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: Activision admits to bungled Call of Duty Elite launch
Activision has admitted that the launch of social service Call of Duty Elite was bungled, and despite the high uptake amongst players, the company isn't yet celebrating success of the 7 million strong network.
Speaking at the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, CEO Eric Hirshberg said even before the service was announced, internally there were doubts at Activision about how to launch such a technically ambitious service.
"I hesitate to talk about Elite, because even though we've had some early success with the numbers, it's far from time for us to be doing any victory laps on Elite," he said.
Posted on 10 February 2012 | 7:21 pm
News: Spark Capital signs up Zynga GM
Investment firm Spark Capital has appointed former Zynga general manager Nabeel Hyatt as its first venture partner.
"As you could imagine I thought about this decision rather carefully. I've been an entrepreneur as long as I've been anything, and I still have boundless energy to work in start ups," said Hyatt in his blog.
"For me it felt like time to see if I could shift my focus from building a single company to impacting the broader ecosystem. Joining Spark now provides me with an amazing opportunity to empower entrepreneurs who are passionate, innovative and out to change things forever."
Posted on 10 February 2012 | 3:45 pm
News: NPD study shows territory skews to different gaming habits
Posted on 10 February 2012 | 2:31 pm
News: Warhorse licenses CryEngine 3 for debut project
The Prague-based developer Warhorse has closed a licensing deal to use CryEngine 3 in its debut game.
Warhorse was founded in July last year by former members of Mafia developer 2K Czech and Bohemia Interactive, which created the Operation Flashpoint IP.
The studio's still unannounced first game will be an RPG, and executive producer Martin Klima sees CryEngine 3 as ideal for the demands of the project.
Posted on 10 February 2012 | 10:25 am
News: Apps Genius signs Jersey Shore deal
Apps Genius has signed a deal with Jersey Shore cast member Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino to create apps and social games.
"We are really excited that The Situation and family have chosen The Apps Genius Celebrity Entertainment Division to develop their social games and mobile applications, said CEO Adam Kotkin.
"The games and apps developed with The Situation and Family will be designed for their large fan base of over 5,000,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter."
Posted on 10 February 2012 | 10:22 am
News: Google: Games can ruin online communities
Google is taking a cautious approach to introducing games to its Google+ social network, Venturebeat reports.
In a presentation at the Inside Social Apps conference in San Francisco, Google+ engineering director David Glazer explained that the company's strategy is informed by mistakes made in other online communities.
"We've seen communities ruined by games," he said. "How do we find that balance between people who are interested in games... without having the problem of more spam?"
Posted on 10 February 2012 | 9:54 am
News: Namco Bandai founds new company to handle all development
Namco Bandai has spun off all of its development duties to a newly founded company: Namco Bandai Studio.
The new arm will take on all development responsibilities, dealing with all current IP and the generation of new franchises.
Amalgamating the publisher's current raft of studios in this way will create a studio of over 1000 people, based in Shinagawa, Japan. The studio will be lead by Hajime Nakatani.
Posted on 10 February 2012 | 9:45 am
News: Sony credit downgraded by Standard and Poor's
Benchmark credit rating service Standard and Poor's has reduced Sony's rating from A- to BBB+, warning that only the unlikely event of an upturn in the next 6-12 months would save the rating from dropping further.
S&P's identified falling prices, falling demand and tough competition as the major factors affecting the company's chances of swift recovery.
"The outlook on the long-term corporate credit rating is negative," read a statement detailing the changes. "We base the downgrade on our view that severe circumstances in Sony's mainstay electronics businesses make a strong recovery in earnings unlikely.
Posted on 10 February 2012 | 9:12 am
News: Double Fine's Kickstarter makes a million in a day
It was only yesterday that Double Fine launched a Kickstarter fund for its new point and click adventure with a $400,000 goal. This morning that fund stands at $1,210,995 and rising.
So far 32,466 people have donated to the project, including Notch, Mike Acton of Insomniac, actress Felicia Day and Naughty Dog's Amy Hennig.
Tweeting from DICE, Tim Schafer was understandably pleased with the results.
Posted on 10 February 2012 | 8:50 am
News: Zynga and Hasbro enter merchandising agreement
Social giant Zynga has signed a merchandising agreement with toy maker Hasbro which will see the company's most popular IP turned into physical products from the Autumn.
The deal also includes the opportunity to create toys which are dual branded with both Zynga and Hasbro IP. The cost of the licence has not been revealed.
It's also not known if the deal could potentially operate both ways, with Zynga including Hasbro IP, such as Transformers, Beyblade or My Little Pony, in its games.
Posted on 10 February 2012 | 8:47 am
News: Skyrim, Portal 2 and Uncharted dominate IAAs at DICE
Skyrim, Uncharted 3 and Portal 2 have all won multiple prizes at the Interactive Achievement Awards at the DICE event in Les Vegas.
Bethesda's RPG was the major victor, collecting the award for game of the year alongside prizes for best RPG, excellence in story, engineering and direction. Uncharted 3 took excellence in animation, art direction and visual engineering while Portal was awarded the trophies for best character performance, for Stephen Merchant's Wheatley, best music and best connectivity.
The IAAs are held each year at DICE by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.
Posted on 10 February 2012 | 8:10 am
Article: Crowded House
A little over ten years ago, the team running SETI - the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence - found a groundbreaking solution to an enormous problem. The team's efforts to secure data feeds from radio telescopes had been immensely successful - too successful, in fact, to the extent that SETI was inundated with vast amounts of radio data which it had no way to analyse. The organisation was running on a minimal budget, and the kind of computing power required to search that much data for potential signals would have been too expensive even for a much better funded effort.
The solution reached by the SETI team at the University of California, Berkeley, was SETI@home - a distributed computing effort which sent out packets of radio data over the Internet to volunteers who gave up the unused power of their home computers to the processing efforts. The result was that SETI was able to tap into hundreds of teraFLOPS of processing power (stop sniggering, that's how it's measured) at minimal cost - buying a supercomputer capable of that would have bankrupted the organisation.
SETI@home wasn't the first distributed computing effort of this type, nor is it the most successful, but it was the first to really capture the imagination of Internet users. As such, it's not a bad place to stick a flag in the dirt and say, "here was born the crowdsourcing idea".
Posted on 10 February 2012 | 8:00 am
News: Sweeney: There are too many platforms on the market
There are too many competing computer platforms on the market, with Epic CEO and technical director Tim Sweeney predicting consolidation to three or four winning devices in the technology market.
Speaking at the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, Sweeney said that consumers currently have an abundance of choice with tablets, PC, smartphones, Mac, consoles and new handhelds.
"This is too many platforms. We're seeing now iPad sales have surpassed the sales of PCs. This is a real revelation, this is a product that wasn't invented until a few years ago and its basically supplanting personal computers.
Posted on 10 February 2012 | 12:09 am
News: US market sees almost 40 per cent fall in January
Update
Both Sony and analyst Michael Pachter have reacted to the figures, with the well known analyst questioning their validity, saying they were "hard to digest."
"It also makes no sense that sales are below the level from 2004, when games were cheaper and the installed base of consoles was much lower," he told USA Today.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 11:58 pm
News: Activision-Blizzard doubles annual profits to $1.1 billion
Activision-Blizzard more than doubled its annual net profit to $1.1 billion in another record year for the company.
For calendar year 2011, the company posted revenues of $4.76 billion, up from $4.45 billion the previous year, and almost $800 million higher than its outlook. Net profit rose from $418 million in 2010 to just over $1.08 billion.
The company's digital business was also at an all-time high of $1.6 billion, or around 34 per cent of total sales.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 11:12 pm
News: Publisher dirty tricks inspired Itagaki to start-up Valhalla
Respected Japanese developer Tomonobu Itagaki has revealed that a dirty trick by publishing company Tecmo caused so much doubt in his ability to make games that he drank solidly for three months and considered giving up game design for good.
Speaking at the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, Itagaki revealed that an already over-worked development team were pushed over the edge by a publisher rushing to get Dead or Alive 2 ready for the launch of the PlayStation 2 in 2000.
"I developed this game to accomplish the IPO which was the long term strategy of my ex-company's founder," Itagaki said, speaking through an interpreter. "There was one important problem, there's was only two and a half months to develop a launch title.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 10:34 pm
News: Jaffe: Games execs need to get a "bullshit filter"
Publishers need to learn the language of game making when dealing with developers or risk wasting money on over-promised projects.
That's according to Eat Sleep Play co-founder David Jaffe, speaking today at the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit, who said its easy for developers to talk-up a project that won't resemble the original pitch once released.
"You guys need to get a bullshit filter and you need to get that before you waste any more money," he said.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 9:24 pm
News: Big Fish Games to "break new ground" with cloud service
Big Fish Games is assembling a "highly skilled" team of 30 software engineers to accelerate development of a cloud-based game service.
The jobs will be created in the company's offices in Cork, Ireland, and Will O'Brien, vice president of business development, believes that the results of their work will help the company break new ground in the games industry. The model is Netflix; a vast library of content available for a few clicks and a monthly fee.
"It was just a natural extension for them and it really exploded the consumption model of watching movies across many, many devices," O'Brien says. "We're looking at it in the same way."
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 8:45 pm
News: Rocksteady: "There's a real talent drain"
A recent interview saw Rocksteady game director Sefton Hill lament the UK's diminishing talent pool, as developers are forced to travel in search of employment.
"A lot of my friends have moved abroad to get work; there's a real talent drain," Hill told CVG.
"Montreal is a central place for development and it's mainly because the tax breaks they give are so phenomenal."
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 4:01 pm
News: Shanda and Trion Worlds take Rift to China
Trion Worlds and Shanda games have signed a deal to release fantasy MMO Rift in China.
"We are delighted to bring Rift, Trion Worlds' much-acclaimed award-winning title, to China," said Mr. Alan Tan, Chairman and CEO of Shanda Games.
"Rift offers an adventurous online world with fantastic dynamic content and stunning graphics and has attracted many devoted fans worldwide. Based on our experience and expertise in the China market, we are excited about the upcoming launch of Rift to our broad gamer audience and are confident in the success of Rift in the China market."
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 3:24 pm
News: Mad Catz profits show $15m YoY fall in Q3
The latest financial results for peripherals manufacturer Mad Catz has shown a $15.2 million fall in profits compared to the previous year, dropping from $26.4 million to $11.2 million.
The Q3 figures for the period ending December 31 also showed a large drop in revenue year on year, from $93 million to $46.2 million.
Sales across North American and European territories fell, and saw only a small rise in other countries.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 2:57 pm
News: Layoffs reported at ngmoco after DeNA restructuring
Japanese mobile giant DeNA is thought to have laid off around 30 staff at its western subsidiary ngmoco as part of a global restructuring process.
Ngmoco CEO and DeNA board member Neil Young issued a statement on the restructure, which is seen as a response to disappointing financial results and the costs of continuing acquisitions in Japan and Asia.
"Armed with the insights we've gained from both the Western & Japanese markets and after completing the integration of a series of key acquisitions, we've organized our global operations to best support & deliver on our mission to build the leading global social-mobile game platform company," said Young.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 11:51 am
News: Voting opens for BAFTA GAME Audience Award
BAFTA has revealed the shortlist for its GAME Audience Award, which features titles like indie darling Minecraft and epic RPG Skyrim.
"The gaming industry is hugely creative and the GAME BAFTA Video Games Awards aims to recognise the talented and exiting figures and games that have set the industry alight over the past year," said GAME marketing director Anna-Marie Mason.
"The BAFTA GAME Award is an award we are particularly proud of as it gives our customers the chance to make their opinion heard. This year's shortlist is really exciting and we would like to encourage every GAME customer to vote for their favourite game - we can't wait to see the final result!"
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 11:30 am
News: Digital Capital appoints new product development head
Funding vehicle Digital Capital has appointed Stewart Kosoy as head of product development.
"This is a unique opportunity at a pivotal moment in the industry's history," he said.
"With the growth of digital platforms it's exhilarating to see the balance of power swinging back to the developer, and to see more indies enjoying success. At Digital Capital we plan to accelerate that process by treating our developers in the way they deserve - i.e. as partners who will share the rewards of our successes."
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 10:05 am
News: Jetpack Joyride downloads increased 13x after going free
Jetpack Joyride studio Halfbrick has revealed that switching the game to a free-to-play model saw a huge increase in downloads, increasing revenue levels.
The game made around $1 million when it was released as a $1 game, but, since switching to a free-to-play model, has been downloaded 13 million times. Around 5-10 per cent of those downloads result in expenditure of at least $1, says Halfbrick.
That level of engagement has been enough to increase the revenues of the product.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 9:46 am
News: Indie Fund updates investment model
The Indie Fund, which helps to finance independent developers, has changed the terms of its investments.
"The new terms allow us to grow Indie Fund with games that do 'just ok' financially without requiring a hit to make up for projects that generate a loss," it explained.
"We can then fund more long shots, knowing that we'd be ok if they fail as long as we have another game do 'just ok' in terms of sales."
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 9:33 am
News: GameStop clears all debts, pays investors first dividend
US retailer GameStop has paid its first ever dividend to investors, having cleared the last of its debts with a successful holiday period at the end of 2011.
The chain raised $3 billion in sales from that quarter, enabling the board to reward shareholders for their faith with a dividend of 15 cents per share, payable on March 12, 2012.
"We have achieved our goal of eliminating debt and are pleased to return excess cash to our shareholders," said GameStop's executive chairman, Dan DeMatteo.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 9:13 am
News: Double Fine launches Kickstarter campaign for new project
Update
Double Fine's Kickstarter project has cleared its goal of $400,000, in less than 8 hours.
CEO Tim Schafer has said that any extra funds will go towards improving the game further, translating it to several languages and potentially adding further platforms to the list of release SKUs.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 9:08 am
News: EA's chief financial officer leaving February 17
Eric Brown, chief financial officer for EA since April 2008, has resigned from the role. His last day will be February 17.
He leaves to join communications company Polycom as CFO and COO, and will be replaced at EA by chief accounting officer and senior vice president Kenneth Barker, who has been with the company since 2003.
"I am delighted to join Polycom at such an exciting time," said Brown.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 8:45 am
News: Games sales help to boost Warner Bros. Q4 and full-year results
Time Warner's Filmed Entertainment division, which includes the entirety of its video games arm, has recorded an increase of nine per cent to it's full-year sales figures, resulting in revenues of $12.6 billion (£8bn).
This section of the business also includes films and television, so the real impact of software is hard to judge, but Batman: Arkham City, Mortal Kombat 9 and several LEGO titles were highlighted as significant factors in the company's report.
It was also clarified that Arkham City shipped over six million units worldwide.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 8:39 am
Interview: Cliff Harris: Middle-Aged Game Development
Last week saw indie developers descend on London for Bit of Alright - a day of talks and play held in Battersea Arts Centre. It was a chaotic and good natured event, but far more interested in the nebulous properties of creativity and enthusiasm than it was in the harsher practicalities of getting a game to launch. Acting as a foil to this exuberance was Cliff Harris, the man behind Positech Games and big-selling indie title Gratuitous Space Battles. His talk made pains to point out that it is graft and self-discipline that make indie development into a sustainable career. We caught up with him as he stepped off stage to ask why he thinks the UK indie scene needs to swallow such a bitter pill.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 8:00 am
Article: Indie Development: Not Just Fun And Games
In the Grand Hall of the Battersea Arts Centre, David Hayward points to a grey triangle, projected onto a screen. "This was part of the most boring PowerPoint presentation I've ever seen," he explains. So starts Hayward's introduction to Bit of Alright, an indie game development conference that pointedly avoids the stolid analysis and rigid formalities of the games industry lecture circuit. Under Hayward's curatorship, this feels more like a get-together than a conference, intended to inspire playfulness and spontaneity in its attendees, rather than subduing them with a deluge of instructional slides, as they sit passively before a droning speaker.
At least, this is how you sense many here would characterise the other industry events that dot the calendar. Other opinions are available, albeit not in abundant attendance. Some might find those supposedly grey and unlovely conferences, with their focus on practical advice and technical detail, pretty useful when it comes to the task of actually producing saleable games, and ensuring the survival of an independent developer in such tricky economic times.
Bit of Alright hints at something of a crisis of identity when it comes to the UK indie scene, which sometimes seems to like everything about self-employment but the employment part itself. The talks reflect that hippy-ish suspicion of structure: there's an informal pass-the-mic style, which causes Dan Marshall's session on the mechanics of death to disassemble into semi-audible group chatter.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 8:00 am
News: Average Skyrim PC playtime clocks in at 75 hours
PC gamers of Bethesda's single-player RPG The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim have clocked up an average of 75 hours playtime in the game, according to stats from Steam.
Speaking during the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, Todd Howard, creative director for Bethesda Game Studios, said that following the release of modding tools for the game for the PC, he hopes that one day a similar service could be offered to home console owners.
"On PC they can download our tools, they can create their own mods. It's something we spent a lot of time on and we're really excited about," he said of the Skyrim Creation Kit, released this week.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 3:55 am
News: Publisher model will rise again through mobile
While the console publishing market continues to shrink, the model is set for a resurgence due to growth in the mobile games sector, according to EEDAR's Jesse Divnich.
Speaking at the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, the analyst predicted a rise in mobile publishing that will closely resemble the traditional console market of success, partnerships and eventual consolidation of studios and IP.
"We're going to see publishers through emerging markets, we're beginning to see publishers rise in mobile," Divnich told attendees. "New publishers will fall and rise.
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 1:40 am
News: Inflated console prices are fuelling free-to-play growth
The high price of home console games is fuelling the growth of the free-to-play market, as consumers shun fixed prices and sample games with no initial costs.
Speaking at the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, Gabriel Leydon, CEO of mobile company Addmired, said that the console business has upheld a standard pricing structure for physical product for so long it can no longer afford to take risks with IP, instead churning out sequels to recoup the inflated costs of game development.
"Mobile is the home of free-to-play and that's the next big model for video games," said Leydon. "The real problem [for consoles] is price fixing. Consoles set expectations for prices for thirty years."
Posted on 9 February 2012 | 1:00 am
News: Epic secures Fighting Fantasy titles for Unreal contest
Epic Games has secured the iOS rights to Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's choose-your-own adventure Fighting Fantasy books.
As part of the Make Something Unreal contest, the developer is tasking students to create a game based on one of four books from the series, with the winning title unveiled at The Gadget Show Live 2012.
"Steve Jackson and I are delighted to see our Fighting Fantasy gamebooks being developed as iOS games by new teams of talented and enthusiastic students. It will be really interesting to see how our IP will be captured and interpreted for the iOS platform," said Ian Livingstone, who is currently writing a new book in the series.
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 7:20 pm
News: No UMD Passport programme for US Vitas
The UMD Passport programme available to Japanese PlayStation Vita users will not launch in America.
The handheld manufacturer confirmed the news to Kotaku, while SCEE spoke to Eurogamer, but remained vague on the situation for the Vita in Europe.
"We've not made any announcement about the program in the UK and Europe as yet. We'll let you know as and when that changes."
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 2:50 pm
News: French tax breaks under threat, Quantic Dream threatens to relocate
Update: Quantic Dream's Guillaume de Fondaumiere has confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that the company would be left with "no choice but relocate certain parts of our business" should the EU deny France an extension on tax relief.
"The French games tax break has had a very positive impact on our studio," he said in an e-mail. It has in particular enabled us to offer competitive salaries to compete with top studios (located in particular in Montreal), and attract French and international talents on a worldwide scale, while keeping production costs at reasonable levels."
The tax break has also proved beneficial for France as an entire country: de Fondaumiere cites a recent study that estimated a return of €1.70 in taxes and social changes for every €1 invested by the state, along with the creation of hundreds of jobs.
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 2:45 pm
News: Ex-Rare dev: Company is "a survivor"
A new feature on UK developer Rare has revealed former employees' true feelings about the Microsoft acquisition in 2002, and explained why it was so essential.
"I think what has happened to Rare really just reflects what has happened in the industry at large: larger teams, larger budgets and reduced risk," said Phil Tossell, director of gameplay and HCI at Rare until September 2010.
"In that sense I think the Rare of today is in a better position to deal with the demands of the modern game industry. It was undoubtedly a challenging process for everyone at Rare and I'm sure at Microsoft as well, but ultimately I think it was necessary for the continued survival of Rare."
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 2:15 pm
News: Gaikai realises streaming goals with Darkness 2 demo
Gaikai has launched an instant trial of 2K Games' upcoming title The Darkness II - marking a significant step towards CEO Dave Perry's goal of pre-release streamable demos for all major titles.
Gaikai allows gamers to stream demos of prominent PC titles through their web browser even if their PC or Mac would not be capable of running the game locally, doing all the difficult computations in the cloud.
However, the cloud gaming startup had previously only featured games some time after their initial release, activity which showcased the technology nicely and offered some value to retail partners but offered only limited potential for marketing.
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 12:45 pm
News: €1.75 million in new funding for BoosterMedia
Mobile games distribution company BoosterMedia has secured €1.75 million in its latest funding round.
"With this latest investment, we can further execute on our ambition to establish the largest network for mobile browser-game distribution", said CEO Laurens Rutten.
"Over the last year, we have seen a sharp increase in the quality of HTML5 games that are available, including good mobile social games. We want to provide developers a dedicated channel to reach mobile gamers in a new way."
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 12:11 pm
News: Simraceway dev raises another $5m in funding
Ignite Game Technologies has closed a $5 million round of series C funding from existing and new investors.
The San Francisco-based developer is working on Simraceway, a highly realistic online racing simulation that entered public beta in November last year.
The new funding takes Ignite's total investment since it was founded in 2008 to $17.5 million. One of the company's key investors, Dave Marrs, will now join the board of directors.
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 10:09 am
News: Nielsen: 56 per cent of US households own 7th-gen console
Global market research firm Nielsen has published figures suggesting that 56 per cent of US households owned an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or Wii in 2011.
Of that amount, 65 per cent are found in the living room, with as much as 45 per cent constantly connected to the internet to serve as "entertainment hubs."
Nielsen also noted that the use of consoles for streaming entertainment has increased on all platforms since 2010.
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 9:34 am
News: D3Publisher signs game rights for next 3 Dreamworks films
D3Publisher, which is wholly owned by Namco Bandai, has signed a deal to produce the licensed games for the next three Dreamworks films, taking over after THQ decided to withdraw from the licensed and children's games markets to concentrate on core audiences.
Previously, THQ had exclusive worldwide rights to the games attached to Dreamworks' films, but increasingly poor financial performance performance in the sector has lead to a refocusing on core franchises such as the Warhammer and Saints Row and the deal was abandoned.
The deal covers Madagascar 3, Rise of the Guardians, and The Croods, which will all be released in the period between June, 2011 and spring next year.
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 9:08 am
News: Seropian resigns from Disney role
Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian has resigned from his post as Disney's SVP and general manager of core games.
Disney confirmed the news to Gamasutra, and informed the site that Seropian would be replaced by Bill Roper, who has previously held roles as VP of Blizzard North, and VP of the Marvel franchise for Disney.
Seropian had held the position since September 2009. He was also CEO and founder of Wideload Games and Bungie Studios. There is no news on his future career plans.
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 9:05 am
News: Disney's interactive media revenue down 20% to $279m
Disney's latest financial results revealed a 20 per cent fall in revenue for its Interactive Media operations, alongside plans to expands its social gaming business with eight new titles in the next year.
Sales fell to $279 million for Q1 2012, compared to the same period last year, which saw $349 million, last year. That brought total losses for the entertainment giant's gaming division to $28 million, a loss increase of $15 million on last year.
"The decrease at our console game business was primarily due to fewer releases and the strength of Epic Mickey in the prior-year quarter," said Disney.
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 8:50 am
News: Microsoft: "Together we can prevail over criminals"
Microsoft's Alex Garden, general manager of Xbox Live, has issued an open letter calling for gamers' assistance in the ongoing struggle against hackers.
Garden posted the letter to Major Nelson's blog as part of Safer Internet Day, and noted the "surge of personal information being compromised and sold" over the last year.
While Garden didn't name any specific examples, the attack on the PlayStation Network is the most high-profile example among several that have blighted games companies in the last year.
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 8:49 am
News: DeNA sales up Y-o-Y, profits and sales down from last Q
Japanese mobile platform DeNA has reported a drop in profits and sales from last quarter, although revenues are up year-on-year.
For the quarter ending December 31, 2011, DeNA pulled in ¥34.15 billion ($445m, £279m) in sales - a drop of two per cent from the last quarter but an increase of 16 per cent since the same quarter last year.
The company's profit was ¥6 billion ($77.8m, £49m) for the quarter, a huge drop of 25 per cent year on year and 26 per cent since last quarter.
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 8:14 am
Article: Tech Focus: Next-Gen Cloud vs. Console
The recent announcement of GFACE - a social media network with Cloud support, backed by Crytek - demonstrates that the concept of "gaming over IP" is likely to gain further traction as viable competition to both current and next-gen consoles. OnLive is out now with a full service, Gaikai is set to follow suit this year, and while there's a strong argument that these emerging technologies are not really a match for the local console experience, it's only fair to remember that these are first-gen technological products. They will improve, and even in the here-and-now they do work, even if the experience is quantifiably sub-optimal compared to local gaming.
The question is, to what extent can Cloud gaming services improve? Much has been made of the fact that even with ultra-fast fibre-optic networks, latency will always be an issue. Similarly, lossless video quality requires so much bandwidth (720p60 is well over 100 megabytes per second) that it's not going to be viable on gaming services. Given that video will always be compressed, to what extent can picture quality - which varies dramatically from one instant to the next - get better?
In this article we'll be tackling both of these issues, presenting the argument that improvements to internet infrastructure combined with optimising the current latency pipeline could well be enough to bridge the gap between Cloud services and what you might call a standard console experience.
Posted on 8 February 2012 | 7:50 am
News: New LG TVs to feature Unity games
Unity Technologies and LG have partnered to feature Unity authored games on the manufacturer's 2012 range of Smart TVs.
"The television technology LG is introducing this year is very impressive and offers an incredible opportunity for the developers under the Union umbrella to reach a new market," said Unity CEO David Helgason.
"Our goal with Union is to create new avenues of distribution for developers using Unity, and LG smart TVs are creating a massive and new gaming audience."
Posted on 7 February 2012 | 4:00 pm
News: Splash Damage devs launch online gaming service
Former Splash Damage executives Arnout van Meer, Stephen Gaffney and Ben Hopkinson have launched Fireteam, a new service providing online support to console, transmedia and free-to-play developers.
"As with many developers, at Splash Damage we often outsourced this component to a multitude of varying specialist providers, most of which have since been acquired," explained CTO Van Meer.
"Now, with significant planning and research, we've launched this as a separate venture to Splash Damage. This specifically allows us to focus on improving the quality of online services. Because we're going to help improve how smoothly games are launched and operate, we're pleased to be offering our services to Splash Damage as one of our first customers."
Posted on 7 February 2012 | 2:45 pm
News: Jaffe expected to leave Eat Sleep Play to pursue iOS development
Update
Jaffe has confirmed via Twitter, that he has "zero plans to make games like Farmville and Angry Birds", but is founding a studio in San Diego in order to get back to frontline development.
It's understood that Jaffe will lead this team personally, and is leaving Eat Sleep Play at his own behest after the roll out process for Twisted Metal is complete.
Posted on 7 February 2012 | 1:29 pm
News: 46 Jobs to go in GAME head office restructure
The GAME group has reshuffled the management at its head office, making a number of promotions alongside 46 job losses.
Only roles at the company's Basingstoke support centre will be affected.
"As part of our strategy to position GAME for future success, we have today outlined a number of proposed changes in our head office structure," read the official statement.
Posted on 7 February 2012 | 11:20 am
News: Apple warns developers not to manipulate App Store charts
Apple has issued a statement warning its developers to avoid services which "manipulate" the App Store charts, cautioning that doing so could endanger a studio's development licence.
A post on the company's developer blog makes clear that Apple expects the charts to be a reflection of legitimate downloads alone, a clear response to recent allegations that some companies are using bot services which offer app downloads in return for payment to push games into the coveted front page positions on the storefront.
"Once you build a great app, you want everyone to know about it," reads a short entry on the site. "However, when you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts.
Posted on 7 February 2012 | 9:51 am
News: ChangYou reports 2011 net income of $245.5 million
MMO publisher ChangYou has reported total revenues of $484.6 million for 2011, and a net income of $245.5 million.
Revenues had increased by 37 per cent compared to the previous year, while net income had increased by 26 per cent. Gross profit increased by 30 per cent to $417.1 million.
For the fourth quarter alone, which ended December 31 2011, total revenue was $137.7 million, a 39 per cent year on year increase, while net income increased 20 per cent year on year to $64.3 million. Gross profit for the quarter also increased by 30 per cent year on year to $116.7 million.
Posted on 7 February 2012 | 9:25 am
News: Gaikai: Microsoft will have to enter TV market
Gaikai co-founder David Perry believes that Microsoft will be forced to enter the TV market to compete with more hardware focused companies like Apple and Sony.
In an interview with CVG, Perry claims that the expanding functionality of the Xbox and PlayStation 3 combined with the emergence of cloud-gaming through Smart TVs will change the way consumers look at consoles.
"I think [the platform holders are] going to stop calling them consoles and they'll start calling them something else," he said.
Posted on 7 February 2012 | 8:47 am
News: 37 job losses at Sega Australia
Sega Studios Australia has confirmed the loss of 37 jobs at its Brisbane studio.
"The rise of digital gaming provides an opportunity to align the studio with a rapidly growing market at a time when the games industry is undergoing a significant transition," said Sega Australia.
"As part of this focus on digital avenues, there is a requirement to re-structure the studio resources accordingly and regrettably, we are announcing the loss of 37 staff."
Posted on 7 February 2012 | 8:28 am
News: Schafer: Publishers are scared of new IP
Double Fine boss Tim Schafer has revealed how difficult it has been to attract funding for major projects based on new IP, saying that publishers are unwilling to invest in unproven franchises.
Lately, Double Fine has changed tack with its releases somewhat, scaling back from traditionally scaled projects to smaller download titles, but has stuck doggedly to its ethos of breaking new IP with games like Iron Brigade, Stacking and Happy Action Theater.
That, says Schafer was at least in part a response to a lack of potential funding.
Posted on 7 February 2012 | 8:24 am
Interview: Jesse Schell: Top Of The Class
Though games designer Jesse Schell was well known to industry veterans before 2010, it was that year's prescient DICE / TED talk about gamification that brought him to wider attention. He started his career at Bell Labs, but since has been the lead designer of the first MMO aimed at children, Toontown, designed rollercoasters, been a juggler, comedian and mime, and written one of the best game theory books around, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses. Currently, he runs his own studio, Schell Games, and teaches Building Virtual Worlds and Game Design at Carnegie-Mellon University. We caught up with him at the Learning Without Frontiers conference in London, England, where we talked about cross-platform gaming, gamifying pupil's results, and how technology is bypassing the classroom.
Posted on 7 February 2012 | 7:55 am
News: Fun Infused Games: Xbox Live dash burying indie
Fun Infused Games developer Kris Steele has criticised the Xbox Live Indie Game market, and suggested that the new dashboard has buried independent games.
"Ultimately I do not believe the XBLIG market is growing," he said on his blog.
"I believe these numbers show that. I believe the biggest factor is Microsoft's burying of XBLIG."
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 3:17 pm
News: Torrent site BTJunkie shuts down
Torrent website BTJunkie has closed down voluntarily in response to legal pressure on its contemporaries, after more than six years in operation.
Visitors to the site, which had boasted of being the biggest collection of torrents on the internet, are now greeted by a farewell message.
"This is the end of the line my friends. The decision does not come easy, but we've decided to voluntarily shut down. We've been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it's time to move on. It's been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best!"
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 1:51 pm
News: Report: Ex-Zynga engineer makes cloning and contractor accusations
A Reddit user claiming to be an ex-Zynga software engineer has accused the social gaming company of cloning popular titles, mistreating contract workers and "creepy" behaviour.
"Tiny Tower + D Heights is all standard operating procedure here. If you can't buy em, clone em," user Mercenary-Games revealed, in an 'ask me anything' post on the social news website.
"Even the core technology for Farmville (MyMiniLife), was bought. The only 'home grown' codebases at Zynga is MafiaWars2 and maybe Poker, the rest of their tech was just bought from small studios. Look up Dextrose Engine. To me, that's utterly creepy. They try to choke out the competition by gating all these engine tech."
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 1:18 pm
News: Konami doubles nine-month profits to ¥17 billion
Konami almost doubled its year-on-year net profits for the nine-month period ending December 31, 2011.
The company reported profit of ¥17 billion on revenues of ¥194.5 billion, versus ¥9.6 billion in profit on ¥188.3 billion in revenues in the same period last year.
However, the company's Digital Entertainment division - which comprises its console, PC, mobile and social gaming output - showed little revenue growth, increasing from ¥97.9 billion to ¥99.4 billion.
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 12:10 pm
News: EU asks Google to delay rollout of new privacy policy
The EU has sent a letter to Google CEO Larry Page, requesting that the search giant delay the rollout of its forthcoming privacy policy changes.
Currently, Google has over 60 different privacy policies which cover its plethora of services. From March 1, 2012 it wants to amalgamate them into a single policy - ostensibly to improve services and simplify understanding, albeit with an acknowledged side benefit of increasing revenue from targeted ads.
The changes have been widely broadcast by Google across many of its services, with pop-ups, emails and other notifications.
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 10:52 am
News: Kabam moves HQ to San Francisco
The social gaming company Kabam is moving its headquarters to San Francisco, VentureBeat reports.
The company's employees will now occupy 63,000 square feet in the same office space that houses Twitter. Zynga, Playfish, Playdom and 6waves Lolapps also have major offices in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The company sees the new offices as a first-step in its next phase of growth, allowing its 450 employees to work together more closely.
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 10:42 am
News: Final Fantasy XIII-2 topples FIFA
FIFA 12 has finally been knocked off the top of the UK software chart by Japanese RPG Final Fantasy XIII-2.
In fact the new entry heralded a Japanese invasion of the charts, with fellow new releases Metal Gear Solid HD Collection debuting at 2, and Soulcalibur V arriving at 5.
Battlefield 3 moved up to third place from 5, with FIFA 12 dropping to 4. Last week's big new entry, Resident Evil: Revelations, fell from 6 to 19.
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 10:25 am
News: NPD retail reports to include Walmart data
The NPD Group will now include sales data from US Walmart stores and walmart.com in its reports, after signing a deal with the American retailer.
"This agreement is truly a game changer for NPD and for the industry," said NPD CEO Karyn Schoenbart.
"With Walmart data, we will be able to provide our clients with world class information and solidify our leadership position as the premier source of market insight in our industries."
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 9:57 am
News: Apple removes cloned games from App Store
Apple has removed a number of cloned App Store products from the independent developer Anton Sinelnikov, The Guardian reports.
Sinelnikov is responsible for such products as Plant vs. Zombie, Angry Ninja Birds, Numbers With Friends and Temple Jump - all near-identical copies of major App Store hits.
The games are seemingly designed and named to create confusion at the point of purchase, as evidenced by complaints from dissatisfied customers in user reviews.
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 9:55 am
News: New £15m fund for Yorkshire and Humber developers
Screen Yorkshire has launched The Yorkshire Content Fund, which will offer £15 million worth of investment to games, digital content, TV and films produced within the region.
"The advent of ubiquitous broadband has opened up huge opportunities for video games developers to self-publish their titles and, in doing so, retain the lions' share of the revenues - Yorkshire, in particular, has a large number of successful, independent developers who find themselves in a fantastic position to grasp these opportunities," said Charles Cecil or Revolution Software, who is also a Screen Yorkshire board member.
"To capitalise on these opportunities upfront investment is required and can be very challenging to secure in this tough financial environment. The Yorkshire Content Fund will address this issue and also lead to significant job creation."
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 9:26 am
News: Gree posts Q2 sales of £342.7m, profits of £104.9m
Japanese social network Gree has posted impressive figures for its Q2, FY2012, registering a profit of ¥12.74 billion (£104.9m) and sales of ¥41.5 billion (£342.7m).
As a result of the better than expected performance, Gree has raised its projections for the full year's figures upping its prediction to a profit of ¥44-50 billion (£363.4 - £413 m) and sales of ¥160-170 billion (£1.32 - £1.4 bn).
Year on year, those numbers mark a profit growth of 206 per cent.
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 9:08 am
News: Xbox Live policy and enforcement director departs
Stephen Toulouse, the director of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live, will leave his role on February 15.
"This is a positive thing," he said on his personal blog.
"I have nothing but confidence in the future of Microsoft and specifically Xbox and Xbox Live. I have enormous gratitude for my time there. I want to finish my next book, and explore other opportunities."
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 8:53 am
News: Job losses at EA Canada and Black Box
EA has confirmed it is restructuring its Vancouver operations, and cutting a small number of jobs in the process.
"EA in Vancouver is transforming its studio to align with EA's transformation to high-growth digital formats, including online, social gaming and free-to-play," a company spokesperson told IndustryGamers.
"As the BC studio makes this transformation, a small number of employees are being impacted while most others are being retrained, redeployed and rolling-on to new projects."
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 8:23 am
News: PSN to be rebranded as Sony Entertainment Network
Sony will be renaming all PSN accounts as Sony Entertainment Network accounts this Wednesday, alongside a system update for PS3 and Vita.
No action is necessary from users, and the change will not affect accounts viewed via the PSP.
The rebranding appears to be part of a drive to unify Sony's online media services under one banner, something which a press release accompanying the announcement speaks of in broad terms without going into detail.
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 8:11 am
Article: Saving Education Through Games Addiction
Dr Paul Howard-Jones knows he's courting controversy by arguing that video games stimulate the brain in addictive ways; nothing so riles hardcore gamers as the suggestion that they've got a problem. But Howard-Jones has turned this compulsion into a positive spin; he argues games could save education.
His training is in psychology - despite that he's the Senior Lecturer at Graduate School of Education at University of Bristol, specialising in Neuroscience and Education. "I'm a psychologist working in education who does neuroscience" he explains, which obviously prompts queries about where video games enter. The explanation is a little complicated. His research focuses on better ways of helping students learn and he's settled on the compulsive-aspects of computer games as an exceptionally good technique.
"It certainly didn't arise from trying to find an application for interactive whiteboards." says Howard-Jones. "It actually arose from the nucleus accumbens (the NAcc, a knot of neurons important in reward, pleasure, addiction, aggression and fear) and realising we'd missed a big trick in education, in that we have an overly simple idea of the relationship between reward and learning."
Posted on 6 February 2012 | 7:50 am
News: Viacom earnings fall, Harmonix dispute blamed
The latest figures from Viacom show a 65 per cent fall in net earnings compared to the previous year, a fall it at least partly attributes to its on going dispute with Harmonix.
For Q1 2012 the company showed net earnings of $212 million for the quarter ending December 31 2011. This figure showed a $398 million drop from the previous year's $610 million.
It was a drop that James W Barge, chief financial officer, blamed on the recent legal battle with Harmonix.
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 2:21 pm
News: SEGA 9 month profit down 6.6% YoY as games buoyed by Pachinko
SEGA Sammy has released its nine month financial report for the period ending December 31, 2011, revealing a shrinking videogames business but a resurgence in the sales of Pachinko machines.
Overall, the business made a profit of ¥34.4 billion (£284.7m) for the period, with sales of ¥311.7 billion (£2.58bn), a year on year increase of 0.5 per cent.
Of that total, ¥64.1 billion in net sales came from the Consumer Business arm, which includes SEGA's videogame business alongside its toy and animation sectors. That represents a shrinkage of 4.9 per cent from the same period in the year previous.
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 1:44 pm
News: Eutechnyx signs Brain in a Jar for latest racing game
Eutechnyx and Brain in a Jar - two UK racing specialists - are teaming for a new project to be announced later in the year.
Brain in a Jar focuses on simulations with its proprietary motorsports game engine, and has assisted developers such as Codemasters and Reflections in the past.
"We're very excited to be working with Eutechnyx on one of its biggest projects this year, as we're keen to demonstrate the two pillars on which our company is founded on - great technology and intelligent staff scaling."
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 11:33 am
News: Nippon Ichi increases net income forecast to ¥203m
Nippon Ichi's latest consolidated earnings estimate for the fiscal year has increased totals for operating income and net income.
Net income estimates are up to ¥203 million from ¥59 million, and operating income is now ¥303 million, previously ¥107 million. Strong sales on both PlayStation Vita and PS3 for the Disgaea have helped boost the numbers for the Japanese publisher.
Sales are down from ¥2,288 million to ¥2,246 million, which the company attributes to release delays for The Witch And The Hundred Soldiers and the US edition of Disgaea 3 Return.
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 11:24 am
News: Zynga designer and Nexon exec join AIAS board
Zynga's chief game designer Brian Reynolds and Nexon America vice president of live games Min Kim are now both members of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' Board of Directors.
"Min will make a welcome addition to the Board," said Shuhei Yoshida, current AIAS board member.
"Through games such as their flagship title, MapleStory, and now recently, Dragon Nest and Vindictus, Nexon has paved the way for Free-to-Play titles over the last decade to push this genre forward to ever expanding audiences in MMO gaming. We will greatly benefit from that same passion - there is no doubt he will work to make great strides in pushing the mission of the AIAS forward."
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 10:44 am
News: Seamus Blackley: iOS is the "new arcade", 99c the "new quarter"
Seamus Blackley, who co-created the Xbox at Microsoft, has founded a new start up making iOS titles, investing personal money into the venture, but also raising investment from THQ.
Innovative Leisure also employs what Blackley calls the "dream team" or "Jedi Council" of veteran programmers from Atari's golden years, when the company dominated the arcade cabinet business with titles like Asteroids and Centipede.
Speaking to VentureBeat, Blackley said he sees iOS as the "new arcade" for gamers, with the common 99c price point representing the "new quarter" for a new generation.
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 10:10 am
News: Xbox marketing head joins Apple
Former Microsoft head of product marketing Robin Burrowes, who lead marketing and management of Xbox Live in Europe, has made the move to Apple.
According to his LinkedIn profile he started the position last month, where he's now responsible for App Store marketing for iTunes Europe.
Burrowes joined Xbox UK in February 2005 following time with MSN and HMV. At Microsoft he was marketing manager for the console, and was responsible for promotions including Xtival Free LIVE Weekend and the Summer Of Football campaign.
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 9:55 am
News: 6Waves Lolapps denies breaching NDA with Spry Fox
6Waves Lolapps (6L) CEO Rex Ng has denied that his company breached any NDA agreement with Triple town developer Spry Fox.
Spry Fox filed a lawsuit against 6L after the company's representatives denied accusations of plagiarism in an interview, calling the claims "part of the natural process."
Spry Fox is now trying to prove that 6L took core ideas and mechanics from Triple Town whilst it was in negotiations to publish the game, leading to its recently acquired mobile studio Escalation releasing the similar title Yeti Town for iOS.
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 9:41 am
News: GFACE launches Crytek backed freemium service
German company GFACE has launched the live beta for its new, Crytek backed, freemium social gaming service.
GFACE.com offers a mix of core and casual titles that can be played across multiple devices, iPhone, iPad, PC browser, along with a mix of social networking features. Crytek's free-to-play title Warface can be seen in some of the promotional screenshots.
"GFACE enables its users to discover and experience entertainment together in real time" said Cevat Yerli, GFACE director and CEO of Crytek.
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 9:27 am
News: DDM appoints new director of business development
Video game talent agency Digital Development Management has appointed Tehyon 'Tae' Kim as its director of business development.
Kim comes with extensive mobile and social games experience, having worked with 5th Planet Games, Bionic Panda, Gaia and GamersFirst, amongst others.
"We are pleased to welcome Tae to our exceptional team," offered Jeff Hilbert, founder of DDM
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 9:22 am
News: Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada founds new studio
Harvest Moon creator and erstwhile Grasshopper COO Yasuhiro Wada has revealed his new Japanese studio, Toybox.
Wada was most recently employed at Grasshopper, but left after finding that company's culture difficult to adapt to. He is most famous for creating the long-running Harvest Moon series.
Very little is known about Toybox yet, but Wada seems keen to do more than just entertain.
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 8:51 am
News: DeNA Studios Canada opens in Vancouver
Japanese company DeNA has become the latest industry name to set up operations in Canada, opening DeNA studios Canada later this month.
Irfan Virk, the current CEO of DeNA subsidiary Gameview Studios, will oversee the new Vancouver operation.
"We are excited to begin operations with the great talent in Vancouver," he said.
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 8:28 am
News: GAME Group agrees new financing terms, predicts £18m loss for year
The GAME Group has been thrown a lifeline by its creditors in the City, which have renegotiated its lending terms to allow the company to continue to operate.
Announced in the early hours of this morning, the new deal will enable the chain to remain trading, with the executives confident that GAME will pass its covenant tests for the year ending January 31.
A projection of an $18 million loss for that year has been made, prior to the cost of tax and non-recurring items.
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 8:03 am
News: THQ needs partner to bring Warhammer MMO to market
THQ is currently looking for a partner to bring its MMO Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium to market.
In a conference call to investors following the release of the company's third quarter results, CEO Brian Farrell confirmed that the high costs of development are putting a burden on the project.
"While the game in development promises to be a high-quality consumer offering, because of the large financial commitment and associated risks, we are being realistic about our resources and we are actively seeking a partner for this compelling MMO," he said.
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 8:00 am
Editorial: Hirai Ascendant
It's official at last - after being publicly groomed as Sir Howard Stringer's replacement for the past couple of years, PlayStation boss Kaz Hirai has been confirmed as the new president and CEO of Sony. On April 1st, Stringer will step aside (becoming chairman of the company's board of directors, a separate and more hands-off role from company chairman at Sony) and Hirai's reign will begin.
In doing so, Hirai could be seen as completing the plan which PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi was never able to accomplish. Kutaragi was widely tipped as a future Sony boss after the extraordinary success of the PlayStation and PS2, and various executive moves between 1997 and 2003 seemed to be aimed at installing him in the role. The botched launch of PS3 sank Kutaragi's ambitions, though - so it's Hirai, instead, who fulfills the dream of a PlayStation boss taking over the entire company.
We've become so used to the idea of Hirai as the natural successor to Stringer that it's easy to be blasé and underestimate just how important this move is. Sony, for all its recent difficulty in turning a profit and the challenges it faces in many markets, is an absolute giant of a company - one for whom the videogames market started out as little more than a hobby. Hirai's appointment isn't just a testament to his own abilities as an executive - it's a recognition that the confluence of hardware, software and network services in modern consumer electronics has made videogames into the front line of a war between competing visions of the future of entertainment and communications.
Posted on 3 February 2012 | 8:00 am
News: THQ losses widen to $56m for Q3
Troubled publisher THQ recorded a $56 million net loss for the third quarter ended December 31, compared to losses of $15m for the same period in 2010.
Sales of Saints Row: The Third were high during the three months - 3.6 million copies, but these were countered by poor performance of novelty Wii tablet uDraw and its software. Today it confirmed it was no longer manufacturing uDraw hardware.
Net sales for the three months were $305 million, down from $315 million the previous year.
Posted on 2 February 2012 | 9:49 pm
News: Q3 profits of $14m for Take-Two, sales of $236m
Take-Two turned a profit of just over $14 million in the quarter ending December 31, 2011 - largely thanks to strong sales of its only major release in the period, NBA 2K12.
A busier release period in the same quarter in 2010, combined with stronger catalogue sales, netted a profit of $40.86 million.
Sales for the third quarter totalled $236.33 million, down from $334.29 for the same quarter in the year previous.
Posted on 2 February 2012 | 9:22 pm
News: Star Wars: The Old Republic paid subs estimated at 1.3m
America's most influential analysts are putting paying subscribers for EA's Star Wars: The Old Republic at 1.3 million, and a conversion rate of 75 to 80 per cent.
Doug Creutz from Cowen estimated estimated the figure of paying players to be between 1.3 million and 1.5 million, with 200,000 to 400,000 still enjoying their first month's free trial.
Baird Equity Research concurred with the 1.3 million estimate, despite originally predicting the number to be 1 million.
Posted on 2 February 2012 | 4:42 pm
News: Oklahoma proposes new games tax
Oklahoma State Representative William Fourkiller has introduced a bill to introduce extra taxes on games rated teen or higher.
Bill HB 2696 wants a 1 per cent rise in tax on games rated by the ESRB as Teen, Mature or Adults Only. According the bill, that money would then go towards programmes combatting bullying and obesity in children.
The bill describes the situation as an emergency.
Posted on 2 February 2012 | 12:17 pm
News: Kinect for Windows commercial license launches
Kinect for Windows and its commercial SDK and runtime has now launched in 12 countries, giving companies the chance to put the technology to use.
"Kinect has had an amazing first year, selling over 18m sensors," said Steve Clayton on Microsoft's official Technet blog.
"Now it's game on for businesses to show us what they can do with this technology - once they have Kinect for Windows hardware and have installed the SDK, they're free to innovate away. Just how we like it."
Posted on 2 February 2012 | 11:30 am
News: Capcom sees profits more than halved, sales down by 29%
Capcom has filed its financial report for the nine months ending December 31, 2011, revealing a drop in profits of 52.6 per cent year-on-year, and a sales shrinkage of 29 per cent.
For the period, profits were ¥3,242 million (£26.9m), down from ¥6,836 million (£56.67m) for the same period in the previous year. Sales were down to ¥50,270 million (£416.7m) from ¥70,773 million (£587.7m).
Domestically, Monster Hunter Tri (G) was identified as a strong core seller, topping a million units, whilst Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record were doing well abroad.
Posted on 2 February 2012 | 11:00 am
News: Tomoyuki Tsuboi now president of Konami Digital Entertainment
Konami Digital Entertainment has named Tomoyuki Tsuboi as its president.
"My goal is to build upon the momentum the entire Konami Digital Entertainment staff has built for our company," said Tsuboi, who actually took the role in November.
"We plan to intensify this momentum by continuing to innovate across our core franchises and creating those memorable gaming experiences that has been synonymous with Konami over the past four decades."
Posted on 2 February 2012 | 10:35 am
News: Flaregames raises €6m in investment round
Flaregames, the mobile development studio founded by ex-Gameforge head Klaas Kersting, has raised €6 million in venture capital funding from Accel Partners.
The company recently underwent a refocusing to concentrate on free-to-play mobile titles, rather than the augmented reality games which it had worked on previously. Venturebeat reports that the company hopes to launch five titles by the end of Q2, 2012.
"Our first focus is on getting fun, high-quality games to market, and reaching the mass-market as well as mid-core gamers with our line-up this year," said Kersting in a statement on the funding success.
Posted on 2 February 2012 | 10:16 am
News: New chief strategy and talent officer for Activision
Activision Blizzard has appointed Humam Sakhini to the newly created role of chief strategy and talent officer.
"Bringing together our strategic planning and worldwide human resources responsibilities under Humam's leadership underscores our commitment to talent recruiting, development and retention as a principal focus of the company,"said CEO Robert Kotick.
"This move will enable us to more closely link our strategic planning and business development initiatives with talent development to ensure we remain the preeminent destination for the most talented people working in interactive entertainment."
Posted on 2 February 2012 | 10:07 am
News: GAME confirms renegotiations underway with lenders
The GAME Group has issued a statement which confirms that it is in negotiations with its lending syndicate to establish a new strategy for future credit.
In a short press release today, the group indicated that it was committed to an ongoing dialogue and the eventual resolution of the issues of credit insurance which have been speculated on so heavily by press in recent days.
Its overseas operations, which amount to more than 600 stores in France, Iberia, Scandanavia, Australia and the Czech Republic are under review.
Posted on 2 February 2012 | 9:41 am
News: Gameloft projects 17% revenue rise year-on-year
Parisian mobile developer and publisher Gameloft has predicted a 17 per cent hike in its yearly revenue figures, thanks to an increasing market share for powerful smartphones and tablets.
The company expects full year sales for the current fiscal year to hit €164.4 million, with results to be published on March 21. The company has issued projections of €47 million for the fourth quarter sales.
Gameloft posted an increase of 15 per cent in its half-yearly revenues in August 2011, indicating a rising percentage of smartphone and tablet sales as a key factor in the growth.
Posted on 2 February 2012 | 9:22 am
