Market-to-Book Ratio and Creative Industries– Example of Polish Video Games Developers

Abstract Research purpose. There are many reasons for which a growing interest in research and analysis of video game developers is observed. First, it results from attractive high rates of return on investment in this sector. Second, video games developers, in the author’s opinion, constitute a good combination of business and culture which is a ground for development of creative industry. A capital-intensive process of production and the intangibility of video games cause a problem in valuation of developers. Market participants who value future cash flows are in conflict with a historical cost approach used in accounting. This leads to a question of whether the confrontation of these two extreme ways of valuation could be a valuable measure of unrecognised assets for the analysis of video games sector and, as a consequence, of creative industry. The aim of the study is to explore a possible role and use of market-to-book ratio for analysis of this sector. Design/Methodology/Approach. The study starts with a literature review on market-to-book ratio applied to knowledge-based industries. The second part of the research is a comparison of results obtained for 19 biggest listed representatives of the video games sector in Poland to other sectors of Warsaw Stock Exchange. Further analysis juxtaposes the selected Polish representatives with world’s biggest ones in this sector. This will allow to draw conclusions about the usefulness of the examined ratio. Findings. The research shows that the video games sector represents noticeably higher level of market-to book ratio than other industries in Poland and is comparable to the world’s representatives. It can be stated that the market’s valuation takes into account unrecognised assets (intellectual capital), which are greatly related to possible future cash flows. What is interesting is that, for some of the selected Polish companies, market-to-book ratio keeps decreasing compared to the levels at IPO. This refers to market efficiency in relation to possible speculative bubbles which companies of this sector are often accused of. Originality/Value/Practical implications. The obtained results are applicable to the investors, analysts and managers of this sector. The research conducted enables a better understanding of the market-to-book ratio as an indicator of economic standing of creative industry companies and its earnings’ prediction.