Tag: EA

Triplepoints of Interest: Jan.29

In this week’s TPoI, GDC withdraws award for Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell, Ubisoft cancels Rainbow Six Siege price hike, and EA CEO Andrew Wilson defends the company’s current games lineup.   

GDC Rescinds Pioneer Award for Nolan Bushnell Due to Past Sexual Misconduct  

The Game Developers Conference announced in a blog post on Tuesday the recipients for the special awards at the event, Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail, Double Fine Founder Tim Schafer, and Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell’s nomination for the award drew a huge amount of criticism from members of the industry, which The Verge collected and featured in an article which detailed reports of Nolan harassing and sexually exploiting women. Glixel reports that GDC acknowledged the feedback and has decided to rescind his Pioneer Award nomination. Nolan Bushnell also came out with a message on his Twitter account praising the conference’s decision to rescind the award and has apologized for his past transgressions.  

Ubisoft Withdraws Rainbow Six Siege Price Hike In Response to Community Backlash

Ubisoft’s tactical first person shooter Rainbow Six Siege has built up a large community over the last 3 years, with the game receiving regular updates and re releases throughout the game’s lifespan. While fans have generally enjoyed the updates that Ubisoft have brought to the game, a recent price increase announcement drew criticism from the community. Gamesindustry.biz explained that the price increase would affect all retail copies and would raise the price of the base game from $40 to $60. Paste Magazine reports that the developers have retracted their decision and are now offering rewards for player who play before the next content expansion as a way to give back to the community.

EA CEO Defends Company Line Up

During the company’s quarterly earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson reportedly defended the studio’s recent releases, praising his employees for their hard work and the diversity of content they have put out. Kotaku reports that while critical reviews of Electronic Arts recent releases haven’t been overwhelmingly positive and some titles have underperformed, EA’s stock as continued to rise and the company plans to continue developing new titles while employing the same design strategies. Variety recently covered the company’s decision to reintroduce microtransactions into the controversial title Star Wars: Battlefront II so that it aligns with their current design strategy. While the company has prospered and generated lots of revenue due to big budget launches and microtransaction sales, this has come at the cost of their image, with Comicbook.com reporting that EA was named one of the worst companies in the world in Wall Street’s newest ranked lists, which cross references customer satisfaction surveys, employee reviews, and the American Customer Satisfaction Index to find out which companies are disliked the most.  

Triplepoints of Interest – Dec. 4

In this week’s TPoI, Sony’s PlayStation 4 sells over 70 million units worldwide, Ubisoft delays their 2018 lineup, and EA reevaluates monetization strategies for Battlefront II.

PlayStation 4 Sells Over 70 Million Worldwide
Early Thursday morning, Sony announced that over 70.6 million PlayStation 4 consoles have been sold worldwide since the system’s launch in November 2013. The Nikkei reports that Sony, which expects to log it’s first record profit in over two decades, has benefited greatly from the PlayStation 4’s record sales as well as the success of games and other media built for the platform. Polygon reports that the console’s continued success has pushed Sony to revise their sales goal for the 2017 fiscal year from 18 million units to 19 million units. Forbes speculates that the PlayStation 4 is on track to outperform last generations PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 but it may not outperform the PlayStation 2, which sold over 155 million units over its lifetime.

Ubisoft Delays 2018 Lineup
In an effort to develop more engaging and higher quality experiences, Ubisoft has delayed 3 of their upcoming titles including Far Cry 5, The Crew 2, and a currently unannounced game. Eurogamer speculates that this announcement comes as a result of Assassin’s Creed Origins achieving critical acclaim after the game was delayed to improve the gameplay experience. Forbes featured the new release dates for Ubisoft’s upcoming games, which have been shifted between a month to a quarter from their originally planned dates.

EA Rethinks Star Wars Battlefront II Microtransactions
Only a week after launching to mixed reviews and a sharp backlash from fans, EA has annouced that they are considering alternative microtransaction methods for Star Wars Battlefront II. Seeking Alpha reports that EA projected revenues have fallen to $1,149 million. Glixel speculates that EA and Dice may have been pushed to pursue alternative strategies not only due to community feedback, but also due to government pushback as the US government evaluates the legality of microtransactions in games. While PC Gamer note that while the developers have made progress in updating the game’s character progression system, the community is still upset and hope that the game will improve in the near future.

Triplepoints of Interest – Nov. 13

In this week’s TPoI, The Xbox One X sells 80,000 units in the UK during its first week, EA DICE receives community backlash over microtransactions in Star Wars: Battlefront II, and Hasbro makes buyout offer on rival company Mattel.

Xbox One X Sells 80,000 Units in the UK During Launch Week

Microsoft’s head of Xbox Games Marketing, Aaron Greenberg, announced in a tweet on Monday that the Xbox One X has sold incredibly well in the United Kingdom. VG 24/7 reports that the system was able to sell almost 80,000 units in the UK over its first week alone. Gamesindustry.biz highlighted this number as similar to the Nintendo Switch’s first week of UK sales and much higher than the PS4 Pro’s initial sales numbers in the UK. Forbes speculated that the Xbox One X’s high resolution output and 4k ready titles are driving consumers to pick up the system over competing products despite it’s higher price point.

EA DICE Remove Battlefront Microtransactions After Community Backlash

A day before the game’s release on Friday, Electronic Arts announced that they will temporarily disable microtransactions in Star Wars: Battlefront II until they land on a method with which fans are happy to purchase additional gzed their complaints to the developers. Kotaku reports that the EA DICE team first tried to remedy the solution by cutting the progression currency needed to unlock characters but have decided to completely rework the system following even more community dissatisfaction. GameRant speculates that EA received pressure from Disney after the game received negative complaints from countries with strict gambling laws due to the use of in-game loot boxes. The company stated they are currently researching how consumers would rather be served content and how they can adapt the system to work better for gamers.

Hasbro Makes Takeover Offer for Mattel

The popular toy company Hasbro Inc has reportedly made a takeover offer for their rival company Mattel Inc, which would have the makers of Barbie and G.I. Joe toys working together for the first time. The Wall Street Journal reports that Hasbro made the offer in early November and that the terms of the possible deal haven’t been made known to the public as of yet. While Reuters reports that Mattel has rejected the initial offer Hasbro made, the outlet featured a statement from Mattel’s CEO Margaret Georgiadis, who said the company is looking to pursue further negotiations before entirely rejecting the proposal. USA Today reports that the merger of these two iconic companies may be in response to the rise of tech-oriented toys and the decline of major toy retailers like Toys R Us, which recently filed for bankruptcy.

Triplepoints of Interest – Nov. 6

In this week’s TPoI, EA acquires Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment, third-party publishers scramble to develop Nintendo Switch titles, and Telltale Games lays off 25% of workforce during company restructure.

EA Acquires Respawn Entertainment

Electronic Arts Inc. announced on Thursday that they have acquired the developers of the popular shooter Titanfall, Respawn Entertainment. Eurogamer confirmed that EA has agreed to pay over $150 million to acquire the company and is set to pay up to $164 million in long term equity. Ars Techinca featured excerpts from EA’s statement which confirm that the studio is set to develop a new Titanfall game and a new Star Wars VR title with the help of EA. VentureBeat reports that previous titles produced by Respawn Entertainment have been financially successful due to the skill and pedigree of the developers, who previously worked for Infinity Ward before leaving to develop their own games.

Third-Party Developers Scramble to Develop Nintendo Switch Titles

The consistent success and high sales numbers of Nintendo Switch titles seems to have influenced several developers to bump up their production of Switch-exclusive games. Gamesindustry.biz reports that developers like Square Enix, Ubisoft and Bandai Namco are all planning to release multiple games for the device in 2018. This support, which SegmentNext references as a great example of the Switch’s success, shows that developers are confident with the sales numbers they can achieve with Nintendo Switch games. Express features a quote from Square Enix’s earnings report which says that the company would be interested to publish multiplatform games on the Switch as well.

Telltale Games Lays Off 25% of Workforce

Telltale Games announced on Tuesday that the company will lay off 90 employees and restructuring their workforce in an effort to create higher quality games. GameSpot commented that Telltale Games has been struggling to develop engaging titles due to the aging game engine the company uses and the large portfolio of games they are currently developing. PC Gamer reports that the company plans to focus on the quality of their projects and not quantity after their current projects are completed. Gamesindustry.biz reports that the restructuring should not have any impact on any of the developer’s previously announced projects.

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 June 15

It’s just one trade show after another! This week is of course the special E3 edition of TriplePoints of Interest. Now sound off in the comments: what is your favorite announcement from the show? A game? A VR headset? Or something different entirely like photos of the awesome crowd and the industry’s gamer spirit shining through? In any case, here are some highlights!

Through the eyes of VR

Much like most trade shows these days, E3 continued to show love to VR. Gizmodo’s Sean Hollister released his list of his favorite games coming out for Oculus Rift, which includes Chronos, a “Zelda meets Dark Souls” game, platformer Lucky’s Tale, and EVE Valkyrie. Any one of Sean’s picks catching your eye?

GameSpot, in particular, was very impressed with Microsoft’s HoloLensHalo demo, saying it should be aptly renamed “HaloLens.”

Shenmue blows the doors off Kickstarter

Following the same trend as Mighty No. 9 and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the Kickstarter campaign for Shenmue 3, the long-awaited sequel to 2001’s Shenmue 2, reached its funding target of $2 million in under 12 hours, according to GamesIndustry International. This marks yet another major franchise revival game finding great success via crowdfunding. Funds poured in from fans who waited over 14 years for a three-quel after the announcement of the game at Sony’s press conference.

E3’s attendance grows yet again

Over 52,000 people attended E3 this year, up 3,000 from 2014, says VentureBeat. ESA chief, Mike Gallagher, said this year’s show was a testament to the way gamers are revolutionizing how news and media is shared with over 1 million clips uploaded to YouTube from the exhibit halls and 6.3 million tweets referencing the show. The show will return next year to Los Angeles June 14-16, 2016.

For those of you who missed the show…

Didn’t have time to watch all the press conferences? Polygon has you covered with summaries from Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, EA, and Ubisoft.

Photo from Tech In Asia