EA layoffs show Darwinism at work
Guest Post Free-to-play games on mobile platforms are changing gaming as we know it.
Nvidia’s Project Shield on schedule for Q2 release (video)
April 11, 2013 2:17 PM
Dean Takahashi
Nvidia is investing around $10 million in the project for mobile gaming.
Square Enix restructures and sells four free-to-play titles to Sleepy Giant (exclusive)
March 25, 2013 11:36 PM
Dean Takahashi
Square Enix said it expects lower than expected sales for its fiscal year and an unexpected loss.
Pocket Gems clears 100M game downloads and 150 employees (exclusive)
March 11, 2013 7:00 AM
Dean Takahashi
The "mobile first" game company is starting to generate impressive revenues and profits on mobile platforms.
Missive from TED: How wooly mammoths, consumer space travel, and reading minds play out for the game industry
Fans of strategy, role-playing games, racing, action, adventure, and more are experiencing an incredible entertainment revolution, and a recent TED talk embodies this.
With 7.5M users in Russia, Crytek’s free-to-play shooter Warface is coming to the U.S. (preview)
February 28, 2013 6:00 AM
Dean Takahashi
The successful online shooter is making its way to the U.S., China, and Asia.
GameHouse bets it all on its social casino games
February 27, 2013 6:00 AM
Dean Takahashi
Developer GameHouse is shifting its resources into social casino games.
Rumble signs Brazilian developer for free-to-play first-person shooter
January 29, 2013 9:00 AM
Dean Takahashi
Aquiris Game Studios hopes to take free-to-play first-person shooters up a notch with Ballistic.
Love your free players to unlock the full potential of free-to-play games
Guest Post
It’s already clear that free-to-play games are having a profound impact on the industry landscape. Their initial success is in large part driven by the frictionless reach being free enables. By removing the need to pay up front, a game …
Online gaming firm Aeria Games merges with Japan’s Gamepot
December 17, 2012 11:53 AM
Dean Takahashi
The deal combines a top Japanese game publisher with Aeria's free-to-play online game business.
Hawken publisher Meteor Entertainment raises $18M as big launch draws near
October 29, 2012 6:00 AM
Dean Takahashi
Meteor Entertainment raised another $18M for its Hawken multiplayer mech combat game.
Big Fish Games launches its first free-to-play game on PCs and Macs
October 18, 2012 6:30 AM
Dean Takahashi
Big Fish Games is riding the biggest wave of change in the game business: free to play.
Bubble Witch Saga for iOS is the first mobile game to sync player progress with Facebook
July 26, 2012 5:00 AM
Giancarlo Valdes
Casual games developer King.com announced that its free-to-play title, Bubble Witch Saga, is now available on the iTunes App Store.
Free-to-play games catching MMO subscribers’ attention (and wallets)
March 21, 2012 4:40 PM
Heinrich Lenhardt
The successful launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic notwithstanding, the business model of mandatory subscriptions for massively multiplayer online (MMO) games seems to be on its way out. A new user survey by online core gamer network Curse indicates …
Flaregames raises $7.9M from Accel for free-to-play mobile games (exclusive)
February 1, 2012 11:02 PM
Dean Takahashi
Flaregames has raised 6 million euros, or $7.9 million, in a funding round led by Accel Partners. The money will help beef up the company founded by Klaas Kersting, who also founded Germany’s Gameforge.
Kersting’s Karlsruhe, Germany-based Flaregames is focused …
Newzoo: Free-to-play MMO spending increases 24 percent in U.S.
November 9, 2011 10:53 AM
Stefanie Fogel
Americans are spending 24 percent more on free-to-play massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) this year than they did in 2010, according to a new market report from Newzoo.
Consumers spent a total of $4.9 billion on free-to-play (F2P) MMO games …
OpenFeint recruits game developer to lead free-to-play focus
July 7, 2011 12:00 PM
Dean Takahashi
OpenFeint has hired a game development leader to help its customers focus on making free-to-play mobile games.
The move reflects the growing importance of free-to-play, the business model where users play for free and can purchase virtual goods with real …
Free-to-play mobile games to be highlighted at GamesBeat 2011
June 28, 2011 7:00 AM
Dean Takahashi
Today we’re revealing the sixth set of speakers for our third annual GamesBeat 2011 conference. Our newest slate of speakers will be part of a panel on the free-to-play mobile gaming market. They include Jeferson Valadares, general manager of …
Investors buy majority stake in online game maker Bigpoint for $350M
German online game publisher Bigpoint announced today that two major private equity firms have bought a majority stake in the company for $350 million. The transaction values Bigpoint at more than $600 million and shows that the free-to-play online game …
English-language "free-to-play" online games will rake in $2B by 2015
With the growing popularity of free-to-play games on the PC, a new study from game market analyst DFC Intelligence reports that the English language free-to-play industry is expected to grow from $250 million in 2009 to over $2 billion by …
