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NYTimes: games industry is taking a beating
The New York Times is running a doom and gloom piece on the current economic state of the big four publicly traded game publishers: Activision, Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, and THQ. It's nothing we haven't heard before; higher next-gen development costs coupled with a console transition which have not only historically proven to be difficult, but the current one especially so. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick "acknowledged that there were challenges, including a growing need to produce games more efficiently. He said the industry would probably also focus more narrowly on games with hit potential (selling several million copies) as opposed to a scattershot approach of creating numerous games that sell one million copies or less." This blockbuster approach runs contrary to the XBLA success story, or quirky DS hits like Pheonix Wright. So basically, Activision doesn't subscribe to the long tail.Pretty damning evidence of this trend: following E3 in May, "Electronic Arts' shares have fallen to $42.30, from $56.80; Activision to $11.58, from $14.19; THQ to $21.49, from $25.63; and Take-Two to $13.10, from $17.05." Ouch! Well, that's my cue to go grab some TTWO and ATVI shares![Thanks, laserboyjc]
GamePolitics: Congress should grill Take Two
Dennis McCauley, the big cheese over at GamePolitics, is running an op/ed at industry-site Next-Gen.biz (the .biz is how you know they mean business!) about why, if he had his druthers, Take Two would be the ones in Congress' hot seat and not "intermediaries like [the ESA's] Doug Lowenstein and [the ESRB's] Patricia Vance."The idea is simple: Take Two and Rockstar Games are, by and large, responsible for the increasing backlash against violent games thanks to a little bit of wayward code we've all come to know and love. Yup, Hot Coffee. Point is, instead of extrapolating this one case out to represent the the entire gaming industry, Congress should isolate their investigation on this one instance. Even notable game designers like Warren Spector have called Rockstar out for their irresponsible behavior and Take Two's bungling of the controversy (lying ... eh, not such a great idea) only exacerbated the issue. McCauley's even made a list of questions for prospective congress-peoples just to get 'em started: Who conceived the Hot Coffee idea? Who created the animations? Who eventually decided to nix it from the final version? Why it wasn't removed from the disc entirely? Did insiders realize the active and highly-skilled GTA mod community would find the sex animations? Why did Rockstar and Take-Two lie about Hot Coffee when it was revealed? Why did they try to blame the mess on their biggest fans, the GTA mod community? Ouch! Those are sure to leave some bruises. So what say ye? Should Take Two and Rockstar be taking the beatings for all this anti-gaming hysteria?See also:ESRB: Lie to us, pay up to $1 million in finesTepid Coffee: Take-Two gets foreboding slap on wrist by FTCSpector clarifies GTA comments
Metareview - Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (Xbox 360)
When Rockstar announced their top secret new game, gamers were floored that the San Diego branch of the house that GTA built had traded in their baseball bats for ping pong paddles with Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis. Big question is, how did they do with this smaller-scale, (relatively) budget-priced title? According to the reviews that are beginning to appear, pretty darned well. The complaints focus on the title's sparse feature set while the praise focuses on the Xbox Live integration and the tight, elegant gameplay. Seriously, read through the reviews if you have a particular affinity for the words "subtle" and "nuanced." According to the reviews, Table Tennis provides a streamlined sports sim that's short on features but full of subtle gameplay, reflected in the (next-gen) budget price of $39.99. IGN (78/100) - "If you want a table tennis game that's strictly focused on great mechanics and addictive gameplay, but that lacks a reasonable single-player mode and is shockingly sparse, Rockstar Presents Table Tennis is your game." GamePro (85/100) - "The best thing about the gameplay is that it's all about reflex and intuition -- accessible to all, but hard to master online competitive play. Setting up power shots, killer topspin, and hitting the corners of the table becomes easy in short amount of time. This game is an instant classic and is guaranteed to please the masses." Eurogamer (90/100) - "It's the sign of a great sports game when you can't think of anything you'd want to change in the next version. It doesn't need another version."
Take-Two shutters Indie Built dev studio
Bad news for fans of the Xbox 360 launch title, Amped 3, and the recently released Top Spin 2: game publisher Take-Two has closed down their Salt Lake City-based development studio, Indie Built. Indie Built, previously known as Access Software, was responsible for the popular Links series of golf games, as well as the CD-ROM Tex Murphy adventures (like Under a Killing Moon), before being acquired by Microsoft in 1999. Microsoft sold the studio to Take-Two in 2004 becoming part of their 2K Sports brand. The Gamasutra news piece hints that the closure might be due to the lackluster sales of Amped 3; sounds to us like another victim of the historically tumultuous generational transition. [Thanks, wheelsee and MumbleyJoe]
GTA worth $900 million; look to PSP for future of franchise
Research analysts Jason Kraft and Chris Kwak have determined an answer to the question, "What's Grand Theft Auto worth?" Parent-company Take-Two has been rocked by some troubles of late. With rumors that the company is for sale, and that Elevation Partners is browsing around, the question has been on a lot of minds lately--ours included. First, they anticipate only two next-gen GTA games hitting the consoles in the next five years, versus the three current-gen titles. In the same period, they say "there is potential for up to six PSP titles (five, post Liberty City Stories) over the next five years," continuing, "Take-Two could develop unique PSP games between major next-gen console releases or ports of existing titles. Shorter development cycles on PSP enable Take-Two to release PSP titles more frequently. The regularity with which Take-Two releases GTA titles on PSP will be critical to the franchise’s revenue growth in the next-gen cycle and underlies our revenue growth forecast."They also suspect console releases will either be released on multiple platforms, to capitalize on the larger install-base, or console exclusivity would place Take-Two "in a position to demand cash in return... in either scenario, Take-Two wins." They conclude that the Grand Theft Auto franchise is currently worth about $900 million, or $10-$13 per share. Removing the $1.52 per share of cash reserves, the remainder of Take-Two is worth $1.71-$4.71 per share. Those numbers show GTA as being worth 62%-81% of the company's total value! Will potential buyers be wary of placing all their eggs in the GTA basket?Send an email to kraftandkwak [at symbol] sig.com for a copy of the report.
