HTC Invests in OnLive

FEB. 8, 2011 • Taiwan-based mobile phone manufacturer HTC invested $40 million in cloud streaming game service Onlive Inc. The investment gives HTC 5.3 million preferential shares of OnLive, each share priced at $7.50. The move was speculated to support content for HTC’s .....

Pocket Gems Taps $5 Million in Investment

DEC. 14, 2010 • Developer Pocket Gems, best known for its Tap Farm iPhone game, secured $5 million in investment led by Sequoia Capital. The Tap series of games is free to play and has generated millions of dollars in micro-transaction revenue. Pocket Gems intends to use the funding to expand its engineering team and to develop additional mobile content. Impact: It has only been a year since A.....

Viacom to Sell Harmonix

NOV. 12, 2010 • After reporting that its profit dropped 59% in the most recent quarter, Viacom Inc. said it would sell its Harmonix game division.  Harmonix is best known for creating the Rock Band franchise.  The music segment became over-saturated with sequels and related hardware by 2010, leading to declining consumer interest in such titles. Viacom’s game unit lost about $65 million the company disclosed in a conference call. “The console-games.....

ZeniMax Acquires Tango Gameworks

OCT. 28, 2010 • Fresh off of receiving a $150 million round of investment from Providence Equity Partners, ZeniMax Media is back on the acquisition hunt. Shinji Mikami’s Japanese studio Tango Gameworks was snapped up for an undisclosed amount. Mikani is best known as one of the creators of the Resident Evil franchise. Within a week the company had also acquired Swedish developer Machinegames, which was promptly renamed to ZeniMax Sweden. .....