“I’m scared as a game developer to think about making a game.” — Mike Capps, former president of Epic Games, talking about how hard it is to make a hit game these days and why he’s not starting a new game studio.
Elsewhere in the business of video games this past week …
QUOTE | “We fundamentally sabotaged what is inherently awesome about Diablo, which is killing a monster and getting the loot.” — Diablo III game director Josh Mosqueira, talking about Blizzard’s decision to remove the Auction House from the game.
QUOTE | “We believe that we will be able to use smart devices in a very unique way so that they can be a bridge to our dedicated game systems, and at the same time, that we will be able to deliver unique experiences to the users of smart devices” — Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, explaining why Nintendo is finally going to make mobile games.
QUOTE | “If there’s something useful, we’ll give it away. Somebody else will figure out another way to use it, as long as we treat it as a tool and not a straightjacket.” — Valve head Gabe Newell, explaining why the company is now giving away its Source gaming engine for free.
QUOTE | “This is about the most drastic, bold shift in strategy Nintendo could have undertaken.” — Tokyo-based game consultant Serkan Toto, talking about Nintendo’s announcement of a partnership with DeNA to work on mobile games.
QUOTE | “We’ve actually deliberately chosen from the start to almost be the caricature anti-monetiser in some ways.” — Super Evil Megacorp COO Kristian Segerstrale, talking about why their game Vainglory is focusing on being a great game rather than squeezing players for money.
STAT | 4.3 billion — Monthly YouTube views for Minecraft videos in February, according to research firm Newzoo; Minecraft accounted for 40 per cent of all views among the top 20 games on YouTube.
QUOTE | “The tablet market has kind of crashed. Or at least, growth has declined. And as a start-up, high-growth markets are really important.” — Jason Citron, founder of Hammer & Chisel, talking about why mobile game startups are facing a more difficult market.
STAT | 9.06 million — Number of concurrent users on Steam, topping the previous record of 8.5 million users set at the beginning of January; the total Steam audience is over 125 million users, according to Valve.
QUOTE | “Nintendo’s move to mobile is another validation of the rapid acceleration of the mobile game market.” — Kabam COO Kent Wakeford, talking along with other industry execs about what Nintendo’s move to make mobile games means to the industry.
STAT | 73 per cent — Amount Rovio’s annual profit dropped last year over the previous year, with a nine per cent drop in revenue; the company pinned the blame on a big drop in Angry Birds licensed merchandise revenue.
QUOTE | “It was like a spark thrown into a barrel of explosives. Everybody was ignited by the idea instantly.” — 11 bit’s Pawel Miechowski, talking about convincing the team to move from tower defence games to work on This War of Mine.
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