Tag Archives: forbes

The analysts are at it again. This time, a US firm predicts Microsoft’s Xbox brand is on a downward spiral.

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Half a dozen video game creatives have made Forbes‘s influential 30 under 30 list this year. Our rising stars are Borderlands 2 lead producer Matt Charles and lead writer Anothony Burch; Humble Bundle co-founder John Graham; Quantum Conundrum and Portal creator Kim Swift; Skylanders coder Dan Gerstein; and thatgamecompany concept artist Matt Nava.

Thanks, Polygon.

Forbes has named Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer as the number one CEO “that truly deserves being fired.” Ballmer beat out other CEOs such as Walmart’s Mike Duke, the head of Sears and Cisco’s John Chambers.

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Sony is working on a new, unannounced console that will implement AMD graphics technology, according to a Forbes report.

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An analyst at IHS Screen Digest has estimated Steam’s 2010 revenue at “high hundreds of millions of dollars,” while Gabe Newell has said the company is “tremendously profitable”.

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Premiere business magazine Forbes has published a short assessment of Activision Blizzard’s recent financial performance, highlighting top-line growth and greater than expected adjusted earnings increases.

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Valve bossman Gabe Newell’s moniker has been dubbed by Forbes Magazine as one of the “Names You Need to Know in 2011″, and the reason has everything to do with Steam.

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According to Forbes, Nintendo is the sixth most reputable company in the world.

Only the likes of Johnson & Johnson with its ultra-trustworthy baby products and Ikea with its really rubbish furniture beat the Kyoto monster.

Have you ever been in an Ikea on a Saturday? It’s like Revelations come to pass.

Hit the link.

After calling Rock Band a “shameless knockoff” in an article profiling Guitar Hero boss Bobby Kotick, Forbes writer Peter Beller has defended the accusation, saying his assessment was appropriate.

“If you define knockoff as ‘a copy or imitation of someone or something popular’ the way Merriam-Webster does, then I think Rock Band fits the bill nicely,” Beller told GameDaily.

The similarities between Rock Band and Guitar Hero are “obvious,” Beller said.

“My terming Rock Band a ‘shameless knockoff’ of Guitar Hero was based on the fact that it came out after Guitar Hero and sported very obvious similarities with Guitar Hero, including color-coded prompts moving onscreen along a fret board,” he said.

“It even accepted the same Guitar Hero guitar controller, I believe.”

Beller’s initial comments caused something of an internet firestorm.

More through there.

EA’s refused to get involved in a Forbes accusation that Rock Band is a Guitar Hero rip-off.

“Unfortunately we can’t comment on this,” a senior spokesperson told us yesterday.

Forbes claimed that Rock Band was a “shameless knockoff” of Guitar Hero in its latest issue, which featured Activision boss Bobby Kotick on the cover.

The article pulled no punches.

“EA… teamed with MTV to sell Rock Band, a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero that added drums, bass and a microphone to the world of make-believe rock stars,” it said.

The piece also called Activision Blizzard “the world’s most successful videogame publisher”.

Go on, JR. Get on the cover of Fortune and call Bobby a girl, or something.

Say what you mean, Forbes. Don’t hold back. In a spotlight piece on Activision supremo Bobby Kotick, the US mag’s accused EA of ripping off Guitar Hero with Rock Band.

“EA… teamed with MTV to sell Rock Band, a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero that added drums, bass and a microphone to the world of make-believe rock stars,” says the article.

“EA says it is returning to an ‘auteur model’ of designing games, taking bigger chances on fewer ideas.”

Bet Mr Riccitiello’ll be pleased about that. Go get yourself some of your own ideas, John. Leave Bobby alone.

According to this Forbes article, the modern games industry is becoming increasingly less tolerant of the “core” gamer. That’s you, probably.

“The ongoing paradigm shift in gaming is expanding the industry’s audience, giving the sector steady growth at a time when many others are shrinking,” says author Chris Morris.

“But growth doesn’t come without cost. As parents and seniors become more important to publishers, core gamers are being nudged aside.”

Never fret, though. Avid gamers are going to be increasingly catered for by indie developers. Phew.

“The hardcore is completely safe,” said Warren Spector. “They are less relevant to major publishers, but they are more relevant to independent developers.”

More through there.

We skipped this yesterday as we got blinded by ubiquity of the whole Nintendo E3 casual hardcore disaster “thing,” but Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has actually apologised for the company’s E3 press conference in general.

“If there is any perception that Nintendo is ignoring the core gamers, it’s a misunderstanding and we really want to get rid of that misunderstanding by any means,” he told Forbes.

“We are sorry about [the E3] media briefings, specifically for those who were expecting to see Nintendo show something about Super Mario or Legend of Zelda.

“However, the fact of the matter is the so-called ‘big titles’ need a long, long development period. We really didn’t think this year’s E3 media briefing was the time to do so.”

Fair enough. He’s a real man, is Iwata. More through the link.

According to Forbes, Europe has the greatest potential for growth as a games market.

The business site referred to market research from IDG showing that the European market generated $17.9 billion in revenues in 2007 – less than the $18.8 billion in revenues generated by the US – despite having more than twice the population.

The Forbes article claims that videogames aren’t as widely accepted in Europe as they are in the States, and that the worldwide development community has focused on capturing the hardcore US gamers – paying less attention to European players who prefer casual games.

Thanks GI. The original article’s here. Thanks, SplatteredHouse.

According to Forbes, GTA: San Andreas is the biggest selling game in America ever. Crime pays, clearly.

1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (9.43 million)
2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (8.2 million)
3. Madden NFL 2007 (7.7 million)
4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (7.3 million)
5. Madden NFL 2006 (6.65 million)
6. Halo 2 (6.6 million)
7. Madden NFL 2008 (6.56 million)
8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (6.25 million)
9. Grand Theft Auto III (6.2 million)
10. Madden NFL 2005 (6.1 million)

There’s a feature on Forbes speculating that iPod and iPhone – and the software-delivering App Store – could bring trouble to Nintendo’s dominace of the handheld market.

“Apple is the first to master a pair of tricks that have made Nintendo’s latest products so compelling – a touch-screen interface and the ability to pick up on motion,” says the piece.

“The key difference: Unlike Nintendo, which has created a gaming console with a motion-sensitive controller and a touch-sensitive handheld gaming system, Apple has crammed both capabilities into its iPhone and iPod Touch.”

More through the link.