Destiny Franchise Has $500 Million Price Tag

MAY 6, 2014 • Activision Blizzard chief executive Bobby Kotick told financial executives at this week’s Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles last week that with the $500 million bet his company was making on Bungie Inc.’s Destiny franchise could only be made on owned IP. The $500 million figure includes production, promotion and marketing, royalties, packaging, merchandising  and other costs. Destiny is a futuristic science fiction vid.....

Tencent Takes CJ Games Stake

MARCH 28, 2014 • Tencent Holdings Ltd. continued its investment in significant game companies taking a 28% stake in South Korea’s CJ Games Corp for $500 million. The latter is one of the largest mobile game publishers in Korea and is a subsidiary of the huge CJ Group Pte. Ltd. Tencent now becomes the third-largest shareholder in CJ Games. In conjunction with the Tencent partnership CJ Games will restructure its operations including the acquisition and merg.....

Facebook Grabs Oculus VR

MARCH 26, 2014 • In a major surprise, Facebook Inc. has acquired Oculus VR Inc. for $400 million in cash and $1.6 billion in stock. The latter is the virtual reality technology company founded by 21-year-old Palmer Luckey who was an engineer at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies, and built early interest in his product proposal through online forum chats. After id Software fou.....

Kabam Acquires Phoenix Age

MARCH 10, 2014 • Kabam, Inc. is bringing another independent studio under its banner, Phoenix Age. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. However, Kabam told the Wall Street Journal last month that it had more than $70 million in cash available. Since 2007 Kabam has raised $125 million through four funding series, and is actively considering an IPO. Phoenix Age is best known as a producer of RPGs for iOS devices and Facebook. Since 2010 Kabam has.....

King IPO is Filed on NYSE

FEB. 18, 2014 • After spending several years mulling over its options, skill games company King has filed for a $500 million IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. The maker of the popular Candy Crush Saga intends to use the symbol KING. Bank of America Corp., Credit Suisse Group AG, and JP Morgan Chase & Co. are the coordinators of the stock sale. Funds generated by the IPO will be appli.....

Grand Theft Auto V Boosts Take-Two Financials

FEB. 4, 2014 • Holiday releases led by Grand Theft Auto V led Take-Two Interactive financials to non-GAPP revenue of $767.7 million for the fiscal third quarter ending December 31. That total beat Take-Two’s forecast of $650 million to $700 million, and was a significant increase over the $405 million in revenue tallied for the same quarter the previous year. Take-Two attributed the strong performance to the continued success of Grand Theft Auto V, a recor.....

Microsoft Acquires Gears of War IP

JAN. 28, 2014 • Epic Games’ Gears of War franchise has been acquired by Microsoft Studios. Financial terms were not disclosed but the deal secures the IP for Microsoft including rights to all existing and future games, entertainment experiences and merchandise. Vancouver, BC-based Black Tusk Studios will now be responsible for development of Gears of War product moving forward. In addition, Epic’s former Gears of War director of production Rod Fergus.....