a termination date (it’s after a pretty huge return, to be fair, five years after the point that the royalty has returned 3X the development funds, but it’s still there).

If you wish to consider investing in porting nostalgic video games to new platforms, which is the core capability of Digital Eclipse and what they’re really offering as a potential investment through this Fig platform, just make sure you read the SEC offering first. Yes, the whole thing, all 70 pages — this is a private investment in a company (Fig), it has no voting rights, and you’re making a deal and there’s no broker or journalist parsing it for you to make an implied promise that it’s appealing… and, perhaps more importantly, you can’t sell it tomorrow if you change your mind. There’s no guarantee that there will ever be a secondary market into which you could sell your rights, should you wish to, and from what I can tell the company is certainly not in any way obligated to buy them back from you.

What they’re really selling are specialized chunks of equity in Fig Gaming, tied specifically to a game or a series of games in development, and they’ve offered similar deals for other development before (Reg. A raisings are filed with the SEC, so you can see their other recent offerings for Fig Gaming — Amico for a new Intellivision video game console, or even with Fig more broadly through Fig Portfolio Shares for accredited investors, and you should check out the whole Offering Circular if you want to consider an investment), but this is how they describe it in the filing:

“Fig Gaming Shares are stock of Fig without any rights to vote on any matters relating to our Company, the Fig Gaming Shares or otherwise. See “Description of Company Securities”. Different series of Fig Gaming Shares differ from each other in that each series pays holders of those securities dividends based on the revenue share we receive from sales of a particular associated game or game console, as specified by each license agreement associated with such Fig Gaming Shares.”

And here’s what they say the intend to do with the money:

“Digital Eclipse intends to use the Eclipse Engine to take games for which there is long harbored nostalgia for and bring them on to modern gaming systems. Consistent with our publishing license agreement with Digital Eclipse, the Developer will retain all of its intellectual property associated with each of the Licensed Games. Digital Eclipse’s current business model is focused on three principles rights: (i) re-imagine classic games remade with modern sensibilities, (ii) re-master collections of classic games for modern systems and (iii) re-invent original intellectual property remade in the style of classic games. Digital Eclipse is working in partnership with intellectual property holders of classic games in order to re-imagine, re-master and re-invent them; only now Digital Eclipse is self-funding such games, with Fig, to ensure a greater percentage of profits are retained. Digital Eclipse believes that starting date for the production of games range from 6 months to 18 months, but believes that many games can be ready for distribution within a year of receiving funding and the start of development.

“Digital Eclipse will need to secure the consent of the current intellectual property holders of certain intellectual property assets in order to develop games. However, because will be using Fig Funds for game development, and Fig does not require Digital Eclipse to convey intellectual property rights to it in exchange for Fig Funds, Digital Eclipse believe that it can complete its game development with Fig while avoiding the expense of acquiring intellectual property that it would otherwise have to incur in other to worth with other game publishes. As a results, Digital Eclipse believe that working with Fig will leave more game revenue for it and for holders of FGS-DE.”

They estimate that each game they fund from this pool will be developed and published within three years of receiving funds, so it might take a while to generate any revenues from which to earn a revenue share. McCall indicates that these “residuals” go on forever, but from what I can tell that’s not the case — it looks like this Fig Fund will earn 50% of gross receipts until that royalty has reached 3X the development funds provided to Digital Eclipse, then 25% for another five years, and then zero after that (“In all events, Fig’s Revenue Share will terminate on the fifth (5th) anniversary of Fig Receiving 3 times the amount of Fig Funds provided to the Developer”).

Is there a lot of money in these preservation projects?   Digital Eclipse got some nice coverage when they released their Mega Man Legacy collection, essentially comparing their efforts to the lucrative-if-limited business of remastering and re-releasing classic films. Here’s a quote from that article that I found interesting, though it’s now five years old:

“Whether there’s enough of an audience that cares enough about such considerate and careful recreations remains to be seen—and, indeed, this is what Digital Eclipse is hoping to prove. For his part, Cifaldi is optimistic that not only is there a market out there for high-quality ports of classic games, but it’s larger than many would think.

“‘Do I think we’re going to prove it? I absolutely do. I mean, you can go to the mall today and probably buy a shirt with Super Mario pixel art. It’s commercially proven that at bare minimum there is a nostalgia market. And I think there are people like me who want access to important works of video game art presented with loving care.'”

It looks like the basic break-even point for this Fig-DE investment, according to the dividend policy in the offering, would come when a Digital Eclipse game (or multiple games, I guess) generates more than about $25 million in net game revenue after Fig’s $10 million investment (that’s net of distribution, licensing and marketing, all of which would presumably be pretty meaningful ).  If they reach that, your distributions based on that net revenue should add up to about the $1,000 per share that your initial investment cost… anything after that is profit.

I don’t know is how much Mega Man Legacy Collection or any of their previous restoration/republishing efforts made, and whether that was profitable for Digital Eclipse or its investors. And, of course, we have no idea what projects they’ll try to develop with the $10 million they’re attempting to raise through this Fig fundraise… do they have an as-yet-undisclosed plan to release something connected to Ready Player One (or Two)? Will they continue to just focus on preserving and re-releasing classic video games, maybe including Goldeneye 007 or some NBA or NFL games from the past?

Maybe. But they’re not saying yet, and it will take a while to find out what they’re going to do… revenue and potential royalties/dividends will be based on whatever projects they develop in the future, not on anything they’ve done in the past, and it will probably be at least a couple years before meaningful revenue is generated from these yet-to-be-developed games, assuming there is any… so if you’re preparing to contact the company and trying to participate in this private investment, do know that you’ll have to be patient, and you’ll have to read and understand the offering well on your own and accept those risks. You’ll also have to figure out how to do it, I know Republic has a “contact” page, but I didn’t notice any specific contact info in Fig’s filings (I confess, I didn’t look very closely — if you want to invest, it should be a little bit difficult to buy in, as a reminder of the fact that it might be impossible to sell).

And with that, I’ll leave you to it. I can see the appeal of “residuals” and royalty payments based on video games, for sure, but am not particularly interested in a blank check for developing/preserving games that may or may not be developed, released, and become commercially successful over the next decade.

Phew, long one!  These private deals are always enticing, and sometimes they work out… just remember some key risks that are common to all these private deals:  1) if it’s not in the SEC-registered offering, it’s not part of the agreement and it’s not in any way promised; 2) you probably won’t be able to sell your shares if you change your mind, maybe ever, so consider carefully; and 3) regulators and internet “whistleblowers” who regularly call out fraud or issues of concern with public companies, often don’t look closely at small private deals… so you’re probably on your own when it comes to finding any skeletons that might be hiding in the closet. And even if you subscribe to McCall’s newsletter, I imagine he’d tell you about the same thing — they mention those risks and more in their disclaimers and include this bit in ALL CAPS on their order form, small though the letters are:

“INVESTMENTS IN PRIVATE PLACEMENTS ARE HIGHLY SPECULATIVE AND INVOLVE A HIGH DEGREE OF RISK. YOU SHOULD NOT PURCHASE SUCH AN INVESTMENT IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD THE LOSS OF ALL OR PART OF YOUR ENTIRE INVESTMENT. YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER THE RISKS DESCRIBED BELOW, AS WELL AS SPECIFIC RISKS IN THE OFFERING MATERIALS, WHEN EVALUATING WHETHER TO MAKE AN INVESTMENT. YOU MAY CONSIDER CONSULTING WITH YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR, ATTORNEY AND/OR ACCOUNTANT ABOUT THIS INVESTMENT.”

Can’t argue with any of that. Still, though, investing in a private video game development fund sounds fun, right?  Maybe it will work, and maybe you’ve got some play money to throw into such a deal, though I won’t be investing — when it comes to your money, you can decide… just please do let us know what you think with a comment below.

P.S. It doesn’t seem that McCall’s Private Deal Group has been around very long just yet, but readers always want to hear from subscribers about what these services are really like — so if you’ve ever subscribed, please do let us know what you thought, you can see our Private Deal Group ratings, reviews and discussion page here.

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src1224
src1224
November 17, 2020 3:09 pm

The only factual part of the offering document is the warning in caps ! no touch

JayBee1
Guest
JayBee1
November 17, 2020 3:10 pm

Thanks Travis. I don’t know what to make of Matt McCall. One week he’s an expert on cannabis. The next he’s an expert on cryptocurrencies. Now he’s an expert on private deals. He comes across like he’s wired on caffeine (or maybe something much stronger), but no one person can know everything that he claims to know. Just because he says it doesn’t make it so. Also, it seems like when I see him in videos he is never wearing socks.

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stockmarketdr
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stockmarketdr
November 20, 2020 6:54 am
Reply to  JayBee1

Matt “Magical Matt” McCall has been around the market since as a college intern on the radio show “Winning on Wallstreet” This was back in the late 90s. I listened to the show daily until they started allowing the radio hosts young daughter to start recommending stocks also – it just confirmed that even a person with no experience can pick stocks and I turned it off at that point. Then to hear he was with a firm and gotten much older, I could only hope his knowledge and experience would prove him to be a great stock guru. Like many stock pickers who use “crystal ball” many do not work out. Personally he, like many, like us can throw out picks and have 5 out of 10 work and the people who took our advice believe that we are genius. No one knows the market perfectly and what stocks will eventually work. Its all guessing game with alot of people playing with hope money.

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Eric Krause
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Eric Krause
November 17, 2020 3:15 pm

It’s a brand new group he started less than a month ago.

TJ
TJ
November 17, 2020 3:54 pm

Thanks Travis for the detail and insights as always. Are you going to be providing a write up at some stage on GAN earnings yesterday and their acquisition of Coolbet? Thanks TJ

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TJ
TJ
November 17, 2020 4:19 pm

Thanks, share price was a car crash today. Mr market didnt like the earnings report. Expectations were high after the other gambling stocks performances. I’d be interested to hear your analysis. Looking forward to it. TJ

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orangutan
Member
November 17, 2020 4:05 pm

Thanks for the brilliant footwork. I saw the teaser and wondered about it. I already have a lot of investor place including Matt’s work. But I passed on this Private deal service.
I was an active tech angel investor and lead investor in startups and side car investor with VCs till Y2K. I am finally almost done with the K-1s! fortunately it was fun and more than kept my shirt.
— I’d rather be doing SPACs now in the private to public space. less time, less money and easy to trade. And I went with Wyatt Research for SPACs and my own sleuthing on the blank check deals.

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Edward K. Motley
Guest
November 17, 2020 4:16 pm

Great write-up!! Thanks for deciphering the McCall pitch as it is a bit more interesting than those readily available stocks on an exchange, I mean in terms of being something different. You hit the nail on the head stating, “If it was an easy return, they probably wouldn’t be crowdfunding … they’d be able to get a check from a large investor for $10 million in a heartbeat.” As evident by your write-up, the biggest video game franchises have been brought back to market already. Another critical risk here is in the remaining profitability of less mainstream revivals, and possibly fighting against the clock on mass appeal of these revivals in general. If that $1,000 investment yielded no return, the emotional investment in that dramatic scenario might be worth … IDK, how many different video games would $1,000 buy these days?

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steveflick
November 17, 2020 7:36 pm

$3,499 for McCall’s Private Deal Group, +$1k/share minimum investment, No Thanks!! Thinkolator did a deep dive today, thanks for the excellent article.

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elsegreve
November 18, 2020 2:35 am

I been buying a couple of McCall’s free pics, all have made me money

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Jean Sharp
Guest
Jean Sharp
November 20, 2020 8:38 am

what is blue gas?

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macrobody
Member
macrobody
November 22, 2020 10:23 am

I didn’t read the whole spiel but could this be something related? It’s a private deal from PB venture btw:
https://venturebeat.com/2020/08/05/intellivision-delays-launch-to-april-2021-and-unveils-20-new-titles/

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