Facebook Mobile Business Sees Growth

MAY 2, 2013 • Mirroring major consumer entertainment trends noticed elsewhere, Facebook is seeing a rising tide of users accessing the social network via smartphones. As part of its most recent quarterly fiscal financial reporting for the period ending March 31, Facebook disclosed that the number of monthly active users accessing the Facebook mobile platform has grown to 751 million, an increase 54% since the same period in 2012. What’s more, those mobile.....

Amazon Set-Top Box Reported

APRIL 26, 2013 • Given that Amazon.com already streams a catalog of 150,000 movies and TV shows to its Prime service members owning a PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox 360 or Roku device, it comes with little surprise that Bloomberg News is reporting that the online retailer is prepping its own Internet set-top box for release later this year. Amazon representatives have declined to discuss the report. Neither was Bloomberg able to ascertain what business model for mon.....

Satoru Iwata Heads Nintendo of America

APRIL 24, 2013 • In addition to his ongoing duties as the global president of Nintendo Co, Ltd., Satoru Iwata is taking the chief executive reigns at Nintendo of America from Tatsumi Kimishima. The latter is being promoted to managing director at the home office in Kyoto where he will oversee the Corporate Analysis and Administration, and General Affairs divisions. Kimishima has been CEO of the U.S. branch since 2006. Current Nintendo of America president Reggie.....

Capcom Shifts Strategy

APRIL 19, 2013 • Changing consumer preferences in favor of mobile and online game platforms has led Capcom Co., Ltd. to announce a serious restructuring of its product plans. Capcom reviewed its business expansion strategy and restructured its game development organization to account for what it characterized as its own delayed response to the shift to digital media delivery being seen throughout the video game industry. Furthermore, the company admitted a decli.....

Nintendo eShop Gains Traction

APRIL 17, 2013 • During a press conference held in San Francisco, Nintendo of America executive vice president Scott Moffitt said the 3DS title Fire Emblem: Awakening had sold 240,000 units in the U.S. since its Feb. 4 release. Moffitt went on to say that 80,000 of those sales had been digital through Nintendo’s eShop. More than 40,000 of those eShop customers came back to purchase a map pack. Furthermore, Moffitt says 11% of all Nintendo first-party 3DS t.....

Electronic Arts Facebook Games Are Retired

APRIL 15, 2013 • Maxis utilized a post on the EA blog to announce that three Electronic Arts Facebook titles would be shut down on June 14: Sims Social, SimCity Social and Pet Society. The reason for terminating the games was a continued fall off in the number of players and player activity. Electronic Arts will realign its presence on Facebook around games from its PopCap unit. In addition, players of the Maxis games that are closing will receive a special offe.....

Disney Axes LucasArts Game Development

APRIL 3, 2013 • Acquired as part of the $4.05 billion buyout of LucasFilm by the Walt Disney Co. last October, LucasArts’ new owners have decided the game division will no longer internally develop new titles moving forward. The status of new content under development, such as Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault, is unclear as the developers working on the titles have been laid o.....

Total War Arena Coming

MARCH 29, 2013 • The online battle arena segment is getting rather crowded. In addition to Defense of the Ancients (DotA) and League of Legends (LoL), a slew of challengers are in the works. Among the competitive online F2P titles in development are DotA 2 (Valve), Bl.....

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