TechCrunch writer Kim-Mai Cutler and Benchmark Capital general partner Mitch Lasky recently wrote two insightful pieces on venture investment in games (here and here) – both expressing some degree of skepticism of venture capital models for funding game startups. I agree venture funding is not for every game startup, and certainly not every game startup makes for a great venture investment. → Read More
E3 was wild and loud, and Sony seemed to rise while Microsoft fell low. Yet it doesn’t really change anything as regards the long-term future of big budget consoe games. With costs continuing to escalate and the break-even point passing 5,6 or 10 million copies, the next generation will be the last for some. → Read More
Back in March, I wrote about how Heyzap was introducing advertising to its mobile gaming platform. Now co-founder Jude Gomila says the company has become a significant player in mobile advertising.
Specifically, Gomila sent along the chart showing the growth in publishers running Heyzap ads and the corresponding growth in ad impressions over the past six months. You can’t tell exactly where… → Read More
It was a big week in gadgets, and thus, a big TC Gadgets podcast it shall be. This week, we discuss developments at E3, including Xbox One and PS4 pricing, the death of Nokia’s Symbian OS, and of course, WWDC.
Will you buy a PS4 or an Xbox One? Does despair fill you from nose to navel when you remember the good old days of Symbian? Is the new iOS 7 design repelling, attractive, or some bizarre… → Read More
Here’s an example of a company using Optimizely‘s A/B testing tools for a high-profile game launch.
The startup, which recently raised a $28 million Series A, is releasing a case study today about how Electronic Arts used Optimizely to boost preorders for the new version of SimCity. Prior to the SimCity launch (and before all of that launch’s attendant problems) EA division Maxis was trying to… → Read More
It was but two weeks ago that Dots, the highly addictive connect-the-dots-style betaworks-backed game, migrated the app to the iPad and added multiplayer support. Today, however, the company has a brand new update that may address some of your woes on the iPad.
The update lets users zoom to 1.5X or 3X the game view, so that the gameboard and the dots fill out more, or all, of the screen real… → Read More
King, the decade-old gaming company that staged a surprising revival through the iPhone and its hit Candy Crush Saga, is abandoning advertising as a source of revenue. Going forward, they’ll be relying solely on virtual currency. (But really, it’s not like they need advertising at this point.) “We’ve grown very fast over the last year. The business model has changed because… → Read More
Now that China has surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest smartphone market, it’s no surprise that many developers are intrigued by the prospect of a country that may have 500 million devices in circulation by the end of next year. Because of that, plenty of companies like Yodo1, iDreamSky and CocoaChina have cropped up to help advise studios on how to navigate the unique… → Read More
Apple’s developer bits are generally the bigger picture story that comes out of WWDC, and some details are slowly emerging about those 1,500 or so new APIs Apple has added for devs to take advantage of. Some of the better news is around new gaming technologies, which should result in much improved experiences for both gamers and the people creating the games they play. → Read More
Just about eight weeks ago or so, I was on a call with Zynga’s COO David Ko following the company’s first quarter earnings report. Zynga was trying to manage expectations for the coming two quarters by saying it had paused its game slate to re-evaluate every upcoming title on the table. I can’t remember the exact question I asked, but it was something like, “Finland’s… → Read More
Mindy Candy, the U.K. company behind the hugely successful Moshi Monsters adoptable pet monsters kids game, is branching out into animation. Today it’s announced plans to make a series of 52×11 minute episodes based on the most popular characters from its Moshi world platform which is aimed at boys and girls aged 6-12. → Read More
While that other big tech press event soldiers on, Microsoft just recently wound down its E3 media briefing with a long-awaited bit of news: the Xbox One will launch sometime this November, and gamers in the U.S. will have to shell out $499 to get their hands on one.
Don’t live in the U.S.? No problem. Microsoft has said that the console will be available in 21 (currently unspecified) markets… → Read More
Well, Microsoft kicked off its big E3 media briefing today with a big middle finger to rival console player Sony. Starting on July 1, XBOX Live Gold members who still have XBOX 360s will get two free game downloads per month to keep — according to Microsoft SVP Yusuf Mehdi, Assassin’s Creed 2 and Halo 3 will be among the first titles to be available for Gold subscribers. → Read More
Mobile gaming may still be a very hot ticket, but with the recent news from companies like Zynga and Tapjoy of closures an difficulty, it does seem to have become a more difficult landscape. With the costs of user acquisition continuing and a sense that perhaps the customer is not as blind as before, the question of whether mobile gaming has peaked is important to consider. Are we at the top yet? → Read More
Dekko, a San Francisco-based startup that just closed extra funding to build a platform for augmented reality apps, just brought its first title to market with a racing game that has players drive virtual cars across tabletops. OK, so augmented reality, which overlays virtual items or information over the real world through a phone or tablet’s viewfinder, hasn’t really come into its… → Read More
BlueStacks is hoping to take the clear early consumer interest in a home gaming console built with mobile technologies and make that into big business, and today it’s announcing what could become a huge advantage for its GamePop console over other similar offerings. GamePop will support iPhone and iPad apps at launch, in addition to Android titles, making the first such device to tap into Apple’s… → Read More
Payments company Adyen has published the first of a new quarterly index intended to track the evolving landscape of mobile commerce. One notable increase flagged up by the data is the increasing popularity of tablets as a commerce device. The inaugural Adyen Global Mobile Payments Index is based on 10 months of transactions conducted on its platform. → Read More
mOwayduino are programmable Arduino-based robot toys designed to be used in conjunction with apps plus hardware add-ons — creating a rich environment for learning by playing with hardware and software. Or that’s the idea. At the moment, mOwayduino is at the concept/prototyping stage. The Spanish company behind the project is aiming to crowdfund it via Indiegogo. → Read More
Playhaven, a startup that helps mobile game developers monetize their player bases, acquired a small three-person startup called Staq.io to beef up their analytics offerings. The company, which had came out of the TechStars incubator program, had built an analytics product that helps game developers understand how to retain and monetize engaged players. “We quickly saw we had a shared vision… → Read More
Remember the Wikipad? The Android-powered gaming tablet/hefty controller rig combo that was supposed to launch in 2012 before suffering delay after delay? Well, the wait is just about over — the company announced earlier today that the $249 gaming tablet will be available on U.S. store shelves starting on June 11, and that a global launch is being prepped for the summer. → Read More
Earlier today, Zynga announced that it was laying off 18 percent of its global workforce. After the news broke, I spoke to a source with knowledge of the company’s decision-making process to get more details about why Zynga made the cuts and what they mean for its future.
What they said won’t be revelatory if you have been following Zynga’s earnings reports or if you read today’s note from CEO… → Read More
Zynga has confirmed the layoffs via press release, as well as the numbers (520 layoffs or 18 percent of the workforce) reported by AllThingsD.
The company says this was result in $70 million to $80 million in annualized pre-tax savings. Despite those savings, its guidance for its second quarter earnings is a loss between $39 million and $28.5 million.
In a note to employees, CEO Mark Pincus… → Read More
For a device category whose core appeal is supposed to be making games simple, we get complex ambitions, the rush to features and a proposition that increasingly makes no sense. What is a game console supposed to be for? What is its core purpose? How do we deliver core purpose and connect with the root reason for buying into these platforms in the first place? Who will get past the bullshit? → Read More
Crowdstar, the social and mobile gaming company that has built several fashion-focused titles, just picked up another $12 million from existing investors to bring two products to market later this year. As you might expect, both are mobile and Crowdstar CEO Jeffrey Tseng says the company now has a renewed focus on tablets. Competing companies like Finland’s Supercell have made tablet gaming… → Read More
The latest product from BlueStacks, the GamePop Android-powered gaming console, will retail for $129 once it exists its free pre-order offer, which is ongoing and will continue through the end of June, the company announced today. And it will launch with a solid line-up of paid gaming titles for the all-you-can-eat subscription fee of $6.99 per month, thanks to newly announced partnerships with… → Read More
Supercell, the iOS gaming company that raked in $179 million in the first quarter of this year with just 100 employees, is pulling a social gaming veteran onto its board. Kristian Segerstrale, who sold Playfish to EA for more than $300 million and eventually became its executive vice president of digital, is joining Supercell’s board. It’s not a surprise since he was one of the… → Read More
Nextpeer, the mobile gaming network that adds multi-player mode to indie titles, is entering private beta on the Android platform. Although the platform launched about two years ago, it only started picking up momentum in the last few months, growing to 1,000 live games from 100 back in January. They’ve also 10X-ed the number of monthly active users in the network, reaching 8 million from… → Read More
Mojang, the creative force behind Minecraft, is releasing its next title to the public a week from today on June 3rd. The new game is a digital collectible card game, similar in concept to Magic: The Gathering, and therefore a very different beast from the free-form world-building and exploration sim Minecraft. Like Minecraft, it’ll allow users to access the software very early, inviting them to… → Read More
Price and ship date are always the biggest concerns when new gadgets or hardware hits the market, but in the case of the Xbox One, it’s likely to help determine whether the “home entertainment system,” as Microsoft is characterizing it, becomes the category-busting, revolutionary multi-purpose living room command center it’s being billed as, or ends up just another console with niche appeal that… → Read More
Microsoft’s Xbox One presents a big and complicated machine whose primary purpose is a menu layer for watching television. This in an age where living room television is irrelevant. Having bet the farm on this vision, the company looks so out of step as to almost be laughable and has built the digital equivalent of the Spruce Goose. → Read More
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Boston, MA
Berlin, Germany
San Francisco
