The top 10 children’s video games coming your way
At this year’s E3 show, it was difficult to ignore publishers’ acknowledgment of the growing children’s market, including indie-influenced titles (such as Scribblenauts and Drawn to Life), a broadening scope of LEGO titles (LEGO Rock Band, LEGO Indiana Jones 2, and LEGO Harry Potter), and publishers’ return to the Mario Kart-influenced racing genre (Need for Speed Nitro, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing). Here are my picks for the best children’s titles of the show.
1. Scribblenauts (developer:… Continue Reading
Does game quality translate into better financial performance?
John Riccitiello, chief executive of Electronic Arts, came into EA a couple of years ago with the commitment to improve the quality of the big company’s games. During his calls with financial analysts, Riccitiello regularly cited average review scores for the company’s games.
That raises the question of whether there is a direct relationship between the quality of a game to the bottom line. Metacritic, which aggregates review scores by a bunch of established game reviewers, has… Continue Reading
Ubisoft closes a year of expansion and profits for game business
Ubisoft reported fiscal year results with good sales growth and a decent profit despite the recession. For the year ended March 31, the French game publisher reported sales of $1.47 billion, up 18.4 percent from $1.3 billion a year earlier.
Net income was $95.6 million, down 37 percent from $152 million a year earlier. The Paris-based company reported the strong growth in the face of economic headwinds and its own aggressive expansion. One of the strongest… Continue Reading
Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios buys game developer Big Huge Games
[updated with Schilling interview]
Throwing a curve ball, Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios acquired game developer Big Huge Games today for an undisclosed price from game publisher THQ.
That’s a bit of a shift for 38 Studios, which was founded by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Schilling. Maynard, Mass.-based 38 Studios is making a massively multiplayer online fantasy game in a bid to beat out Activision Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. The code-named Copernicus MMO game isn’t coming out… Continue Reading
A battle-weary THQ finishes year with $431 million loss
THQ is known for its fighting video games, but it took a lot of punches in 2009. For the fiscal year ended March 31, the big game publisher lost $431.1 million and saw revenue decline 23 percent to $830 million on a GAAP basis.
But in spite the big losses, the company is still experimenting with new markets, and it’s betting big on its new Ultimate Fighting Championship fighting games.
A year earlier, revenues were $1.0 billion… Continue Reading
GDC 09: conference to reflect a more global game industry
The 2009 Game Developers Conference will feature a more global list of speakers who reflect the video game industry’s changing landscape.
The show, which runs in San Francisco from March 23 to March 27, will include keynote speakers Satoru Iwata, chief executive of Nintendo, and Hideo Kojima, the Japanese creator of the Metal Gear series of console video games, published by Konami.
Iwata is a hero for reviving the industry with the launch of the Wii game… Continue Reading
Roundup: Ashton’s new show, Woz’s new company and more
Here’s the latest action:
Pansonic lays off 15,000: The consumer electronics giant shed 5 percent of its work force. It joins NEC, Sony, Hitachi and other Japanese companies in announcing major layoffs.
Ashton Kutcher’s Katalyst Media teams up with Slide on new series — The show, called KatalystHQ, is the first sponsored web series to premiere on Facebook.
Steve Wozniak takes a job at storage startup Fusion-io — The Apple co-founder already sat on the Salt Lake City company’s advisory… Continue Reading
THQ lays off 100, focuses wireless games on smart phones only
THQ has laid off 100 employees as a result of a decision to focus its wireless division on making games for smart phones.
The company previously made games for all sorts of cell phones. But as a result of this move, the company is closing its San Diego, Calif., U.K., and German wireless game development offices. The Universomo studio in Finland will continue to be the center of the company’s wireless game business.
This means that the… Continue Reading
Black Friday video game sales were strong, Microsoft claims victory
All eyes are on video games as the lone bright spot in a weak economy. So far, the industry is succeeding in delivering fun to otherwise shell-shocked consumers.
Sales of video game hardware and software appeared to be strong on Black Friday and over the holiday weekend, according to analyst Colin Sebastian at Lazard Capital Markets.
Sebastian said that initial checks indicated sales were strong at stores, and that comparison-shopping engines Shopping.com and Pricegrabber.com show that video… Continue Reading
THQ signs up Massive for in-game advertising
As game publishers look for more ways to pull in revenues, in-game advertising is catching on. Today, game publisher THQ is announcing that Microsoft’s Massive division will become the exclusive provider of in-game ads for THQ’s Xbox 360 and PC games.
The multi-year, multi-game deal means that Massive has landed a big account and that its business proposition is looking better for publishers under economic pressure. THQ has had a tough year and has had to… Continue Reading
May the force be with PhoneSaber: Another iPhone app vanishes
My iPhone is quickly becoming a repository for applications that are being removed from Apple’s App Store. Today’s latest victim is PhoneSaber, the simple yet compelling app that uses the iPhone’s accelerometer to turn the device into a lightsaber.
The problem in this case lies in that the lightsaber is the laser sword made famous by the Star Wars films. Lucasfilm, the company of Star Wars‘ creator George Lucas, apparently doesn’t like the unauthorized emulation of its… Continue Reading
GCube Ventures to invest in game companies at all stages
The $50 billion video game industry is rife with opportunities, so it only makes sense that someone is creating a venture capital firm that will focus on investing in all stages of the global game industry ecosystem.
VentureBeat has learned two high-profile veterans have created GCube Ventures, a Los Angeles investment firm that will put money into every stage of the industry from small start-ups to big public companies. Its managing directors are Shiraz Akmal, a… Continue Reading
Q&A: THQ will use wrestling license business model for Ultimate Fighting Championship games
LAS VEGAS–THQ made a big splash at The Palms Casino Resort this past weekend, inviting about 100 sports, video game and mixed martial arts (MMA) journalists to an exclusive first look at “UFC 2009: Undisputed.” The first game out of THQ’s five-year exclusive licensing deal with Zuffa LLC, which owns Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), will ship for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in May or June 2009. The mature-rated game will feature over 80 UFC… Continue Reading
THQ marketing chief talks about broadening of video game market
I sat down at the noisy THQ Gamer Day party to speak with Bob Aniello, the senior vice president of worldwide marketing at the Calabasas, Calif.-based video game company. THQ has become a powerhouse over the past decade as it expanded into a variety of new markets, from casual games on consoles to mobile phone games. Its titles include games based on Pixar’s animated movies such as “Cars” and “Ratatouille,” as well as hardcore games… Continue Reading