The much-anticipated Hollywood film, Ready Player One, could give graphics card makers such as Nvidia and AMD another boost.
That comes at a time when both companies have already been soaring thanks to a booming gaming industry and excitement over cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Shares of Nvidia have risen nearly 26% since the start of the year, while shares of AMD have risen 11%. The S&P 500 in comparison has risen nearly 3%.
“We think the Steven Spielberg-directed movie Ready Player One, which is scheduled for release on March 29, could be a catalyst for NVDA and AMD,” wrote Jefferies analyst Mark Lipacis in a note Monday. “The movie depicts a future dystopian society where everyone either lives or escapes into a virtual world called the OASIS. We believe that the movie will drive sales of [virtual reality] headsets that require high-performance GPUs from NVDA and AMD.”
Jefferies also noted however, that the bank is “not sure” the movie will have any impact on the two companies’ sales.
Both the movie, and the note, come at a time when virtual reality headsets have yet to take off. Consumers still report motion sickness using the product, while content for the headsets remains sparse.
Still, major tech companies are pushing ahead, seeking cheaper, and better ways of making VR headsets. Consider Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 chipset for mobile phones used to power VR headsets, or the Mi VR headset from Facebook’s Oculus VR unit.