Welcome to Recruit3D
...the new name in games industry search and selection, brought to you by games industry recruitment veteran Fran Mulhern.
Founded in the belief that there’s a better way to serve the needs of the games industry, Recruit3D has at its core a stringent “no spam” policy – for both candidates and studios alike. With extensive experience of recruiting into development studios, we’re perfectly placed to ensure an exact match between studio and candidate, based on technical ability, project, mutual aspirations and goals. Recruitment companies will often say that recruitment is a sales industry. We believe otherwise: we believe that it’s a service industry, and that those best placed to service it are recruiters who know their stuff and are passionate about games.
That’s where we come in.
Useful games industry links:
- GamesIndustry.biz – Games industry news
- Develop Magazine – as above
- The Chaos Engine – discussion forum for those involved in the industry
(please note: work email required to verify identity) - TIGA – Trade association for UK & Europe games developers
- MCV – Games industry news
- The International Game Developers Association
- ZeroCrunch – A social network for the games industry
News: Riccitiello: Hardware price cuts came "too late"
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has told investors that part of the reason 2009 was a difficult year was because the first party companies - namely Microsoft and Sony - were too slow in cutting hardware prices.
Speaking after the company released its Q3 results - and guidance which Riccitiello branded as "conservative" for the next fiscal year - he added that other factors included the title line-up for last year as well as the broader economic recession.
However, despite a cautious stance on outlook, he did note that console use was increasing - a trend which he saw no reason to believe would end at any time soon, even with increased usage of other digital and social platforms.
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 10:51 pm
News: FIFA 10 hits 9.7 million lifetime sales
Electronic Arts has revealed that last year's iteration of its annual football title, FIFA 10, had sold 9.7 million units by the end of December 2009 - just shy of a major landmark in 10 million, but one that it's likely to have passed in the last month.
The publisher announced the numbers as part of its Q3 financial results, which saw it top the packaged goods chart in both North America and Europe from the end of March to the end of 2009.
The numbers demonstrate strong growth during the month of December, with 4.5 million sold up until the end of November - meaning that the Christmas month topped that number up by a further 5.2 million units.
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 10:05 pm
News: EA - Console revenue down 30% in Q3
EA's console revenue dropped 30 per cent in the third quarter of fiscal 2010, according to the company's latest financials, while handheld and mobile revenue was down 27 per cent.
Sales from all three of the home console dropped almost equally - by 22 per cent for Xbox 360, 23 per cent for Wii and 21 per cent for PlayStation 3. Sales of PlayStation 2 games were also, inevitably, down on the previous year with a 75 per cent drop in revenue from the console, but still generated sales worth $44m.
On the handhelds, the DS saw the biggest decrease in revenue - almost half that of the previous year - from $118m to $63m. PSP software sales were down 17 per cent to $30m.
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 9:48 pm
News: EA reports 25% revenue fall for Q3
Electronic Arts has reported its third quarter financial results for the three months ending December 31, 2009, noting a revenue fall over the previous year from $1.654 billion to $1.243 billion.
However, the publisher also slashed losses over the same period from $641 million to just $82 million as the impact of restructure and refocus begins to have an effect.
The company also noted $103 million of net revenue deferral for online-enabled packaged goods and digital content, which it says will be recognised in future quarters.
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 9:28 pm
News: Unity inks three-year LEGO deal
Unity Technologies has inked a three-year deal with LEGO, with the 3D game engine to be utilised in all web games and content on lego.com.
The development tools have already been put to use in LEGO Star Wars: The Quest for R2D2 and Bionicle: Glatorian Arena.
"Weve invested a great deal of time evaluating technology for the next phase of www.lego.com," said Claus Toftegaard Matthiesen, technology manager of the LEGO Group. "We believe that Unitys flexibility, strength and power will give us scope to create world leading content for our consumers and are looking forward to the cooperation."
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 4:03 pm
News: MacDonald: Motion control will present challenge for Sony and MS
Jamie MacDonald, the former VP of Sony Worldwide Studios who was responsible for bringing motion control to the home consoles as early as 2003 with EyeToy: Play on PS2, has warned that delivering affordable motion technology and compelling games will present a challenge for both his former employer and for Microsoft.
"I'm very much looking forward to the motion controllers from both Microsoft and Sony, as you might expect given my background with EyeToy: Play," said MacDonald, speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz. "The Natal games that I've seen look very interesting and I'm sure that Sony will come up with some great stuff, not least because of the motion control heritage they've got at London Studio where I was."
But there will be key challenges for both companies, said MacDonald. They will need to avoid simply replicating the sort of fun gamers can already experience on the Wii, because they are more powerful machines that people expect more from. But they'll also need to make sure they don't miss out on the casual audience altogether.
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 4:00 pm
News: Championship Manager Online to close in April
Square Enix is to close down Championship Manager Online at the end of April, but still plans to work on the football franchise.
"We can confirm that CM Online, a joint initiative with Jadestone in Sweden, will be closing from April 30, 2010," said the publisher. "We are re-focusing our vision for the Championship Manager franchise and hope to share more news soon."
"We want to thank the loyal players who have supported this product over the last few years and our partner Jadestone for all of their work on CM Online."
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 10:58 am
News: Final Fantasy, Batman boost Square Enix profits 48%
Square Enix has reported a rise in profits of 48.2 per cent, off the back of strong Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dragon Quest IX, Final Fantasy XIII and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days sales.
For the nine months ended December 31, net income was ¥7.7 billion (£56m / $87.2m), nets sales totalled ¥135.4 billion (£972.8m / $1.5bn), a rise of 30.9 per cent.
Operating income was ¥21.4bn (£153.8m / $239.5m), a rise of 67.7 per cent. Net sales in Square Enix's Games segment, rose 97 per cent from the same period last year, to ¥72.9bn (£524.1m / $816.3m).
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 10:28 am
News: Mass Effect 2 remains UK number one
Mass Effect 2 has remained at number one in the UK all-format chart this week despite stiff competition from former chart-topper Just Dance.
With sales dropping 64 per cent on last week, the game was just 850 copies ahead of Ubisoft's casual title.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sales were down 12 per cent, but were just enough to beat EA's Dante's Inferno, which entered the chart at four.
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 10:13 am
News: Local politics hits World of Warcraft China again
The political struggle in China over the regulation of the online games space has once again hit the operation of Blizzard's World of Warcraft in the country, with operator NetEase announcing a suspension of new registrations for the game yesterday.
The move comes as the governmental department, the General Administration of Press and Publication, ordered NetEase to stop charging people to play the game as a result of "gross violations" of regulations, reports Reuters.
NetEase has denied that is the case, and that the game complies with local laws, but this latest event is the outcome of an ongoing clash between government departments - with both the GAPP and the Ministry of Culture flexing muscles over who should oversee the online space.
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 9:53 am
News: Bungie saddened by Xbox Live switch off
Developer Bungie has said that's its saddened players will no longer be able to take part in Halo 2 online multiplayer matches, as Microsoft intends to shut down the original Xbox Live service in April.
Last week Microsoft said it would flick the switch on the service to make way for improvements and features on Live for the Xbox 360 no Xbox games played on either the old or current hardware, nor Xbox Originals purchased over Xbox Live, will be playable online from April 15.
"We're all saddened at the realisation that an era is coming to an end but looking back, we're incredibly fortunate to have had such a great run and such strong support from our fans," wrote Bungie on its forum.
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 9:18 am
News: Media execs form multimillion dollar 'Appfund' for iPad
Executives Kevin Wendle and Daniel Klaus have formed AppFund, a company set up to fund and assist developers working on iPad and other mobile tablet devices.
Wendle, the co-founder of CNET and E! Online and Klaus, co-founder of MusicNation, are offering between $5000 and $500k capital to developers with appealing proposals for apps for the new tablet stores.
Headquartered in New York, AppFund will consider applications from developers anywhere in the world.
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 9:05 am
News: Gran Turismo lifetime sales pass 55 million
Polyphony Digital has sold over 55 million Gran Turismo games, with sales for the latest Gran Turismo PSP now standing at 1.8 million.
The PSP game was released last October, coinciding with the launch of the PSPgo.
Gran Turismo Prologue sales are also nearing 5 million, according to figures released by the developer.
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 8:24 am
News: Sega Sammy swings to profit, game sales down
Sega Sammy has swung to a profit for the nine months ended December 31, with a net income of ¥16.9 billion (£120.8m / $189.5m), compared to a net loss of ¥10.8 billion (£77.4m / $121.3m) for the same period last year.
Net sales for the period were down 7.7 per cent, to ¥285.3 billion (£2.03bn / $3.1bn), and operating income ¥ 28.8 billion (£205.9m / $322.9m), up from a ¥2.7 billion (£19.6m / $30.8m) loss the prior year.
However, game sales in the Consumer Business for the nine months were down over 13 per cent to ¥83.1 billion (£592.5m / $929.8m), although the division swung to an operating profit of ¥1.4 billion (£10.1m / $15.8m), from a loss of ¥5.6 billion (£40.2m / $63.1m) for the same period last year.
Posted on 5 February 2010 | 1:13 pm
News: British Columbia to get new game tax credits
British Columbia's games industry is set to benefit from a new tax credit program proposed this month in response to a drop-off in local employment and production.
Industry group the BC Interactive Task Force has been lobbying since last year for the program, which stands to reward the film, TV, animation and videogame industries in the province.
"The BC videogame industry sees the announcement as an important first step in creating a next-generation digital media hub and retaining our province's preeminent position on the world videogame stage," said Howard Donaldson, chair of the Interactive Task Force and VP of studio operations at Disney Interactive Studios. "We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the BC government as we finalise the details and implementation of this important new program."
Posted on 5 February 2010 | 10:54 am
News: Original Xbox Live to close in April
Microsoft has announced that it will discontinue Xbox Live for the original Xbox on April 15.
The move will end online play for the old console, as well as online play for Xbox games playable on the Xbox 360.
"This isnt a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox Live community," said Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox Live.
Posted on 5 February 2010 | 10:24 am
News: GameStop accused of deceptive advertising practices
GameStop is one of 22 retailers being investigated by New York's Attorney General, accused of deceptively luring customers to sign up for discount membership programs via its online store.
According to Attorney General Andrew M Cuomo, unsuspecting customers are linked to external membership sites in order to obtain advertised discounts or cash-back offers.
The customers are then prompted to enter credit card information, while the details about what they're signing up for is buried in small print. Joining up to these schemes often results in small, recurring charges subsequently being taken from the customer's bank account.
Posted on 5 February 2010 | 10:02 am
News: League of Legends passes 1 million downloads
Free-to-play online game League of Legends has hit the one million downloads milestone in Europe and the US, three months after launch.
Developed by Riot Games, the game boasts 150,000 daily players who between them have clocked up 18 million hours of play time.
"The passion of our more than 1 million-member League of Legends community and their positive support has driven the recognition from media and the videogame industry," said Brandon Beck, co-founder and CEO of Riot Games.
Posted on 5 February 2010 | 9:46 am
News: Japanese charts: Dragon Quest VI sells over 900k in first week
Square Enix's Dragon Quest IV has gone straight to number one on the Japanese all-formats chart after selling just over 900,000 in its first week.
Behind it another new game - SEGA's Resonance of Fate on PlayStation 3 - took second place, with sales of 118,000. The game on Xbox 360 also entered the chart at number eight. Meanwhile, last week's number one game, New Super Mario Bros Wii, was pushed to third position.
The top ten saw two further new entries from Namco Bandai's Ar tonelico III at number four and Sony's MAG at number 10.
Posted on 5 February 2010 | 9:21 am
News: Australian developers awarded $240,000 prototype funding
Four Australian developers based in the Victoria region have been awarded a total of AUD $244,450 (£134,706 / $211,354) in prototype funding for digital games projects.
Touch My Pixel's Deadsun, Tin Man Games' Gamebook Adventures and Incoming from Khrob Edmonds received AUD $96,650 in total, while Andre Spierings was awarded AUD $147,800 for Facebook game Bunni Social.
"We believe this development funding will enable some of Victorias smaller studios to compete in this lucrative global marketplace," said Sandra Sdraulig, CEO of Film Victoria, which awarded the funding.
Posted on 5 February 2010 | 9:15 am
News: Xbox Live Arcade topped $100m in 2009
Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade generated $103.4 million (£65.9m) during 2009, a 34 per cent increase from the previous year, according to a report from Forecasting and Analysing Digital Entertainment (FADE).
The average price of a downloadable game for Xbox Live also rose significantly from $8.33 to $9.12, with the majority of the best-sellers commanding a price point around the $15 mark.
Promotions such as the Summer of Arcade push also helped sales, with estimates that Castle Crashers sold over one million copies during the entire year. EA and DICE's Battlefield 1943 is estimated to have sold over 800,000 units.
Posted on 5 February 2010 | 8:37 am
News: The9 invests in ailing Red 5 Studios
China's The9 has invested in two online gaming companies - one of which is the US-based Red 5 Studios, a move which was rumoured last month.
According to a source speaking to Reuters, The9 will invest an undisclosed amount into Red 5 and $100 million into the Hangzhou-based developer Fire Rain.
The investments come after The9 lost the licence to operate World of Warcraft in China to NetEase earlier last year.
Posted on 5 February 2010 | 8:33 am
Editorial: Special Edition
Downward pressure on game prices is a common theme in industry discussions, and, of course, no stranger to this column. The situation is fairly clear - with retail price wars further fuelled by the entry of supermarkets and mass-market online retailers, not to mention the continued growth of the second-hand market, games now find their price tags being assaulted on a new front, as consumers find entertainment value in vastly cheaper products on new platforms ranging from Xbox Live Arcade and PSN through to Facebook or the iPhone. Retail price wars will eventually yield winners and losers, and prices will rise again; the collapse in consumers' perception of the value of interactive entertainment, however, will take much longer to repair.
There is one bright light, however, in what's overall a somewhat gloomy picture (for publishers, at least - for consumers it's obviously fantastic, and for clever developers it's arguably a golden opportunity) regarding game prices. That bright light is special editions of games - a field which many publishers were slow to exploit, but which has gradually become a key part of the release strategy for any major title.
Special editions are, quite simply, a way to get customers who would be willing to pay over the odds for your game to do exactly that. Many games have a vocal and dedicated group of core fans who have followed the development of the title for months, if not years - many of whom may be people who enjoyed the developer's previous games, or previous games in the same franchise. These people are, of course, a minority of those who will end up buying the game, but have always been considered valuable due to their contribution to word of mouth marketing. Now, publishers are realising that they can also make a significant financial contribution to the success of a game.
Posted on 5 February 2010 | 8:00 am
Interview: Gameloft's Alexandre de Rochefort
Gameloft's financial results for 2009 showed another year of revenue rises for the company 11 per cent on 2008, with iPhone sales growing 231 per cent to outperform even Gameloft's own predictions. The performance, combined with its appearance on-stage with Steve Jobs for the unveiling of the iPad earlier this month, marks the start of a great year for the company, which was launched in 2000 by Ubisoft co-founder Michel Guillemot. And, speaking to GamesIndustry.biz this week, CFO Alexandre de Rochefort predicted the coming years will see further growth in the mobile game market still, as smartphones take over from Java handsets and devices such as iPad offer even greater gaming experiences.
Posted on 5 February 2010 | 8:00 am
News: Matahari Studios closes doors
Outsourcing firm Matahari Studios, which had worked for Codemasters, EA, Sony and Take-Two, has closed its remaining office in Indonesia.
"Matahari Studios, the largest game development studio in Indonesia in terms of revenue, has announced that it will shut down its only studio left in Jakarta, Indonesia. The closure will be effective immediately," said the company.
The parent company of Matahari, LAI Games, sold its Manila Studio to Kuju in 2008, but the UK developer closed that outfit last month citing "weakness of demand".
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 4:42 pm
News: THQ: Facebook games are brand extensions first, profitable second
THQ has said that keeping users engaged with its brands via Facebook is more important than creating profitable games for the social networking service.
The company hopes its Facebook titles three of which are based on existing THQ franchises can tide users over until the release of console games. CEO Brian Farrell said yesterday that its Facebook titles will launch before console versions of Red Faction and the next Saint's Row, due in the 2011 and 2012 financial years, respectively.
"For us, it's natural to extend our key brands into those areas," said Farrell. "Both as revenue and profit opportunities, but more importantly as brand extension opportunities. The revenue potential in those markets is obviously not quite as high because of the price points, but we think they are still viable markets to be attacked."
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 3:40 pm
News: Gameloft: Mobile games market set to quadruple
Gameloft CFO Alexandre de Rochefort has said that he expects mobile game sales to quadruple over the next 3-4 years even if actual mobile phone penetration remains the same as it is today.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz following Gameloft's release of its 2009 year-end financials, de Rochefort said that as Java handsets are replaced by the new generation of smartphones, game sales will increase exponentially simply because the games that can be made for those handsets are of such higher quality.
"If I look at the long term growth for Gameloft and for mobile gaming in general, what I see is that the attach rate on Java phones is around 3 per cent, whereas on the next generation of smartphones, beginning with the iPhone, the attach rate is above 10 per cent. On the iPhone several studies have shown it's even as high as 15 per cent," he said.
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 3:14 pm
News: Konami sales down on lack of Metal Gear release
Sales in Konami's videogame business were down for the nine months to December 31, due to tough comparisons to last year's Metal Gear Solid release.
Revenues for home console division were down 32.5 per cent to ¥100.4 billion (£700.5m / $1.1bn), compared to ¥148.7 billion (£1.03bn / $1.6bn) for the same period last year.
"Although there were temporary signs of recovery from the ongoing economic slowdown from the previous year, the business environment surrounding the Konami Corporation and its subsidiaries continued to be uncertain. This was due to factors such as the impact of the appreciation of the yen and deflation," said the company.
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 2:54 pm
News: Hare's publishing ambitions grow following Jagex departure
Sensible Soccer developer Jon Hare has told GamesIndustry.biz that he left UK studio Jagex to concentrate on his own burgeoning publishing project.
The veteran developer joined Jagex in July last year as head of publishing, but admitted the new position did not give him enough room to make changes at the company, and he decided to split on amicable terms.
"I have been working on my own online publishing plans for the last 15 months or so now and when I joined Jagex as head of publishing I was very excited about being able to discuss and put some of these ideas into action with the most successful online publisher in Europe.
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 12:07 pm
News: Microsoft cuts price of 120GB 360 hard drive in Europe
Microsoft has confirmed it will release an external 250GB hard disc for the Xbox 360 in Japan, and has also reduced the price of the 120GB drive in Europe.
While the 250GB HDD isn't set for release outside of Japan at present, the reduction in price of the 120GB drive - from £99.99 to £79.99 - 'while supplies last' indicates the company could be preparing to do so.
"Microsoft is now offering a standalone 250GB hard drive in Japan to provide consumers in Japan more storage options for their games and entertainment," a Microsoft spokesperson told Eurogamer. "We work closely with retailers to determine the best approach for our products on a region-by-region basis."
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 11:26 am
News: Kuju: "Plenty of areas for new growth in 2010"
Kuju's newly appointed CTO and board of executive directors member Adrian Hawkins has said that he sees plenty of opportunities for new growth for the company in 2010, particularly in the areas of digital delivery and social gaming platforms.
"It's true that 2009 was a tough year for the industry, and we've certainly noticed some impact. So it's not a time to be over ambitious or for us to go on an acquisition spree, but all that being said there are plenty of areas for new growth in 2010. We will prioritise consolidating our strong position, and ensure our customers continue to be happy with the quality of our delivery," Hawkins told GamesIndustry.biz.
Hawkins was recently promoted to his new role from his previous position of technical director for the studio group.
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 10:45 am
News: Konami wins litigation against Yu-Gi-Oh! counterfeiters
Konami has triumphed in litigation it brought against its former distribution partner of Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards after it emerged the company had forged hundreds of thousands of the cards and sold them directly to Toys R Us stores.
The lawsuit was settled in a Federal Court trial held in Los Angeles at the end of last month, where a US District Judge ruled that the distributor, Upper Deck, had violated trademark, copyright and unfair competition laws by counterfeiting the cards.
Even Upper Deck's legal representative condemned his client's actions, saying in court: "At this point, Upper Deck doesn't have a lot of Life Points. We're talking about behaviour that, from a defence attorney's standpoint, I can't defend and I am not going to defend."
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 9:53 am
News: PlayStation 3 game sales climb to 47m in Q3
Sales of PlayStation 3 software reached 47.6 million units globally in the third quarter ended December 31, 2009, up from the 40.8 million units for the same period last year.
As previously reported, PlayStation 3 hardware units were 6.5 million for the period, with the company on track to sell 13 million PlayStation 3's by the end of March, up from the 10.1 million units sold during the last financial year.
Sales of PlayStation Portable software were down 500,000 units on last year, to 15 million games, while PlayStation 2 software fell from 29.7 million to 11.2 million games.
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 8:58 am
News: THQ's Q3 results in line with expectations
THQ has announced its third quarter financials for the period ending December 31, 2009, showing income of $542k (£341.4k) for the three months.
That net income amount was an increase on the previous year, when the company lost $191.8m (£120.8m).
Sales for the quarter were flat on the prior quarter, totalling $356.7m (£224.7m) compared to $357.3m ($225m).
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 8:36 am
News: Profits flat for Sony's game division
Sony's Networked Products and Services division, which includes sales of PlayStation hardware as well as Viao PCs, recorded an operating profit of ¥19.4 billion (£134m / $213 million) for the third quarter, an improvement of ¥25.3 (£125m / $277m) billion year on year.
However, profitability in the game business specifically was relatively unchanged, said the company, with cheaper hardware manufacturing costs of the PlayStation 3 offsetting the decline in PS2 and PSP sales.
Sales of PlayStation 3 units reached 6.5 million during the three months to December 31, compared to 4.5 million in the 2008 fiscal year, but sales of PSP units were down from 5.1 million to 4.2 million, and PlayStation 2 sales down from 2.5 million to 2.1 million.
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 8:34 am
News: Ubisoft: 2010 will be another transitional year
Alain Corre, Ubisoft's MD for EMEA territories has said that he expects 2010 to be another transition year for the industry in which consumers will continue to be cautious about where they put their money.
But he added that he's confident people will continue to enjoy gaming, and points to the upward growth of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 markets as proof that core gamers will continue to spend money on their hobby.
"We kind of expect 2010 to be another transition year, meaning that we see the market stabilising in this calendar year, with the possibility of growth after that," Corre told GamesIndustry.biz.
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 8:00 am
Interview: Ubisoft's Alain Corre - One
Continuing our series of interviews with the global industry's business leaders and their views on a period of change for the games market, here is the first of a two-part interview with Ubisoft's MD for EMEA territories, Alain Corre. The French publisher recently announced a change in its priorities, moving closer towards the key franchise titles in a bid to take advantage of the big unit sales available, and here we find out more about that procedure - plus some of the lessons learned from a tricky 2009.
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 8:00 am
News: THQ cuts 60 jobs, rebrands digital studios
US publisher THQ has announced that it is rebranding two internal studios, at the cost of 60 jobs.
Juice Games in the UK and Rainbow Studios in North America will now be known as THQ Digital Studios Warrington and THQ Digital Studios Phoenix, as the both team focus on digital opportunities.
"Consumers are increasingly looking for deeper engagement with their favourite entertainment experiences. They also want to enjoy games and entertainment via convenient social and portable platforms that suit their lifestyle," said Danny Bilson, executive vice president of THQ Core Games.
Posted on 4 February 2010 | 7:20 am
News: Take-Two denies reports of job cuts at studio level
Take-Two has responded to claims of mass redundancies across the company, including its development studios, calling them "erroneous" and saying that no reductions have been made at studio level.
In a statement made to Edge, Alan Lewis, Take-Two's VP of corporate communications and public affairs said: "While it is our policy not to comment on rumours or speculation, we wanted to clarify an erroneous report regarding our company.
"As part of Take-Two's stated goal to maximise the efficiency of our business, we initiated a targeted restructuring of our corporate departments only in order to better align our resources with our current goals. Some of these changes were associated with the pending sale of our Jack of All Games distribution business. To be clear, there were no reductions made at the studio level."
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 4:39 pm
News: Modern Warfare 2 tops key market sellers
Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sold 11.86 million units across the three key global markets of the US, UK and Japan in 2009 - making it the biggest seller in those regions.
It headed a top five that was otherwise made up exclusively of Nintendo first party titles created for the Wii platform.
Modern Warfare's biggest numbers came unsurprisingly from the US, where it shifted 8.82 million units, according to the NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track and Enterbrain - compared to 2.8 million in the UK and 238,000 in Japan.
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 1:11 pm
News: Key markets down 8% in 2009
The alliance of retail information providers in the US, UK and Japanese videogames markets made up of NPD, GfK Chart-Track and Enterbrain has released it calendar year numbers for 2009, showing an overall drop of 8 per cent in combined sales.
The UK was hit the hardest, with poor comparable sales on the DS and PlayStation Portable platforms resulting in a 14 per cent decline, while the US dropped 7 per cent and Japan fell by 2 per cent.
Meanwhile the PlayStation 2 platform continued to fall away, as expected, declining by 57 per cent year-on-year.
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 1:00 pm
News: Tecmo Koei reports $20.3 million loss
Japanese publisher and developer Tecmo Koei has reported a loss of ¥1.84bn ($20.3m / 14.5m) for the three months ending December 31, 2009.
Although the official investor reports have not yet been translated into English, a Yahoo Finance article translated by website GameSpot suggests that lower than expected sales of Wii exclusive Samurai Warriors 3 in Japan were primary to blame for the poor results.
The company also lowered its full year profit estimates by 97 per cent, to ¥200m ($2.2m / 1.6m).
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 12:15 pm
News: Sony: "It's not going to take too long to pass 360"
Sony's senior VP of marketing and head of the PlayStation Network has said that Sony is now "breathing down the necks" of Microsoft in terms of console sales, and predicted that while the PS3 will fulfil its planned 10 year lifespan, the 360 won't be around for as long.
"We can be passionate fans, but I don't think they'll be around in 10 years so I'm very confident we'll pass them within that time frame," Peter Dille said in an interview with IGN.
"I mean, we've got 31 million [units sold] worldwide right now - they've got 39 million [units sold]. I don't even need to go out 10 years. I'm not going to make any predictions for your interview today other than we'll pass them, but you look at where we are today and where they are today, and they had an opportunity to sprint as far ahead of us as possible when they had the head start.
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 12:05 pm
News: Molyneux and Schafer added to GDC line-up
A number of high profile new speakers, including Peter Molyneux and Tim Schafer, have been added to the line-up for this year's Game Developers Conference (GDC).
Microsoft Game Studios boss Peter Molyneux will present a joint lecture with Lionhead designer Josh Atkins entitled The Complex Challenges of Intuitive Design. The two will discuss ways to "ensure that gamers of all abilities can quickly and easily immerse themselves in the game world", focusing on new game mechanics and interfaces for Fable III.
Brutal Legend producer Tim Schafer will appear on a panel with Overlord writer Rhianna Pratchett and Tales of Monkey Island designer Sean Vanaman named Make 'Em Laugh: Comedy in Games. The trio will discuss "the challenges that face developers as they try to distil a sense of humour into their games."
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 11:58 am
News: Kuju gets new CTO and board member
Studio group Kuju Entertainment has announced the promotion of Adrian Hawkins to the company's board of executive directors, as he takes up the new role of chief technical officer (CTO).
Hawkins was previously a technical director at Kuju, but will now also be responsible for production and delivery for all the output from the firms' various studios, including Headstrong Games, doublesix and Zoë Mode in the UK and Zoë Mode San Francisco.
Until recently the company also operated a studio in Manila, after acquiring Matahari Studios in October 2008. The studio was meant to act as a base for Kuju's overseas network and to provide development assistance to the company's US studio.
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 10:49 am
News: EB Games backs Australian R18+ rating
Retail chain EB Games has begun to promote an in-store petition demanding that the Australian government introduce an 18+ age rating for videogames.
The petition has been posted in all of the company's 350 stores in Australia and on its website, with 50,000 customers adding their name to the campaign in the first ten days.
According to EB Games MD Steve Wilson the petition was begun following requests from customers for the company to become involved in the public consultation paper announced late last year.
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 10:00 am
News: Codemasters denies reports of US office closure
Codemasters has denied reports surfacing today that it is set to close its US office, saying that the division remains open and operational.
A source speaking to IGN said the publisher was set to lay off its team of ten marketing staff working from its Southern California office following the under performance of key titles at retail.
However, Codemasters has told GamesIndustry.biz today that three marketing staff have in fact been laid off, and not a team of ten.
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 9:44 am
News: Rosensweig leaves Activision and games industry
Activision has confirmed that ex-Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig has left the publisher and his roles as CEO and president of the Guitar Hero franchise.
Rosensweig only joined Activision in March of last year, after having worked with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick on the board of directors at Yahoo. He originally left Yahoo in 2006 to work with equity firm Quadrangle Group.
He will be replaced by current Guitar Hero COO David Haddad, who will assume all the operational responsibilities of his departing boss and report to Activision Publishing president and CEO Mike Griffith.
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 9:12 am
News: Report: FarmVille developer opens new LA studio
Mafia Wars and FarmVille developer Zynga is to open a new development studio in Marina Del Rey in the Los Angeles area.
The social games developer confirmed the news to website Gamasutra, with an unnamed spokesperson commenting that "Zynga LA will be very much like our Zynga East office in Baltimore where it will be a studio for our new games."
The new studio currently does not have a staff target, with the spokesperson simply stating that the company is "looking to expand and scale our talent as we grow."
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 8:54 am
News: Gameloft full year revenue up 11%
Gameloft has announced full year sales of 122 million ($170.5m / £106m) for 2009, a year-on-year increase of 11 per cent.
Mobile games accounted for 94 per cent of sales and that segment of the business grew 12 per cent over the year. iPhone revenue reached 17.6m ($24.6m / £15.3m) - an increase of 231 per cent. In the last quarter of the year, iPhone sales increased by 115 per cent - significantly exceeding the company's expectations.
Despite a buoyant end to the year for its iPhone product however, the fourth quarter was the only quarter to see a sales decline for Gameloft of 6 per cent.
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 8:43 am
Interview: Projekt Management - One
Formed in 1994 Polish publisher CD Projekt was the first to introduce fully localised products to the Polish gaming market. In more recent years the formation of its development arm Red studio, producers of the 2007 PC RPG title The Witcher, and creation of DRM-free digital distribution platform GOG.com (Good Old Games) have seen the publisher establish its wider market credentials. Here, in the first of a two part interview, Red studio's senior producer Tomasz Gop and GOG.com's PR & marketing specialist Lukasz Kukawski discuss outsourcing, content cuts and the state of the Polish gaming market.
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 8:00 am
News: CD Projekt: Polish market is "on the up"
The videogames market in Poland is growing, with more people buying consoles and talking about games than ever before - but the country's industry still needs greater investment if it is to flourish.
That's the opinion of Tomasaz Gop, senior producer at CD Projekt, one of the country's leading lights in terms of development and responsible for action RPG The Witcher.
"I think the gaming market in Poland is definitely on the up," he told GamesIndustry.biz. "From what I've seen there has been a rise in the number of outlets that spread information about games over the last two years, and also there are more people buying consoles.
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 8:00 am
News: UFC 2009 Undisputed ships 3.5m units
THQ has confirmed that UFC 2009 Undisputed has now shipped upwards of 3.5 million units worldwide since its launch in May last year.
The sales milestone was announced in conjunction with a price drop for the game in North America - it will now be sold for $29.99 as part of Sony's Greatest Hits collection and the Xbox 360's Platinum Hits series.
"Reaching Platinum Hits and Greatest Hits status is an honour that speaks to the strength of our software and the power of the UFC brand," said Brian Coleman, VP of global brand management. "With a reduced price point, more players can now step into the Octagon and take part in the ultimate virtual UFC experience."
Posted on 2 February 2010 | 4:06 pm
News: Namco Bandai records nine month loss of $129m
Namco Bandai has recorded a loss of ¥11.7bn (£81.3m / $129.5m) for the nine months ended December 31, compared to a ¥9.01 billion (£62.3m / $99.4m) profit for the same period last year.
Net sales at the publisher were down 10.4 per cent, from ¥315 billion (£2.1bn / $3.4bn) to ¥282 billion (£1.9bn / $3.1bn), with a decrease in operating income of 76.3 per cent, down to ¥4.7 billion (£32.6m / $51.9m), from ¥19.8 billion (£137.2m / $218.8m) last year.
"The Namco Bandai group generally faced an uphill battle in the first nine months of the fiscal year... during which market conditions for the group remained severe, despite steady results achieved in sales of long-established character toys in the Toys and Hobby business and arcade game machines in the Game Contents business," said the company.
Posted on 2 February 2010 | 11:48 am
News: Namco Bandai to cut 10% of workforce
Namco Bandai Games is to decrease its workforce by 10 per cent - a move that will equate to job losses of around 630 staff - as part of a Restart Plan detailed by the company today.
Following the start of a three-year business plan begun in April 2009, the company said that it had re-examined the challenges it faced in achieving future growth in a "prolonged and severe business climate."
"Since the management integration, the Bandai Namco Group has focused on bolstering its Group foundations through organisational restructuring and other efforts to achieve fusion as a new group as quickly as possible," said the company.
Posted on 2 February 2010 | 11:29 am
News: Dare to be Digital calls for entrants to 2010 competition
The international game design competition Dare to be Digital is calling for submissions to this year's event.
Organised by the University of Abertay, Dundee, the competition - now in its eleventh year - is open to student and graduate programmers and artists, working in teams of five.
Teams should have game ideas targeted for the platform of their choosing - social networks, mobile, PC or console - and, if selected, be prepared to spend 10 weeks over the summer turning their ideas into fully functioning prototypes.
Posted on 2 February 2010 | 10:32 am
News: Emergent Game Tech revenues up 35% in 2009
3D game engine tech company Emergent Game Technologies has reported a 35 per cent increase in revenue for the financial year ending December 31, and a 58 per cent increase in profitability.
Strong licensing deals and reduced expenses contributed to the performance, while the company says it is also witnessing an increase in business across North America and Europe.
"Emergent has made changes to weather the tough economic climate and is poised to become stronger than ever as a result of those changes," said CEO Scott M Johnson.
Posted on 2 February 2010 | 9:48 am
News: Walkden steps down as CEO of Game Domain International
Roger Walkden, CEO of Game Domain International, has stepped down from the position and joined publisher Electronic Arts.
GDI's ambitious project A World of My Own was originally announced as a virtual world where user avatars could socialise and play videogames, but has since been scaled back to concentrate on super-fast digital game downloads.
"I can confirm that Roger Walkden has moved from the role of CEO to that of non-executive director of GDI," said communications director Tim Ponting.
Posted on 2 February 2010 | 9:42 am
News: Vivox raises $6.8 million in funding round
Market leading voice services business Vivox has raised equity of $6.8 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm IDG Ventures.
The company provides a managed voice network for use with PC, games consoles and social networks such as Facebook.
Its clients and partners include EA, Gaia Online, NCsoft, Realtime Worlds, Sony Online Entertainment and Wizards of the Coast.
Posted on 2 February 2010 | 9:21 am
News: Wal-Mart, Best Buy end pre-owned games trial
Wal-Mart and Best Buy have ended the sale of pre-owned games in their stores after an underwhelming customer response forced the kiosk company they were partnered with to cease operations.
Kiosk business E-Play provided the 'videogame buyback' kiosks at selected shops beginning last May. Instead of handing out cash for used games, the automated kiosks applied funds to a credit card.
However, according to analyst Arvind Bhatia, speaking to IndustryGamers, the response to the kiosks was "underwhelming".
Posted on 2 February 2010 | 8:56 am
News: Capcom takes new IP development back to Japan
Capcom has said that it will develop the majority of new IP in Japan, after Western-developed titles such as Bionic Commando and Dark Void flopped at retail.
The company had previously dedicated significant resources to creating titles away from its Japanese base, in a bid to sell to a wider global audience.
Western partnerships are still viable, said Capcom, but only on titles that are already established in the company portfolio.
Posted on 2 February 2010 | 8:45 am
News: Hardcore focus pays off for Visceral
A focus on an increasingly niche hardcore audience is paying off for EA's Visceral Studio, as the company prepares to release latest title Dante's Inferno, backed by a multi-million dollar marketing push.
With Super Bowl ads supporting what studio boss Nick Earl describes as "the best run project I've ever seen," the team believes Dante's Inferno will be a big seller for Electronic Arts, with pre-orders already "off the charts".
"This is us saying that this is an established category and our opportunity to step into the ring and take out the incumbent," said Earl speaking in an exclusive interview published today.
Posted on 2 February 2010 | 8:13 am
Interview: Visceral's Nick Earl
Rebranded as Visceral Games last year, EA's former Redwood Shores development team has shifted from a studio dedicated to licensed games to EA's foremost hardcore gaming team. Concentrating on new IP and mature content, Visceral works on the established home consoles and has so far produced the acclaimed Dead Space franchise, and the soon to be released Dante's Inferno. In an exclusive interview with GamesIndustry.biz, senior VP of Visceral Nick Earl discusses the change in focus, why its important to serve the hardcore gamer, the importance of big marketing dollars and how Visceral Games can approach to new formats.
Posted on 2 February 2010 | 8:00 am
News: Tax boost helps Capcom profits leap
Capcom's profits for the nine months to December 31 have jumped 866 per cent from ¥179 million to ¥1.73 billion (£11.9m / $19.06m), due to a corporate tax refund.
Sales for the nine months to December 31 were ¥49.98 billion (£345.3m / $549.8m), up 5.9 per cent from the same period in 2008.
According to the company, sales of Monster Hunter Tri for the Wii and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite PSP the Best were significant sellers, while sales of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Mega Man Exe: Operating Shooting Star were satisfactory.
Posted on 1 February 2010 | 4:59 pm
News: Koch closes Deep Silver Vienna studio
Koch Media has closed its Deep Silver Vienna studio, a studio that was formed in 2006 from former Rockstar Vienna employees.
Since its conception, which begun under the name Games That Matter, the studio was acquired by Koch and released its first and only game, Cursed Mountain on Wii, in conjunction with Austrian developer Sproing Interactive last year.
Speaking to site ORF.at, a Koch spokesperson said "this decision is not easy for us." Given the current economic situation it has become necessary to further optimise processes - a consequence of which has been redundancies, they added.
Posted on 1 February 2010 | 3:10 pm
News: Ian Livingstone to speak at NLGD Festival of Games
The NLGD Foundation, which organises the annual Festival of Games - this year taking place in Utrecht on June 3-4 - has announced that Ian Livingstone will speak at the event.
The Eidos life president will offer thoughts and insights on his career, which has taken in the birth and rise of the Tomb Raider franchise, as well as more recently the company's integration into Square Enix.
The conference format will also be changing this year to include a series of 15-minute sessions alongside the standard 1-hour format, in a bid to give attendees a greater choice of subject matter.
Posted on 1 February 2010 | 1:05 pm
News: Mass Effect 2 tops UK charts
Electronic Arts' Mass Effect 2 has topped the UK charts according to data from GfK Chart-Track.
The Xbox 360 version of the game sold almost double the amount of the original, with sales of the PC version three times more in its first week. Electronic Arts announced over the weekend it had shipped over 2 million units to stores worldwide.
Although pushed into second place, Ubisoft's Just Dance still enjoyed a sales increase of 16 per cent, while Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sits at three, with a drop in sales of 3 per cent.
Posted on 1 February 2010 | 11:22 am
News: MTV: Rock Band Network artists should vet digital partners
The program manager of Rock Band Network has responded to reports of companies charging up to $2500 to author songs for the new service, saying that artists should know who they're doing business with and consider carrying out the work themselves.
Rock Band Network is currently at beta stage in the US, with play-testing being carried out in advance of the store's launch on Xbox 360 later this year.
Once it launches, musicians will be able to make their tracks available to players for between 99 cents and $2.99, receiving a royalty payment of 30 per cent of the sale price.
Posted on 1 February 2010 | 10:49 am
News: Steam user base grows 25% in 2009
The number of active Steam accounts has now surpassed 25 million, according to the latest figures from Valve, following a 25 per cent year-on-year growth for the platform in 2009.
Of those accounts, over 10 million have profiles in the Steam community, said Valve, and the service's average monthly player minutes have hit 13 billion.
And peak numbers of concurrent users hit a new high in December of last year, eclipsing the 2.5 million mark.
Posted on 1 February 2010 | 9:06 am
News: Mass Effect 2 ships 2 million in first week
Mass Effect 2 has shipped two million units since its release one week ago, according to internal EA figures.
The publisher called the game the first blockbuster of 2010, pointing out that it has earned an average review score of 96 on Xbox 360 on Metacritic, which include 40 'perfect' scores.
"Mass Effect 2 is poised to be one of the biggest games of 2010. We could not be more proud of the game's universal acclaim and early commercial success," said Dr Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare and group general manager of the RPG/MMO group of EA.
Posted on 1 February 2010 | 8:37 am
News: Cameron backs accessible gaming charity
Conservative leader David Cameron has praised the work of SpecialEffect, a UK charity dedicated to helping severely disabled children enjoy videogames through cutting-edge technology.
Cameron's comments came during a pre-recorded video message played at the launch event for Walk4Matt 2010, organised to raise money for a range of causes including SpecialEffect.
"The way your charity's developed over the past 18 months has been, frankly, inspirational," said the Tory leader, who is the local MP of Oxfordshire-based Special Effect. "You've made many, many people very happy."
Posted on 1 February 2010 | 8:15 am
News: EA "confident" for strong 2010
Following a year in which Electronic Arts regained the publishing top spot in Europe last year, the company's regional boss - Dr Jens Uwe Intat - has told GamesIndustry.biz that he's confident of a successful 2010.
"The year's starting with four strong titles from us - Army of Two: 40th Day and Mass Effect 2 were in January," he said. "Next it's Dante's Inferno, and then in March we've got Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
"That's four strong titles in the first quarter of the calendar year, so you bet we're confident that it's going to be a strong year overall. Certainly for ourselves."
Posted on 1 February 2010 | 8:00 am
Interview: EA's Jens Uwe Intat - Part Two
In part one of our exclusive interview with Electronic Arts' European publishing boss, Dr Jens Uwe Intat, we covered an appraisal of 2009 - both in terms of the company's performance, plus how the industry picture developed overall. Here in part two we look ahead to what 2010 will bring, and ask whether spreading releases throughout the year will benefit the games business in the longer term and if Star Wars: The Old Republic can mount a real challenge to Blizzard's World of Warcraft.
Posted on 1 February 2010 | 8:00 am
News: Howell Expo details CGBC forums
Howell Expo, the company behind the popular ChinaJoy event, has released details of the forums to be included in this year's China Games Business Conference (CGBC).
In total there are nine key focuses for the event, as follows:
The event will take place across July 28-August 1 at the Shanghai International Convention Center, and a request for session submissions is now open.
Posted on 29 January 2010 | 3:50 pm
News: Icahn buys another million Take-Two shares
Take-Two investor Carl Icahn has bought over a million shares in the company over the past three days, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
He now owns a 12.3 per cent stake in the company, up from 11.3 per cent, after buying shares priced between $9.21 - $9.24 per share.
The move comes a week after he initiated a board change at Take-Two, nudging out CEO Ben Feder, Grover Brown and John Levy and putting forward his son Brett Icahn, James Nelson and SungHwan Cho for a vote at Take-Two's annual stockholders meeting.
Posted on 29 January 2010 | 3:41 pm
News: Iwata: iPad is just a bigger iPod Touch
Nintendo's Satoru Iwata has responded sceptically to Apple's iPad, saying the device is just a bigger iPod Touch.
The Nintendo president said Apple had delivered "no surprises", telling the New York Times, "It was a bigger iPod Touch."
Iwata also took the opportunity to deny speculation that Nintendo is working towards the release of an HD-enabled Wii and a DS equipped with motion control.
Posted on 29 January 2010 | 1:55 pm
News: Moore: EA Sports has "nothing going on" with 3D
Sony may be trying to force the 3D agenda with first-party PS3 titles and 3DTVs, but EA Sports president Peter Moore will not be following suit in 2010, his studio focusing instead on the new wave of motion-control devices.
Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz, Moore admitted he was keeping "a very close eye" on "the opportunities for sports" in 3D, but insisted the press and public would see "nothing at all" from the studio this year.
"No, no, no. I have a point of view and that's about as much as we have," said Moore, speaking in London yesterday at a FIFA event. "You've rightly pointed out that, from Howard Stringer down, Sony has made it a strategic imperative for the company. And when Sony does something of that nature then we as a company need to sit up and take notice.
Posted on 29 January 2010 | 12:20 pm
News: Tandem Events announces business and development workshops
Tandem Events is to hold a series of three workshops in London, aimed at professional developers working in the areas of design, production and business.
On February 25, Nicholas Lovell will lead a business master class, entitled How to Make Money from Self-Publishing, aimed at those making games for any number of outlets, including WiiWare and Facebook.
And on the same day the design class How to Design a Game with Motion will also take place, led by game designer Ernest Adams. The day aims to act as an introduction for developers who haven't yet made games for motion input devices.
Posted on 29 January 2010 | 12:05 pm
News: Pachter: Wii's advantage will be eroded by competitor price cuts
The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 could see further price cuts this year, analyst Michael Pachter has predicted, which would lead to the Wii losing the price advantage it has over its competitors.
Following Nintendo's release this week of its Q3 financials, Pachter said that the company's performance had been largely in line with expectations, with solid holiday sales for the Wii and strong performances by Wii Fit Plus and New Super Mario Bros Wii - both of which sold over 10 million.
However, he predicted the console could lose its advantage next holiday as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 come down further in price.
Posted on 29 January 2010 | 11:15 am
News: "People and technology" key to publisher deals
While many independent developers have expressed their concern that commissions from publishers have dried up in the past year - thanks to the contracting recession and greater caution about new IP - a panel of publishing executives has identified the people on a team and the technology it uses as two of the crucial elements taken into account when looking at a pitch.
During a panel discussion at the Game Business Law summit hosted by SMU, senior representatives from Activision Blizzard, Digital Development Management, Foundation 9, and Namco Bandai Games America also revealed that the cost to developers of seeing a pitch through can now run to as much as $250,000.
Activision's Bob Loya revealed that his first question when looking at any project was always: "Who in the company is going to make this game?" adding that whenever he reviews a team, he wants detailed biographies and a history of the company.
Posted on 29 January 2010 | 10:52 am
News: Namco to distribute Fallout: New Vegas in Europe
Bethesda Softworks has entered into a distribution partnership with Namco Bandai for the release of Fallout: New Vegas, due to ship later this year.
The partnership grants Namco Bandai distribution rights in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Benelux, Nordic, Australia and New Zealand for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC versions of the game.
"We are pleased to be teaming up with Namco Bandai Partners to distribute one of our flagship titles. Fallout: New Vegas builds upon the immersive gaming experience that made Fallout 3 the 2008 Game of the Year. We are extremely happy to be able to offer Fallout fans with another premium gaming experience," said Sean Brennan, managing director of ZeniMax Europe.
Posted on 29 January 2010 | 9:46 am
News: GameStop to educate consumers on digital content
US specialist retail giant, GameStop, is planning to educate its customers on the benefits of digital downloads for the games it sells, with COO J Paul Raines believing that DLC is "a good thing".
Speaking on a panel about the future of digital distribution at SMU's Game Business Law conference, Raines stressed that while developers and publishers may take a dim view of his company - labelling the $9 billion-a-year group as a 'behemoth' - GameStop was itself concerned by giant retailers like Wal-Mart in the United States, or a dozen game-selling firms in Europe.
"The only way a company like ours survives is being dedicated to the category," he explained, before detailing his views on DLC. "Downloadable content is a good thing because it enhances and extends games."
Posted on 29 January 2010 | 9:40 am
News: Profits almost triple for Microsoft's game division
Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division has enjoyed stand out profits for the second quarter ended December 31, up from $130 million to $375 million.
The division, which includes Xbox 360, Games for Windows and Zune, saw revenue fall from $3.2 billion to $2.9 billion.
The company shipped 5.2 million Xbox 360 consoles compared to 6 million in the previous quarter. Revenue from hardware and software declined 12 per cent to $295 million due to lower product sales - with the company pointing to tough comparisons for two games in the previous period, and price cuts on the Xbox 360.
Posted on 29 January 2010 | 8:47 am
News: PS3 finally gets Grand Theft Auto episodes
Rockstar Games is to release Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City on PlayStation 3 and PC at the end of March.
The title - which contains the two episodes The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony - has been available on Xbox 360 since October, but Rockstar hadn't confirmed when it would be coming to the rival formats.
On both formats, Episodes from Liberty City will be made available on a single disc, or the two episodes will be downloadable individually via PlayStation Network and Games for Windows. All will share the same release date of March 30.
Posted on 29 January 2010 | 8:22 am
Editorial: Game Changer?
The media circus which has attended the launch of Apple's iPad has had one unfortunate effect - it's made sensible discussion of the pros and cons of the device all but impossible, buried under a mountain of emotive, knee-jerk reaction from all sides of the field. Apple is a company that polarises opinion more than almost any other, and it will be some weeks before the device, its capabilities and its possible market impact can be assessed dispassionately.
As such, I don't want to talk about whether or not the iPad is going to be a success. What is more interesting, from a games perspective, is to look at the "what if" question - to make the assumption that this device will be successful, that it will hit the optimistic sales targets set out by market researchers, and to ask what happens to game development if and when that occurs.
Already there are competing theories lining up across the industry - a testament to just how important the App Store has become in a very short space of time. Although the iPhone / iPod Touch platform is still in its infancy in terms of market penetration, and does not enjoy the kind of tie ratio for videogame sales which you would see on a more focused handheld console device, the App Store is already making a lot of money for game developers with the right ideas.
Posted on 29 January 2010 | 8:00 am
News: Sony to restructure Liverpool studio
Sony Computer Entertainment has revealed that it is in the process of restructuring its Liverpool studio following "project prioritisation" by the Worldwide Studios division.
No details have been released on the number of posts affected, but GamesIndustry.biz understands that the company will look to relocate staff to other studios where possible - but that some redundancies may be necessary.
It is thought that discussions with staff have taken place today - the full public statement is as follows:
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 6:50 pm
News: Sony declines to comment on Q3 financial speculation
Sony has declined to comment on today's reports stating that the company is set to announce a ¥100 billion ($1.1 billion / £690 million) operating profit for the October-December quarter - the first increase in Q3 profit for the company in five years.
According to Nikkei (reported by Reuters), the Sony Computer Entertainment division will also post its first profit in four quarters for the period - a result that would largely be down to buoyant sales of the PlayStation 3 since its price drop, and a decrease in the hardware's manufacturing costs.
However Sony released a statement earlier today in specific regard to the story, stating that it has made no official announcement on its quarterly results.
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 4:49 pm
News: Game stocks are not dead money - Cowan and Company
Investment in videogame companies is at a low this console generation, but analyst firm Cowan and Company believes the business is due to for an upturn in the coming months.
The recession, encroaching iPhone sales, publishers struggling to grow profits and a poor 2009 has lead investors to assume the current cycle is "dead and uninvestible", but according to Cowan, 2010 can be a strong year due to major software releases, further home console price cuts and a dedicated gaming consumer.
The casual market may have cooled, but the hardcore audience remains loyal, noted the company, and resurgent sales of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 hardware bode well for a line-up of big games this year.
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 4:05 pm
News: iPad can challenge PSP and DS lbx games
Apple's new iPad could challenge Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS and become a link between mobile and home console gaming, according the German developer lbx games.
But CEO Fabian Thiele also said that a lack of support for Flash and multitasking may hamper the iPad as a home entertainment device when compared to Netbook offerings already on the market.
"Thanks to the iPhone/iPod feature set, the big screen and the fast processor, it's a real challenger for PSP and DS," said Thiele, speaking to GamesIndustry.biz.
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 3:01 pm
News: Redundancies at DR Studios as team restructures
DR Studios has told GamesIndustry.biz that it has made a handful of redundancies as it restructures it serious games and development teams.
As well as PC game development, the company also runs the Train 2 Game business, offering game design courses through distance learning.
"As part of our development strategy we have more effectively integrated the serious games and games development resource," said CEO Clive Robert
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 2:09 pm
News: PSP tops Japanese chart for third week
PlayStation Portable was the best selling hardware platform in Japan last week, taking first place in the hardware chart with sales of almost 53,000 - an achievement helped by the release of SEGA's Valkyria Chronicles 2, which made its debut in the software chart at number two.
SEGA's title was beaten only by the continued popularity of Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros Wii, which retook first place with sales of 111,000, compared to 94,000 for Valkyria Chronicles.
Elsewhere in the hardware chart positions were unchanged on last week, with the Wii coming second to PSP with sales of 45,167 and the PlayStation 3 some way behind with 26,966 units sold.
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 12:42 pm
News: Report: 10 titles this year for Sony motion controller
Sony will release "around 10 or so" games for its impending motion control device this year, according to reports.
And among the titles that will be released for the motion controller - rumoured to be named Arc - are sports and pet raising games, said a Nikkei report (translated by Andriasang).
Last week, an "extensive line-up" of software was promised by the company, along with a worldwide release of the motion controller in North America, Europe, Japan and the Asian regions.
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 10:32 am
News: Firemint, Tapulous ready for iPad development
Key iPhone developers have expressed their commitment to creating games for Apple's newly unveiled iPad, and labelled the device as an important part of the impending shift from traditional console games to casual games that are enjoyed by the wider market.
"This is big because it will build on the success of the iPhone and iPod touch, increasing the presence of the iPhone platform in the living room and the bedroom," said developer Tapulous, creator of the best-selling title Tap Tap Revenge.
"That means users will spend more time in front of iPhone OS devices, and less time in front of their TV and traditional console devices, which ultimately means they will spend more time in Tap Tap Revenge and other iPhone games.
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 9:57 am
News: Wonderland: iPad "incredibly exciting" for new gameplay design
New development start-up Wonderland sees significant advantages for game design in Apple's new iPad, singling out the size of the screen and its processor as opening more creative avenues than the smaller iPhone.
The team, made up of ex-Lionhead staff, went public this week the same day that Apple unveiled its new device to an expectant market.
"There are two features in particular that have incredibly exciting gameplay consequences: the big screen size and resolution; and the way that the iPad is going to be used," said Matthew Wiggins, CEO of Wonderland Software, speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz.
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 9:49 am
News: Cities XL online elements to close
French developer Monte Cristo has announced that it is to shut down the online elements of its ambitious city builder MMO, Cities XL.
The news comes three months after the game was released, with the company admitting that subscriptions for the service were "lower than what we expected" - meaning that the Planet Offer section of the game was "no longer sustainable".
The servers will be closed on March 8, with the game reverting to a single player experience only, while a new edition of the game - Cities XL 2011 - will be released in the future as a solo game, although no date has yet been set.
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 9:24 am
News: Life to date Wii sales reach 67 million
Nintendo has released current life to date sales figures for the Wii and DS, in conjunction with its financial results for the period April-December 2009.
According to the figures, the Wii has now sold 67.4 million units worldwide - with 9.7 million units sold in Japan, 32 million in the US, and 25.7 million throughout the rest of the world.
In addition to the hardware, 509.6 million units of Wii software have been sold - 46.6 million in Japan, 275.8 million in the US, and 187.2 million in the remaining territories.
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 9:16 am
News: Nintendo profits down 9.4% on falling sales
Nintendo has reported a 9.4 per cent decline in profits for the nine months ended December 31, 2009, from JPY 212.5 billion (£1.4bn / $2.5bn) to JPY 192.6 billion (£1.3bn / $2.1bn).
Net sales were JPY 1.18 trillion, or 23 per cent, down from JPY 1.54 trillion, with operating profit plunging 40.8 per cent from JPY 501.3 billion (£3.4bn/ $5.5bn ) for the nine months last year, to JPY 296.6 (£2.0bn / $3.2bn).
The company blamed slow sales in the first half of the year and appreciation of the yen, although it noted that sales during the third quarter were "robust" and holiday sales in some regions exceeded last year's performance. For the full year the company expects to sell 192 million games, up from the 180 originally forecast, due to bundling with hardware over the Christmas period.
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 8:33 am
Interview: Preview: DICE Summit 2010
Next month sees the first big videogames business conference of the year, with the hugely influential DICE Summit taking place in Las Vegas - among the keynote speakers this year is Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. To find out more about the themes and thinking behind the conference, we spoke with Jospeh Olin, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. We'll be covering the event as it happens, and if you're headed there too make sure you add it to your attendance list.
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 8:00 am
News: US: First-party titles accounted for 47% of Wii sales in 2009
First-party Nintendo software accounted for 47 per cent of Wii revenue in the US during 2009, and 38 per cent of all units sold at retail.
That's according to NPD data quoted by analyst Michael Pachter on forum Neogaf, revealing that 27.5 million first-party games were sold totalling $1.53 billion in sales, out of the overall 72.4 million units and $3.23 billion in Wii game sales during the year.
The average third-party game on Wii sold for $37.85, while the average first-party title from Nintendo sold for $55.63.
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 6:58 am
News: Red 5 confirms lay-offs
Red 5 Studios has confirmed that is going through a reorganisation process that has resulted in lay-offs and voluntary departures.
Yesterday it was reported that around 30 members of staff were axed, but the company has so far refused to detail specific numbers.
"Red 5 remains committed to releasing a AAA quality, online title targeted for a worldwide release. The company has restructured the team in order to accomplish this goal. As part of the restructuring, some team members chose to part ways while others were let go. Red 5 has great respect for these departing team members and the contributions they have made," said the company.
Posted on 28 January 2010 | 6:20 am
