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Over 1 million Samsung HDTVs sold in the US last month
If it wasn't busy enough selling millions upon millions of smartphones, Samsung's TV department has proven it's no slouch either, with a record 1.15 million sets sold last month in the US alone. After noting "potential demand for super large TV," Samsung's focusing its attentions on the 75-inch ES9000 to help it sell the next million. Trumping its first million-selling month one year ago, it's pretty good going at a time when plenty of viewers are now happily settled with their HDTV setup.
Netflix nabs a million UK subscribers, promises to 'invest heavily' to outbid Sky for movie rights
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has threatened a bidding war with UK Broadcaster BSkyB for premium movie rights, and he could have the war chest to back it up -- the company also hit the million subscriber mark in the UK only seven months after launching there. Netflix UK boasted that it even got there faster than Twitter or Facebook did globally, and chalked up the success to most British households having at least one household streaming device. Meanwhile, Hastings said the US company intends to pry premium Hollywood movie rights away from BSkyB, promising to be "really aggressive in our bidding." The streaming service will have to overcome more than money, however -- the UK's Competition Commission granted BSkyB a rights extension to protect it from the very likes of Netflix.
Minecraft XBLA sold 1 million copies in five days
Yep, that's a 1 followed by six 0s and two – count 'em, two – commas. Minecraft on Xbox 360 has sold 1 million copies since its launch on May 9, Microsoft announced today. Minecraft runs $20 a pop on XBLA, making its initial revenue bump against $20 million, supposedly split between Mojang, port developer 4J Studios and Microsoft.Players have so far spent more than 5.2 million hours mining on XBLA, played 4 million multiplayer sessions and clocked more than 2.4 million multiplayer hours, Microsoft reported. Original Minecraft developer Markus "Notch" Persson reacted to the news in what we think is an appropriate manner: "Wow."
1 million people signed up for the WoW Annual Pass
In what surely can't be that much of a surprise to anyone, Blizzard announced on the Activision Blizzard quarterly financial conference call today that one million WoW players signed up for the WoW Annual Pass. The Annual Pass's benefits are pretty alluring -- you get the standard digital download edition of Diablo 3 for free, as well as the Tyrael's Charger mount for your WoW character. It's likely that other benefits will be added to the pass over time, too. All you have to do in return is agree to pay for a year of WoW. The "agreement" itself doesn't appear to be legally binding, in that you can still cancel your subscription, at which point Blizzard will remove the benefits you received, no harm done. What makes the Annual Pass so interesting, though, is that it's actually a better deal for Blizzard than it is for the players. With the past few quarterly subscriber number drops interpreted as doom and gloom by outsiders, Blizzard needed a way to make sure that those numbers either increased or at least stopped slipping. With Diablo III and more Starcraft II on the horizon, not to mention other potential MMO threats, it was vital that Blizzard figure out a way to keep people paying even if they weren't playing. The Annual Pass, with its attachment of a "free" game, did the job perfectly. Blizzard gets to look good to its investors and umbrella company, and a million of you get a horse and a hack-and-slasher.
1 million Galaxy Notes shipped worldwide, US fans throw money at their screens
The Galaxy Note, Samsung's unconventional powerhouse, has managed to ship 1 million units in under two months. While eager US customers still wait for the 5.3-inch tabletphone hybrid to arrive on their shores, the Galaxy Note has apparently struck a chord in Europe and Asia. The number of units shipped is always more substantial than the number devices out there in end-users' (preferably large) hands, but it bodes well for the device's eventual reception in the US. Now, whether it will include an LTE radio, we'll have to wait and see.
Call of Duty XP invites Australia to start qualifying rounds for $1 million tourney
The Call of Duty XP Event is set to be the gala of the year for fans worldwide, with an international Black Ops tournament worth $1 million and the chance to play Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer two months early -- and Australia has snagged the first invitation. Australia's qualifying rounds for the million-dollar Black Ops tournament will be on July 13 at Monash University, with 32 teams of four players. The brackets will comprise four rounds of Search and Destroy on Summit and Havana, with winners advancing and losers weeping silently into their AK-47s. Killstreaks will be turned off, friendly fire will be turned on and custom classes will be made with a selection of pre-determined weapons, as listed on Level3. The Call of Duty XP Event will run September 2-3 in Los Angeles, and more international qualifying rounds are expected to be announced soon.
Order & Chaos Online rakes in $1 million in first 20 days
Gameloft's iOS MMORPG Order and Chaos is reporting gains of over $1 million in revenue during its first 20 days of availability. The game itself has drawn many comparisons to World of Warcraft (even by our own Beau Hindman) but brings the genre to iOS-enabled devices for added mobility. Order & Chaos runs on a subscription model, with three months included in the $6.99 application purchase cost. Gameloft's senior VP of publishing Gonzague de Vallois is clearly content with the game's success. "We are pleased to know that our customers have embraced our innovative business model, and we are anxious to further enrich the gaming experience with this first update, which is eagerly anticipated by our fans," he says. The aforementioned update is said to include new quest content and server transfer services, amongst other features. The game is available on the Apple Store, and more information can be found on the official forums.
Samsung teases 4G tablet for 2011, Galaxy S III in first half of 2012
Don't expect a lawsuit or two to keep a good chaebol down. Not if J.K. Shin has his way. The president of Samsung's mobile communication division is telling us to expect an "enhanced" LTE Galaxy Tab (without providing any detail) sometime later this year, following the launch of the company's 8.9-inch Tab this summer and 10.1-inch Tab next month -- the latter priced between $499 and $599. Shin said that Samsung is already in talks with US and South Korean carriers to launch the 4G tablet. He also teased a third version of the wildly popular Galaxy S handset series for the first half of 2012. A proclamation arriving on news that the delectable Galaxy S II has just set a record for the fastest selling smartphone in Korea after unloading one million handsets in the first month of domestic sales.Naturally, Shin also had a bit to say about Samsung's ongoing legal battle with Apple. "We didn't copy Apple's design," he said bluntly, adding that Apple's allegations "will not be legally problematic." Sure Sammy, tell it to the judge.Update: The Wall Street Journal updated its story calling for the 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab to launch this summer, not in June as originally stated.
Toyota sells one million Prii in US alone
Thank you Toyota, for teaching us the plural of Prius, because somehow, "Toyota sells one million Priuples" just doesn't jive. That's right, the Japanese automaker announced Wednesday that it has officially sold its one millionth Prius on American soil. It's reportedly also reached a couple of other sales milestones in the last six months, with worldwide Prius sales reaching two million in October and overall Toyota hybrid sales exceeding three million in March. Now that's a whole lot of Prii. Full PR after the break.
Apple moves one million iPhone 3G S units in a weekend -- just in time for Steve's return
Worried that Apple might not be doing so well? Concerned the company will have to start breaking open the collective piggy banks to keep the lights on? Well rest easy, friends, as the folks in Cupertino have just issued a compelling piece of PR that will surely put your mind at ease -- one stating it managed to move a million iPhone 3G S units over the weekend. That's right, in a fashion not completely dissimilar to last year's iPhone 3G launch (though with far less hiccups), bucketloads of happy buyers flooded Apple's coffers with sweet, delicious cash money for the new smartphone. The buying frenzy was apparently even exciting enough to rouse recovering CEO Steve Jobs from his convalescent state. The seemingly-now-returned honcho is quoted (for the first time in months) in the press release as saying "Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning." Winning indeed Steve... and welcome back.
Free Realms destroys the 1 million account speed record
digg_url='http://digg.com/pc_games/Free_Realms_destroys_the_1_million_account_speed_record'; We've known it was going to be a strong contender since the first time we laid eyes on Free Realms. Once we stepped into the world last month and started playing the game, we knew it was going to be even bigger than we'd previously thought. Sure enough, we were right. News has come out this morning, courtesy of John Smedley on Twitter, that Free Realms crossed the 1 million account mark in just eighteen days since launch. Considering we got the news that Runes of Magic crossed the 1 million mark yesterday in just a little under two months, 18 days is an insanely fast time-frame for a recent free-to-play game release to break that mark! Of course, considering how fiendishly addictive and fun Free Realms is, we're not too surprised. We're sure the TV commercials probably didn't hurt, either.We here at Massively would like to send out our congratulations to the Free Realms team on their exciting landmark achievement! We'll let you know more when we have some further details from SOE. In the meantime, if you'll pardon us, we're going to go play Demolition Derby to celebrate. Want to know more about Free Realms? SOE's new whimsical free-to-play MMO is already being called a refreshing change of pace for kids and adults alike, and we have just the coverage you need!
Days to 1 million: the smartphone wars
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Days_to_1_million_The_smartphone_wars'; In a fit of editorial sobriety, reader Noel just sent us this handy "1 million devices sold" graphic above. The image demonstrates the speed (in terms of days) at which each competing handset achieved the magic milestone. What it leaves out is the footprint at launch which of course, affects the total population able to purchase the device. For example, the iPhone 3G launched in 21 countries simultaneously whereas the G1 launched in the US only. It's also worth noting that the precision reflects that of the announcements made. For example, VZW announced that the Storm hit 1M "through January" which could be interpreted as January 31st or January 27th, the day of the announcement -- and that's just US sales. Still, the table is a valuable tool for the fanboy braggarts and budding marketeers amongst you. Data after the break.[Thanks, Noel F.]
Verizon touts 1 million BlackBerry Storms sold to date
Well, it looks like the BlackBerry faithful have come out in full force to snag "Verizon's best-selling device," after all. Despite RIM's nightmarish "new reality," of half-baked firmware and broken dreams, Verizon has made it known that the latest 'Berry has grown to a full 1 million units sold between the November 21st launch and the end of January. Apparently the ever-leaking updates have kept enough people satisfied with the keyboardless device to reach this milestone, so we'll just keep our fingers crossed that the updates don't stop flowing and this powerhouse becomes the titan it has the potential to become. [Via CrackBerry]
Gaia Online makes modest staff cuts
Here's yet another news post on companies cutting back on their staff, oh boy. At least with Gaia Online it's a paltry 36 employees, 16 full-time staff and 20 contractors. That happens to be about 13% of the staff and is attributed to the less-than expected performance of zOMG!, which had around 500k players in November and just hit one million. As large as that number sounds, it's being drawn from the 11 million base of Gaia Online, so, it's all relative.There doesn't seem to be much worrying though, as the company has said they're merely preparing for a downturn in the coming year. We get the feeling that news like this is going to keep coming over the next 12-18 months, if not a little longer. Hopefully though, it's only small cuts like this and not the sort of job loss that's starting to become expected at other well-known developers.For those of you scratching your heads over this whole "zOMG!" game, check out Massively's first impressions for a glimpse into the beast, as they say.
One million signed up for AoC beta by the end
Age of Conan's beta test has concluded, and the retail launch is only a few days away, so it's a perfect time for Funcom to start (or rather, continue) hyping the game to the Nth degree. What better way to convince people to play it that than to make the argument: "everyone else is doing it!" Funcom announced on the AoC community website that the AoC beta has surpassed 1,000,000 sign-ups.A little over a month ago we reported that Warhammer Online had hit the same landmark, and our readers had some interesting comments about how much this landmark really matters. Now is an especially good time to ask that question -- some players might not be buying AoC because of performance and stability issues in the IGN open beta event. It's not a stretch to bring into question the true function of a beta (is it marketing, or technical testing?), as well.Does it matter? We don't know, but we'll find out soon enough.
Sony's PSP-2000 sells 1 Million faster than original PSP
In the latest PR game called "we sold a million!" Sony steps up with their bid for attention, the million selling PSP-2000. That's 1 million sold just in Japan since the slimmer, lighter, more colorful model was introduced on September 20th. Remarkably, that's two weeks faster than it took the original PSP to hit the same milestone after its launch way back in December, 2004. For comparison sake, the PS3 took 8 months to move 1 million units. Things sure seem to be looking up for Sony's fiscal anchor called a game division. [Via Impress]
