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THQ Nordic says a new Saints Row game is 'deep in development'
THQ Nordic had plenty of updates about upcoming games from its sprawling empire in its latest earnings report. Perhaps the most notable is that its Volition studio is "deep in development" on a new Saints Row game. It didn't offer any information on when to expect the next entry in the popular series, but it'd be the first full title since Saints Row IV in 2013.
Fishlabs co-founders return with next-gen studio
Galaxy on Fire: Alliances developer Fishlabs was swept up by Koch Media last December, a purchase preceded by layoffs in October. Fishlabls co-founders Michael Schade and Christian Lohr departed the studio during the acquisition, but the duo have surfaced with an eye on other platforms - Rockfish Games is working on its first project, which Shade says is "most likely going to happen on next-gen [consoles]." Although Fishlabs mostly dealt with mobile releases, Schade explained that the paid market in the mobile space is "almost non-existent" on the App Store or Google Play. Schade added that the free-to-play model is "just for the big guys that have deep pockets and/or billions of active users a month so they can cross promote their own titles." Schade noted that console and PC users are still willing to pay for experiences, as evidenced by the $60 starting price for most retail games. While that's fair, the frequency and severity of sales on services like Steam have made some developers wary that the mobile space's problems will soon be shared by the digital storefront. Free-to-play games Warface and Warframe have reached consoles, as well. Beside those similarities between markets though, it will be interesting to see how Rockfish performs against a new currant. [Image: Fishlab Games]
Koch Media acquires mobile developer Fishlabs
Koch Media – meaning Saints Row publisher Deep Silver – now owns mobile developer Fishlabs, the studio behind the Galaxy on Fire series. The entire Fishlabs staff of 52 will transition to Koch Media in an asset deal that should result in zero job losses, Pocket Gamer reports. "The mobile gaming market is strategically important to Koch Media," Koch CEO Klemens Kundratitz said. "These days, games are played anytime and anywhere – both at home and on the go. The know-how and brands which Fishlabs brings along give us the expertise required in order to establish ourselves in this exciting field for the long term." Fishlabs was founded in Hamburg, Germany, in 2004 and is best known for Galaxy on Fire, a series of space flight sims made mainly for mobile devices. The mobile strategy MMO Galaxy on Fire: Alliances recently launched and has nothing to do with the Hunger Games or Alicia Keys. Fishlabs says in a Facebook post that it's happy to be part of the Koch Media family: "We still don't know how and to what extend the replacement of the ownership is going to effect the course our studio will take in the future, but Koch Media ... has already told us that they'll fully support the development and expansion of both Galaxy on Fire: Alliances and the next action-packed installment of the GOF saga. There's exciting times ahead of us."
Galaxy on Fire Alliances takes Fishlabs' setting in a new direction
A little while back, Fishlabs announced that they were working on a new title in the Galaxy on Fire space exploration series of games, and that it would take a bit of a new direction, as a strategy MMO rather than as an action title. Last week at GDC, I got to sit down with the company and see the new game, and I can say it was very impressive indeed. Fans who just wanted to play another version of the same game may be a bit disappointed, but Alliances represents a great new direction for the series, and has provided a good chance for Fishlabs to use this great engine they've built to show off their talent in another genre. I'm not sure quite what this genre is called: I guess "strategy MMO" is closest, but Alliances falls in line with quite a few other games, where players build up buildings (in this case on a rotatable planet) to gather resources like metal, gas and crystals, and then use those resources to build units that can go out and conquer more planets. Evony is probably the biggest of these kinds of games, but I've played quite a bit of Lord of Ultima and TribalWars as well. The one big advantage Fishlabs has here, of course, is their engine, which runs beautiful graphics on the iPad or the iPhone. As you might imagine, this means the planets that you'll be building on are gorgeous, and spin around in full motion, even with various animations and touches for each type of building and resource. Zooming out from your own planet, the galaxy map is also very impressive. You can see other players around you, and once you've assembled some units, you can send them out to spy on other settlements, or send them out into battle. Galaxy on Fire has a big, rich setting already, and while Fishlabs says the two games won't tie together directly (so you won't see Galaxy on Fire's hero as a unit), all of the ships from the action title can be seen in the strategy title, in full graphical closeup fidelity. In addition to browsing through and building your ships, when you send them out into battle, Fishlabs has created a "battle report" that lets you see the action. You can simply see the results of a battle, or you can load up a replay that shows you, from a ship bridge styled after whatever faction you're aligned to, the full battle with all of the ships involved flying back and forth through space. It's very impressive -- you're not directly controlling any of it, but it is cool to watch the battle play out to see what happened. Fishlabs says the Galaxy on Fire series has done very well for them, but at this point the budget for a main series game is "easily in the seven-digit" range, and so putting a new one of those together is a task that can take up to three to five years. Alliances should be done much quicker for them -- they're expecting to see a release sometime later on this year, around September or October. They're hoping it will monetize a little better for them as well: The game will be free to play, with some in-app purchases offering extra resources or units. Alliances will be an iOS exclusive to start, though Fishlabs says it is talking to partners about a PC version eventually. The company has released Galaxy on Fire on the Mac App Store, and says "that was a good deal" for them. But for now, the emphasis with Alliance will be on iOS. Fishlabs is hoping to give Galaxy on Fire fans a new taste of the setting, and hopefully pull in some new players to the series as well.
Fishlabs sets the Galaxy on Fire with Valkyrie update
Fishlabs Entertainment is a German-based gaming studio that scored a hit with the Galaxy on Fire series for iOS. The latest, most popular iteration is Galaxy on Fire 2, which Fishlabs has kept fresh with updates and extra content since launch. Players fight pirates, loot, mine asteroids and perform several other Elite-style tasks. The latest update is called Valkyrie, which debuted as I chatted with Fishlabs at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco last week. The HD update makes the game look stunning. Even iPhone owners will benefit, as those with the standard version get Valkyrie's HD graphics for free. Valkyrie meets fan requests like larger ships and a new storyline, which Fishlabs says will run as long as the game content is available. Galaxy on Fire is a gorgeous game, and Fishlabs says it's ready for the new iPad. As soon as they get hands on the new hardware, they'll "optimize the assets" and be ready to go. They are excited about the new quad core processors, but for Galaxy on Fire itself, Fishlabs probably won't add any extra features. Instead, they'll just make the game look better. "We'd rather use the hardware to improve the visual quality," I was told. Fans can expect another DLC pack coming soon. Supernova, which will have its own unique storyline and graphical updates. By the year's end, Fishlabs expects to release another new game they're not ready to discuss. "A free-to-play title set in the Galaxy on Fire universe" is all I was told. Fishlabs is doing quite well. Space-trading simulators have a limited audience. While Galaxy on Fire is an excellent game, it might not appeal to casual gamers. But Fishlabs continues to prove that as long as you have a dedicated and interested audience, you can assemble a successful franchise on Apple's platform.
Infinity Blade, Plants vs. Zombies among International Mobile Gaming Awards winners
The seventh annual International Mobile Gaming Awards ceremony has concluded at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, and two US-developed titles came away with special honors. Infinity Blade from Epic Games garnered an award for Excellence in Design (we'd have also given it Supreme Overall Awesomeness) while PopCap's Plants vs. Zombies was picked as Best Casual Game. European winners included Perfect Cell by France's Mobigame (People's Choice Award); FDG's Beyond Ynth (Excellence in Gameplay, Grand Prix Award) and Snowboard Hero by Fishlabs (Excellence in Gameplay, Operators' Choice) from Germany; the UK-made Papa Sangre by Somethin' Else (Most innovative Game); and AR invaders by Israel-based dev Soulbit (Best Real World Game). Mobile games will get their next chance to shine at GDC 2011, during both the IGF Awards and Game Developers Choice Awards on March 2.
Report: Piracy has cost Apple, iPhone devs $450 million
Update: Reader Phillip wrote in to tell us some outlets are concerned with the figures 24/7 Wall St. has presented. While we never claim these figures are 100 percent accurate (we attribute everything to their report, after all), we felt it necessary to point out some other takes on the info. Both Tech Dirt and Ars Technica are calling into question the figures, while our own TUAW suggests these figures are merely assumptions and could very well be "wide of the mark." Original post: Score several million for the scurvy dogs. According to a piece over at 24/7 Wall St., the Apple App Store has lost over $450 million in profits to piracy since opening its virtual doors in July 2008. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconagh estimates that the App store has had three billion items downloaded by users since its inception, with only 13 to 21 percent (510 million) of those downloads being paid Apps. It's a story we hear far too often. Developers are regaling us with tales of how much piracy hurts their profits and pirates are laughing maniacally at how easy it is to hock illegal wares, living in some dark, damp cave where no light or goodness can be found -- well, save for the light from their pirated iPhone game, anyway. This is done through "jailbreaking," an increasingly common practice of unlocking one's phone through black magic and evil incantations that allow non-App Store programs and items to be installed. Basically, it's God Mode for your iPhone. So how can developers overcome this? Well, some are designing games that requires the phone contact a source to verify the version being played is legit -- an interesting concept that could help pave the way for better anti-piracy solutions. Either way you slice it, you have to be a real [negative adjective] to pirate a game that only costs you a few cents. [Via Pocket Gamer]
Another developer reports insane iPhone piracy rates
Only a day after iPhone developer Smells Like Donkey complained of an 80 percent piracy rate of its game Tap Fu, another developer has made an even more alarming claim. According to Fishlabs, its latest release, Rally Master Pro 3D, achieved an astonishing 95 percent piracy rate in its first day of release. Fishlabs' Michael Schade told Mobile Entertainment News that the 95 percent piracy rate corresponds to "many thousands." When discussing whether the recently implemented in-app purchasing feature would help curb piracy, Schade was skeptical, saying, "I doubt that." He added, "We will see in the future how well in-app purchases fight piracy."
