What’s happened in the business of video games this past week …
QUOTE | “Nintendo has set up the Wii U for failure.” — Dan Hsu, editor in chief of GamesBeat, talking along with journalists and analysts about the mixed critical reception to the Nintendo’s launch of the Wii U.
STAT | $US500 million — Amount that Call of Duty: Black Ops II generated in its first 24 hours of release worldwide; Activision says it’s the biggest entertainment launch of the year for the fourth year in a row.
QUOTE | “The next generation of young gamers is definitely being raised on tablets.” — Greg Harper, general manager, Supercell North America, talking along with other developers about the future of tablets as a mass market gaming platform.
QUOTE | “The THQ of today possesses little of value, either in IP, brand equity, or intrinsic core competency in its business.” — Jon Kimmich, CEO of Software Illuminati, along with other industry insiders talking about what THQ could possibly do to revive its business.
QUOTE | “For next-generation [console games] the buzz is much more ‘game as a service, continued content’.” — Joe Minton, co-founder of Digital Development Management, talking about what kind of games are coming for next-gen consoles.
STAT | 50 million — Number of Steam users so far, according to Sega VP of digital distribution John Clark; some five million users are playing concurrently
QUOTE | “You’d be hard-pressed to find many funds looking at console gaming as an investment opportunity.” — Bram Sugarman, venture capitalist, talking about why mobile and free-to-play games are drawing major investments now.
QUOTE | “It was draining and upsetting — a tough time in the company.” — Rockstar VP Dan Houser talking about the studio’s legal trouble over the Hot Coffee sexual minigame inside Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
STAT | Five million — Number of Russians playing Crytek’s free-to-play Warface FPS; the game attracted one million registered users in its first week.
QUOTE | “Perhaps the backlash starts with the perception of greed and pan-handling.” — Rob Fahey, former editor of GamesIndustry.biz, talking about the criticism of high-profile Kickstarters from industry vets David Braben and Peter Molyneux.
STAT | 10 per cent — Percentage of Windows Phone gamers that spend more than $US25 per month (called “whales”); this is far higher than the for per cent a month common on both iOS and Android.
STAT | Six million — Number of 3DS handhelds Nintendo has sold in the US so far; Nintendo has sold over 22 million worldwide.
This Week in the Business courtesy of GamesIndustry International
Image from Shutterstock
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