Tag Archives: gamasutra

Behind the Scenes of the Paragon Studios Shutdown

Posted on by

The untold story of the failed attempt to keep City of Heroes going.

Long penelopeyinbefore THQ collapsed and Disney’s shutdown of Warren Spector’s Junction Point Studios, game developers were shocked by NCsoft’s apparent sudden shutdown of City of Heroes developer Paragon Studios.

To outsiders, the Aug. 31 closure seemingly came out of nowhere, affecting 80 employees — many of whom were just as surprised as the rest of the gaming world. But had history zigged instead of zagged, Paragon could still be around today. In fact, say Paragon veterans, up until the last minute, it looked like the company was facing a much different fate.

Read more at Gamasutra

EA’s next steps toward the next-gen

Posted on by

Hope FrankGibeauyou liked what you saw of Frostbite 3 in this week’s reveal of Battlefield 4, because you’re going to be seeing a lot more of it in the next couple of years.

Frank Gibeau, president of EA’s Games Labels division, says the updated version of the proprietary graphics engine will be one of the centerpieces of the company’s push into the next generation of console games.

Read more at Gamasutra

Who shot JR? John Riccitiello leaves behind a shaky legacy at EA

Posted on by

It’s riccitiellolggoing to be a while before the dust settles on Monday’s executive shakeup at Electronic Arts. And the debate is likely going to last a lot longer than that.

John Riccitiello’s departure Monday afternoon from the company he steered for the past six years certainly wasn’t filled with warm fuzzies. The press release was filled with boilerplate comments and a lack of any real information or affection. And the slipped-in sentence that the company would report earnings at the low end of guidance – or even possibly below it – certainly didn’t add any fondness to the farewell.

Read more at Gamasutra

Does a Zynga-Yahoo! merger make sense?

Posted on by

Zynga zynga-logoshares soared Monday, after an analyst’s report mentioned the social game maker was a possible candidate for a takeover — by Yahoo!, of all companies.

Wunderlich Securities’ Blake Harper got the ball rolling, noting that while Yahoo! has been reported to be sniffing around Yelp and OpenTable, Zynga (along with Tumblr and FourSquare) would be a good match as well.

Read more at Gamasutra

Investors double down on Zynga’s gambling ambitions

Posted on by

Not zynga-logotoo long ago, Zynga looked like a video game company that was dabbling in the gambling world. But more and more, it’s looking like the reverse might be true, with the type of gaming most closely associated with Las Vegas and Atlantic City moving to the forefront.

It’s no secret that Zynga’s stock has fallen far below its initial offering price. Lately, though, shares have seen two significant bumps–an 8 percent climb Monday and 10 percent climb on Feb 8. In both circumstances, it was the possible legalization of online gambling that drove the climbs.

Read more at Gamasutra

Analysis: Sony looks to PS4 to reverse its fortunes

Posted on by

What ps4logodoes tonight’s announcement of the PlayStation 4 spell for Sony’s next-gen fortunes? Chris Morris takes a look at what has been promised — and ignored — and predicts what it means for the platform holder’s future.

The reveal was just the beginning.

Sony’s unveiling of the PlayStation 4 Wednesday was the start of a long, carefully planned marketing campaign that will culminate in its release this holiday season. And while the company might be focusing gamer attentions on the new hardware, the touchscreen controller and several big name games, what’s really at stake is a whole lot bigger.

Read more at Gamasutra

Ubisoft now selling competitors’ games through Uplay expansion

Posted on by

Ubisoft uplayis opening up its closed gate community to other publishers. Effective immediately, Uplay, the company’s digital distribution service, will begin selling games from competing publishers – including Electronic Arts and Warner Bros.

The cooperative deal, which will also see Ubisoft games appear on EA’s Origin distribution service, is meant to broaden the avenues for players to find games and expand points of sale for game makers.

Read more at Gamasutra

Why GTA V’s delay could cause an industry-wide ripple effect

Posted on by

So gtavRockstar delayed another game. Is anyone really, truly surprised by that?

In my nearly 20 years covering video games, Take-Two’s crown jewel has missed more initial deadlines than I can count, but that hasn’t stopped them from knocking it out of the park more times than they’ve whiffed. This delay, though, could have a more notable impact on the industry than previous postponements.

Read more at Gamasutra

GameStop positions itself to survive in a growing digital age

Posted on by

In gamestop longan industry where sales are increasingly going digital, GameStop is at a crossroads.

Traditional brick and mortar isn’t going away anytime soon – and used game sales are still a viable force. But day one digital purchase options are becoming more and more frequent on consoles and DLC is one of the fastest growing segments in the industry.

To adapt, the retailer has been in the process of pivoting for a while now. And Brad Schliesser, director of digital content for GameStop, says the efforts are paying off.

Read more at Gamasutra

Oculus Rift prepares to ship 10,000 dev kits

Posted on by

While oculuslargeit has popped up at trade shows here and there for the better part of the past seven months, the Oculus Rift has only been in the hands of three groups for more than a few minutes: id Software, Valve Software and the team at Oculus itself.

That all changes in March, when the company plans to ship out some 10,000 developer kits. And while a lot of those will end up in the hands of eager fans who won’t quite know what to do with them, Oculus is hoping the ones who do will move the virtual reality headset into the fast lane.

Read more at Gamasutra