Archive for July, 2009

1. Foundation 9 faces new layoffs

   July 24, 2009

   According to VentureBeat, a number of Foundation 9’s studios will be affected by the redundancies, including: The closure of the Fizz Factor game studio in Austin, Texas The merger of the Amaze and Griptonite studios in Kirkland, Washington Cuts at Double Helix Games in Irvine, California The company also said that it was suspending matching [...]

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   Posted in: Game Over Zone

   Tagged with: amaze, double helix games, fizz factor, foundation 9, griptonite, job loss tracker, layoffs, redundancies

   No Comments

2. Louis Castle leaves EA to join a web-portal business

   July 24, 2009

   I missed this while I was at the Develop Conference: Louis Castle, co-founder of EA’s Westwood Studios and a games developer since 1985, has left to join InstantAction as CEO. Instant Action is owned by Barry Diller’s IAC and offers high-quality 3D games direct to the web for “hardcore gamers who find the games more [...]

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   Posted in: Sandbox

   Tagged with: electronic arts, iac, instantaction, louis castle, people, staff moves

   4 Comments

3. What’s the RoI on an advertiser-funded iPhone game?

   July 24, 2009

   Barclaycard’s Waterslide Extreme Game has made it to the top of the App Store. Over 2 million downloads of the free game, 16 million “engagement minutes” and one very happy advertiser. But did they get a good Return on Investment?

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   Posted in: Featured, Sales

   Tagged with: advertising, games, iphone, metrics, mobile games, starred

   1 Comment

4. Is Scoreloop shooting to be the Google Analytics of the iPhone?

   July 23, 2009

   I’ve been thinking about smartphone gaming is going to develop, and from a business perspective, I think it’s going to become like the web. And that means analytics will be critical. Any modern web company spends vast amounts of time, money and resources on its analytics. It’s not just about demographics (although that matters), but [...]

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   Posted in: Marketing

   Tagged with: analytics, development, scoreloop, technology

   1 Comment

5. Sam Raimi to direct Warcraft movie

   July 22, 2009

   This isn’t strictly about the business of games, but I’m excited by it. Blizzard, Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures have announced that Sam Raimi is to direct the Warcraft movie. Raimi is the acclaimed director of Spider-Man, and was also responsible for the The Evil Dead. I’m sure that Legendary and Warner are hoping for [...]

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   Posted in: Sandbox

   Tagged with: blizzard, film, legendary pictures, movie, sam raimi, warner, world of warcraft

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6. Real Networks sees “try-before-you-buy” model in decline

   July 22, 2009

   The casual market is changing fast, and Real Networks’ recent actions suggest that the “freemium” model is rapidly replacing the “try-before-you-buy” model that has bedevilled the casual games sector for a decade. According to Venturebeat, RealNetworks is seeing healthy growth in its casual games unit sales (46%), but the average unit price is down 25%. [...]

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   Posted in: Analysis, Featured

   Tagged with: casual games, free games, real networks, starred

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7. Zynga overtakes Yahoo! Games to be the largest games “site” on the Internet

   July 21, 2009

   The analysis is, by necessity, rough, but there is a good chance that Zynga is now the largest web gaming business in the US. Zynga is growing, profitable and bigger than Yahoo. Does anyone still seriously claim that the free-to-play model doesn’t work? Last week, ComScore put out figures showing that the playing of casual [...]

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   Posted in: Analysis, Featured

   Tagged with: browser games, casual games, facebook, mySpace, online games, starred, unique users, zynga

   17 Comments