What’s happened in the business of video games this past week …
QUOTE | “Sony has had a miserable generation in the console market.” — Rob Fahey, former editor of GI.biz, talking about the harsh lessons Sony has learned and what they need to succeed.
QUOTE | “Consoles have become a barrier to creativity.” — YoYo Games CEO Sandy Duncan, developers of GameMaker, talking about the effect of the massive development costs and closed ecosystems of consoles.
QUOTE | “I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the last traditional console generation.” — Rob Pardo, Chief Creative Officer of Blizzard Entertainment, talking about game design and the future of gaming.
QUOTE | “You won’t be seeing our profit being spent on Ferraris and shit like that. Our profits are going back into games.” — Lorne Lanning, CEO of Oddworld Inhabitants, talking about an attempt by EA to acquire his studio and why he said no.
QUOTE | “We wish Lorne luck on the game and recommend Lithium for the paranoia and Tourette Syndrome.” — Jeff Brown, EA spokesman, commenting on Lorne Lanning’s profanity-laced diatribe about how EA tried to buy his company, which EA says never happened.
STAT | One billion — Number of monthly Facebook users actively using the service; Facebook has also seen about 230 million Facebook users playing games in the last month.
QUOTE | “I’d written things being slightly grumpy about the way Lara had become. Big boobs and etcetera etcetera.” — Rhianna Pratchett, narrative designer on the Tomb Raider reboot, talking abou her work on Lara Croft.
QUOTE | “That’s the beauty of the internet; now people instantly broadcast how wrong your opinions are all over the world .” — Frank O’Connor, Halo 4‘s franchise development director, talking about how Halo 4 development had to deal with an enormous amount of advice.
STAT | $US2.30 — Value of one share of Zynga’s stock after it dropped 20 per cent overnight on news of poor third quarter results; the stock has dropped over 80 per cent from its high point back in March of this year.
QUOTE | “Ubisoft pounces on every market where it can gain ground.” — Mike Williams, writer for GamesIndustry International, talking with other journalists about the best video game companies in a fantasy sports style draft.
STAT | 10 million — Number of World of Warcraft subscribers after the release of Mists of Pandaria, up from nine million before; the expansion has sold 2.7 million copies so far.
QUOTE | “25 years ago I never really imagined that game hardware would evolve this far so quickly.” — Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear Solid, talking about the game series, how it evolved and where it’s going.
STAT | 12 million — Number of units sold of the Left 4 Dead franchise, according to Valve; Valve continues to support the series, now through Steam Workshop.
This Week in the Business courtesy of GamesIndustry International
Image from Shutterstock
As a recent ps3 convert, I have to agree with Quote 1. People I know still using their xbox 360 still think quite badly of the ps3; from concerns like the credit card thing to smaller matters like not liking the sony controller. They still buy gold xbox live subscriptions but I guess thats cos they're in the shooter crowd, and not even interested in the ps3 exclusives available now and in the future.
I guess I'm kind of sad that they haven't realised the good thats in the PS3 system sony has right now. I didn't adopt the ps3 early on because it didn't really have anything i wanted, but got it recently for the exclusives that the ps3 is offering.
Anyways, is anyone getting XCOM? Does anyone think it will get a price drop at JB because other aussies don't really know about it or appreciate what its about?
i hate the ps3 controller its to light and feels like it cost them $5 to make i like the ps2 controller though
Lolwot?
I'm an xbox 360 fan. I don't think badly of the PS3 (not in the semi-religious fanatical sense that some people have), it's just that I started with the xbox and the xbox 360 could play my old games. It was also cheaper, and I felt like it had more single player games that I wanted to play (I don't play online games).
In terms of money, time and space, I can only afford one system, even though there are a few PS3-exclusive games which i'd love to be able to play (e.g. Uncharted, Journey, The Last of Us). So I think i'm representative of a lot of casual gamers out there. Xbox got me in early, and now the PS3-exclusives dont make me feel envious and want to buy the system, I just feel resentment that I can't just play the game. That's not to say I support the idea of xbox-exclusive games either - I t think having console-exclusive games is the way to deter rather than win over a casual gaming market.
I have to ask this if your happy with your choice of game consumption device, no matter what flavour it is and are enjoying the games on it what does it matter what others do or say? Anybody who says the flavour somebody else has chosen is the stupid choice is just plain wrong.
Note how I didn't name anything there? Because be it an Android phone, iOS device, 3DS, DS, Vita, PSP, PS3 PC, 360, Wii or even an old Atari 2600. If you chose it and enjoy you made the right choice. I wish I could own all of these devices, but I can't. So I enjoy the ones I have and ignore other peoples derogatory comments and opinions of them.
As for X-Com it's a remake of one of my favourite games of all time, so of course I'm interested but I'm still kind of busy trying to save Pandora I'm not picking it up at release unless I see a good price. Heck I still for some insane reason want Prototype 2 which I don't own.
How quickly 360 owners forget about some of the troubles MS had with the 360. Especially with the earlier hardware. *waits for 360 fanboys to down play those issues*
Sony should have learnt many lessons from this gen. If they haven't, then they no longer deserve to be in the business of games.
I'm mostly a PC gamer and bought myself a 360 about 2 years ago and I believe it was a big mistake as the PS3 exclusives look so much more appealing to me as well as the blu ray capabilities. That being said I also had a PS1 years ago and much prefered that style of controller. I only got a 360 because my friend had one but theres still plenty of games which I am enjoying on it atm so I cant really complain.
"That’s the beauty of the internet; now people instantly broadcast how wrong your opinions are all over the world"
Lols
Also "Lorne Lanning, CEO of Oddworld Inhabitants, talking about an attempt by EA to acquire his studio and why he said no."
Was an interesting article
Sony really need to tighten the build and cost of their next Playstation.
How is it that at 60+ million PS3's sold they are still struggling when Nintendo happily made profit on the Gamecube with only 20 million sold in its lifetime?
Nintendo didn't have to help keep 10 other failing divisions afloat. Only Sony music and SCEE are doing well.
I'm sorry to say but I 100% agree with statement one I have owned a PS3 since day one I have also had a Xbox from day one but the difference is every time I walk into my gaming room I turn on my Xbox and maybe once or twice a fortnight I turn my PS3 on to see what's new and sorry to say but its always little to none the kind fact is the PS3 has no games and its not there fault its blu-rays fault its the reason games take so long to make and the Xbox doesn't have that problem games come out faster and people see that and buy it for the Xbox so they can play it just look at this year I can't think of any game where i said this will be better on PS3 plus all my mates are on Xbox i have only one on PS3 and he is a @##£head and i have to say one more thing looking into the future there is only 2 maybe 3 games i might buy for PS3 and there's all ready five i have on pre order for this year so once again my PS3 will be collecting dust :)
"the kind fact is the PS3 has no games "
Was tempted to stop reading at this point, but then I would have missed the next little nugget of comedy gold...
"its not there fault its blu-rays fault its the reason games take so long to make and the Xbox doesn't have that problem games come out faster and people see that and buy it for the Xbox"
Thanks, you really made my morning :) Made yourself look like an idiot, but at least made me laugh :)
@ambrew: Here's a little bit of irony for you. I'm also a PC (exclusive) gamer, but a few years ago I bought a 360 for Halo (I was a fan before I got back into PC gaming) because I had enjoyed Halo:CE and Halo 2 so much. When I finally got around to Halo 3 it was so boring. I still have Assassins Creed, GoW1 and GoW2 on the 360 unfinished. I have NEVER wasted money on a gaming platform like I did the 360. The other thing though, is that the PS3 this gen has had more appealing games to me (at least they look cooler anyway), but I've always had issues with the PS3 and would never get a PS product (especially not after wasting money on the 360).
Now the thing that interests me, is that despite owning 2 consoles PURELY for Halo games, and after being completely disappointed with their PC counterparts, I find it AMAZING that Frank O'Connor can say Halo is about innovation and that this generation of consoles isn't stagnated. Halo 3, ODST (my fav btw) and Reach were all, more or less, the same game. Now I should be a little less cynical as a lot of writing and hard work goes into making games, but I'm not one of those people who feels a "face lift" of a video game is akin to a sequel. As in the case of Halo 2 and Halo 3 they were more or less the same game in terms of the look and feel of it. There was a fair amount of technical improvement, I don't doubt that - and when you look at other games like GTA3, VC and SA while they were of a similiar "face lift" sequel series they added a lot to the series and it felt like an evolution, rather than the simple continuation that Halo had for me.
The problem I have, and was highlighted somewhere else much more eloquently than I can put it, is that this generation is a generation of "subtitles" rather than "numbers". In past generations if a game recieved a subtitle it was an expansion. When you look at a series like Call of Duty it's the subtitles, World at War, Black Ops, which seem to suggest that the improvement is negligable. It's not "a whole new game" but simply the same game with a new face. As in Fallout 3 and New Vegas - there's a HUGE amount of content - some bits and pieces are improved, but laregly they are the same game. This method of improving a title. providing a new setting, etc is not inherently bad, it's just this generation is has happened A LOT and I fear the time when we stop seeing this happening with "subtitles" and start seeing it with "numbers. New Vegas was not Fallout 4. New Vegas was a great game, but it offered no innovation over Fallout 3. The GTA3-era showed how subtitles can still evolve, STALKER showed how shifting the focus can present the same game (hell even the SAME MAPS in an entirely new light). Call of Duty, I hate to say it, has seen a shift over time with it's titles (not as big a shift as I'd like to see). But the thing all of these games is lacking from their original incarnation is INNOVATION.
These games don't PUSH the envelope. They're rehashing what worked, giving us more of what we want but they're doing it at the price of a brand new game and calling it innovation. I hate to sound cynical because I really do like seeing "more of the same" but not at the risk of innovation; not at the risk of stagnation. And, certainly, as a PC gamer I feel like consoles are most definitely holding back gaming and that what I get on the PC is half the game it could be if it was developed as a PC only title without fear of innovation of sales numbers.
Man, games rule!!!