Category Archives: Business

Several Chinese online game operators reported disappointing results this week. Some (like Shanda) blamed it on competition, but The9, which saw concurrent usage for WoW drop 8% this quarter, had little excuse.

Hard to say what’s happening here. A government crackdown may be partly to blame. Market saturation may be another (yes, one billion people does not mean one billion potential customers.) One wonders if perhaps service problems are also an issue… anyone know if these companies are maintaining the quality and consistency of the service?

• Full story
• Explanation of the WoW China license arrangement

Take Two Interactive has just announced that it is acquiring Firaxis Games (maker of the popular “Civilization” and “Pirates!” franchises, and home to legendary designer Sid Meier). Take Two and Firaxis only recently began working together as developer / publisher … I guess the relationship was doing well!

First Bioware/Pandemic, now this. At this rate, every major independent will merge or be absorbed by year’s end. At least, that’s what Wall Street has been thinking for some time now.

• Full story
• Pre-aqcuisition interview with Sid Meier

Telltale Games, founded by former LucasArts employees who had worked on Grim Fandango, Monkey Island, etc, is using digital distribution and an episodic content model to attempt the (profitable) rebirth of the story-adventure game.

There are probably enough story game fans to drive a digital business, especially when you’re not splitting profits with retail. An episodic model also reduces up-front development risk. And story game fans, by definition, are probably more likely to accept the episodic format (after all, we’ve been trained by comics, tv shows, etc!) That said, I suspect that independent studios will need to stick with relatively simple engines if episodic content is to work – at least for now.

• Full story
• Interview with Telltale CEO
• In-depth 1UP feature on episodic content