Speaking with Gamasutra, GameStop has revealed that it has so far sold 600,000 premium memberships to Activision's stat-tracking and social platform, Call of Duty Elite.
Activision Blizzard Inc. said Tuesday that its third-quarter net income nearly tripled thanks to strong demand for its video games. The company also raised its full-year outlook on the heels of Tuesday's launch of its latest "Call of Duty" blockbuster.
Dutch adult entertainment star and - apparently - avid gamer Kim Holland was uninvited from a VIP Call of Duty bash after Activision discovered what she does for a living.
Bobby Kotick is one of the biggest figures in the video game business. He’s beloved by investors for taking over Activision Inc. in 1991 and turning it into a huge success; his most hard-core customers are sometimes less fond, demonizing him for focusing on blockbuster franchises and extracting profits.
It's a Modern Warfare 3 joke site littered with pro-Battlefield 3 propaganda, trolling fans of the former first-person shooter or anyone sensitive enough to take the bait, and now Activision wants it shut down--so much so that it's filed a domain name dispute with the National Arbitration Forum. The NAF describes itself as a litigation alternative, and specializes in domain name dispute resolution.
In an amended complaint obtained by GameSpot, ex-Infinity Ward execs Jason West and Vince Zampella added two counts of fraud to their suit against Activision. The two gentlemen have alleged that the publisher entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in March 2008, prior to Acitvision's merger with Vivendi. This contract was created to "address issues of significant concern to West and Zampella, particularly in the area of creative authority over the Modern Warfare games and the creation of a look, feel, and brand for the Modern Warfare games."
Activision has registered four domain names for something called GoldenEye Reloaded, as uncovered by Twitter detective Superannuation. The domains include goldeneyereloadedgame.com and goldeneye007gamereloaded.com.
Activision Blizzard says its first-quarter net income and revenue grew, helped by strong demand for digital offerings such as downloadable content for the popular "Call of Duty" games.
Speaking to investors during an earnings call yesterday, Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick said that during the first quarter of 2011, 50 percent of his company's $1.4 billion in revenue was derived from digital sources, lending even more credence to the idea that the gaming market is quickly moving away from the traditional "packaged goods" model.
Bobby Kotick may not be the most well-liked executive in the industry, drawing fan ire as the head of Activision Blizzard for years now, but it's always fun to hear him trash talk his rivals.
Nintendo's release of its 3DS portable console hasn't gotten off to a good sales start here in the US. Now the console is dealing with a new issue as Amazon.com has posted word that it is no longer selling the Nintendo 3DS directly from the online retailer.
In 2009, 81 percent of revenue from portable game software belonged to Sony and Nintendo, but the pair's cut has since dwindled to an estimated 42 percent this year. This information comes to us from an analysis by Flurry Analytics.
Anonymous is now dedicating itself to Sony, according to an open letter allegedly from the infamous hacking group known for its WikiLeaks-related attacks last year.
Reports have emerged that Apple has poached two PR executives from gaming giants Nintendo and Activision in a continued push to establish iOS as a dominant gaming platform.
Applied Micro Circuits, a company known for networking chips and for dabbling a bit in embedded PowerPC processors, has aimed a haymaker of an ARM server chip right at the cloudy jaws of Intel and AMD.
Given its history, this was hardly a sneak attack: the latest entrant in the Call of Duty franchise, Modern Warfare 3, has set a record for launch-day sales.
In the wake of the attacks made within Norway during July 2011, the Australian Christian Lobby has called for the banning of videogames, should they contain "gratuitous or excessive" amounts of violence. Their demands have been made after the discovery of the rambling manifesto 2083: The Dawn of European Independence, supposedly written by the suspected perpetrator of the attacks that left over 70 people dead. The absurd manifesto, totaling over 1,500 pages, speaks of how to train in order to fight for "European independence". The suspect in the investigation, Anders Behring Breivik, spoke of the enjoyment he received from videogames, as GamePolitics reports.
You don’t need to look very far back to understand how Call of Duty: Black Ops was one of the most popular games of 2010. The Treyarch-developed FPS was the most popular Xbox Live game of 2011, managing to keep a top three place in the charts even AFTER Modern Warfare 3 was released. Treyarch is due to take the Duty reins once again in 2012, but will the game be Black Ops 2?
This week, Call of Duty: Black Ops became the best-selling game of all time - in the US at least - selling 13.7m units across all platforms in the five months since release.
The state of California agreed to pay $950,000 -- collected from taxpayers -- to the Entertainment Software Association to reimburse legal fees spent on fighting last year's failed video game law.
Activision lays out Modern Warfare 3 DLC release schedule for premium subscribers; plan calls for 12 new maps, six missions, and two modes through September.
Wedbush's Michael Pachter gives new Call of Duty subscription service a thumbs-up, expects Activision to eventually introduce an auction house, EA to charge for Battlefield's Battlelog.
More details are being revealed about Call of Duty Elite, the newly announced social networking service for fans of Activision's first person shooter series. The service was officially announced on Tuesday after months of rumors and will feature both free and subscription based services. One of the features of the paid version, according to the Guardian, is a video web series based on the Call of Duty franchise.
Activision has unleashed a new companion app for you all you Call of Duty fans out there. The new mobile app -- Call of Duty: Elite ties into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and pulls information from all your recent matches and more:
Any second now, I’m expecting to hear the first day sales numbers for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which are likely going to set a new world record for not only the video game industry, but any industry. The last title in the franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops, sold a record 7 million copies on day one, bringing in over $360 million in under 24 hours for Activision.
It's hard to believe, but it has been 15 years since Capcom first released a game carrying the Resident Evil name. In that time period we've seen 32 games released in the series across platforms including the PlayStation, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, GameCube, PC, PSP, DS, 3DS, Nintendo 64, iOS, Saturn, Dreamcast and other mobile platforms.
The shut down of Sony's Playstation Network is approaching the three week mark and its becoming clear that the online PS3 console service's down time will cost Sony tons of money in both the short and long term. But it's not just Sony that's being affected. Other game publishers who use the network for things like online multiplayer services, downloadable content, demos and videos are also unable to use the service.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to let California regulate the sale or rental of violent video games to children, saying governments do not have the power to "restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed" despite complaints about graphic violence.
Undead outerspace thriller, Dragon Age II, Crysis 2 each ship over 2 million; company posts quarterly profit of $151 million, annual loss of $276 million.
Publishing giant EA has continued its battle with Activision over who makes the best 'real world' first-person shooter game by releasing its next title at the same time as its arch nemesis' next offering is out.
EA is facing court action after unhappy fans accused the publisher of reneging on a promise to include a free copy of Battlefield 1943 with the PlayStation 3 version of Battlefield 3.
The final member of the original Xbox development team at Microsoft has decided to leave the company. The Seattle Times reports that Otto Berkes announced on Tuesday that he was resigning from Microsoft after 18 years of working at the company. Berkes was among a group of four team members who convinced Microsoft to launch a game console that would compete with Sony's Playstation business along with Nintendo's game console franchise.
G5 Entertainment AB, the leading publisher and developer of time management and casual games for Apple's mobile platforms, today announced the highlights for its Q2 in 2011.
The gaming business has grown to such massive proportions that there are now multiple Game Developers Conferences worldwide. Still, the San Francisco edition of GDC is the granddaddy of them all, and this year marks the 25th anniversary of the show that began in Chris Crawford's living room as the Computer Game Developer's Conference.
GameStop on Thursday morning reported revenue for its fiscal third quarter ended October 29 of $1.95 billion, up 2.5% from a year ago, and about in line with the Street at $1.96 billion. EPS was 39 cents a share, in line with the Street consensus.
Top game retailer banks $80.4 million during Feb.-Apr.; Pokemon Black & White, Mortal Kombat, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Homefront pegged as best sellers.
GameStop Corp said holiday sales increased slightly as sales of new video game software from PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 titles such as "Call of Duty 3" and "Elder Scrolls V" offset a 20 percent drop in hardware sales.
So how many of you jumped into Modern Warfare 3 immediately? More importantly, how many of you took time off of work today to play? Before you feel guilty, check out some other gaming news.
If you were a child in the 1990s with an ounce of geekiness in you, you read GamePro. Its review score smiley faces and staff writer avatars spelled out what games you'd be begging mom to buy, and its ProTips ensured high praise from friends while you huddled around the nearest Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis.
While searching around the Internet to find information the future of the Xbox, I stumbled across an internal video dated May 2010 which showcases some of the WGX (Windows Gaming eXperience) team's ambitions for next-generation gaming between Windows, Xbox Live, and mobile platform. For those of you who are unfamiliar, WGX is an internal Microsoft team comprised of all gaming-related endeavors between all of Microsoft's platforms.
Apple's iOS-based devices are helping many retailers bolster their bottom lines, but who'd have thought that they would also benefit a boutique game retailer?
Over a month after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that laid waste to a large swath of northeastern Japan, the nation's game industry is starting to show signs of going back to normal. Still, the disaster exacted a serious toll on hardware and software makers. Enterbrain, publishers of Famitsu in Japan, estimated the total financial damage so far at 7.33 billion yen, or about $89.1 million -- and according to at least one analyst, that figure could go up sharply if console manufacturers like Nintendo and Sony have trouble getting their factories back online.
Stat-tracking firm reports dour results as total revenues slip 26 percent to $707.7 million last month; NCAA Football leads software, Xbox 360 tops consoles.
Japanese publisher reports $224 million net income during April-Dec. period as sales climb 3% to $2.55 billion; social gains offsetting console/handheld declines.
Metal Gear Solid publisher reports $218 million in consumer games revenues for first half of fiscal year, $216 million in skyrocketing social and mobile revenues.
Today we're proud to officially announce that Max Payne 3, the highly-anticipated dark and gritty action experience that continues the tale of former New York City detective Max Payne, will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 on May 15, 2012 in North America and May 18, 2012 in Europe, with the PC version launching on May 29th, 2012 in North America and June 1st, 2012 in Europe.
Activision announced today that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has earned one billion dollars in its first sixteen days on sale. This beats the record of James Cameron's film Avatar, which crossed the billion dollar mark in seventeen days back in 2010.
Activision's next best seller, Modern Warfare 3, has barely been announced, yet already the hype machine is in full throttle. A series of short MW3 teasers released this week, gave fans their first look at what to expect from the game - and immediately caused outrage.
To paraphrase, it doesn't take the most powerful nations on earth to create the next global conflict--nope, just some skyscrapers-go-boom-now developers, channeling contemporary doomsayers.
I can understand a studio and a brand attempting to work together to figure out some sort of reasonable ad campaign for an upcoming game, as there's nothing inherently wrong with that concept. Product placement or cross promotion is nothing new in the industry, but this new collaboration between Pepsi and Activision is nothing short of unholy.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 -- the latest in a long line of award-winning, best-selling series of games -- has now been on sale for over 24 hours, and you’ll be unsurprised to hear that MW3, according to Activision, has enjoyed the largest first-day sales in history. Across the world, 1.5 million gamers lined up outside 13,000 stores to buy a copy at midnight -- and judging by the reviews, it was well worth it.
Nintendo's price cut for the 3DS seems to be working, with the glasses-free handheld console topping sales charts in the U.S. and Japan, but will it last?
Nintendo Co Ltd posted a sharp drop in quarterly profit and forecast a bigger-than-expected full-year loss, its first at an operating level, as it battles a strong yen and its games devices lose ground to gadgets such as Apple's iPhone.
Nintendo launched its 3DS portable console earlier this year with the main new feature being its 3D graphics that don't need glasses to view. Now a US-Japan company is claiming that Nintendo has violated its patents concerning that particular features. According to Patent Arcade, the company doing the suing is Tomita Technologies. The lawsuit itself was filed on June 22 in New York.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata concerned 3DS price drop could damage early adopter trust, explains approach to microtransactions, mobile gaming, and more.
In a GamesIndustry.biz interview published today, Dan Winters, Activision vice president of developer relations, said that the Guitar Hero franchise is simply "on hiatus."
The OnLive streaming cloud-based gaming service is in talks with both Sony and Microsoft about bring its technology to the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. This revelation comes from an interview at Computer and Video Games with OnLive vice president of engineering Joe Bentley who states, "Absolutely, they would make great consoles. Our controller is a hybrid between a PS3 controller and an Xbox controller. It's all compatible, it would just work. There are OnLive guys chatting [Sony and MS], but we'll see where it goes. But it would absolutely work, we're ready to work with everybody."
A member of the MyCrysis community has found a listing on the Korean Games Rating Board for a possible Xbox 360 port of the original Crysis.According to the listing, the game will be published by EA Korea. A PS3 version was not mentioned.
Preorders and first-run copies of Activision action game to include voucher for weekly scheduled content drops of in-game abilities, events, challenges, and avatar items.
Rumors flew in late June that Electronic Arts was in late stage discussions to acquire casual gaming stalwart PopCap Games for an eyebrow-raising $1 billion. As it would turn out, those rumors weren't far off.
Happy Birthday, Sonic! To celebrate the 20 years that have passed since Sonic first sped into living rooms the world over, SEGA of America, Inc. today announced a sale on all Sonic the Hedgehog digital titles currently available for PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Marketplace for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Downloadable titles and add-ons including Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 and Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing will be available from 33--50% off!
Parent company Sega Sammy's sales, profits tumble as games biz misses all expectations; Captain America sells 450,000 as Rise of Nightmares scares up 200,000 sold.
Gaming stocks such as Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard and GameStop plunged after the disclosure by a NPD Group report that retail video gaming sales declined by 21% in December 2011 compared to that in December 2010.
A game developer that has been making games exclusively for Sony's Playstation consoles for a while now is now officially a part of Sony's developer family. MSNBC.com reports that Sony has acquired Sucker Punch Productions, the Bellevue, Washington based game developer that ironically was founded by former Microsoft team members back in 1997. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sucker Punch is now the 16th internal game developer that's owned by Sony.
It looks like Sony may be going to court, and we're not talking once, or thrice, but 55 times over. Yep, the company's facing a whopping 55 lawsuits in the U.S. alone, reports Reuters, each one related to the massive PlayStation Network data breach that initiated a service blackout that lasted for nearly a month.
Sony spent a fair bit of time at last week's IFA press conference assuring the press and consumers that it's doing its darnedest to stay on top of the security issues that have plagued it over the past year. It's hard to imagine a move more representative of such a stance than the hiring of a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security official.
Sony's Playstation division generated solid profits even as the main company suffered a huge loss for its last fiscal year. Sony officially announced its financial results for the year this morning and according to VG247.com the Playstation portion of Sony had revenues of $19.2 billion for the entire fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2011. The Playstation division showed a profit of $435.3 million for the fiscal year.
Action, RPG games help publisher post 175 percent year-over-year rise to $65.78 million for last nine months of 2011; net sales down slightly to $1.2 billion.
A study led by a Brigham Young University exercise scientist found that middle-schoolers playing active video games such as Wii Boxing and Playstation's Dance Dance Revolution experienced moderate to vigorous exercise consistent with current physical activity recommendations.
It's a tough market in today's video game landscape, and no one knows that better recently than THQ. The company has seen plummeting profits and in turn, massive layoffs to try and stabilize, and now a new bit of news is taking the company from bad to worse.
The pile on by customers and others due to the cyber attacks on Sony's Playstation Network continues. According to Gamasutra, a Toronto law firm has filed a lawsuit against Sony, asking for damages in excess of $1 billion as a result of the attack that exposed the personal info of tens of millions of Playstation Network users.
In the remaining hours before Activision’s ‘Modern Warfare 3' detonates like an EMP blast, functionally obliterating any meaningful analysis of games sales until things calm down a little, there has been a brief interlude to focus on the two big releases out just ahead of it. Electronic Arts’ ‘Battlefield 3' is a stake in the ground - EA’s stand-up competitor to the Modern Warfare juggernaut. It won’t outsell it by a long shot, but it has already performed more than respectably.
The last month has seen a grinding process of intense marketing and hype-building, followed by the release of three "threquels" -- 'Modern Warfare 3', 'Battlefield 3' and 'Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception'. Which of these games is objectively the best will preoccupy the Internet for quite some time.
A study led by a Brigham Young University exercise scientist found that middle-schoolers playing active video games such as Wii Boxing and Playstation's Dance Dance Revolution experienced moderate to vigorous exercise consistent with current physical activity recommendations.
Vivendi SA raised $427 million selling a stake in Activision Blizzard Inc., reducing its holding in the world's largest video-game publisher to 60 percent, people familiar with the sale said.
KingsIsle Entertainment's kid-friendly game Wizard101 might not get as much buzz as older-skewing MMORPGs like Activision Blizzard's World of Warcraft. But users are paying attention.
World of Warcraft's eventual demise, at least as we currently know it, was probably inevitable. Even the most storied massively-multiplayer games have shelf lives. So to hear that Activision Blizzard lost around 800,000 subscribers in its latest quarter--a drop from 11.1 million to 10.3 million subs worldwide--shouldn't be a jaw-dropper. The game will be seven years old in just a few weeks, and it's been hemorrhaging players since October 2010, bringing total losses the past 12 months to around two million. Whether the decline continues as sharply or slows to a less precipitous bleed or the game even rebounds slightly when its next expansion arrives, the writing's on the wall.
After over six years of subscriber growth, Blizzard mega-popular fantasy MMO World of Warcraft may have reached plateaus. During the financial conference call on Monday for Blizzard's parent company Activision Blizzard it was announced that currently World of Warcraft has 11.4 million subscribers. That's a downturn of Blizzard's previously announced high number of 12 million subscribers back in October of 2010.
While video game pundits will endlessly debate which of the three major video game hardware makers--Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony--"won" the recent E3 press conferences battle, there can be no doubt which product came out ahead in the most recent month. By winning the month of May, Microsoft's Xbox 360 has now outsold the Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation for the 11th month in a row. That's a pretty impressive achievement given the age of the console, which is a year older than its competitors.