‘Sony’s Fallen Blindly In Love With Its Brand’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week …

QUOTE | “Sony has fallen blindly in love with its brand.” — Tim Calkins, marketing professor at Northwestern University, talking about the huge problems Sony is facing.

QUOTE | “Batman’s greatest foes … were Bobby Kotick, Yves Guillemot and John Riccitiello.” — Russel Arons, SVP of Worldwide Marketing for Warner Bros. Interactive, talking about how they wanted Batman: Arkham City to sell to all kinds of gamers.

STAT | 16 per cent — Drop in sales last quarter for Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, which includes the Xbox 360, attributed to an overall soft market for video games.

QUOTE | “Blocking the options for pre-owned games is … a calculated attack on consumers and retailers.” — Veteran game journalist John Walker explaining why used games aren’t the source of problems in the game industry, it’s the price tag.

QUOTE | “Across the industry, it’s as exciting as I’ve ever seen it in terms of innovation.” — Sledgehammer co-founder Michael Condrey talking about changes in the game industry and what it’s like working on a billion-dollar franchise.

QUOTE | “I think the Wii U sales will struggle if priced at $US300 and at that point even Mario would not be able to help.” — Analyst Pietro Macchiarella of Parks Associates, commenting along with other analysts about the Wii U’s chances for success.

QUOTE | “Our litigious nature is just a waste of everybody’s time.” — Patrick Sweeney, head of Reed Smith’s Video Game Practice, talking about the possibility of players suing over the ending of Mass Effect 3.

QUOTE | “Our attitude is to assume that it will be cloned within two months.” — David Edery, co-founder of Spry Fox, talking about how fast a game like Triple Town gets copied.

STAT | $US100 million — Amount of money that hardcore social game developer Kixeye expects to make in 2012, making 20x more per day per user than the average social game.

QUOTE | “The Wii U’s strategy for success is simple. It’s value.” — Steve Peterson, West Coast Editor for GamesIndustry International, on how the Wii U can become the leading console.

QUOTE | “If this is the new formula of success in digital games, then why are so few people making any money?” — Steve Fowler, veteran game marketer at the Ayzenberg Group, talking about why digital distribution isn’t living up to its potential.

QUOTE | “The recent ruckus over Mass Effect 3 very well may be a watershed moment in the growth of video games.” — Arkadium game designer Matt Plotecher, talking about how the controversy over Mass Effect 3‘s endings may actually be good for the industry.

QUOTE | “[OS X is] a platform which is growing and which already has a massive audience.’” — Rob Fahey, veteran game journalist, talking about why game developers should create games for the Macintosh.

STAT | 1000 — Number of jobs Sony plans to cut across Europe, as the company streamlines in the face of big losses for the year.

This Week in the Business courtesy of GamesIndustry International

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