Archive for April, 2010

1. Rumour: Bigpoint is for sale for $300-$400 million – is a wave of consolidation coming?

   April 29, 2010

   The Financial Times has reported a rumour that German browser game company Bigpoint has appointed investment bankers and is considering a sale. The report (written by Mergermarkets, a news service aimed at investment bankers, and behind a registration wall), says that US-based investment bank Montgomery and Co. has been appointed to “to explore strategic alternatives [...]

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   Posted in: Finance

   Tagged with: bigpoint, browser games, free games, m&a, rumour, starred

   7 Comments

2. Treasure Isle from Zynga goes from zero to 24 million players in less than a month!

   April 29, 2010

   If anyone needed any convincing that Zynga is the undisputed champion of social games, their new game, Treasure Isle, provides all the evidence you need. It was launched at the start of April. As of yesterday, less than a month in, 24 million people had played it.

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   Posted in: Analysis

   Tagged with: metrics, social games, starred, statistics, treasure isle, zynga

   6 Comments

3. YouTube’s Downfall advice: Contest the takedown

   April 23, 2010

   Following the news that Constantin Film has, in my view stupidly, issued takedowns for the many parodies using short clips of its movie Downfall, the backlash has started. YouTube has recommended that anyone who has a video that has been taken down under their Content ID system should dispute the takedown. Mashable has the full [...]

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   Posted in: Featured, Opinion

   Tagged with: constantin film, controversy, downfall, legal, piracy, starred, stupid

   1 Comment

4. Sega layoffs hit publishing arm – 73 jobs lost

   April 22, 2010

   Sega has confirmed that it has made 73 staff redundant in its London and San Francisco offices. Headcount has been reduced by 36 in San Francisco and 37 in London, representing about 12% of Sega West’s workforce. The Sega layoffs were confirmed in an interview with IndustryGamers. Sega will be reorganising to drive all digital [...]

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   Posted in: Game Over Zone

   Tagged with: job loss tracker, layoffs, redundancies, sega

   No Comments

5. CORRECTION: Ankama are making €40 million in revenue

   April 22, 2010

   I posted yesterday that Ankama was making €210 million a year in revenue from Dofus. Boy, was I wrong. By a factor of 5. In my defence, I said it was 4x higher than any previous estimate that I had heard. I promised to do some further research. Here’s the result of the digging: Dofus [...]

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   Posted in: Sales

   Tagged with: ankama games, dofus, free games, revenues, starred

   1 Comment

6. €210 million a year from a free game? Ankama’s Dofus rakes in the revenue

   April 21, 2010

   CORRECTION: Boy, was this figure out. Further research suggests that the company’s revenue is nearer €30-40 million. You can see my revised estimate for Dofus revenues here. * * * Eurogamer reports from the Ankama Convention in Paris that the company has 3.5 million subscribers each paying €5 a month. That implies revenue of €210 [...]

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   Posted in: Featured, Sales

   Tagged with: ankama games, dofus, free games, revenues, starred

   5 Comments

7. Are Constantin Film the stupidest company in the entire world?

   April 21, 2010

   Constantin Film are the company behind Downfall, a reasonably successful German-language movie based on the final days of Hitler. Downfall has grossed $92 million at the box office since it was released in 2004. It has also become one of the dominant video memes on the Internet. You’ve probably seen them – a bunch of [...]

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   Posted in: Featured, Opinion

   Tagged with: constantin film, controversy, downfall, legal, piracy, starred, stupid

   10 Comments