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Warner Bros. starts renting movies via Facebook
If you were looking for something more worthwhile to spend Facebook credits on than virtual trinkets for some game, Warner has an idea: all those movies you said you "liked." Starting today it is testing out a plan to rent movies right on their respective pages for 30 Facebook credits / $3 each. The first one on deck is The Dark Knight (again?) which should be live later today, with more available to rent or purchase in the future. there's no word on resolution or other features, but at the price we're assuming SD only. Full details are in the press release after the break, but the rentals have the standard 48-hour VOD window and can be paused/resumed simply by logging back into Facebook. In its current state, we doubt Netflix, Amazon and the rest have anything to worry about as far as competition, but maybe Warner thinks it can snag a few bucks from simply making sure there's a buy button of some kind awaiting our various identities in as many places as possible.
id Software exec departs for GameStop's digital distribution branch
id Software digital distribution manager Steve Nix recently confirmed that he's leaving the developer to fill the very same position at the gaming retail juggernaut GameStop. His new employer released a statement accompanying the announcement, which says, "Steve will lead the strategic development and execution of GameStop's digital download business," where he'll work with the company's other business units "to optimize GameStop's digital download shopping experience." GameStop's got high hopes for the profitability of digital content -- and it sounds like a large portion of those hopes are balanced upon Nix's shoulders. We wish him luck, and cordially remind him to lift with his knees.
Telltale video chronicles the rise of digital distribution
It's a brave new world out there. This video, shown to attendees of Telltale's recent event, sums up why. It speaks on the rise of digital and some of the finer points of selling retail product, as opposed to offering digital wares -- which is what Telltale has built an entire business on.
Valve's Gabe Newell discusses company profitability, and getting new eyes
You probably don't need company head Gabe Newell to tell you -- as he did Forbes in a recent profile -- that Valve is "tremendously profitable." But did you know that it's "more profitable than Google or Apple" (per employee)? And did you know that Newell has crazy robot eyes? Okay, okay, he actually got cornea implants instead of "robot eyes," per se -- just as interesting, however, is Newell's post-surgery statement. "Not only could I see again, but I could see better than I ever had before." As Newell suffers from Fuchs Dystrophy, his corneas were slowly degrading before correction. "I felt like I was in a fantasy story. It reminded me of how fast the future is coming at us and from what unexpected directions." Keeping his eyes on the money, Newell declined to offer any hard numbers as to his company's financial success, though he admitted that "per employee, Valve is more profitable than Google and Apple." To put some context on that, Valve's 250-person company has an estimated value of $2 billion to $4 billion (approximately $8 million to $16 million profit earned per employee), while Apple's 49,400 employees pull in roughly $6.68 million each, and Google's 24,400 earn the company around $8.19 million apiece. [Note: statistics based on current market valuations of Apple and Google, combined with company-provided employee numbers, here and here].
RIFT pre-orders rewarded with exclusive Team Fortress 2 unlocks
Through regular closed beta events and frequent information reveals, Trion Worlds has really been pushing the word out on its upcoming fantasy MMO RIFT. The game's marketing campaign has taken a bit of an unexpected turn today with the announcement of a promotional partnership between the upcoming MMO and Valve's Team Fortress 2. Steam users who pre-order RIFT during the month of February or who have already purchased the game through Steam, will be given two limited-edition weapons in Team Fortress 2. The "Sharpened Volcano Fragment" and "Sun-on-a-stick" are exclusive melee weapons available only to RIFT pre-order customers. In return, Valve is adding a new achievement to Team Fortress 2 that unlocks an exclusive item in RIFT. The Riftwalker achievement will grant TF2 players a code, which can be redeemed through the RIFT account management page. An exclusive headcrab-based headpiece, the "Well Spun Hat," will then be delivered in-game during RIFT's headstart period for pre-order customers on February 24th. This unusual promotion has left many of us here at Massively scratching our heads in confusion, but with the popularity of Valve's Team Fortress 2, it could prove to be a very successful move.
EA earnings from digital distribution up in fiscal Q3, retail not so much
EA sent out its earnings for fiscal Q3 2011, which ended December 31 of last year, and it was a good quarter for EA ... 's digital distribution initiatives. Net digital revenue is up $62 million year over year, hitting $195 million, while net "packaged goods" publishing revenue dropped $78 million to $91 million in the quarter. Along with a drop in revenue from games distributed by EA, the publisher's year-over-year take dropped $190 million. Touting its digital domination, EA claimed to be the "#1 publisher in the Apple App Store for both iPhone and iPad and #1 on Microsoft Windows Phone 7" in the West during the quarter. It also touted large shipments of two of its Q3 retail releases, Medal of Honor and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, both of which have passed five million units shipped to date.
Magicka sells 30,000 on first day, being patched 'as often as possible'
Magicka, the Paradox-published story of up to four wizards assaulting monsters and accidentally killing each other with ill-advised spell combinations, has sold 30,000 copies within its first day of availability through digital distribution. The celebration is tempered, however -- while they were pushing it to the top of Steam's sales chart, players of the game complained on forums and Twitter about technical instability and bugs. Ars Technica found the game especially problematic, calling it a "broken, negligent release." Paradox has summarized the current status of Magicka as such: "[Singe-player] works fine for the most part, Multiplayer does not -- patch on the way for both! (as soon as [Steam] pushes the button). We'll patch the game as often as possible." According to a celebratory press release, Arrowhead Game Studios is "working around the sundial and is fully committed to ongoing support by zapping glitches and communicating with players." The game's unpolished state would likely have generated even more caustic reaction, had its malleable magic system not countered with amusing stories of players haphazardly offing each other. You'll find some good, spell-based schadenfreude in Rock Paper Shotgun's mock guide to Magicka.
Warner confirms live-action Mortal Kombat digital series by 'Rebirth' director, coming this spring
Last summer's "unofficial" Mortal Kombat: Rebirth test footage has landed its director, Kevin Tancharoen, a job with Warner Bros. While Rebirth won't become a full-length feature film (you can't kill off Johnny Cage like that!), Warner apparently saw something in the imaginative re-imagination of its new aging fighting game franchise. As reported earlier this month, Tancharoen will helm a series of live-action Mortal Kombat digital shorts, which will be released in conjunction with the new game (launching April 19) "this spring through online digital retailers." Does that mean we have to pay for them? Warner teased that the digital series, to commence (crunch time) filming in Vancouver early next month, will provide "never-before-revealed insights" into the characters from the new game and its "universe," including Liu Kang and, of course, the beloved Johnny Cage (you see, Tancharoen?). The company will reveal further details shortly, including casting (and, hopefully, the fact that these webisodes will be totally, 100 percent free -- right Warner?). It's been reported that Michael Jai White will reprise his Rebirth role as Jax. [Pictured: Scorpion from MK: Rebirth test footage; full video after the break]
Kongregate Arcade hits Android, GameStop shoving free Flash games straight onto your smartphone
GameStop may think that people still like boxes, but that's not stopping the company from diving into the digital distribution realm. It bought up Flash game purveyor Kongregate last summer and now that anty acquisition just dropped a big egg on Android with the launch of Kongregate Arcade. It's basically a separate mobile app store from the Android Market, but with a few important differences. Biggest is that these games, numbering over 300, are all free and are all Flash-based. This is said to "solve the game discovery problem" by popping out of the Market but certainly won't do much to solve revenue problems for devs working on premium mobile games. Of course to get all the games you'll still need to find this app, but it's there. Right now. We checked.
GOG brings Police Quest series in for questioning
Rookie, you don't know how easy you've got it. These days, it's all polygons and Dolby 13.1 surround explosions, but in my day we had to rely on real police work. We'd comb the streets looking for clues just a few pixels wide and clicking on so many dead ends that the blisters on our index fingers had blisters. We'd question the locals and have to read their answers. That's right, rook: Read. And if we got stuck in a case, there were no GameFAQs to fall back on. Hell, we didn't know what a GameFAQ was -- we called a 900 number. And we were grateful to have it. You know what? Forget about the Schloienger case. No, you've got some homework tonight. I hear Good Old Games just added Police Quest 1-4 to its service for $10. Go home, play them all, and see if you don't come back tomorrow with just a bit more respect for your elders. And rook ... when you tell me what you think of them, could you do it in a speech bubble? You know, for old time's sake.
Jordan Mechner's 'The Last Express' now available for download
The wonderful adventure mystery The Last Express has proven to be one of the more elusive titles since it was released in 1997. In fact, the last time the game was actually offered on modern PCs was when GameTap (remember GameTap?) had acquired distribution rights in 2006. Now, The Last Express has been snatched from oblivion by lesser-known digital distributor DotEmu. For $10, the site is offering the game (in five different languages, no less) and "Collector's Edition" goodies like a walkthrough, soundtrack and making-of video. Better hurry and check it out before the game disappears again.
GameStop wants to link your console to a GameStop ID
As we approach a future less dependent on physical media, GameStop is looking to better streamline its approach to hocking digital wares in-store. Speaking with Ars Technica, GameStop's senior vice president and general manager of digital business, Shawn Freeman, said that while the company is doing a good job of selling Microsoft Points cards -- on par with and, according to him, sometimes exceeding the number purchase through consoles -- and other vouchers for digital goods, it's looking to cut some of the "friction" out of the experience. Instead of buying a card and going home to input a long code, the company ultimately wishes to tie your console's online account with a separate GameStop ID. "Ultimately, we want to reduce even more of that friction, so when you buy that map pack in our store, we're going to be able to associate your Xbox profile with your GameStop profile, and then automatically push that to your download queue." And it's not just a pipedream: GameStop is apparently actively working to ensure its customers will have this option in the future. But what about the console makers, who make a portion of their profits from the purchase of virtual goods or currency? According to Freeman, this plan won't hurt their bottom line. "Our view is that when you look at all the different ways people buy content digitally, that experience and that discovery experience is key to realize that opportunity...if we do a good job, that's going to continue to bring value to our publishers and our platform partners, because we're going to continue to drive more sales for them."
EA's Riccitiello says game discs aren't going away
While Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello thinks digital distribution will finally outstrip its physical counterpart in 2011, he stops short of predicting the demise of retail packaging. In the second part of an interview conducted by Industry Gamers, the EA bossman sings the praises of the disc and debunks trendy cloud computing-based notions of gaming's near future. "Sometimes you're not going to play because your internet connection is down and sometimes delivering a game by streaming is a really inefficient way to do it," Riccitiello says, in what might be music to the ears of gaming luddites dismayed at the thought of renouncing actual ownership of their collections. Riccitiello goes on to posit that services like OnLive will struggle with latency-dependent titles (your average first person shooter, for example) and ultimately concludes that the days of 100% digital delivery are pretty far into the future.
Riccitiello says this is the year digital overtakes retail
EA CEO John Riccitiello, one of the biggest advocates for the rising dominance of digitally distributed games, told IndustryGamers that he expects digital sales to exceed sales made in the retail space this year -- he predicted digital distribution would account for half of all game sales in 2010 earlier last year. "Then, you know, I think that we'll find ways to even sell our packaged goods content in chunks and in pieces and subscriptions and micro-transactions," he added. Riccitiello brought up the success story of Turbine with Lord of the Rings Online, where the developer saw revenues triple by switching to a freemium model. For EA, there's been similar success -- Riccitiello revealed the company sees its highest average revenue per user from paying users in free-to-play games. "You think about that and say, 'how can a free game be the game they pay the most for?' We have people who are giving us $5,000 in a month to play FIFA Ultimate Team. And it's free. Dirty little secret." According to Riccitiello, striking success in digital distribution isn't about one magic formula, it's about giving players options and seeing what they most respond to. "They may want to buy it on an iPad; they may want to get it through the social network, they may want to pay for it through micro-transactions and monetizing, or they may want to pay for it all at once," he added. "They may rather pay a subscription price in order to count on what their costs are going to be, but they may want to pay for it all at once and never have to pay for it again. We're in all of those businesses and I think the way this is going to work is that the models that the consumers like the most are going to grow the most."
'Buzz' dev Relentless expands digital strategy as PlayStation exclusivity deal ends
Relentless Software, the UK-based creator of the Buzz! trivia games for PlayStation platforms, is now free from an exclusivity deal with Sony and looking to pursue a digital distribution strategy that would bring its games to a wide range of internet-connected devices. "That's my aim," co-founder Andrew Eades told GamesIndustry.biz, "to make games for anyone who has a TV." "The whole retail market is becoming very much about pillar titles for a hardcore audience," said Eades, citing Activision's perennial standout Call of Duty and its difficult to match, multimillion dollar budget as good reason to move away form the disc-based business, "so we have to find a new way to get to our audience, and that is digital, episodic, various different platforms, including PlayStation -- that remains our main platform." The platform-exclusivity deal with Sony ended on good terms last year, and Relentless will continue to look to PlayStation Network for long-term revenue in its new, fremium-based Buzz!: Quiz Player iteration, along with ongoing sales of its self-published episodic mystery game, Blue Toad Murder Files, which debuted on PSN in late 2009. (It was released for PC in November.) "The interesting thing we've found out with Blue Toad is that, almost a year after its first launch, we're still selling it in different ways," Eades explained. "We've had a sixty percent uplift in sales through the Advent Calendar Theme Bundle pack. You can't do this on disc." This realization appears to be the guiding light in the studio's new focus to expand its digital distribution efforts to more platforms. Relentless is at work on a new game for next year, to be followed by the launch of a new IP. "PlayStations and Xboxes have a place under many people's TVs, but there's also satellite boxes, Apple TVs, Google TVs, internet-connected TVs," Eades observed. "They all have more and more computational power, and that's all we need -- that processor power to deliver our games and the internet connection to distribute them -- and we're in the living room just as any broadcast TV is." [Image source: Relentless]
All MMOs 20 percent off at Direct2Drive, Fallout: New Vegas $20 off this weekend
Direct2Drive's running a pretty sweet deal for anyone looking to reach out and touch other members of the gaming community (in a completely non-weird way, we mean) -- until Monday morning, the site's entire catalog of MMOs is discounted 20 percent. That includes massively multiplayer gems like World of Warcraft, Star Wars Galaxies, Lego Universe, Guild Wars and more; just input the coupon code "JOKER" while checking out, and watch the prices fall like so, so many enemy NPCs. If you'd rather play a game which rivals the length of an MMO, but lacks all the other human contact, the retailer is also knocking $20 off the price of Fallout: New Vegas from this Saturday until Monday morning. You don't need a coupon code for that one, though if there were one, we imagine it'd be something like "NUKA COLA" or "CREEPY HOVERING NO-BONES MAN."
Steam Holiday Sale discounts Left 4 Dead 2, GTA IV, NFS: Hot Pursuit
The Steam savings keep on coming as today's deals offer up another bevy of digital wares on the cheap. There are plenty to choose from, including Left 4 Dead 2 at a very reasonable $6.79, the GTA IV collection (which includes both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony) for $10, and hefty discounts on Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, Singularity and Transformers: War for Cybertron. Hit the jump for the full list.
Masthead confirms Earthrise digital release date, system requirements
The team at Masthead Studios has nailed down a definitive launch date for Earthrise. The sci-fi sandbox MMORPG will be available via digital distribution on February 4th, with a European retail box and exclusive content to follow. "We have worked incredibly hard to make Earthrise the best sandbox MMORPG on the market, and we can't wait for players to fully experience all of our hard work and become immersed in Enterra," said Masthead's Atanas Atanasov in a press release dated this morning. In addition to last week's announcement that players will gather on a single worldwide server, the studio has also detailed the game's system requirements: OS: Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7 Free hard drive space: 20 GB CPU: 2.4+ GHz Single Core Processor RAM: 2 GB Video Card: NVIDIA 7800GT+ or ATI Radeon 9800 SE 256-bit High bandwidth internet connection (DSL, Cable)
Oddboxx bundle priced at $24.99
Before the year ends, Oddworld Inhabitants will launch The Oddboxx, a collection of four games for the PC: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee and Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath. The latter two titles are being ported to the PC for the first time -- if you want to get your grubby Mudoken mitts on the game, you can pick it up for $24.99 at retail or through one of the more popular digital distribution channels out there, including Steam, Direct2Drive and Amazon.
GameStop details a bright (profitable) future with DLC
During today's presentations at the 18th Annual BMO Capital Markets Digital Entertainment Conference, GameStop head chairman Dan DeMatteo (alongside CEO Paul Raines, CFO Robert Lloyd, and investor relations director Matt Hodges) spoke to the future of the top video game retailer in North America. After detailing cannibalistic markets (terrifying!) and market share (isn't business about taking, not sharing?) for 25 minutes, the crew finally got to the Q & A session, where one audience member stood up and asked DeMatteo to clarify GameStop's DLC distribution agreements with Microsoft and Sony. "I won't get into the details of the agreements, but obviously we get paid for selling the digital content. We get paid less than what we would get paid for a typical new game [retail game], because we don't have inventory carrying costs, shipping costs, etc. But needless to say, we believe it will bring operating margins similar to new games," he responded, indicating a perhaps unsurprising low return on in-store DLC sales. Still, DeMatteo sees good reason for continued sales of digital content. "We see it as additive. It's additive for us. It's additive for Sony, for Microsoft, and it's additive to the publisher. The amount of add-on content now being developed for the big games is just phenomenal. You got a new level coming out for Halo: Reach in December, we have new Call of Duty map packs coming after launch, etc. We look at our ability to sell that to the original consumer -- given that we know who bought the original copy -- to be extremely strong," he explained, referring to his company's ability to track individual customer's purchases via the Power Up Rewards card. And in the coming years, GameStop intends on becoming a much larger player in the digital realm. We expect to have market share of DLC much like we have market share of boxed product," he assured attendees.
