More Rovio Layoffs

AUG. 26, 2015 • More than a third of Rovio Entertainment Ltd.’s workforce will be laid off during the next six weeks to streamline costs. The Angry Birds maker plans to lay off 230 employees in Finland and another 30 overseas. The only projects not seeing staff cuts are employees in th.....

Tencent Second Quarter Game Revenue

AUG. 14, 2015 • Tencent Holdings Ltd. continues to be a leader in PC online games and is increasingly looking to grow its presence in the competitive mobile game business. Surprisingly, Tencent second quarter growth in mobile games revenue was somewhat stagnant. Compared to the first quarter, online computer games saw revenue of 12.97 billion yuan ($2 billion), showing year-over-year growth of 17% compared to 28% during the first quarter. However, smartphone gam.....

Van Caneghem Goes Mobile

MAY 28, 2015 • Best known as the co-creator of the Heroes of Might & Magic franchise, and more recently co-founding Trion Worlds, Inc., Jon Van Caneghem has launched his latest studio: VC Mobile Ent. The new development operation has already secured $4.5 million in Series A funding led by Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Pacific Sky Investments. The studio was launched in 2014 in stealth mode with work already in progress on its first yet-to-be-named title set fo.....

Sony Unloads Sony Online Eentertainment

FEB. 2, 2015 • With a projected ¥230 billion ($2 billion) loss looming for the fiscal year ending March 31, Sony Corporation has sold its Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) business to Columbus Nova. Financial terms were not disclosed. In December 2010, Columbus Nova set up Harmonix-SBE Holdings to acquire Harmonix Music Systems from Viacom Inc. in December 2010. In that deal, Harmonix-SBE Holdings paid $50 and assumed $100 million in Harmonix liabilities. Viacom .....