What’s happened in the business of video games this past week …
QUOTE | “Consoles may quickly go the way of the dinosaurs.” — Nexon America CEO Daniel Kim, talking about console developers and how they need to go free-to-play.
QUOTE | “I don’t believe an Xbox 360 price cut is imminent.” — Jesse Divnich, game analyst for EEDAR, along with other analysts talking about possible price cuts on the Xbox 360 this Christmas.
QUOTE | “No one in the posh offices at EA or Activision or Sony is watching what you’re saying on the forum; they’re watching where you put your credit card.” — Rachel Weber, journalist for GamesIndustry International, talking with other journalists about the problems with DLC and why some gamers get angry at publishers.
STAT | Five per cent — Amount of Japanese sales of New Super Mario Bros 2 sales that were digital downloads, as Nintendo plans digital downloads for the Wii U.
QUOTE | “On PC it’s only around five-to-seven per cent of the players who pay for F2P, but normally on PC it’s only about five-to-seven per cent who pay anyway, the rest is pirated.” — Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, explaining why free-to-play is an effective way to market games to many territories.
STAT | Eight per cent — Amount that revenue for Dell (Alienware’s parent company) fell in the second quarter; Dell expects sales to drop again this quarter, blaming smartphones and tablets.
QUOTE | “As the new age of gaming flies, the old era flounders as everyone fights amongst themselves.” — Johnny Minkley, game broadcaster, talking about the rise of AAA mobile titles and how it’s reshaping the industry.
QUOTE | “This stock is definitely not for the faint of heart.” — Stock analysis site Seeking Alpha, talking about GameStop stock and how it’s trying to make a profit with retail sales declining and the market changing fast.
STAT | 2.2 million — Number of PlayStation Vita units sold so far worldwide; Sony is still predicting overall sales will hit 10 million by next March.
QUOTE | “For all of the major titles releasing in Q3 and Q4, reservations are up on every single one of them.” — GameStop President Tony Bartel, talking about why he expects game sales to look better in the second half of this year.
QUOTE | “We don’t know free-to-play, we’ve just conquered this player versus player niche.” — Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming.net, talking about the success of World of Tanks and his plans to conquer wargaming.
STAT | 20 million — Number of members in GameStop’s PowerUp Rewards program; GameStop said the signups had exceeded their expectations.
This Week in the Business courtesy of GamesIndustry International
Image from Shutterstock
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