Square Enix’s big console releases are not performing as desired in the West.
As part of the publisher’s latest financial report, the company described sales of Tomb Raider, Hitman: Absolution and Sleeping Dogs as “weak” in both North America and Europe.
Saturday, 6 April 2013
Grand Theft Auto 5 boxart
Rockstar has revealed the boxart for upcoming release Grand Theft Auto V.
It stays true to the templates laid down by its predecessors and will be instantly recognisable to shoppers, as well as likely pleasing series’ diehards.
The game itself is due out on September 17th.
Here’s the art in full:
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/and-here-s-your-grand-theft-auto-v-boxart/0113436
It stays true to the templates laid down by its predecessors and will be instantly recognisable to shoppers, as well as likely pleasing series’ diehards.
The game itself is due out on September 17th.
Here’s the art in full:
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/and-here-s-your-grand-theft-auto-v-boxart/0113436
EA: Ignore the vocal minority - the market likes free-to-play
The angry whining of teens on the internet should not be mistaken for actual, real-world opinion.
That much is certainly true. Whether it can be applied to arguments surrounding free-to-play gaming is probably slightly more debatable.
There’s no confusion as to which side of the fence EA sits on, however. EA All Play senior VP Nick Earl says that there’s no disputing free-to-play’s victory in the modern games market.
That much is certainly true. Whether it can be applied to arguments surrounding free-to-play gaming is probably slightly more debatable.
There’s no confusion as to which side of the fence EA sits on, however. EA All Play senior VP Nick Earl says that there’s no disputing free-to-play’s victory in the modern games market.
Disney kills off LucasArts
LucasArts is to be disbanded by new owner Disney.
The firm's game publishing and internal development business will close, with Lucas properties such as Star Wars to be licensed to external businesses, Game Informer reports.
The firm's game publishing and internal development business will close, with Lucas properties such as Star Wars to be licensed to external businesses, Game Informer reports.
Angry Birds cartoon series premieres next month
Rovio has announced the debut of its new Angry Birds animated series will land in March.
A blog post and accompanying trailer from the video game developer-turned-entertainment company confirmed that Angry Birds Toons will premiere on March 16-17 (assumedly based on time zones).
According to Rovio, new episodes will be made available online “every” week – though how many are ready to go at this point is unclear.
It’s been a while since we heard about the cartoon, which was originally revealed back in January 2011 as one of the many products the company was investing in for its mobile franchise.
Angry Birds' Rovio doubles its revenues
Business has been good for the Angry Birds developer as the company's revenues doubled year-on-year in 2012.
The studio's revenue was €152.2m, up 101 per cent from 2011's €75.6m. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) grew by 64 per cent to €76.8m.
“2012 was another record-breaking year for Rovio. We doubled our revenue with an EBIT margin of 50 per cent, more than doubled our headcount, established new offices and a New Business Ventures unit,” said Rovio CFO Herkko Soininen.
Like the year before, merchandising accounted for a large chunk of the company's revenue. Rovio's Consumer Products business unit's revenue showed a yearly growth of over 300 per cent, and made up almost half of the company's total revenue.
Rovio games broke the 1bn download mark in May 2012 and the total active monthly users topped at 263m in last December.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/angry-birds-rovio-doubles-its-revenues/0113569
Minecraft PC passes 10m sales, Xbox 360 retail launch this month
Minecraft has surpassed 10m copies sold across PC, Mac, and Linux platforms.
"Minecraft (PC) has hit 10M! As promised, a subtle hint on the main 1.6 feature…" Bergensten tweeted.
Bergensten’s link was to a photo of a horse, indicating what would appear to be a new feature for the upcoming update for the game.
In other Minecraft news, the Xbox 360 edition will land at retail on April 30th in the US for $20. As of March, the game has sold 6m copies on XBLA alone since its launch last May.
The retail version will arrive in Australia, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan in early June – though no word on additional regions, such as Europe.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/minecraft-pc-10m-sales-xbox-360-retail-launch-this-month/0113654
ANALYSIS: Free-to-play games putting pressure on triple-A
In an increasingly fractured market there are less and less outright villains in the games business, save for one business model: free-to-play
UK boxed game sales spike over Easter
UK games retailers enjoyed its busiest weekend yet last week, thanks to BioShock and Tomb Raider.
The two blockbuster releases of the last month dominated the Chart-Track Top 40 last week, with BioShock Infinite becoming the fastest selling game in the series to date.
743,045 games were sold in the UK last week, generating £20.26m in revenue. A rise of 47 per cent week-on-week. This number is for boxed video games only, GfK Chart-Track currently does not track digital game sales.
It was also one of the busiest release weeks for some time, with Luigi’s Mansion 2 (No.5 in the charts), Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel (No.6), Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 (No.8), LEGO City Undercover (No.13) and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (No.31) joining BioShock: Infinite on the shelves.
It marked an end to a solid March for the trade, following a disappointing start to the year. However, with a lack of new software due over the next two months, game sales are expected to slip again before the end-of-year rush.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/uk-boxed-game-sales-spike-over-easter/0113674
The two blockbuster releases of the last month dominated the Chart-Track Top 40 last week, with BioShock Infinite becoming the fastest selling game in the series to date.
743,045 games were sold in the UK last week, generating £20.26m in revenue. A rise of 47 per cent week-on-week. This number is for boxed video games only, GfK Chart-Track currently does not track digital game sales.
It was also one of the busiest release weeks for some time, with Luigi’s Mansion 2 (No.5 in the charts), Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel (No.6), Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 (No.8), LEGO City Undercover (No.13) and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (No.31) joining BioShock: Infinite on the shelves.
It marked an end to a solid March for the trade, following a disappointing start to the year. However, with a lack of new software due over the next two months, game sales are expected to slip again before the end-of-year rush.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/uk-boxed-game-sales-spike-over-easter/0113674
Marketing: In-game advertising
In-game advertising (IGA) refers to advertising in computer and video games. IGA differs from advergaming, which refers to a game specifically made to advertise a product.
The IGA industry is large and growing. In 2009, spending on IGA was estimated to reach $699 million and is anticipated to grow to $1 billion by 2014
In-game advertising (Wikipedia)
Help Sim City sell your eyeballs to Nissan
Vote for Barack Obama ads in Burnout Paradise (Picture below)
Angry Birds rakes in serious cash - Angry Birds uses in-game advertising to promote other Rovio products (such as Bad Piggies!) sell micro transactions to improve game content or other DLC.
From MCVUK.com - In-game ads to top $7.2bn by 2016
Revenue from in-game advertising is expected to increase in the next few years, but are advertisers making the most of our medium?
The new Advertising and Video Games report by research firm DFC Intelligence predicts that the in-game advertising market will reach $7.2bn globally by 2016, according to IndustryGamers.
The report added that the North American in-game advertising market was worth $1bn in North America last year, and is expected to reach $2bn by 2014.
This figure also includes around-game advertising - such as banners around browser-games - and advergames, which are titles used to advertise a product, organisation or viewpoint.
However, DFC claims the full potential of this advertising channel is not being realised.
"Video games have reached beyond adolescent males into a mainstream entertainment medium that touches every segment of the population," said DFC analyst and the report's lead researcher Michael Goodman.
"Despite this, advertisers continue to under utilise video games as an advertising vehicle. This is slowly changing and more games go online.
"Video games, with their high degree of immersion and interactivity, are a natural solution for building brand awareness and influencing purchase decisions."
The IGA industry is large and growing. In 2009, spending on IGA was estimated to reach $699 million and is anticipated to grow to $1 billion by 2014
In-game advertising (Wikipedia)
Help Sim City sell your eyeballs to Nissan
Vote for Barack Obama ads in Burnout Paradise (Picture below)
From MCVUK.com - In-game ads to top $7.2bn by 2016
Revenue from in-game advertising is expected to increase in the next few years, but are advertisers making the most of our medium?
The new Advertising and Video Games report by research firm DFC Intelligence predicts that the in-game advertising market will reach $7.2bn globally by 2016, according to IndustryGamers.
The report added that the North American in-game advertising market was worth $1bn in North America last year, and is expected to reach $2bn by 2014.
This figure also includes around-game advertising - such as banners around browser-games - and advergames, which are titles used to advertise a product, organisation or viewpoint.
However, DFC claims the full potential of this advertising channel is not being realised.
"Video games have reached beyond adolescent males into a mainstream entertainment medium that touches every segment of the population," said DFC analyst and the report's lead researcher Michael Goodman.
"Despite this, advertisers continue to under utilise video games as an advertising vehicle. This is slowly changing and more games go online.
"Video games, with their high degree of immersion and interactivity, are a natural solution for building brand awareness and influencing purchase decisions."
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