Tag: Activision

Triplepoints of Interest – Oct. 23

In this week’s TPoI, Activision announces the return of Call of Duty World League with a $4.2 million prize pool, Online Forum NeoGAF goes offline following sexual assault allegations, and Microsoft officially discontinues their Kinect webcam.

NeoGAF Briefly Goes Offline Amid Sexual Assault Allegations

The online forum NeoGAF temporarily went offline following sexual assault allegations from Ima Leupp, a film director who worked with NeoGAF owner Tyler Malka. NeoGaf, which Cecilia D’Anastasio of Kotaku wrote, “has had significant influence in the video game industry since its founding in 2004” received criticism from members of the site as well as the general press due to the allegation as well as Malka’s previous behavior. The Verge reports that these allegations made by the producer were shared without her consent and that she intended to make the post as an outlet for her feelings associated with the event. In the follow up to the allegations, The Daily Dot reports that a large portion of the NeoGAF community has moved to a new forum, ResetEra, so that they can no longer support Malka.

Microsoft Discontinues the Kinect

After selling over 35 million units since its 2010 launch, Microsoft has discontinued and shutdown manufacturing for the Kinect depth camera and voice recognition microphone. CO.DESIGN reported in an interview with Microsoft’s Alex Kipman that the device has become a smaller part of Microsoft’s design strategy and that the team wanted to move away from working with it. ZDNet reports that this follows the decision to cancel efforts to bring enhanced voice controls to the Kinect and that other apps for the Xbox One like Netflix and Hulu have also removed Kinect support. The Verge reports that the technology used in the Kinect will continue to be used in products like Microsoft’s augmented reality glasses as well as their mixed reality headsets.

Activision Announces Call of Duty World League with $4.2 Million Prize Pool

Activision announced this week that the Call of Duty World League (or CWL) will return in 2018, with the first event kicking off at the MLG Arena in Columbus during early January. Gamesindustry.biz reports that this year’s league will feature 32 teams from around the world and that there will also be National Circuit tournaments which will offer competitions for teams that didn’t qualify for the CWL. ESPN covered the format changes for this years competition, highlighting that the CWL will now feature two divisions which will compete at the same time in lan settings. Telegraph reports that the near $4.2 prize pool will be spread out throughout the events and that the top team will be awarded a $1.5 prize at the end of the season.

TRIPLEPOINTS OF INTEREST – WEEK OF FEB. 6

In this week’s TPoI; press reaction to Nintendo announcing 2-3 mobile games per year, E3 opens up to the “public”, and Valve confirms VR game development (no proof of Half-Life 3… yet).

Nintendo Aims to Make 2-3 Mobile Games A Year From Now On
In this week’s Q&A session for investors, Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima announced that the company plans to make 2-3 mobile games a year moving forward. IGN reports that the company will still primarily focus on the Switch and 3DS, but that it seems Nintendo sees mobile gaming as a serious prospect with potential for long-term gains. GamesIndustry sees the plans as potentially precarious, due to the parallel business risks to manage simultaneously, while iDigitalTimes is a bit more optimistic noting it believes Nintendo will learn what it needs to continue creating classics for a new generation. No doubt that the success and fanfare surrounding Pokémon GO and Super Mario Run played a role in the decision, and it will continue to pursue a strategy of expanding its core IP into mainstream audiences to drive sales of its primary business units.

 

E3 Opens To The Public For the First Time Ever
This week the ESA announced that 15,000 tickets will be made available for anyone wishing to attend E3 this June, for a price of $250 (or $150 for lucky early birds). Tickets provide access to the show floor, panel discussions, and other related events Tuesday-Thursday of the week. Gamespot noted availability to the public may be in efforts to keep the conference relevant, as major players like Activision and EA have pulled out in recent years. For their part, the ESA has noted the success of the public-facing E3 Live, held outside the convention center last year that drew impressive numbers as the catalyst to give access to the full convention to fans. Our take here at TriplePoint is that there were already 15k “loose”, non-trade attendees already making their way into the show in recent years. With some tightening of the admission process we could see non-trade attendees – like GameStop employees for example – having to pay their way into the show moving forward.
 

Valve is working on three ‘full’ VR games
This week Valve founder Gabe Newell confirmed that the company currently has three full VR games in development. He noted that, with the HTC Vive on the market, Valve is now in a position to develop hardware and software simultaneously, nodding to Nintendo’s success with the same framework. Engadget added that with low headset sales and the difficulty in persuading developers to make VR software, Valve and their games could turn the popularity and ubiquity of VR around.

TriplePoints of Interest – Week of May 1

Breaking a record is usually an admirable feat and often desired outcome, but Activision might not be too happy with its latest record. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s newest trailer just became the most disliked gaming video on YouTube. On a more positive note though, Oculus is shipping off a few Rifts into stores and YouTube just announced cable bundles for streaming. So that evens it out, right?  Continue reading TriplePoints of Interest – Week of May 1

TriplePoints of Interest – Week of January 4

Bouncing back from the brief holiday break, game companies have been leaping into action for an exciting 2016 year to come. MLG has been sold to Activision Blizzard who plans on using the eSports organization to build their media empire, and Oculus Rift launches pre-orders along with a hefty price tag. Steam Spy takes a peek back at 2015 and reveals some numbers behind Valve’s Steam success.  Continue reading TriplePoints of Interest – Week of January 4

TriplePoints of Interest – Week of April 13

Welcome back to our snippet of the top news in tech and games this week! The burning question this week is, of course, who has pre-ordered an Apple Watch? Sound off in the comments!

Will the Apple Watch disrupt both the tech AND fashion world?

The Apple Watch craze is in full force clocking in at over 1 million pre-orders, according to USA Today. The Verge has already identified 3rd party accessory manufacturers creating battery life solutions for the watch without any evidence of whether or not the Apple Watch’s battery life is too short. Analysts are already examining the Apple Watch’s potential to disrupt the fashion world, according to Business Insider, warning well-known watchmakers like Fossil and Movado of the threat they may pose.

Old Spice made a game, and not the usual kind you’re thinking of

Twitch Plays Pokémon has inspired Old Spice’s latest marketing campaign, Twitch Plays Old Spice. According to Daily Dot, from April 16-18, viewers will be asked to write in the chat what they want the wilderness-stranded live-action (human) character to do and apparently, anything goes (someone just suggested “sucker punching” a bear, causing a Game Over)! It will be interesting to see how this campaign unfolds and if Twitch users will be as friendly as they were to Red in Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue. This is one of many Twitch Plays Pokémon-inspired campaigns in the last year including the now-defunct Rev3Games stream, Twitch Plays Adam Sessler.

Guitar Hero is back for its 10th anniversary. Who is feeling old already?

After a years-long hiatus, Guitar Hero is back for its 10-year anniversary reissue. Engadget reports the reboot aims to make guitar playing more realistic by adding two rows of buttons at the top of the guitar and a live-action crowd that will react to the performance based on the player’s score. The game will also sport a first-person view accompanied by a live-action band on stage who will also turn and address the player, giving a feel of a real performance versus the 3rd person animated view of previous versions.

Let’s Get Digital

The ESA has revealed that retail game sales in the US are declining and digital game sales have risen 23% since 2010. According to GamesIndustry International, PC still rules the market with 62% of digital sales followed by consoles, smartphones, other wireless devices, and dedicated handhelds like the Nintendo 3DS. They also report that over 155 million Americans play games with 80% of households owning a device to play games.

It was a sad week for the Australian games industry

Australia’s last major AAA studio, 2K Australia, developer of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, has closed its doors and terminated all of its employees. Kotaku Australia reports that an attempt to move the Canberra-based studio to Melbourne in order to attract new talent led many high-level members to leave the company, which, Kotaku speculates, may have been a factor in the closure.

Asia has the key to the next level

Warner Bros. Interactive’s Senior Vice President of Digital Games, Greg Ballard, told GamesIndustry International about the importance of Asia and every company’s need to enter that space in order to stay competitive. He cites major Asian companies like Tencent and Nexon running major operations in the US and credits Riot Games’ success, in part, to Tencent helping League of Legends become successful in Asia. App Annie’s report showing China overtaking the US in iOS app downloads backs Mr. Ballard’s claims.

Digital games go anti-social?

Research firm, Superdata, revealed US digital game sales rose 2% to $1.01 billion in March, but social games fell 10%. GamesIndustry International reports that the firm is seeing overall interest in social games waning with more focus being put on tablets and smartphones. Superdata also advised developers to focus on building a stronger presence in Japan, where mobile revenue per paying user is three times higher than in China.

That’s all for this week! Now what will you all be playing this weekend?

Banner photo from Mashable

 

Call of Differentiation Part 2: Missed Connections

Modern Warfare 2
A few months ago I wrote about the unfortunate confusion over the Modern Warfare and Call of Duty brands. Infinity Ward had just conceded to assuming the Call of Duty label for their upcoming blockbuster Modern Warfare 2, and they and Activision were ramping up for a massive marketing campaign. I showed how Modern Warfare 2 might have already lost its chance to break GTA IV’s monster sales records, and that an awe-inspiring marketing campaign was in order to recapture lost mindshare. Now, less than a week away from launch, we haven’t really seen a campaign on par with what we saw for GTA IV, and Infinity Ward’s most recent promotions seem to only disappoint the relatively small community of industry writers. There is an enormous group of fans that will purchase this game on day one, and Infinity Ward and Activision have done a great job catering to their interests, but have they missed an opportunity to bring Modern Warfare 2, and video games in general, to a larger audience? Continue reading Call of Differentiation Part 2: Missed Connections