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Perfect World reorganizes its R&D branches
Chinese gaming giant Perfect World Co. has issued a statement declaring a restructuring of research and development teams and the subsequent formation of five new subsidiaries. Says the press release, The structure of forming new subsidiaries that are majority-owned by Perfect World is aimed to help attract and motivate top talent by granting them direct stake in the subsidiaries under the new incentive scheme. Perfect World will support these subsidiaries with the Company's proprietary technology, graphic design, integrated platform, distribution channels and other valuable resources. The Company believes that the new structure will help invigorate the game development process, support game design flexibility, allow faster reaction to changing market trends, and boost game development productivity. Through its subsidiary Perfect Online Holding Limited, Perfect World also recently acquired a 3% stake in Digital Extremes Ltd., which publishes Warframe. Perfect World Co., Ltd., is not to be conflated with Perfect World Entertainment, known to our audience primarily for its custodianship of Cryptic's Star Trek Online, Neverwinter, and Champions Online. PWE is Perfect World Co.'s North American online games publisher.
CCP is 'reviewing the status' of the World of Darkness IP
In the aftermath of World of Darkness' cancellation and the layoffs at its Atlanta studio, CCP said that it is taking time to "review" the White Wolf IP. "We believe that the World of Darkness IP is very valuable and will be reviewing the status of it in the coming weeks and months, but we have no specific plans under consideration at this time," a CCP spokesperson said to CVG. In the search to understand why World of Darkness got shuttered, players might turn to last December's financials for CCP. In these, the studio lodged a loss of $21 million for the year despite increasing revenue year-over-year. This was mostly due to a "massively increased R&D budget" that was feeding into projects such as WoD.
Capcom investing around $80m into two new R&D buildings
Capcom announced it's spending approximately 8 billion yen, which converts to just under $79 million, on two new research and development buildings located near its head office in Osaka. The investment is part of Capcom's ongoing focus to make more of its development internal and centralized with the aim of making higher quality games at lower costs. Work on the smaller eight-floor building began in May 2013, shortly after Capcom announced a $73 million special loss on game cancellations following what the Japanese company called an "excessive" outsourcing of projects overseas. The two buildings will house a significant number of the 1000 further employees Capcom is bringing in as part of its 10-year plan to increase its workforce, and the aim remains to amass a total staff of 2,500 by 2022. Today the company noted the majority of these hires will be recent graduates. "Capcom believes that these actions will give the company a competitive advantage due to the more powerful development capabilities in the rapidly growing mobile and PC online games markets," the company summarized in today's announcement. The 8-floor building will cost around 2.5 billion yen ($24.5 million) to build, and Capcom expects to complete construction in January 2015. Work on Its larger 16-floor sibling begins this month, with total costs of approximately 5.5 billion yen ($54 million) and a planned ETA of January 2016. As for what you'll find in the two new offices, Capcom notes a (probably very fancy) sound effect studio, a new motion capture room, and "multi-purpose" spaces that can hold 100-plus people. [Image: Capcom]
Visualized: Nokia R&D spending, almost 3 times its peers
Our initial reaction to the Bernstein Research chart above is to wonder what value Nokia's massive R&D spending has achieved. Sadly, that's our second and third reaction, too, having spent some time with the company's Symbian OS. Let's just hope all that money was poured into MeeGo or some other megaprofitable ecosystem that it will "build or join" in 2011. Update: Added a snapshot of Nokia's R&D spending from 2007 and 2008 (when the company topped the EU with US$7.24 billion spent on R&D) after the break.
HTC confirms new research and development office in Durham, North Carolina
It's been swirling for months now, but at long last HTC has finally come forward with the official word: it'll be cracking open a new operation in the heart of North Carolina's technology hub to usher in 2011. According to the company, it'll be hiring 45 individuals at the Durham, NC-based venue, as they conduct research into "multiple areas of wireless technology, with plans to grow further during 2011 and into the future." The list of current job openings there is definitely robust, and there's little doubt that a good bit of design work will be going down just a few miles from the nearest Cook-Out. The opening of the new location marks HTC's third research and development facility in the States, with the others being positioned in Seattle and San Francisco. Out goes Sony Ericsson, in flies HTC -- fitting, don't you think?
Then and now: Sony's motion-sensing, 'magic wand' controller tech
Sony's motion-controller technology for PS3 isn't new; in fact, it dates back to the dawn of the PS2's EyeToy. Well before PS3 was ever announced, Dr. Richard Marks, EyeToy / PlayStation Eye creator, was demoing gesture-based, motion-tracking gameplay on PS2 -- using a colored ball and a camera. Sound familiar?In the video after the break, you can watch Marks using a "wand" topped with a brightly-hued sphere to draw symbols in the air, which are translated into in-game spells -- the effects of which match the movement of the ball. It's very simple -- there's no tracking of depth and it's definitely not 1:1 by any stretch of the imagination -- but it's still interesting to see how far the idea has come since last-gen. Who knows what improvements can (or will) be made before the PlayStation Motion Controller is supposed to launch in 2010? We've placed this year's press conference demo video after the break for comparison's sake.[Thanks, dgonchild!]
Nokia to close Jyvskyl plant, scale down Salo facility in Finland
As with most other cellphone makers (and companies in general), Nokia managed to lose a bit of cash, market share and dignity in the completely brutal past quarter. That said, it's still doing leaps and bounds better than most, but that glimmer isn't stopping it from shutting down its Jyväskylä site and scaling back at its Salo production facility (pictured). According to Nokia, this is all part of its ongoing plan to "increase cost-efficiency and adapt to the market situation," and with the closings, it'll concentrate mobile devices R&D in Finland at Tampere, Oulu, Salo (though to a lesser extent) and the Helsinki metropolitan area. It's expected that all of the 320 employees at Jyväskylä will be sent packing by the end of this year, while temporary layoffs will be issued on a "rotational basis" (sounds thrilling, no?) at Salo. More details are stored away in the read link, but we'd avoid the depression that's lurking unless your day has just been entirely too awesome.
Nintendo building new R&D center (not a Death Star)
It's a simple truth: Nintendo makes money. What goes up must also come down, so it's only fitting that the company would dedicate some of its vast funds to researching and developing new ways make money. That's where the company's new R&D office comes in.Situated in the Minami-ku district of Kyoto, this new plot of land secured by Nintendo is 40,000 square feet and a $138 million labor of love. With the building rights secured last year, Nintendo has not divulged any info as to when it plans to complete this new research center, nor when it'll start cloning Miyamoto there.[Via Develop]
