“[Shinra Technologies] has found no prospective investors at this point, and therefore has to discontinue its business.” — Square Enix, explaining why it shuttered the cloud-gaming subsidiary founded by former Square Enix president Yoichi Wada.
Elsewhere in the business of gaming this week…
QUOTE | “2015 was a monumental year for Xbox — the biggest in our history — and we owe it all to our gaming community. We saw record global engagement and sales fuelled by high demand for our greatest games line-up and hardware and accessories…” — Xbox corporate VP Mike Nichols, in a quote that might be listed here as a stat if he had given any concrete metric for “biggest year” or clearly defined which records had been set.
STAT | 5.7 million — The number of PS4s sold over the last six weeks of 2015, the most in the three holiday seasons the system has been on store shelves. Combined with the previous lifetime installed base of the system Sony reported at the beginning of that six-week period, that puts the system’s worldwide installed base at 35.9 million.
STAT | 38.9 million — The number of VR headsets research firm Superdata believes consumers will purchase this year. The company released that projection the day before Oculus announced a $US599 ($857) launch price for Rift.
QUOTE | “Indiepocalypse is cancelled. You can stop worrying now.” — SteamSpy’s Sergey Galyonkin, noting that the number of new games being added to Steam started to taper off in the back half of 2015.
QUOTE | “I am no longer a full or part-time Valve employee, no longer involved in day-to-day decision or operations, no longer a spokesman for the company, no longer privy to most types of confidential information, no longer working on Valve games in any capacity.” — Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw, explaining that he has retired from the studio after nearly 20 years.
QUOTE | “Lumosity simply did not have the science to back up its ads.” — FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection director Jessica Rich, explaining why a developer of brain training software is being made to pay $US2 ($3) million for deceptive advertising.
QUOTE | “Our acquisition of Major League Gaming’s business furthers our plans to create the ESPN of esports.” — Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, explaining why the company bought out one of the leading competitive gaming broadcast outfits.
QUOTE | “We struck a chord with people of all backgrounds who appreciate beautifully crafted and surprising experiences, and we want to go even bigger on this front in future.” — Monument Valley executive producer Dan Grey, on his plans for developer ustwo now that he has taken over as studio head.
STAT | Three — The number of high-profile delays in the first week of 2016. We’ll have to hold out a bit longer for Scalebound, ReCore, and Oculus Touch.
STAT | 10 million — The number of copies Garry’s Mod has sold since its release as a stand-alone product in 2006, according to Facepunch Studios’ Garry Newman.
STAT | ¥321 billion — The amount of money brought in by the Japanese console market in 2015, the lowest in 26 years.
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