Tag Archives: gamasutra

Analysis: THQ revamps its business strategy a few years too late

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THQ’s announcement Wednesday morning that it was abandoning the kids’ licensed video game industry shouldn’t really have come as a surprise to anyone who has been watching the company lately, but it’s still a move that’s going to alter the structure of the industry.

While it has desperately been trying to change its image for years, THQ is still largely known for its kiddie games. That is, after all, what happens when your company builds its fortunes on titles for the toddler set. The decision to shed that facet of its identity might be coming too late to have a dramatic impact, though.

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Analysis: THQ’s financial troubles may get worse before they get better

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It may be the industry’s fourth-largest third-party publisher, but with financial woes and no inspiring product schedule to alleviate them, THQ could be facing a possible NASDAQ delisting.

THQ just can’t catch a break these days.

While whispers of the company canceling its entire 2014 lineup were quickly discounted by the company, it can’t deny the dire state of its stock.

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CES: ePawn’s Arena a bit of Skylanders, a bit of board gaming

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Activision proved there was a market for small, real-world items interacting with a virtual environment with its toy-based video game Skylanders. Now a French technology company is hoping to expand on that idea.

ePawn is demonstrating a new technology — called the Arena — at this week’s Las Vegas-based Consumer Electronics Show, which it hopes to ship to retail by this holiday. And it’s something of a doozy.

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ESA and SOPA: Between a rock and a hard place

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The Stop Online Piracy Act is front and center in the headlines again, as opponents to the legislation shine the spotlight on companies and organizations supporting the bill, giving the ESA one massive headache.

It can’t be a lot of fun working at the ESA these days.

SOPA – the Stop Online Piracy Act – is front and center in the headlines again, as opponents to the legislation shine the spotlight on companies and organizations supporting the bill. That, predictably, has whipped up the forces of Anonymous and other shadow groups, who are calling for DDoS attacks and other forms of public shame.

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Gamasutra Best Of 2011: Top 5 Disappointments

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[From First Amendment rights to high-quality games, 2011 was a great year for video games. But not everything was rainbows and unicorns. Gamasutra’s Chris Morris looks at some of the year’s low points.]

2011 was a great year for gaming. There’s really no debating that.

After years of being a political pinata, it finally received indisputable First Amendment protections. It had one of the strongest title lineups in recent memory. And new types of interactive entertainment started to show signs of maturity.

But into every life — or year, in this case — a little rain must fall. Here are five things we really wish had been handled better (or differently) this year:

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The Worst Things To Happen To Games In 2011 (According To Analysts)

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[From layoffs to the rise of freemium/smartphone gaming, several analysts share their biggest game industry disappointments and unhappy trends of the year with Gamasutra.]

Analysts, by nature, are critical beings, so having heard their thoughts on the best things to happen in the gaming industry this year, we definitely wanted to hear what they thought had gone wrong.

Retail sales are set to record their third consecutive year of declines, after all – and while some companies have seen their stock prices rise (congratulations EA!), others continue to lag.  Here’s what Wall Street’s most notable game industry analysts thought went wrong in 2011:

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Zynga’s IPO: What Went Wrong?

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After its first day on the NASDAQ, Zynga’s performance has been less-than-impressive, and Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris takes a moment to figure out exactly what went awry.

Shares in Zynga’s Wall Street debut may have started strong today, but minutes after they began trading, the stock’s pricing chart looked like something that even the most extreme skier would have avoided.

By the time all was said and done, the company was down 5 percent, closing at $9.50 per share (and was down as much as 10 percent at one point during the day), bucking the trend of the year’s other hot internet stocks, like LinkedIn and Groupon — despite the fact that Zynga is profitable, while those companies are not. What went wrong?

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The Best Things To Happen To Games In 2011 (According To Analysts)

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[Looking back at 2011, several analysts discuss the game industry’s best highlights last year with Gamasutra, from the mainstream’s acceptance of mobile gaming to subscription service risks paying off.]

Ask a gamer about the best thing to happen in the video game industry in 2011 and you’re likely to get a title as the answer. That’s natural, since players are generally more concerned about the final product than industry trends.

Ask a Wall Street analyst, though, and that’s not necessarily the first thing that springs to mind. So once again this year, we polled some of the highest profile and most respected industry analysts to get their thoughts about the most exuberant and disappointing events to happen in gaming this year.

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Zynga Shows Street Smarts With IPO Plan

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[Though Zynga’s upcoming $1 billion IPO is lower than expected based on previous reports and market cap valuations, Gamasutra’s Chris Morris explains why the company is playing it smart with its low share prices.]

Five months after announcing its intention to go public, Zynga is about to make the splash, but it’s doing so with a much smaller splash than most people expected back in July.

Back then, when the market was teasing investors with a head fake of stability, analysts, and the financial media (along with most of the gaming industry) expected the company to raise between $1.5 and $2 billion – with an accompanying market cap of $15 billion and $20 billion. But when shares begin trading Dec. 16, the company will only seek $1 billion – and have a maximum market cap of $7 billion.

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Opinion: ESRB Mobile App Initiative Underscores Industry Power Shift

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Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris picks apart the ESRB’s recent push into the mobile app space, and wonders how these ratings will fare without Apple and Android’s support.

While you have to admire the Entertainment Software Ratings Board’s push into the mobile app space, it’s hard not to be disappointed with Tuesday’s joint announcement with CTIA.

Getting AT&T, Microsoft, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless on board is a step, yes, but it’s akin to announcing a new Grand Theft Auto that’s being made by first year game development students. It sounds great, until you think about it for a couple seconds.

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