This Week In The Business: Metacritic Means Nothing

This Week In The Business: Metacritic Means Nothing

“We’ve basically seen Metacritic all but become obsolete right now… We get obsessed with it…but it doesn’t really matter, as far as the sales of the game.” — Double Fine COO Justin Bailey, talking about what things have and have not influenced the sales of their games.

Elsewhere in the business of video games this past week …

QUOTE | “It’s harder to make games for casuals than for hardcore gamers.” — Assassin’s Creed Unity director Marc Albinet, explaining that casual games force devs to better understand their players.

QUOTE | “Sales have skyrocketed since the new price took effect on Nov. 2. Compared to the previous week, Xbox One sales in the US have more than tripled.” — Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of Marketing, Strategy and Business, Xbox, talking about the surge in sales Xbox One has seen since the bundles priced at $US349 were shipped.

STAT | 70 per cent — Amount that the combined first year total sales of PS4 and Xbox One are higher than combined first year total sales for Xbox 360 and PS3, according to NPD; overall retail sales were flat last month compared to 2013, because increased hardware sales offset the 28 per cent decline in software sales.

QUOTE | “Great games aren’t commodity products that can be reliably manufactured from a recipe.” — Riot Games CEO Brandon Beck, talking about why he thinks great people are the most important thing a great game company needs.

QUOTE | “The general environment has trained people to expect low prices for huge amounts of content or even apps for free.” — Ustwo director Neil McFarland, talking about the wave of one star reviews the company got for releasing a paid expansion for their mobile game Monument Valley.

QUOTE | “It’s no secret that games culture isn’t the friendliest space to women.” — Rebecca Cohen Palacios of the Pixelles Game Incubator, talking about why they are helping women and girls explore game development.

QUOTE | “The eShop is now one of Nintendo’s top retailers. We sell as much software as some of the major chain stores through the eShop.” — David Wharton, director of marketing and analytics for Nintendo, talking about the demand Nintendo sees for digital content.

STAT | 25 per cent — Number of Steam Early Access titles that have been released as a full, completed game so far; of the nine games released in March 2013, only three have been released as full games in the 18 months since then.

QUOTE | “If you look at the work we’ve been doing with Assassin’s Creed, we’re a partner who is now able to influence the vision of the entire game and franchise.” — Hugues Ricour, Senior Producer for Ubisoft Singapore, talking about the importance of the little-known studio to Ubisoft as a whole.

Image via Shutterstock


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