Zynga, 
to many investors, is a cautionary tale.
In the months preceding its 2011 IPO, some analysts estimated the company to have a market cap of $15 billion to $20 billion. At the last minute, that was dropped to $7 billion. And the company’s shares quickly took a dive after trading commenced. Today, the company’s market cap sits at less than $3 billion.
Just 
as video game publishers and console makers are getting used to the disruption Apple and Google brought to the industry, another shake-up might be looming.
Amazon, which previously only sniffed around the edges of the gaming world, seems to be positioning itself to become a much bigger player. The only question is: When?
The 
next generation of consoles is starting to shake up the sales charts.
With the release of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, there’s a new mid-year sales leader in the videogame industry—and it’s not Call of Duty for a change.
This year’s list, in fact, is full of changes—perhaps none so remarkable as the strong showing of Lego. A pair of games based on the children’s toys are among the top-selling titles so far in 2014. And Minecraft, the little indie game that became a juggernaut (selling over 15 million copies life-to-date), has shoved some familiar franchises off the list.
Video 
game hardware is hot once again. The games themselves? That’s a murkier picture.
Retail sales of game systems are up 51 percent in 2014 compared with a year ago, according to data from The NPD Group. Excitement over Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One and the potential of the next generation has revived interest in console games, which is welcome news for traditional gaming companies.
Last 
year, gamers had a pair of new consoles to get excited about. This year, the video game industry is hoping to maintain that excitement with a crop of some of its biggest game franchises.
If E3 2013 was about hardware, E3 2014 is centered on software. But as traditional game makers flex their muscles, there are plenty of upstarts at next week’s trade show looking to steal that thunder.
Apple 
sells music. Jimmy Iovine makes music. So Apple Records makes sense, right? Except few actually think it will happen.
Beats co-founders Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young are extraordinarily well-connected with artists, and Apple is the music industry’s largest retailer. Combining those forces to create a content distribution hub could boost Apple’s bottom line income on iTunes and guarantee it a position in the fast-evolving music industry.
There’s 
going to be a lot of deja vu at this year’s Code Conference, put on by our partners at Re/code.
Anyone who attended the groundbreaking D: All Things Digital conferences over the past 11 years will recognize the high-powered lineup of senior executives. And the conversations about the impact of technology on our daily lives might seem familiar. But looming over this inaugural event is the shadow of another recognizable tech world presence: A possible bubble in tech valuations.
One 
of the video game industry’s highest profile publishers is accusing Oculus of stealing its intellectual property to create the Rift virtual reality headset.
ZeniMax Media filed suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Dallas, saying Oculus and founder Palmer Luckey “commercially exploited” ZeniMax computer code and trade secrets for their own gain. And it was that software that led to the $2 billion purchase of Oculus by Facebook in March.
The 
right app won’t make or break a start-up, of course, but it can make the lives of the people behind those businesses a lot easier.
Entrepreneurs, by and large, live fast-paced, chaotic lives, where decisions have to be made quickly and inspiration can come in the most unlikely of places. They live and die by their smartphones and tablets, so it helps to have those equipped with apps that can make the most of every minute, in turn helping their businesses grow.
Here are 10 apps many entrepreneurs swear by. The best part: Most are free.
The 
idea that someone can become rich by mugging for a Webcam or recording themselves doing things millions of other people do might seem ludicrous to some people, but the number of YouTube millionaires is on the rise.
Many of the site’s biggest stars, in fact, are millionaires several times over. Some put together elaborate comedy routines. Some have found a unique way to make money by playing video games. And others simply play with toys.
Chris Morris: Journalist 