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Publishers missing out on Wii revenue
Well, duh. Ubisoft was the only publisher who saw potential in the console, potential enough to create a new IP and take a chance on Nintendo's next-generation gaming system, a console that had been merely shrugged off as another GameCube. In speaking with TheStreet.com, James Lin, an industry analyst and consultant for Simba Group, commented that a lot of publishers were "caught off guard" and "weren't expecting anything." Ubisoft, obviously, stands to gain a significant amount of revenue when their game Red Steel releases alongside the console.Only time will tell how publishers will see the Wii. Should the console be a success this holiday season, which we think it will be, then Nintendo should gain a significantly larger third-party presence on their console than the GameCube enjoyed. Last chance here guys, better get on board.[Via Next-Gen]
Molyneux - "Apple needs to get behind games"
Last week I carried out an interview with Peter Molyneux (the founder of Lionhead Studios which has games like Black & White, Fable and The Movies to its name) over at TUAW sister site Joystiq. I made sure to ask him a question or two about the state of Mac gaming because one, I *used* to be a relatively hardcore Mac gamer and two, Lionhead has a track record of bringing all of its games to the Mac. That isn't changing with Microsoft's recent acquisition of the company (haven't we heard all this before?!).The relevant part of the interview:"There's this Catch 22 situation where not many people play games on the Mac and therefore developers don't want to make games for the Mac. Exactly. I think it would need Apple to get behind games. There's nothing in their operating system that panders to games at all and I take my hats off to Microsoft. I think they've realized that games are important."Macworld's Peter Cohen suggested that Molyneux was referring to Apple's lack of a unified application programming interface that would make the jobs of game programmers much easier. I think this suggestion is spot on, but not the only thing that Molyneux was referring to. One passive improvement could include getting Apple to kick its recent integrated graphics habit (Molyneux called my MacBook "a perfect thing" in the interview - pity it can't play games). Sure, we'd all like an iTunes Games Store, a mid-range upgradeable Mac with a decent graphics card and an Apple that publishes games, but it ain't gonna happen while you-know-who is still around.Unless Apple gets off its arse and gives game developers more than the bare minimum of support, Mac gaming is going to disappear thanks to the rapid emergence of easy access to Windows games via Boot Camp or GPU virtualization (when it finally appears). Only then will we see articles on Apple.com about how awesome Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter looks on the Mac, instead of long features about how the GRAW music was composed using a PowerMac G5.
Nintendo takes 2nd in list of top American publishers
Next Generation commented on what they believe to be the top 20 publishing giants in America recently, placing Nintendo in 2nd, behind Electronic Arts. Citing the exceptional quality of both their hardware and software, Next Gen was also quick to state the challenges ahead for Nintendo and their Wii (stop laughing) in the year ahead, despite a very strong showing at E3 a little under a month ago. With a solid software lineup in the coming year, along with continued growth of the DS and its library, its an easy assumption to see Nintendo enjoying immense amounts of success in the near future.
Vivendi Games earnings see 109% increase
According to Next Generation, World of Warcraft is a nice little cash cow for publisher Vivendi. With first-quarter earnings of $30m this year, an increase of 109% from the same period last year, Vivendi's financials have beaten analyst expectations.A report from Vivendi says that "this dramatic improvement was driven by a growth in revenues, with an increased proportion relating to the higher margin of World of Warcraft business". While increased development costs are also cited, it seems clear that a fair amount of the money pouring into Vivendi's pockets is staying there. While players suffer from server and infrastructure problems, is this entirely fair? Well, publishers don't get into the MMO business to make losses. Without seeing a complete breakdown of where our subscription money is going, we're not placed to judge.
