“Nobody gets sleep anymore. How is this acceptable? … they hang out on our lawns, trample landscaping, look in vehicles … we don’t feel safe … I don’t feel safe sitting on our porch.” – A lawsuit filed by a Detroit-area couple because Pokemon GO put Pokestops and gyms near their property and players had become a nuisance.
Photo via Shutterstock
Elsewhere in the business of gaming this week…
STAT | $US152 ($199) billion – The combined global market for augmented reality and virtual reality in 2020, according to an IDC report. The group said this year the technologies will account for just $US5.2 ($7) billion.
STAT | £50 – The price hike for the Oculus Rift when it arrives at UK retailers next month. When the Rift launch plans were detailed in January, the UK price was £499, but the currency has taken a beating since the Brexit vote to leave the European Union. For the headset’s retail debut next month, Oculus set a suggested retail price of £549.
QUOTE | “Our specific strategy is that we only talk about multiplayer going forward.” – Bossa Studios CEO Henrique Olifiers, explaining why its previous hits like Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread don’t represent where the company wants to go in the future.
QUOTE | “One of the rewards was to help design a quest or name some item in the game, and some people never did.” – Crate founder Arthur Bruno, noting that some of the biggest backers of the Kickstarted action RPG Grim Dawn let their rewards go unclaimed.
QUOTE | “While it’s still early days for Twitch and Curse, we’re kindred spirits in many ways and are looking forward to working together to enhance our users’ gaming experience.” – Twitch CEO Emmet Shear on the company’s acquisition of voice chat company Curse.
QUOTE | “We don’t look at our players through the lens of who spends the most any more. What you want to look at is who’s most engaged.” – Kabam president of studios Aaron Loeb talks about the company’s focus on player retention over whale hunting.
QUOTE | “Our mission is to give people the power to discover, play and share the games they love with the people they care about.” – Facebook’s director of global games partnerships Leo Olebe, explaining why the social network is making a renewed push for games by partnering with Unity.
QUOTE | “At the end of the day, publishers have the same issue of finding great partners to work with and I don’t think that they care too much where that partner is as long as they’re great.” – Alejandro Gonzalez, co-founder and CEO of Colombian studio Brainz, emphasises the importance of what a studio can do over where it’s located.
STAT | 11,893 – The number of game development jobs in the UK, according to the trade group TIGA. That’s up 7.5% year-over-year.
QUOTE | “We’re going to be showing them the content which shows them where we’re going. We’re not going to tell them lies – our relationship is based on mutual trust, that’s part of the Early Access business model. All of our marketing efforts have to be about making them trust us.” – Zero Gravity biz dev guy Miroslav Micevic details the Belgrade-based indie’s strategy for alpha-funding its space-based survival game Hellion.
Comments
One response to “This Week In The Business: Pokemon Stop!”
Why would Pokemon GO players look in vehicles?
I don’t understand why people are so annoyed that people are wandering around provided those people are respectful. If you can see the Pokemon on the screen, you can catch it; you don’t need to be right on top of the thing. You can’t see rustling leaves to tell you where they are any more, so you can tell it’s nearby not if it’s next to Marlon Randos back shed.
To Pokemon GO players: Don’t Litter, don’t Trespass and don’t be Loud.
To People who aren’t playing: As long as they aren’t on your property chill out.