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The Death of Activision's Guitar Hero became inevitable, but was it avoidable?

February 16, 2011

Analysis of:Activision pulls cord on ‘Guitar Hero’ | www.ft.com

Just three years after the music genre generated over $1.7bn in video game revenues at US retail alone, Activision has declared the genre dead.What went wrong, and what does it mean for the future of Activision?

The future of the games industry? It’s in three parts

October 19, 2010

The games industry is shaking out in an epochal transition every bit as painful as the initial emergence of television was for films.There will be three groups of survivors: a handful of AAA publishers like Activision and EA (although perhaps not Take Two and THQ), a swathe of "social" games companies like Zynga and Bigpoint, and a long tail of small, independent game makers who make a decent living from making games.To get there, a number of companies will probably die.

Hubris, ambition and mismanagement: the first post-mortem of RealTime Worlds

August 19, 2010

Analysis of:Game Over as Realtime Worlds in Administration | www.ft.com

RealTime Worlds raised $104m from NEA, Maverick Capital and WPP. It spent it out on building APB, a massively multiplayer online game for the GTA generation. Two months after launch the company folded, having sold only 10,000 copies in the US.What went wrong, and what lessons can we learn from the failure of RealTime Worlds?

Disney buys Playdom, but will its IPs work in social games?

July 28, 2010

Analysis of:The Walt Disney Company to Acquire Social Gaming Company Playdom | corporate.disney.go.com

The acquisition of Playdom by Disney is all about exploiting Disney’s IP on social plafforms. But will it work?

Which platform is winning the online war?

July 2, 2010

Analysis of:The online games market was worth $15 billion in 2009, and will grow to $20 billion in 2010 | www.gamesbrief.com

Last week, I wrote about the market forecasts for online games in 2010. I focused on new versus old gaming, and looking at different market sizes.Today, I’d like to look at the market share of the three different console manufacturers, and where Lazard (who provided the forecasts) think they are going.

Online games were worth $15 billion in 2009, and will grow to $20 bn in 2010

June 28, 2010

How much is the online games industry worth?It’s a tough question, and is plagued by a difficulty of definitions. For example, Inside Social Games estimates that only half of the $1.6 billion they forecast to be spent in the US in 2010 on virtual goods will come from social games. The rest comes from casual games, free-to-play MMOs and also include goods from virtual worlds that are not really games at all.So how big will the market really be?

Americans are so Narrow Minded - a GDC report

March 17, 2010

The Games Developer Conference 2010 was focused on "social games" and the iPhone. There was little mention of the dozens of successful browser-based game companies in Europe, Korea and China. Nor of other smartphone platforms such as Android, Ovi, Blackberry and others.In their haste to back the winners, US companies and investors are leaving massive seams of business potential untapped. Which is a huge opportunity, and European and Asian companies are racing to fill the gap.

Chinese games companies have shown the West the future of games

December 12, 2009

Analysis of:China games sector on quest to innovate | www.ft.com

Asian games companies (particularly in Korea and China) have led the way in creating innovative online business models. They have tackled major issues including piracy, the high cost of consoles and low disposable incomes to create a growing, profitable business.The idea that they need to change their business models to reflect those in the West is preposterous. It is Western companies who need to change, and fast.

Murdoch’s plans to cut off Google will increase his revenue

November 23, 2009

Analysis of:Microsoft and News Corp eye web pact | www.ft.com

Rupert Murdoch has taken aim at Google for “stealing his content”. Google has riposted by saying that news content “is not a big part of how we generate revenue”. Observers have argued that Murdoch doesn’t get the Internet and will destroy his own business. But maybe he just gets it better than we do.

Sony's new televisions spell the end of the console and set-top box

November 20, 2009

Analysis of:Sony to create ‘evolving TVs’ | www.ft.com

Sony has announced plans for a television service that evolves.In the Financial Times today, Sony CEO and Chairman Sir Howard Stringer said “Sony will have a one-to-one relationship with … customers to offer subscription services, cloud storage of personal content as well as unique entertainment”And that will all be based around the television. Does this mean the beginning of the end for the PlayStation?I think so.

Acquiring Playfish for $400 million is a great deal for Electronic Arts

November 11, 2009

Analysis of:EA to pay $275m cash for Playfish | www.ft.com

Playfish, the fast-growing social gaming company that was founded only two years ago, has been acquired by Electronic Arts for $275 million in stock, $25 million in equity compensation and $100 million in earnout.And it's still a cheap acquisition for EA, the former giants of the games industry who have recently lost their way and in the process of reinventing themselves.

Handheld Consoles Are the Next Target for An Aggressive Apple

September 12, 2009

Analysis of:Steve Jobs Takes Aim At Competitors | www.forbes.com

Apple’s iPhone has swept the field to become the must-have smartphone. Steve Jobs has now taken aim at the lucrative handheld gaming market. The implications will be profound for Sony and Nintendo who will need to innovate not just to retain market leadership but in order to have a handheld business at all.

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