Category: News (Page 84 of 108)

      Modern Warfare 2 makes a billion bucks

      January 15, 2010 /

      Modern Warfare 2. You know what’s not a bad way to start a new year? How bout announcing that your latest title has sold more than a billion dollars worth. Yes, Modern Warfare 2 has reached that rare milestone among industry developments, and it’s still going strong.

      “There are only a handful of entertainment properties that have ever reached the $1 billion mark,” said Activision CEO Bob Kotick, “which illustrates the power of the Call of Duty franchise and mass appeal of this game.” In case you’ve forgotten the baffling sales statistics, more than half of that billion was made in the first five days the game was available. Utterly insane.

      In other new, Avatar (the movie, not the game) broke the billion dollar mark not too long ago, putting the two in a race to beat out Titanic’s $1.8 billion gross and Guitar Hero III‘s $2 billion.

      Activision, News

      Average game development costs $18-28 million

      January 13, 2010 /

      Game development.The explosive growth of the gaming industry has directly translated to the back end, according some analysis done by M2 Research. The group found that average development costs for multi-platform games are deep into the tens of millions, averaging somewhere between $18M and $28M per game.

      Single platform titles are still somewhere around the $10M mark, as the research has it. One of the big concerns about the high cost is the strain it puts on employees. Developers are pushed hard to make sure the publisher’s investment is met with solid return.

      The return is there, at least on blockbuster titles. Take Modern Warfare 2, for instance. The game cost over $50 million to make but made $550 million in its first five days on the shelves. Average titles don’t always fare so well, and with a struggling economy, it’s easy to see why development houses are a little nervous.

      Development, News

      Only 15% of you buy DLC

      January 12, 2010 /

      DLC.Frank N. Magid Associates recently conducted a survey to see how much market penetration DLC sees. The numbers were surprisingly low, with just 15% of the pollsters claiming to have purchased DLC in the past.

      The poll was for about 800 people and concluded that 41% of gamers knew about DLC but didn’t buy, while 43% claimed that they had never even heard of it. Magid Associates did say that the 43% were mostly users on consoles like the Nintendo Wii and the PS2, consoles that aren’t heavy on additional DLC for titles.

      That first stat is crazy when you think about the amount of publishers who have pushed for post-release support in recent years. For a while it looked like that might be the next big moneymaker, since highly marketed titles either weren’t doing well or simply cost too much to develop. So, what’s next guys? Board game licenses for popular titles?

      Development, News

      Mad Catz paid $300K, forfeited millions in initial Guitar Hero deal

      January 8, 2010 /

      Guitar Hero logo.It’s easy to think of Guitar Hero as a mint, a source of nearly endless money for everyone involved that’s just now starting to dry up. That’s not exactly the case.

      Darren Richardson, the president and CEO of peripheral manufacturer Mad Catz, told Kotaku today that his company paid $300,000 so it could back out of the original contract due to an ongoing lawsuit with Konami.

      “Guitar Hero was a game that we were actually involved with early on and pulled out because of a lawsuit with Konami,” Richardson said. “We were doing the Xbox SKU and that’s why there was only a Playstation 2 launch. That’s why. We were in there and we pulled out as a result of (the lawsuit) and (Red Octane and Harmonix) went forward and it turned out to be a success, a huge success.”

      Somehow Richardson has a sense of humor about the whole thing. “Everyone else made hundreds of millions and we paid money to not be a part of it,” he said. “It was brilliant. I come up with these strokes of genius from time to time. That was my best.”

      If only sarcasm could turn back time.

      Source: Kotaku

      Accessories, News

      Blizzard helps authorities track down drug dealer, WoW player

      January 5, 2010 /

      Stormwind guards capture a real life suspect.If you’re going to deal in illicit substances, you’d think you might acquire some evasive skills along the way. Not so for Alfred Hightower, an Indiana man who was arrested this week on dealing charges. How was he caught? By playing World of Warcraft.

      The Howard County Sheriff’s Department of Indiana contact Blizzard after learning that Hightower played a “warlock and witches game.” How long it took them to discover that meant WoW remains unknown. Deputy Matt Roberson had pretty much given up when he got a package in the mail.

      “It had been three or four months since I had sent the subpoena. I just put it in the back of my mind and went on to do other things. Then I finally got a response from [Blizzard]. They sent me a package of information. They were very cooperative. It was nice that they were that willing to provide information.”

      Included in the packet were IP addresses, billing info, and game info, including Hightower’s favorite servers. Hightower was picked up by Canadian authorities, to be returned to Indiana today.

      Source: Kokomo Perspective via Kotaku

      Games in Media, MMO, News

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