Category Archives: Gamasutra

Analysis: Is Zynga’s spending out of control?

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Zynga raised eyebrows with its $210 million acquisition of OMGPOP, and CEO Mark Pincus said there’s more high-dollar buyouts to come. Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris examines the spending frenzy.

Just under a month ago, the games world gasped when Zynga spent $180 million for Draw Something developer OMGPOP (plus a reported $30 million in employee retention payments). While the game was dominating the app store charts, that was still a shocking amount for a company with just one hit.

It turns out, though, that may have been just the beginning. In an interview with Bloomberg this week, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said he’s hoping to do “a few” more deals for that amount or higher. And that’s when the klaxons in people’s heads should have started sounding.

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Opinion: Despite Zelnick’s prediction, THQ not quite on life support

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Take-Two’s CEO was blunt when he recently said THQ would be gone in six months. Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris argues it’ll still be around in 2012, but THQ needs to figure out a gameplan soon.

Industry watchers were treated to a rare bit of executive candor Thursday from Take-Two Interactive Software’s CEO.

Strauss Zelnick’s comment that “THQ won’t be around in six months” was shocking not so much because of his prediction, but because they seemed less like the contrived back-and-forth between Electronic Arts and Activision-Blizzard – and more honest opinion. The bigger question is: Was he right?

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Opinion: Apple’s shadow looms over next generation consoles

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As the industry devours any scraps of gossip about the next Xbox or PlayStation, Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris wonders if Microsoft and Sony are paying enough attention to Apple’s threat to the living room.

As the next generation of console systems looms, and the industry devours any scraps of gossip about the next Xbox or PlayStation, I’m starting to wonder if Microsoft and Sony are paying enough attention to Apple – and the threat it presents to their living room dominance.

While Steve Jobs never had a big interest in the gaming world, the app store quickly made the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch portable gaming powerhouses – albeit using a vastly different model than Nintendo and Sony. These days, Tim Cook is running the show – and he’s not an executive who’s going to ignore a $60 billion-plus industry.

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Telltale’s Dan Connors talks a new kind of freemium

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Telltale Games has never been a company to walk the well-beaten path. While publishers like Take-Two and THQ have run screaming from licensed content, Telltale has embraced it – and found profit in it. And while the PC is finally starting to become chic once again to some game makers, Telltale has always used it as the base of its operations.

So it makes an odd amount of sense that as the video game industry focuses obsessively on freemium and free-to-play games these days, Telltale is looking at the category with a slightly different perspective.

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Analysis: Will Harrison hire boost Microsoft?

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If Microsoft was looking to ratchet up the stakes in its ongoing battle with Sony, it sure managed to do so with Tuesday’s hiring of Phil Harrison.

In addition to filling the Redmond-based company’s quota of tall, bald game industry superstars, Harrison brings an insight into how things work at Sony that Microsoft has had to guess at for years. And, after being out of the spotlight for the past few years, he’s likely coming in hungry to make his mark.

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Jade’s Empire: Ubisoft’s Raymond looks forward

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Ubisoft Toronto managing director Jade Raymond has a lot to do in the next few months.

Her studio is about to formally unveil the latest installment of the Splinter Cell franchise. She’s hiring employees for the division at the blistering pace of about 12 per month. And, in just a few months, her second child is due. But the most interesting thing in her sights — career-wise, anyhow — is a bit more long term.

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iPad 3: On-site details on hardware, Namco and Epic partnerships

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While there weren’t any major surprises at Wednesday’s Apple event, that’s not slowing down the excitement among the Apple faithful for the new iPad.

Apple, as expected, rolled out its latest version of the popular tablet device Wednesday at a Gamasutra-attended event, showcasing a greatly improved display screen and the inclusion of 4G compatibility. And the device was supported by a pair of notable gaming companies.

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Gaming’s next legal hotbed

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Privacy is fast becoming a legal hotbed, and while it’s something that’s certain to impact traditional game makers in one form or another, it’s mobile developers who are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs.

It’s an election year. And despite 2011’s historic Supreme Court ruling, you really didn’t think video games were going to be dropped from the political agenda, did you?

As predicted, privacy is fast becoming a legal hotbed — and while it’s something that’s certain to impact traditional game makers in one form or another, it’s mobile developers who are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs.

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EA’s Bernard Kim on taking The Simpsons freemium

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EA social and mobile vice president Bernard Kim explains to Gamasutra why America’s most treasured dysfunctional family just might give the company the Smurfs’ Village its portfolio lacks.

When a franchise has aired 500 different episodes on television (and that’s not counting the three years it ran as a series of shorts) and 24 separate video games, figuring out the next move can be tricky.

A big console game is a risk for a licensed property these days. A $2 or $5 iOS game might make an initial splash, but its sustainability is questionable given the constant flood of new titles. But freemium? That’s something The Simpsons hasn’t tried before.

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Sony and Valve: A tale of two hacking responses

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When Sony announced that customer data from its PlayStation Network was accessed by hackers, gamers and the media were furious. So why did Valve seem to get a pass under similar circumstances?

Like a lot of people in the gaming world, I got an interesting email from Gabe Newell last week.

The Steam hacking incident of last November, he said, was worse than they initially thought it was. And while there still was no direct evidence that credit card information had been accessed, a backup file containing that information (albeit encrypted) was obtained by the person or persons who had broken into the system.

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