WB Games Chicago
JULY 17, 2009 • Although many of Midway Games’ Chicago development staff were retained after the auction acquisition by Warner Bros., all of the former’s corporate office employees were laid off. On July 28, the studio was rebranded as WB Games Chicago. Staff at Midway studios in San Diego, Calif.; and Newcastle,.....
Ubisoft Gets Ontario Funds
JULY 6, 2009 • The Canadian provincial government of Ontario is investing $263 million during the next 10 years to help Ubisoft Entertainment set up a game development studio in Toronto. Ubisoft will invest $500 million of its own funds to launch the new studio, which is expected to create 800 jobs by 2019. In addit.....
UFC 2009 Fares Well in Europe
JULY 2, 2009 • UFC 2009 Undisputed has fared well in Europe and stayed on the top 10 in United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Sweden and Finland for several weeks. In several smaller markets such as the Nordic the title has performed better than the local distributor expected. The increasing popularity of the sport and the perfo.....
Q&A: David Roberts & Dennis Ryan – PopCap Games
JUNE 8, 2009 • PopCap Games has one of the best track records in the casual side of the business. Not only has the company thrived online, it’s has successfully taken its top-tier titles such as Bejeweled to PCs, Macs and iPhones.
Only a few years ago such success would have meant little in traditional video game circles where discussion is shaped by core franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Halo and Metal Gear Solid. Perhaps the success of the more mainstream Wii helped change.....
Schilling Buys Big Huge Games
MAY 27, 2009 • Boston Red Sox veteran baseball player Curt Schilling purchased Big Huge Games from THQ Inc. The acquisition is intended to significantly augment Schilling’s own 38 Studios. The latter has an Unreal engine-based MMO titled Copernicus in development. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Impact: Big Huge Games is a top class development shop that simply was not a good fit for THQ, a company that specialized in B grade licensed pro.....
Surviving In An Online World
April 27, 2009 • DFC Intelligence is releasing a series of reports that deal with emerging models in the game industry, built around the opportunities provided by digital distribution and online game play. The most established of these areas are high-end subscription massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). These long established products are now some of the most profitable segments in the entire game industry. However, the evolution of MMOGs has occurred outside what one normally define.....
Brisk Warhammer Sales
MARCH 6, 2009 • THQ got some needed good news with brisk sales of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. The PC title raced ahead to the top of computer game charts, with estimates of selling 300,000 units in the U.S. In the U.K., the game did well enough to come in at No. 3 on the overall sales chart behind Street Fighter IV a.....
