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WildTangent game studio veers out of existence, St. John becomes 'chairman'
WildTangent has shut down its internal development studio and laid off about 20 people, reports TechFlash. Furthermore, CEO Alex St. John, currently best known for preaching that this is the last generation of consoles, will be "promoted" to chairman, while COO Mike Peronto will take over CEO duties. St. John is expected to spend more time on the road being "the public voice of the company."WildTangent's game studio, which may (doubtfully) have shown up on gamer's radars with Fate, isn't exactly a noticeable loss. The company has been surviving on its Orb digital distribution service and by managing advertising sales for several web sites -- oh yeah, and there's always its alleged spyware business.[Via GameDaily]
Alex St. John: We're playing the 'last generation of consoles'
Congratulations! You're now a part of history ... or at least, a part of Alex St. John's alternate reality. Spend enough time with "the guy who talked Microsoft into the console business" and you might start seeing a big red countdown -- the kind that ends in KA-BOOM! -- tattooed on your gaming console, the UK's Telegraph reports. "I think we're looking at the last generation of consoles. There's not going to be an Xbox 720 or a PS4, I'll make that bet, not going to happen," St. John predicts. Not surprisingly, St. John's grim prophecy doubles as a convincing plug for WildTangent's forthcoming virtual console: Orb. Orb will offer "enthusiast" games (BioShock and Assassin's Creed are two "possible" examples) for free on an ad-driven, session-by-session basis. In theory, this kind of digital platform could one day replace disc-based consoles, as it offers "free" gaming through an advertising model that consumers have accepted in other markets and cuts out the huge economic losses that console manufacturers can't seem to avoid (um, except for Nintendo!). "I'll take the heat if I'm wrong and don't mind being mocked in the future with people going 'Wow, was he wrong,'" St. John says of his market forecast, "But it doesn't happen to me very often."
Buy this box for $60 or go to hell
"Buy this box for $60 or go to hell, I don't want your money." That's the message on the tunnel vision of boxed game sales that Alex St. John, CEO of WildTangent, is trying to get across to the gaming industry. The dominant business model in PC gaming largely ignores the possibilities of in-game transactions and ad-sponsored gameplay. St. John spoke on the need to pursue new gaming revenue models at the recent ION Game Conference in Seattle and more recently, at the 6th annual Wedbush Morgan Securities Management Access Conference in New York City. Gamasutra followed St. John at both events, where the WildTangent CEO raised some eyebrows when he asserted,"In a few years any business not making money from ads is leaving half their money on the table."According to St. John, the industry fixation on boxed sales will be the downfall of a number of companies that fail to change their business models and embrace in-game or in-world revenue streams. "There's a wide open opportunity here. Anybody can get into this, and everything the traditional publishers and game companies know about doing business will ensure their failure," he stated at ION.
In-game ad pioneer says in-game ads are a mistake
As one of the pioneers of in-game advertising, you would think Alex St. John had better things to say about this method of revenue. But the Wild Tangent founder and CEO says that in-game ads are "not a very effective way because you've got to plumb the game, you've got an unproven method of measuring the value of that ad, that unit is not trackable."As an alternative, St. John states his company's revelation on effective advertising income. Simply give the players the option to see advertising videos in loading screens, thereby granting them free or discounted prices on their gameplay. It follows the same logic as those free forums that say "Click here to remove ads". It boils down to either you pay to support the game, or you sit through a commercial so a big-name company can pay to support the game. Wild Tangent's ad revenues skyrocketed 400 percent in 2007 when they switched over to this method, and Mr. St. John swears by it.
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Green is mean?
Gaming industry behemoth Peter Molyneux recently sat down to discuss his views on innovation in the MMO universe. Molyneux believes 'innovation is much more difficult when a lot of money is on the line.' Massively has touched upon this subject before which means that...it's happening? Oh no! Our multiplying subscriptions are all going to kill off our own content! I should have never given away my Xbox to focus on EVE! Take a deep breath because before we all panic, there are some important things to consider.With the MMO industry seeing astronomical numbers tossed their way for funding, perhaps he is correct. Much of the criticism around the early release of games like SWG was blamed on the desire to make returns on the huge investments put into the cost of development and production. When ten, twenty, or more recently, Real Time Worlds' fifty million dollars, is on the line, the wallet will become a huge factor towards the development and timetable of any game.On the other hand, that massive amount of money we all wish we had is drawing in designers, producers, investors, and of course, gamers. As Alex St. John pointed out in a recent interview, 'the PC is the home of the most profitable game in history, generating more revenue than the top 10 console games combined.' St. John is certainly right about one thing, (US)$1.2 billion is certainly a way of attracting attention. But WoW is only one of many successful MMOs. The list keeps growing and with each success story comes more interest in creating new and innovative experiences.So where will this new found fortune take the MMO industry? Will the interest generated by new financial resources force developers to focus on profitable returns? Or will that funding bring with it more players, more attention, and more dedication to generating exciting worlds?
WildTangent unveils 'PC game console' Orb, Sierra and THQ pledge support
WildTangent announced today Orb, a new PC service aimed to give a game console experience. Orb will act as a portal for "console games," defined here as games designed for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and let you download and play games in its entirety or in play sessions, which will cost you via tokens or free through watching advertisements. THQ and Sierra have signed on, with Sierra promising to bring titles to the service "day and date" with console launches, according to WildTangent CEO Alex St. John.In an interview with Joystiq, St. John explained how the cost per play session will depend on the game, but that it would be priced "fairly" based on statistics they derive in testing. That said, he presumes most will opt for the advertiser route. (In their casual portal, he said, 98% of the users opt for watching advertisements and playing for free.) Games can be queued up for download in the background, but there's also an option for taking the games you want to play and having them sent to you for the cost of burning the DVD and shipping. The program will be offered in eight languages, including Chinese and Korean. No community features will included at launch, but St. John said he'd consider it in the future. It's a shame, too, because we think it's a key reason that programs like Steam and GameTap thrive. The developer version will launch this week, with a consumer version poised for tomorrow. For users of the current WildTangent portal, which largely consists of what St. John calls casual gamers, they will be offered the client free for download when it launches. Orb will also be packaged with Dell and HP computers. Orb will be officially unveiled during a session tomorrow at GDC. We'll have more from our interview with St. John later this week.
