Archive for November, 2009

How to work more efficiently with colleagues, clients and suppliers

November 23, 2009

Disclosure: Huddle is a client of mine and I love what they do, so I wanted to share it with you. I think their service – making it easy to collaborate online – is incredibly valuable to games developers. But this is part recommendation/part advertisement. So if that puts you off, I’d skip this article. [...]

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Posted in: Sandbox

Tagged with: clients, huddle

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Modern Warfare is the largest media launch ever, beating books, movies and other games

November 20, 2009

I’m breaking a rule here. I don’t usually just rehash press releases without any analysis. But the Modern Warfare announcement that it has grossed an estimated $550 million in the first five days is pretty impressive. As the release says, “Modern Warfare 2‘s launch beat all previous first-and five-day entertainment industry box office, book and [...]

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Posted in: Analysis

Tagged with: activision, modern warfare 2, starred, statistics

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Death of the PlayStation: Why Sony’s “evolving” televisions spell the end of the console

November 20, 2009

Sony has announced plans for a television service that evolves. In the Financial Times today, Sony CEO and Chairman Sir Howard Stringer said “Sony will have a one-to-one relationship with … customers to offer subscription services, cloud storage of personal content as well as unique entertainment” And that will all be based around the television. [...]

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Posted in: Featured, Opinion

Tagged with: console, hardware, playstation, playstation 3, psn, sony, starred

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Gamesbrief’s Weekly Tweets for 2009-11-20

November 20, 2009

Just posted: Modern Warfare is the largest media launch ever, beating books, movies and other games http://tinyurl.com/yadqvz9 # Just posted: Death of the PlayStation: Why Sony’s “evolving” televisions spell the end of the console http://tinyurl.com/yfp4rjh # Facebook bans Tattoo Media/Gambit for scam offers. Good news for #socialgames but a warning of FB's power http://bit.ly/2bgqqE # [...]

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Posted in: Sandbox

Tagged with: twitter

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Social gaming comes of age: Social gaming companies trouser half a billion dollars in just one week

November 18, 2009

For anyone who thinks that social games are not real business, last week proved them so wrong. Between 10th and 17th November nearly every major social games company raised money or was bought, and one or two smaller ones as well. And when those sums add up to nearly half a billion dollars, even the [...]

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Posted in: Featured, Finance

Tagged with: balderton, casual games, gamestop, investment, jolt online, lightspeed venture partners, m&a, new enterprise associates, norwest venture partners, playdom, playfish, social games, starred, wooga, zynga

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Australian’s largest studio, Krome, lays off staff

November 18, 2009

Krome Studios, the largest developer in Australia with over 400 employees has laid off an unspecified number of staff. The redundancies were said to be “necessary as we position Krome for the future”, said CEO Robert Walsh said in a statement to Gamespot. He added “We’re also actively pursuing several business opportunities which, if secured, [...]

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Posted in: Game Over Zone

Tagged with: job loss tracker, krome studios, layoffs, redundancies

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The tipping point: How Moshi Monsters hit exponential growth and has topped 6 million users

November 17, 2009

UPDATE Michael let me know that Moshi Monsters reached breakeven in May 2009, five months after launching their subscription service in January 2009. The company has been increasingly profitable in every month since. He also added that the company was not just *happy* with its CPA for television advertising; it was *very happy*. – – [...]

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Posted in: Featured, Marketing

Tagged with: funnel, michael acton smith, mindcandy, starred, statistics

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