Monthly Archives: May 2009

EA CFO Eric Brown said in the publisher’s Q4 earnings call last night that PC is to become the dominant hardware in gaming.

He said digital game distribution nearly doubled in revenue year-over-year to $80 million, while CEO John Riccitiello said digital revenue in total had risen to $400 in the last fiscal year.

“This is a big year for us,” said Brown. “The online part of our business is growing as much as 60 percent year over year.”

“In terms of distribution, the way we look at a lot what’s happening in the future is, we’ve got probably a billion PCs out there in the world,” he continued. “Very rapidly the PC is becoming the largest gaming platform in the world, just not in a packaged-good product.”

EA reported a $1 billion loss for fiscal 2009 yesterday. Thanks, Shacknews.

Looks as though the Red Steel 2 trailer released yesterday was not intended for public viewing, but was supposed to be an “internal only” release.

Ubisoft said that the pre-production trailer was never intended for a general release and refused further comment on it – or the mention of Destination PlayStation at the end of it – when probed by CVG.

The game was originally thought to be a Wii exclusive until the trailer caused some confusion.

Again, come on E3. We can’t say it enough.

EA released it’s fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009 earnings earlier and according to the report, 14 percent of it’s revenue came from Wii titles, compared to 8 percent the previous year.

Twenty-one titles were released for Wii last year, and with PS3 games providing 16 percent of revenue and Xbox 360 generating 24 percent, Wii is catching up.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, Ea Sports Active and Grand Slam Tennis are expected to help Wii title sales increase at EA thanks to MotionPlus.

Full financial report can be viewed here.

Looks like a Capcom vs. Marvel 3 is not going to happen anytime soon, according to Capcom.

Capcom community manager Seth Killian was asked if gamers can expect the title any time soon by Joystiq during a media event yesterday, and his answer was not very hopeful.

“The short answer is no, that’s not any part of this deal,” he said.

“What we’re hoping is that if people get really juiced about this title, and we can show Marvel that there’s a lot of heat behind this, then they’ll open up the door for us to do something with ’3,’ which is something we’d love to do.”

The biggest problem, he said, has to do with licensing issues preventing further development.

However, there is the possibility of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 arcade sticks heading to retailers.

“It’s a discussion … we would love to make it happen,” he revealed. “If you saw the ‘leak’ of those MadCatz sticks, that was actually B.S. That was a complete fabrication, but it’s something we would love to do.”

More through the link.

Speaking in a just-ended investor call, EA boss John Riccitiello has reiterated EA Sports president Peter Moore’s sentiments on the state of the hardware cycle last month, saying we’re nowhere near to seeing a full switch over in main platforms.

“Big changes are not something we’re seeing the need for in the medium term, nor do we expect that in the medium term,” he said.

“I think that arms race – I can never say that it’s done – but the relevance of doing that faster and faster seems to have subsided.

“We’re projecting… [the current generation] to be a very extended cycle.”

Peter Moore told VG247 in London recently that he had seen “no inkling” of future platforms from the major hardware companies, and that the current generation could be the “biggest ever” in terms of sales.

BlizzCon 09 tickets will be available starting May 16, Blizzard said today.

The event runs August 21-22 at the Anaheim Convention Center. Tickets will run you $125 a piece.

If you miss out on getting tickets the day of the sale, Blizzard will put another stack up for sale on May 30. Improvements have been made to the Blizzard store interface so there shouldn’t be another ticket fiasco this year.

Those unable to attend the event can watch it live on DirectTV and Pay-per-View for the price of $40. Anyone who orders the event will get a BlizzCon-exclusive World of Warcraft in-game item.

Press release is below.

More »

EA CEO John Riccitiello has predicted that negative comps for the industry will continue until June.

The company boss said that retail was continuing to show wary behaviour to stocking games products, instead favouring other sectors.

US games sales dropped 17 percent year-over-year in March, down to $1.43 billion from $1.72 billion in March 2008.

EA execs just confirmed in an investor conference call that Warhammer Online has 300,000 subscribers at the end of March 2009.

The company reported an FY2009 loss of $1.08 billion earlier today.

The MMO launched in September 2008.

The EA financial call is ongoing and the firm has just said that 30 games will be released for iPhone this year.

No titles were mentioned, a release window, or any other information was handed out.

Sounds like EA likes the iPhone though.

The company released it’s full earnings report earlier.

More to come.

Spore has sold more than 2 million units, EA just confirmed as part of its full-year financials.

The Maxis game was tipped as a driver in a year that saw revenue grow 15 percent to to $4.2 billion.

Spore has now seen more than 100 million creatures created for the game.

While Maxis may be celebrating, however, EA probably isn’t: the firm announced losses in excess of $1 billion for the 12 months ending March 2009 today.

According to EA’s full-year ’09 financials – just released – FIFA 09, Madden NFL 09 and Need for Speed Undercover each sold over 5 million copies.

Loads of sports and racing fans out there, apparently.

The earnings call is set to go off any minute, and we are listening – so keep checking back for updates.

EA’s reported a shell-shock $1.08 billion loss for the financial year ending March 2008.

Revenue for the period was up to $4.2 billion, a 15 percent rise from the previous year’s $3.6 billion.

“EA’s strong cost actions in Q4 FY09 together with our investments in our digital service businesses will set us up for a stronger FY10,” said CEO John Riccitiello.

“EA is well positioned with the right strategies in a growing industry.”

The company said that more than 31 games in the year sold more than 1 million units, up from 27 in the previous year.

Q4 loss was $42 million, or 13 cents a share, narrowed from a loss of $94 million, or 30 cents a share in the same period last year.

Q4 revenue was $860 million, down $267 million compared with $1.13 billion for the prior year.

Full press release below.

More »

Marvel’s Q1 financial report lists $80 million in sales revenue made from licensing deals with net sales at $197 million.

Numbers were higher than expected thanks to “strength in interactive games and royalties from better than anticipated worldwide licensee sales”, even though the company was down y-o-y for the quarter.

Sales are expected to grow due to the following titles:

• X-Men Origins: Wolverine (out now)
• The Punisher: No Mercy (May 2009)
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (June 29)
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (September 2009)
• Marvel Super Hero Squad (October 2009)
• Iron Man 2 (April 2010)

Don’t get too excited over the release dates, as each one is tentative.

Via Gamasutra.

2K Games announced today that Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: The Complete Edition will be available for PC May 12.

Included in the release are the Warlords, Beyond the Sword, and Colonization expansions all for $39.99 and DRM-free.

Great deal if you have been holding off on getting it.

This Thursday, Puzzle Quest: Galactrix hits PSN. Finally you’re saying.

Game includes three modes, over 100 missions, 80 solar systems, 30 upgradable ships with 150 ship items, mini-games, and the prerequisite leaderboards and matchmaking.

Should give you loads to do.

More over on the US PS Blog.

Online gaming in China increased 61 percent in 2008, and according to research firm Niko Partners, the market is expected to grow 26.4 percent per year and sales reach upwards of $8.9 billion by 2013.

Sales reached $2.75 billion  in 2008, 77 percent from MMOs, with the remaining 23 percent from casual games.

Console sales are climbing, despite being illegal, but most revenue comes from internet cafes which China has 170,000 of with a total of 23 million PCs.

This year, the market is expected to $3.8 billion.

Via Gamasutra.

Killzone 2 has sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide, reports PS3hype.

So far, of the 1.5 million buyers, 70 percent of them have played the game online, which equals out to around 1.04 million.

More through the link.

The Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack One has passed the two million download mark, reports Activision.

Numbers represent combined downloads on PSN and Xbox Live.

“This is a huge milestone and we are so appreciative of our incredibly supportive community who continue to play and enjoy the game,” said Treyarch’s Mark Lamia.

“We’re hard at work on Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 2 and look forward to delivering that in June.”

Map Pack One contains the maps Nightfire, Station, Knee Deep and Verruckt.

Metal Gear Solid composer Norihiko Hibino’s website has revealed a new Konami title for the Xbox 360.

The site lists the game under 2009 projects, and has it as a Japan release only so far:

Bayonetta is listed as a PS3 only title on the site, when it clearly isn’t, so an Xbox exclusive is just speculation at this point. Hopefully some light will be shed on this in June.

We can’t say it enough – come on E3.

Via Gamezine.

Empire, as expected, has gone bust.

The publisher’s properties have been sold to New World IP in the US, and its 49 staff have been laid off.

Administrator KPMG Restructuring has been appointed to wind down the company and is not seeking to sell the business.

“Despite the fact that the gaming industry has been relatively unscathed by the current recession, trading losses, development spend and a delay in recent new product approval had a fatal impact on the Empire’s cash flow,” said KPMG’s Ian Corfield.

“We are not looking to sell the business as a going concern and are effecting an orderly wind-down of Empire’s operations.”

More on GI.