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Nexon, Wargaming, Zynga CEO back mobile startup fund
Venture capital firm London Venture Partners is offering initial funding for mobile game development startups. The firm plans to invest between $50,000 and $500,000 into developers that are primarily in Europe. LVP General Partner Paul Heydon told TechCrunch that the firm plans to invest in 20 to 25 projects "of up to half a million dollars each over the lifetime of the fund." The money is coming from Asian publisher Nexon, World of Tanks creator Wargaming and Zynga CEO Don Mattrick. London Venture Partners includes former Atari CEO David Gardner with Microsoft's Corporate VP Phil Harrison serving as a special advisor. Harrison joined Gardner's firm in May 2010. LVP's previous investments include Clash of Clans developer Supercell, the now-Zynga-owned Backbreaker studio NaturalMotion, as well as development platform Unity. [Image: London Venture Partners]
Zynga founder Pincus steps down, Xbox Live GM to head Zynga Studios
Zynga Co-Founder Mark Pincus is stepping down as Chief Product Officer of Zynga, the social gaming company announced alongside its first quarter 2014 financial results today. Pincus will continue to serve in a non-operational capacity as Zynga's Chairman of the Board, a role he held in addition to company CEO until Don Mattrick was named CEO in July 2013. Additionally, Alex Garden was announced as President of Zynga Studios in the report. Garden departs Microsoft as the general manager of Xbox Live and Xbox Music, Video and Reading. Prior to that, he was CEO of Nexon Publishing North America. Garden will report directly to Mattrick, much like Zynga's new chief financial officer David Lee, who was hired this month as well. Zynga also added visual effects artist Henry LaBounta as the developer's chief visual officer. LaBounta worked with Electronic Arts and Microsoft Studios, and previously was visual effects supervisor at DreamWorks on the films Minority Report and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. [Image: Zynga]
Report: Three more executives exit Zynga
AllThingsD reports that three high-level executives have left social game company Zynga in the wake of changes implemented by newly appointed CEO Don Mattrick. According to unnamed sources, Zynga's chief operating officer David Ko, chief technology officer Cadir Lee, and chief people officer Colleen McCreary "will step down from their positions and leave the company as a result" of the changes. Following his departure as Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business on July 1, Mattrick said he was bringing the fledgling social game company "back to basics" in its attempt to recover from sweeping layoffs and other executive-level departures. Shares of Zynga were trading down 0.69% in after hours to $2.89.
Report: Mattrick tried to buy Zynga while at Microsoft
Former Microsoft executive Don Mattrick was reportedly interested in Zynga many moons ago, not as a company to join but as one to buy. That's according to Bloomberg sources "with knowledge of the matter," who said Mattrick negotiated in 2010 to purchase the then-booming Zynga with the aim of adding social games to Microsoft's Xbox roster. Bloomberg said its sources asked to remain anonymous because the talks in question, which "ultimately fell apart," were private. Bloomberg also noted Zynga spokesperson Dani Dudeck declined to comment on the matter. Weeks after unveiling the Xbox One to the world, Mattrick left his position as president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business to become Zynga's CEO. If Mattrick chose an intense time to leave Microsoft, times are no less intense at Zynga. The company's endured a year of high-level departures and plenty of layoffs.
Report: Ballmer to make Windows chief new head of Xbox division
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is considering Julie Larson-Green, the current Windows chief, to take over hardware engineering for the entire company, including the Xbox division, Bloomberg reports. Currently, Larson-Green is in charge of Windows products at Microsoft: She led the UI design of Office XP, 2003 and 2007, and she managed the launch of Windows 7 in 2009. Larson-Green recently oversaw the Windows 8 launch, which has been trickier than Windows 7. This is part of a company restructuring plan that Ballmer is expected to announce next week, at the earliest. In June, reports indicated Ballmer's changes would focus on making Microsoft a "devices and services" company, along with giving Mattrick a larger role. Obviously that's out of the question now – Mattrick announced his resignation from Microsoft yesterday, and he's poised to take over as CEO of Zynga next week.
Don Mattrick named Zynga's new CEO
Don Mattrick has been named the new CEO of Zynga, the social games company just announced in a blog post. He starts next week. "Going forward I'll continue in my role as Chairman and Chief Product Officer," said outgoing CEO Mark Pincus. "I'm excited to partner with Don and the rest of our team to return Zynga to its leadership role in inventing and growing Play as a core human experience." Before his departure, Mattrick was the president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, handling products such as the Xbox One. Prior to Microsoft he served as president of worldwide studios at Electronic Arts. Leaping from the frying pan into the fire, Mattrick will now have to pick up the pieces of Zynga, which has struggled with departures and sweeping layoffs.
Report: Xbox prez Don Mattrick leaving for Zynga [update: It's official]
Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business President Don Mattrick (the head of Xbox) is leaving the company, reports AllThingsD. Citing multiple sources, he'll be heading for a top job at Zynga, with an announcement coming as soon as today. Mattrick's move to Zynga could be what that company needs – and one that may be a blessing in disguise for Microsoft. Zynga has struggled since its IPO, hemorrhaging talent and shutting down studios. Meanwhile, at Microsoft, there's a reason we call it the Xbox One-80 now. A fresh face couldn't hurt. We've reached out to Microsoft for a statement. Zynga has replied with a "no comment." Update: It's official.
Xbox boss says $500 Xbox One is 'over-delivering on value,' name-drops Halo 5
The $500 price tag for the Xbox One elicited audible gasps during Microsoft's E3 press conference. Speaking to Bloomberg, Xbox head Don Mattrick defended the hefty price, saying that Microsoft is "over-delivering on value" with the Xbox One. "It's a lower number than some of the analysts had forecasted," Mattrick said. "We're over-delivering value against other choices, I think, consumers can get. Any modern product these days, you look at it [and] $499 isn't a ridiculous price point. We're delivering thousands of dollars of value to people, so I think that they're going to love it when they use it." What will convince consumers to opt for Xbox One, he said, is the breadth of services the console will have available. Specifically, he mentioned Twitch streaming, Skype and SmartGlass. During the same interview, Mattrick also referred to the next Halo game as Halo 5. At Microsoft's E3 press briefing, a reveal trailer referred to the game simply as "Halo."
Xbox chief: we have a product for people who can't get online, it's called Xbox 360
Did you think the Xbox 360 was being kept around just for the budget market? It turns out Microsoft's got another sort of customer in mind for the revamped last-gen hardware: the crews of nuclear submarines. Xbox chief Don Mattrick, in response to the backlash over the Xbox One requiring an internet connection, said that "fortunately, we have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity, it's called Xbox 360." As an example, he referred to a crew member on a nuclear submarine, who would be better off with the 360, as it's an "offline device." The full quotes are after the break, along with the video -- oh, and Sony's message to submarine crews too.
Microsoft investing $1 billion into games on Xbox One
Microsoft is investing $1 billion into games on the Xbox One, financing not only new studios but also securing exclusives for Microsoft's next-generation console. This is an unprecedented investment for Microsoft, much more than its most expensive game yet, Halo 4. Xbox One is planned to have 15 exclusives from Microsoft in its first year at retail, including eight new intellectual properties - the product of two years that has seen the formation of new studios in London, Washington and Victoria, British Columbia. Phil Harrison, former Sony exec, was brought on to oversee internal projects; Lionhead's new boss is John Needham, a guy with a heavy MMO background. Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer told OXM Rare is returning to one of its older franchises (Killer Instinct, anyone?) and Black Tusk Studios is hard at work on Microsoft's next big franchise. Lift London is working on smaller cloud-based games, while Microsoft Studios Osaka has a project under way - something Don Mattrick says will illustrate how Microsoft is "committed" to Japan. Finally, Press Play and Twisted Pixel are in Microsoft's bullpen, working on "weird, unique" games for Xbox Live. And that's not counting the continuing Call of Duty exclusivity deal and games Microsoft did talk about during its Xbox reveal event: Turn 10's Forza Motorsport 5; Remedy Entertainment's Quantum Break; and four games from EA Sports in UFC, Madden 25, FIFA 14 and NBA Live 14. Later, Crytek confirmed its Kinect-powered brawler Ryse is coming to Xbox One. Xbox One is due later this year, with more to be shown at E3 between June 9 and June 11 in Los Angeles, California.
Don Mattrick: 'If you're backwards compatible, you're really backwards'
The Xbox One won't play Xbox 360 discs or XBLA games, and that doesn't really bother Microsoft Head of Interactive Entertainment Business Don Mattrick. "If you're backwards compatible, you're really backwards," he told the Wall Street Journal. Mattrick said only 5 percent of customers play games from previous generations on new consoles, so spending time to make that possible isn't worth it. Sony's PlayStation 4 isn't backward compatible from a hardware standpoint, but with cloud service Gaikai, it should offer a way to play games from the PS3 and older consoles. It's been eight years since the previous generation transition, meaning players have had longer than ever to build up their libraries. That's a lot to lose – and even more so with the onset of downloadable games in the middle of this generation.
Halo 4 will work with Microsoft's new tablet ... somehow
Microsoft's President of Interactive Entertainment Business, Don Mattrick, says Halo 4 will interact with Microsoft's upcoming tablet computer, Surface. Exactly how the two will interact, however, remains a mystery. Mattrick noted the news during a VentureBeat event in San Francisco yesterday; later, he reconfirmed the functionality with a reporter on-hand but refused to give any more details.If we had to guess, though, we'd say the only functionality between the two will be the already announced SmartGlass features from E3 (say, using Halo Waypoint, or viewing the game's encyclopedia). After all, Microsoft told us at E3 that SmartGlass will be part of all Microsoft Studios games going forward after its fall 2012 launch.Of course, Microsoft could always go totally off the rails and add full-on gamepad support via Surface's touchscreen. Or maybe just a personal Cortana app where she freaks out and yells at you randomly while you're playing. Maybe they should just stick with the Waypoint stuff.
Kinect's global sales reach 2.5 million with the help of Black Friday
Microsoft's crawl towards its "five million units in 2010" sales goal for Kinect turned into more of a headfirst dash during these past few deal-packed days. The company has announced that the device's global sales have reached 2.5 million, supported by retailer discounts on the hardware and its console bundle over Black Friday weekend, as well as the hardware's arrival in additional territories across the globe. Of course, to reach its lofty goal, the Kinect's going to have move a considerable number of units next month -- but Microsoft Interactive Entertainment president Don Mattrick boasts in a press release that "we are on pace to reach our forecast of 5 million units sold to consumers this holiday." In the end, though, that's completely in the hands of the holiday shopping lists of the world. Also, Santa Claus.
Kinect moves 1m units in first 10 days; 'on track' to hit goal of 5m this year
Wondering if Kinect for Xbox 360 has the momentum to reach that recently revised estimate of 5 million sensors sold by year's end? According to some just-released stats, Microsoft is "on track" to do just that. Since the controller-free camera launched just over 10 days ago, more than 1 million units have been sold according to numbers released by Microsoft. "This is a great start to the holiday season," Xbox chief Don Mattrick said (ostensibly to the marketing person who made this press release) continuing, "and we will continue to work with our retailer partners to keep pace with high demand and deliver against our plan to sell more than 5 million Kinect sensors worldwide by the end of this year." With Black Friday – the busiest shopping day of the year – just around the calendar-shaped corner, Microsoft must expect to move an awful lot of Kinect units if it hopes to hit 5 million in just under seven weeks.
Microsoft predicts 5m Kinect units sold this Xmas (more than the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii launches)
Bloomberg News reporter Dina Bass took to Twitter to deliver a confidant recalculation from Xbox's top dude, Don Mattrick. Microsoft revised its Christmas season Kinect sales forecast from 3 million to 5 million which, according to Bass, Mattrick says "would make Kinect the biggest Xbox product launch ever in terms of sales." It would also dwarf the Xbox 360's 2005 holiday launch in which it sold 1.5 million units worldwide from November 22nd through December 31. Not impressed? It's also considerably more than the PlayStation 3's worldwide sales figures of 1.7 million units just one year later. Last, and perhaps more telling, is that the newly revised estimate also trumps the Wii's relatively impressive 3.19 million units sold worldwide during its first holiday season. For an accessory, 5 million is a pretty staggering number for just a few short months on shelves. That is, if Microsoft can keep it on shelves and meet demand. Each one of the aforementioned consoles was met with severe holiday season shortages; to come out on top of this numbers game, it would seem that all Kinect has to do is be available.
Microsoft names three new division presidents following recent departures
As you may have noticed, Microsoft has seen a few pretty significant executive shakeups as of late, with Robbie Bach and J Allard announcing their departures back in May, and Steven Elop leaving just last month to take the top job at Nokia. Now Microsoft has officially filled in some of those gaps, naming Kurt DelBene as president of its Microsoft Office Division, and Andy Lees and Don Mattrick as presidents of its Mobile Communications Business and Interactive Entertainment Business, respectively -- Windows Phone and Xbox, in other words. All three divisions are actually new (at least in name), but DelBene is effectively succeeding Elop, who led Microsoft's Business Division, while Mattrick and Lees are more or less splitting up Robbie Bach's former duties as head of the now dissolved Entertainment and Devices division. Head on past the break for the complete press release.
Don Mattrick now more official-sounding Xbox boss
Microsoft has promoted executive Don Mattrick to "president" of its Interactive Entertainment Business, which includes the company's Xbox business, as well as its PC and mobile gaming efforts. Previously, Mattrick was labeled a "senior vice president," though his responsibilities have not appeared to change in quite some time. He has led the Interactive Entertainment segment since July 2007. In May, Microsoft announced the pending retirement of Xbox head Robbie Bach from his position as president of the Entertainment & Devices Division (under which Mattrick's Interactive Entertainment Business is filed). Since that time, the company has seemingly done away with Bach's position (just what was he doing, anyway?), since Mattrick and colleague Andy Lees, now president of the Mobile Communications Business, where already overseeing the E&D Division's two main businesses. Both executives report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer.
J Allard and Robbie Bach officially exit Microsoft
Xbox department head Robbie Bach and "Chief Experience Officer" J Allard (considered by some to be the father of the Xbox) will be ending employment with Microsoft this fall, according to an internal memo sent from company head Steve Ballmer and acquired by TechFlash. Allard will stay on in some form, serving as an "advisor" to Ballmer, though Bach will be outright leaving after nearly 22 years with Microsoft. "For the past 22 years, Robbie has personified creativity, innovation and drive. With this spirit, he has led a division passionately devoted to making Microsoft successful in interactive entertainment and mobility," Ballmer said of Bach's departure in the company's official release. And Bach expanded on his departure, saying, "I'm at the time in my life where I want to dedicate more time to my family and my nonprofit work, including my work with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America." The shakeup additionally sees current senior VP of Interactive Entertainment Don Mattrick and senior VP of Mobile Communication Andy Lees taking new positions, reporting directly to Ballmer himself, while David Treadwell will now head the core technology group inside the Interactive Entertainment division at Microsoft. Oh, and as you might expect, no mention was made of the Courier in any of this. [Via Engadget]
PSA: How fake is Don Mattrick's Twitter? So fake
A quick public service announcement to any and all tipsters sending us links to Don Mattrick's official Twitter account: It's fake. Sure, it would have been nice to reveal new Halo: Reach related details, but the only news out of the Twitter account is that there is no news at all. Really, we're not surprised with such masterfully crafted tweets as: "We're currently working with a third party studio on a new xbox 360 exclusive game engine to showcase unmatched graphical fidilty." Yes, "fidilty." Microsoft's (real) Twitter expert Major Nelson -- aka Larry Hryb -- tells us he is currently working with the Twitter team to have the account removed. With so many fake accounts, it's no wonder Twitter is testing a new "Verified Account" label. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Don Mattrick for inspiring a phony Twitter account, following good company such as artist Kanye West, ass-kicker Chuck Norris and all of the Pokemans.
Cryptic's Bill Roper: Microsoft MMO reveal for Xbox 360 unlikely at E3
Much has been said and written of the coming marriage of gaming consoles and MMOs, but like all lengthy engagements, if it drags on too long people begin to doubt it'll ever happen. When we do hear industry rumblings of a massively multiplayer online game coming to a console, it's generally about Playstation 3 rather than Xbox 360. But would it be fair to assume that Microsoft has less interest in bringing MMOs to the 360, much less delivering on a first-party MMO title? Bill Roper from Cryptic Studios seems to think so, and they're developing Champions Online for the 360 as well as PC. When speaking of the possibility that Microsoft would announce an MMO for the 360 at this year's E3, Roper told Patrick Garratt at VG247, "I don't think that's something they've been really pushing towards. From any discussions I've ever had, or heard with Don Mattrick [Microsoft's Senior VP of Interactive Entertainment Business], Don's not necessarily a huge MMO fan." Although he says he'd be pleasantly surprised if Microsoft did shift more focus to console MMOs, he cites the difficulties inherent in both dealing with technical issues and the complexities on the business side of working with third parties. You can have a look at what else Roper has to say on the prospects of Xbox 360 MMOs in the article at VG247. Do you feel that bringing your MMO of choice to the Xbox 360 would be viable, or are you starting to think that the 360/MMO marriage is doomed?
