Video Game Industry Thread: Caring entirely too much about Bioware romance options

cloudeagle

Hi! Welcome to the video game industry thread. Here we discuss things like sales figures, game development, studio closures, executive quotes, marketing and general business stuff. Also poop jokes.

With PSN exploding, it looks like a certain commentator is needed now more than ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoCZ07hwoZ4

And now, April's information.

NPD Group's U.S. Games Industry Sales (New Physical Sales Channel*) - April 2011

5-week tracking month; Reporting Period 4/3/11 through 4/30/11

Mortal Kombat 2011 (PS3, 360)** 1 Warner Bros. Interactive
Portal 2 (360, PS3, PC) 2 Electronic Arts
Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Wii, NDS, 360, 3DS, PS3, PC) 3 LucasArts
Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, NDS, Wii, PC)** 4 Activision Blizzard
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (360, PS3, Wii)** 5 Electronic Arts
Crysis 2 (360, PS3, PC) 6 Electronic Arts
Just Dance 2 (Wii) 7 Ubisoft
Michael Jackson The Experience (360, Wii, PS3, NDS, PSP) 8 Ubisoft
Pokemon White Version (NDS) 9 Nintendo
NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, PC) 10 Take 2 Interactive

Xbox 360: 267,000
Wii: 172,000
3DS: 194,000
PS3: 204,300

Top 10 Individual SKUs include: (Gamasutra And Anita Frazier Below)
-Mortal Kombat (360)
-Portal 2 (360)
-Crysis 2 (360)
-Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (360)
-Michael Jackson: The Experience (360)
-Pokemon White (NDS)
-Pokemon Black (NDS)
-Just Dance 2 (Wii)
-SOCOM 4 (PS3)
-And Presumably Mortal Kombat (PS3)

Software LTDs:

Kinect Sports - 3+ Million Worldwide
Dance Central - 2.5+ Million Worldwide

Warlock82

I think for once Morbo is actually being semi-accurate :P

Couscous

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/110426/index.html
Sweet data including European sales.

Total extracted from the graph by me (error: +/- 16k):

PS3: 1.09 million
360: 0.76 million
WII: 0.75 million

Japan + US + "Europe" Q1 hardware sales(all up to week 13):

PS3: 2.45 million
360: 2.09 million
WII: 2.00 million


NDS: 2.48 million
3DS: 1.64 million
PSP: 1.43 million

urahonky

http://blogs.forbes.com/ericsavitz/2011/04/27/nintendo-3ds-a-flop/

You're welcome!

Warlock82

urahonky wrote: »

http://blogs.forbes.com/ericsavitz/2011/04/27/nintendo-3ds-a-flop/

You're welcome!

Wow, just.... wow...

Shadowfire

urahonky wrote: »

http://blogs.forbes.com/ericsavitz/2011/04/27/nintendo-3ds-a-flop/

You're welcome!

I mean, I know that it didn't meet projections, but when 3.6 million units in a short period of time is considered a failure, I weep for the industry.

urahonky

Yeah I like how he says that the entertainment industry needs a new gimmick, since 3D tvs have flopped as well as the 3DS.

Santa Claustrophobia

Well, the industry always does need a new gimmick. Whether or not 3D is a genuine failure can be debated, however.

Capt Howdy

First 3D televisions failed to attract the expected audience; and now there are signs that 3D games will do the same. Looks like the consumer electronics industry needs a new gimmick.

Yep, Nintendo falling .4 million short of 4 million = DOOOOOOOM for all of 3D.

Blownoutofproportionalism, it's a real thing.

DaveTheWave

Gee, Cloud. XoB's thread was pretty popular. It got to 100 in no time.

Pureauthor

I just want to point out that missing shipment numbers is a fair bit more serious than missing sellthrough numbers.

That said, to claim that the fate of the 3DS is set in stone is ridiculous.

Magic Pink

urahonky wrote: »

http://blogs.forbes.com/ericsavitz/2011/04/27/nintendo-3ds-a-flop/

You're welcome!

I didn't know Forbes hired mentally challenged writers. I am approving of them!

Automaticzen

If World of Warcraft somehow dropped to 8 million accounts, they'd still be far ahead of the competition, but it'd be a horrible decline for WoW. They set their own bar and those watching the financial aspects of the company expect them to match or exceed that bar again, and again, and again.

This is how business works, not just in our industry. Nintendo is a victim of it's own success. If Cafe doesn't match the Wii in sales, people will call it a flop. Even Nintendo was not happy with not meeting their expectations of 4 million, as fixing that was a large part of Iwata's recent presentation to investors.

This also affects others in the same space. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 did well and sold 7 million, but Riccitiello has to keep pushing because his investors look at the competition (Black Ops) and see 13.7 million sold. And they ask "why can't we get that?"

People feel the PSP is a failure and the console has sold 63 million units. Problem? It's competitor more than doubled that number.

This is not a jab at Nintendo alone. It's not a game industry problem. It's business. Stocks rise and fall based on the weirdest shit. If Jobs left Apple tomorrow, their stock would drop, just from the perception that Jobs is what makes it all tick.

That's business. Get used to it.

Sheep

Pureauthor wrote: »

I just want to point out that missing shipment numbers is a fair bit more serious than missing sellthrough numbers.

That said, to claim that the fate of the 3DS is set in stone is ridiculous.

Is that what it is? They estimated to ship 4 million and only shipped 3.4? If so, that is a bit more serious.

Shadowfire

Yea zen, I get that. That doesn't mean I have to like it, particularly when it seems it could be damaging the industry in the long term. Too much "now now now" and not enough "how is this going to do in six months, or a year, and how will it lead into the next thing in five years."

plufim

I like how the author of the article doesn't even seem to know what a real 3DS looks like, since the image is one of the terrible photoshops made last year.

Automaticzen

Shadowfire wrote: »

Yea zen, I get that. That doesn't mean I have to like it, particularly when it seems it could be damaging the industry in the long term. Too much "now now now" and not enough "how is this going to do in six months, or a year, and how will it lead into the next thing in five years."

Well yes. I believe that's a huge problem as well. Businesses need to get back to looking at the long-term, because sometimes short-term profits are at odds with long-term company health.

But alas, what can we do?

Couscous

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/44103/39-exclusives-for-GAME-in-2010

Retailer says exclusive SKUs sell around a third more than vanilla versions of titles

Exclusive deals for Collector's Editions may irk some of the gaming public, but the strategy has reaped big rewards for retailer GAME in the last year.

"Last year we offered customers 39 exclusive versions of titles, and on average they delivered a market share around a third higher than when we sell a generic version of a game," group chief executive Ian Shepherd said today.

"Our exclusives are stronger than ever, and in Q1 2011 have included exclusive versions of Pokemon Black and White; the Bulletstorm Epic edition which provided Beta access to Gears of War 3; and the Crysis 2 Nano Edition which included an exclusive backpack, figurine and book."

"Increasingly we are working with supplier partners to provide customers with exclusive digital content when they buy a physical copy of a game. This helps us to introduce customers to digital content, and to position GAME as the lead authority on multichannel gaming.

"We maintain a very strong share on all new products because our supplier partners see how we actively sell more products than anyone else, and they support us with exclusive products and appropriate volumes of stock."

Cameron_Talley

The original DS took time to catch on, too, you know.

I bet it will sell like gangbusters come Christmas.

Zerokku

Pureauthor wrote: »

I just want to point out that missing shipment numbers is a fair bit more serious than missing sellthrough numbers.

That said, to claim that the fate of the 3DS is set in stone is ridiculous.

There was also the earthquake in japan, which probably effected numbers a noticeable bit as well. Not as many people are going to buy a luxury like the 3DS at a time like that, and by extension, new ones arent being shipped when they're not being bought. Not to say thats the sole reason, but a contributing factor.

UncleSporky

The way Nintendo is talking, they're not handwaving it as the earthquake or blaming it on anything but themselves.

ArcSyn

Wait, the Wii sold less than the PS3 in March?! And in Europe?! Did we know this before now?

Wow, no wonder Nintendo is starting to look for some partners to bring it back into the spotlight. I know it still is selling well, and they're still making profit, but going from being on top for so long to third now in monthly sales is a bit rough.

Automaticzen

UncleSporky wrote: »

The way Nintendo is talking, they're not handwaving it as the earthquake or blaming it on anything but themselves.

Yes. Iwata has been surprisingly refreshing through everything. And I'm glad to see them trying to turn around their online aspects, which is really my only fault with them. The third party situation wasn't necessarily their fault, but I'm also glad to see them stepping up to fix a perceived issue.

Couscous

http://www.develop-online.net/news/37568/Devs-on-PSN-hack-Digital-distrust-could-follow

Execs at Cohort, Zoe Mode, Curve and Doublesix express their views

The substantial security threat that has rocked the PlayStation Network could trigger widespread mistrust in digital distribution, a group of studios have said.

Several leading digital games studios have told Develop the infamous PSN hack may not only impact on Sony’s troubled service, but the digital distribution process as a whole.

“There’s a real concern that PSN users will have lost a lot of trust,” said Lol Scragg, CEO of Dundee studio Cohort.

“The PSN market could well decrease after this,” he said.

“There are so many issues for consumers to think about now”.

Cohort is set to close down in a matter of weeks, and its final game – Me Monstar – could miss its release due to the ongoing PSN blackout.

“Our concern is that people just will not be able to purchase our game as it launches next week,” Scragg said.

A ‘LITTLE STEP BACK’

Scragg’s views are to an extent echoed by Ste Curran, the creative director of Kuju Entertainment's Zoe Mode studio in Brighton.

“From my perspective, the bigger issue is not about PSN, but confidence in digital distribution generally,” Curran said.

“For every story like this that breaks in the mainstream press, consumer confidence about their details being safe is eroded. Confidence [in online transactions] has been building up, and I think will continue to, but this is a blip. It could be a little step back,” he added.

Zoe Mode’s music-based puzzle game, Chime Super Deluxe, launched on the PlayStation Network late in March.

One studio – speaking anonymously to Develop – said the network downtime has cost them thousands of pounds. Yet Curran said it would be hard to quantify revenue losses.

He also appeared convinced that the backlash against Sony has more bark than bite.

“There’s a lot of noise on the internet right now about people saying ‘oh I’ll never use PSN again etcetera’, but a lot of that is due to this ongoing rivalry between Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 fanboys, and I think a lot of these comments of abandoning PlayStation are from people that don’t have a console in the first place,” he said.

Curran’s faith in digital distribution has not been significantly affected by the PSN data scare.

‘IT GOES BEYOND PSN’

“Digital distribution is the future, and it’s awesome,” he said.

“I just think people will be a bit more hesitant to [buy content digitally] like this in the future. Not just on PSN, but on Xbox 360 and other non-game related services as well.

“I don’t think this is a case of people thinking PSN is vulnerable. This is about every single digital distribution system”.

Yesterday Sony said it shut down the PlayStation Network for seven consecutive days after a “malicious” attack on the online system.

Credit card details, user information and passwords have been compromised. The issue may affect every single PSN user, Sony said. More information can be found here.

Ed Fear, publishing producer at London-based Curve Studios, remains faithful that Sony will resolve the issue.

“I’m concerned that users will be wary of re-entering their credit card details into the system, which will likely affect PSN sales,” he said.

“Naturally, there’s an issue of the lost sales over this period where the system has been down.

“But ultimately, I think Sony will sort us and everyone else out – they’ve done a lot of work encouraging developers to PSN and they’re not going to let all that go to waste now.”

In February, Curve Studios released on PSN its distinct platform title Explodemon.

‘WE CAN HOLD OUR RELEASE BACK’

The studio head at fellow UK PSN studio, Doublesix, said it was unfortunate that a service like the PlayStation Network has been out under such an unflattering light.

“It's obviously a sad turn of events,” he told Develop.

“Our colleagues at Sony have such a great games service and every day that it's down hurts the wider gaming community.

“Our studio hasn't been affected too greatly, we were just preparing a release, but we can afford to hold it back. Our sympathy goes out to the studios who've only just released a game or were due to release last week.

“My greater concern is how this will affect video game consumers behaviour across all the digital platforms, including PSN, XBLA, Steam, iTunes and the rest,” he said.

“Consumers have been more ready to purchase games and other content online, and this may rock their confidence, become a set back that affects us all.

“Of course, it's only a blip, but one that the world of digital games delivery could do without. Only time will tell.”

Sony has released an FAQ for PSN users who may be affected by the hack. That can be found here.

Darian

Magic Pink wrote: »

urahonky wrote: »

http://blogs.forbes.com/ericsavitz/2011/04/27/nintendo-3ds-a-flop/

You're welcome!

I didn't know Forbes hired mentally challenged writers. I am approving of them!

What amuses me there is their picture/caption for the story:

Fail?

And indeed, that picture is fail since it isn't the real 3DS.

Jave

Automaticzen wrote: »

UncleSporky wrote: »

The way Nintendo is talking, they're not handwaving it as the earthquake or blaming it on anything but themselves.

Yes. Iwata has been surprisingly refreshing through everything. And I'm glad to see them trying to turn around their online aspects, which is really my only fault with them. The third party situation wasn't necessarily their fault, but I'm also glad to see them stepping up to fix a perceived issue.

It's something I really like about Nintendo. Regardless of how bad the situation gets, they always seem to keep their cool.

pslong9

Interesting survey on salaries for game developers, conducted by Game Developer Magazine. Full details in the magazine, link goes to a GameSetWatch summary:

Programming: Programmers continue to be one of the highest paid talent in both the console and online game industry, after production and those in the business and legal sectors, with an average annual salary of $85,733. Salaries for programmers increased some $5,000 over 2009 numbers, except in entry-level positions, which saw a $1,000 decrease in salary.

Art & Animation: Similar to last year’s figure of $71,071, artist and animator salaries hold steady at $71,354, with the slight bump in compensation coming from pay raises for art directors.

Game Design: The design discipline also saw a slight boost from 2009 numbers, with the average salary being reported at $70,223. Designers saw little movement in 2010, as the discipline has been one of the most stable where compensation is concerned.

Production: After seeing an overall salary dip in 2009, producers rebounded with an increase of over $13,000, for a total average salary of $88,544. This could be attributed to the depth of experience that survey respondents reported (over half had more than six years of experience), or the shift toward social games, which pay producers closer to Web 2.0 project management salaries. Female employees continue to be best-represented in this field, with 17 percent of the respondents being women.

Audio: Sound designers and composers earned an average of $68,088, with 15 percent of respondents reporting that they earned less than in 2009. The category typically has a low response rate, due to the fact that there are few full-time audio professionals employed in games, but individuals in the field are those most likely to receive royalties for their work.

Quality Assurance: Home to many entry-level game industry positions, quality assurance remains the lowest paid discipline, with an average salary of $49,009 being reported. Similar to industry employees working in production, the 2010 salary bump over 2009’s $37,905 figure could be a result of those individuals working in web game-centric industries and with more complex testing skills.

Business: Business and legal employees remain the highest paid in the industry across all levels of experience, with the average salary being reported at $106,452. Along with also having the second-highest numbers for female representation, those working in business and legal are more likely to receive additional compensation, with 85 percent of respondents reporting that they had.

In the “self-reportage” area of the survey, where developers can voice their thoughts about working in games, we saw that in spite of the vastly greater average income, salaried game developers had a sometimes bleaker outlook on the industry.

Anecdotally, these respondents stated that working in the traditional structure is “frustrating,” lamenting that larger studios are “trimming talent” and crunching harder. Meanwhile, independent developers, though they made far less money, felt the industry was more fertile and innovative than ever, praising the arrival of new platforms and revenue streams, even going so far as to call 2010 “the year of the indie."

Couscous

Female employees continue to be best-represented in this field, with 17 percent of the respondents being women.

This is amazingly depressing.

InkSplat

So, how badly do we think DD as a whole is going to be nailed by the PSN fiasco?

I mean, I wouldn't quite call this a Chernobyl-level event, but it seems like it could quickly go that way depending on how much of the stolen info gets used.

Sheep

This won't hurt DD at all for companies that aren't Sony.

Couscous

http://www.develop-online.net/news/37569/Zynga-UK-established-in-studio-acquisition

Guildford-based Wonderland Software sold for undisclosed fee

Social games giant Zynga has made its first acquisition of a UK development outfit.

Wonderland Software, creator of iPhone title GodFinger, is to be renamed Zynga Mobile UK.

Wonderland Software staff will now be working for Zynga, while the studio’s former CEO - Matthew Wiggins – takes the role of General Manager.

“Wonderland is composed of an amazingly talented, creative team, known for developing deeply engaging and innovative games,” said David Ko, senior vice president of mobile at Zynga.

“This is a team that has developed novel game technology to tell engrossing stories and I’m incredibly excited to have Wonderland join Zynga as we build a presence in the UK.”

Wonderland was founded in 2009 from former studio staff at Lionhead, Codemasters and others, according to details provided by Zynga.

The studio’s breakthrough game, GodFinger, has not been purchased, Zynga said. The fate of that IP, and who owns it, is unknown.

UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH

The latest acquisition continues an alarming burst of growth for the Facebook games titan.

In the past thirty days alone, Zynga is thought to have hired four key execs (1, 2, 3, 4), two new studios (1, 2) and a further two development groups (1, 2).

The Wonderland buyout is the ninth announcement of growth. It comes just days after Reuters reported that EA’s second-in-command, John Scappert, has joined the company.

Zynga, now valued over $7 billion, boasts over 250 million monthly active users. The company is one of the most high-profile in the west toi have cracked the free-to-play monetisation model.

The firm is buying with fury in mobile Space too. Last year it acquired ‘Words With Friends’ creators NewToy, as well as New York mobile studio Area/Code.

Something something culture something something unsustainable growth.

Pureauthor

April 18- April 24 Hardware in Japan, via Media Create and GAF

PSP 49,162
3DS 23,038
PS3 19,033
Wii 7,866
DSi LL 7,064
DSi 6,214
Xbox 360 1,891
PS2 1,163
DS Lite 283
PSP go 265

PSP gets a new shipment, 3DS rate of sales keeps slowing. Really wonder where it'll stabilize.

l_g

pslong9 wrote: »

Interesting survey on salaries for game developers, conducted by Game Developer Magazine. Full details in the magazine, link goes to a GameSetWatch summary:

Programming: Programmers continue to be one of the highest paid talent in both the console and online game industry, after production and those in the business and legal sectors, with an average annual salary of $85,733. Salaries for programmers increased some $5,000 over 2009 numbers, except in entry-level positions, which saw a $1,000 decrease in salary.

Art & Animation: Similar to last year’s figure of $71,071, artist and animator salaries hold steady at $71,354, with the slight bump in compensation coming from pay raises for art directors.

Game Design: The design discipline also saw a slight boost from 2009 numbers, with the average salary being reported at $70,223. Designers saw little movement in 2010, as the discipline has been one of the most stable where compensation is concerned.

Production: After seeing an overall salary dip in 2009, producers rebounded with an increase of over $13,000, for a total average salary of $88,544. This could be attributed to the depth of experience that survey respondents reported (over half had more than six years of experience), or the shift toward social games, which pay producers closer to Web 2.0 project management salaries. Female employees continue to be best-represented in this field, with 17 percent of the respondents being women.

Audio: Sound designers and composers earned an average of $68,088, with 15 percent of respondents reporting that they earned less than in 2009. The category typically has a low response rate, due to the fact that there are few full-time audio professionals employed in games, but individuals in the field are those most likely to receive royalties for their work.

Quality Assurance: Home to many entry-level game industry positions, quality assurance remains the lowest paid discipline, with an average salary of $49,009 being reported. Similar to industry employees working in production, the 2010 salary bump over 2009’s $37,905 figure could be a result of those individuals working in web game-centric industries and with more complex testing skills.

Business: Business and legal employees remain the highest paid in the industry across all levels of experience, with the average salary being reported at $106,452. Along with also having the second-highest numbers for female representation, those working in business and legal are more likely to receive additional compensation, with 85 percent of respondents reporting that they had.

In the “self-reportage” area of the survey, where developers can voice their thoughts about working in games, we saw that in spite of the vastly greater average income, salaried game developers had a sometimes bleaker outlook on the industry.

Anecdotally, these respondents stated that working in the traditional structure is “frustrating,” lamenting that larger studios are “trimming talent” and crunching harder. Meanwhile, independent developers, though they made far less money, felt the industry was more fertile and innovative than ever, praising the arrival of new platforms and revenue streams, even going so far as to call 2010 “the year of the indie."

Those numbers sound really high. I hope that there's a breakdown by years of experience/seniority. There's a brief mention about it in the Production category, but it should really go for all of the sections, because that's a huge factor in salary.

AZChristopher

Yeah, I don't see why people purchasing through Steam or Xbox Live would stop doing so. I could easily see people who aren't already making DD purchases right now to continue to avoid it. Just like how my step-dad is always afraid of making a purchase online because of news stories he has read.

Automaticzen

InkSplat wrote: »

So, how badly do we think DD as a whole is going to be nailed by the PSN fiasco?

I mean, I wouldn't quite call this a Chernobyl-level event, but it seems like it could quickly go that way depending on how much of the stolen info gets used.

I'd hazard a guess that most people don't think digital distribution as this monolithic entity.

Sony's failure will affect Sony. I doubt most people with Steam or Xbox Live are worried beyond possibly changing passwords.

I also think bygones will be bygones once some titles comes out that people want. We're a remarkably fickle fanbase.

InkSplat

I think, at the least, you're going to see people pull credit card info out of Live and start using points cards. And doing that means that impulse buying drops, and so revenue as a whole is going to take a hit.

To think that nothing is going to come from this, if 75 million people get their information used for bad things, seems kind of strange given the track record of how people react to things like this.

AZChristopher

Pureauthor wrote: »

April 18- April 24 Hardware in Japan, via Media Create and GAF

PSP 49,162
3DS 23,038
PS3 19,033
Wii 7,866
DSi LL 7,064
DSi 6,214
Xbox 360 1,891
PS2 1,163
DS Lite 283
PSP go 265

PSP gets a new shipment, 3DS rate of sales keeps slowing. Really wonder where it'll stabilize.

Well it isn't going to stabilize since eventually games will actually come out for it.

This is what Nintendo gets for giving third parties breathing room. Complete lack of people buying the system.

This chart made me laugh.

LewieP

Zynga acquires wonderland software. Rebrands as Zynga Mobile UK.

slash000

pslong9 wrote: »

Anecdotally, these respondents stated that working in the traditional structure is “frustrating,” lamenting that larger studios are “trimming talent” and crunching harder. Meanwhile, independent developers, though they made far less money, felt the industry was more fertile and innovative than ever, praising the arrival of new platforms and revenue streams, even going so far as to call 2010 “the year of the indie."

This is probably one of those scenarios where the salaries increase by a few grand or remain steady from previous years.... but the employees are pushed to work harder, longer hours. As far as the industry looking bleak, that probably has a lot to do with studios shutting down, and bigger publishers getting more risk-averse.

slash000

AZChristopher wrote: »

Pureauthor wrote: »

April 18- April 24 Hardware in Japan, via Media Create and GAF

PSP 49,162
3DS 23,038
PS3 19,033
Wii 7,866
DSi LL 7,064
DSi 6,214
Xbox 360 1,891
PS2 1,163
DS Lite 283
PSP go 265

PSP gets a new shipment, 3DS rate of sales keeps slowing. Really wonder where it'll stabilize.

Well it isn't going to stabilize since eventually games will actually come out for it.

This is what Nintendo gets for giving third parties breathing room. Complete lack of people buying the system.

Pretty much, the system needs some good new software to get those hardware numbers up.

knightblade87

the SDF on this site i normaly hang out is sad, they go on about how sony is a punching bag and everyone hates on them, then they want on a rant that nintendo was holding video games back and if it wasn't for sony sega or MS we still be having carts, it kind of sad how they go on about how people are hating on poor ol sony but at the same time they go on about how the wii is not for real gamers.