Sony Sees PS3 Supplanting Wii Over The Holidays

Sony is launching a cheaper PS3 unit in Europe, and with the diminishing significance of the Wii, the company thinks it is well set up to do well in the region. Indeed, the company is looking to have PS2-like longevity for the console now.

“We see ourselves well positioned for the casual market who won’t buy Wii U on day one,” said managing director of PlayStation U.K., Fergal Gara. “We’ve got a wow moment, we feel. I remember when people picked up the Wii controller for the first time, that was a big moment, it was a casual market breakthrough, but we thing we’ve got a casual market breakthrough as well with Wonderbook and the lowest priced PS3 yet.”

“If you look at the casual market overall in the last few years, there’s no doubt that the kings of that market has been Nintendo, they have done a great job with a great product,” he said. “If you look back even further, I think Sony has done a great job with the PS2 in the casual market with games like Singstar.”

Speaking of the Wii U, he said, “I don’t think it’ll be the same market. I think it’s going to be interesting to see what market will pick it up. I have no doubt that people will be interested in the Wii U at launch. What the medium-term looks like, I don’t think we know enough about what consumers will think.

“If you look at the spread of the software, I think it gives a very broad message, from Nintendo’s own products to core current-gen games. But will Call of Duty fans want to play Call of Duty on the Wii U I’ve no idea. It feels like a stretch from the market they’ve been in. So clearly Nintendo is going for a broad proposition,” he added. “I’ve yet to meet someone who has picked out the killer experience. But it’s the market that will decide so we’ll watch it with interest. Even we find it hard to judge the potential of the Wii U. Clearly people like getting their hands on it, but I just don’t have much info on how many people want to buy it in the medium-term.”

Not surprisingly, Gara says that Sony is looking to support the PS3 for years, hinting that their next console offering is not close. “We’re nowhere close to giving up on PS3,” Gara said. “When you look at the UK market, it’s easy to say that current consoles are fading. But if you look at PS3, it’s holding up a lot better than others, so it warrants support. But if you look at continental Europe, PS3 hasn’t even peaked yet. Why would you run away from a console business when you’re not even top of the hill We’re certainly not going to run away from it.”

While the PS3 has potential, Gara acknowledges the issues of giving Microsoft a head start with their next console “We do have a challenge to manage that, particularly in terms of dev studio resources,” he replied. “The more platforms you have, and the amount of rich content you have to deliver on all the systems you are supporting, clearly puts pressure on decisions made across the studio network, which is something we are battling with.”

Sony doesn’t have a big AAA release for the holidays this year, possibly due to winding up for their next-gen console, but Gara is optimistic regardless. “I take huge confidence in what is coming down the line though. Of course we’d love to have a new triple-A game, but we have a great strategy for this holiday period,” he said. “We don’t have to talk to the same audience all the time. We have a stronger play on family this Christmas, and for the core games we will leverage third parties a bit more. I’m convinced we’ve got some great games coming out next year, such as The Last of Us and Beyond.”

Source: CVG {link no longer active}

Mists Of Pandaria Sells 2.7 Million Copies

Blizzard has announced that World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria has sold 2.7 million copies since release in both digital and physical format. This has boosted subscriptions to the game to over 10 million, up from the game’s recent level of just over 9 million.

“With Mists of Pandaria, we set out to expand on the sense of fun and discovery that’s always been at the heart of World of Warcraft — in addition to adding a huge variety of new content and features to the game,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “It’s been gratifying to see the results of all of the work we put into this expansion and to hear all of the positive feedback from players so far.”

These initial sales are below the level of World of Warcraft‘s last two expansions, Cataclysm and Wrath of the Lich King.

[a]list Summit Seattle: Inside Look At Bungie’s Community

In outtakes from an interview for [a]list Summit Seattle, Bungie Community Manager Eric Osborne talks past and present about what the studio has done to develop one of games’ most loyal fan communities.

On whether any one tactic trumped the rest in drawing fans to Bungie, Osborne says, “Each game is a little bit different. I think one of the things that sort of feathers through all of the experiences is user generated content. We look at what people are doing, what they’re enjoying inside the experience, and we try to amplify that.”

[a]list daily will be covering the Seattle summit throughout the day starting tomorrow, October 4. Look for another video sneak peek with Chris Lye, head of marketing on Guild Wars 2 at ArenaNet. Full coverage begins Thursday afternoon with reports throughout the day posted on our home page and live updates on our Twitter stream.For agenda and full list of presenters, visit the [a]list Summit site {link no longer active}.

Facebook Ad Study Finds ‘Men Are Cheap’

Women have a slight edge when it comes to Facebook’s audience, yet a recent study found companies are running more ads on the social net geared towards men. Kenshoo Social and Resolution Media’s study “Men Are Cheap: Efficient Gender Targeting with Facebook Ads” found that while 58 percent of Facebook users are female, more than half of the ads there are chasing male users. The study also found impression and click volumes favoring men as ad targets.

Source: Kenshoo Social and Resolution Media

CPM is where men proved to be a lot easier to get than women. The study found an average $0.16 CPM for men versus $0.20 for women.

Find out more at ClickZ.

X-Ray Specs A Reality With New App

Wonderbra has released a new “Decoder” app designed to let you look at Adriana Cernanova in her underwear. The tastefully done advertisements let you see the model in her undergarments by pointing your smartphone at Wonderbra ads, be they print, outdoor or video

Using the app will also let you get product details on the various Wonderbra products, if you aren’t simply content in watching an underwear model strut her stuff.

 

Women Comprise 60 Percent Of Mobile Gamers: EEDAR

EEDAR’s recent survey indicates that 60 percent of mobile gamers are women. Also, 63 percent of female mobile gamers play social multiplayer games, compared with 52 percent of men who play mobile games.

The theory is now that women are the gatekeepers to what games are played at home, and that they are more likely to play multiplayer games with family members and are also more likely to send and accept Facebook game invitations. “What we are finding is tapping into that female client is more important than ever before,” says EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich. “It really is changing the face of gaming.”

These stats represent a significant shift in terms of who’s playing games since men dominated a decade ago and represented nearly 75 percent of all games, when consoles were the primary way people consumed games. “Maybe it was because of the nature of the adoption of technology… what you saw was the growth of a big base of male players. The games catered to them,” says Travis Boatman, senior vice president of mobile at Zynga. “But what has changed with these new touch-screen devices is that it has made (games) much more accessible to everybody.”

The asynchronous multiplayer of games like Draw Something and Words With Friends naturally led to a female majority. “And women gravitate to games that were designed for the (mobile) platform because they are much more intuitive to them,” says Boatman.

Women are even spending more time in Big Fish Casino, a Vegas-style game that includes Texas Hold ‘Em Poker and blackjack. “You would think Texas Hold ‘Em would skew male, but we are seeing 65 percent of the revenue coming from females,” says Paul Thelen, CEO and founder of Big Fish Games. “If you are building for mobile and you want to scale to the broadest possible audience of purchasers, you do need to absolutely focus on the female.”

Source: USA Today

The Secret World ‘Not Going Free-to-Play Any Time Soon’

The Secret World was not a break out hit when it launched, leaving some to wonder if Funcom would switch the game over to a free-to-play business model. Funcom communications director Erling Ellingsen indicates that despite outside speculation that the game will be shifting to free-to-play soon, that is not currently on Funcom’s time table.

“No it’s not going free-to-play any time soon,” said Ellingsen “It’s a fast changing business and we have to adapt ourselves, but right now there’s currently no plans.”

The company indicates that their focus right now is satisfying their current subscribers by providing them with monthly content. “It’s really important to us with the business model we’ve chosen,” said The Secret World game director Joel Bylos. “It sounds very emotional, but I almost feel like we need to prove that this business model has not gone the way of the dinosaur by delivering content constantly to people, and making people feel like there’s value in it.”

Source: Eurogamer

Mediatonic Expands With Cloud/Analytics Office

Mediatonic has added a new office in Brighton, U.K. The plan is to add 50 new personnel and focus on live operations, cloud infrastructure and analytics for Mediatonic’s mobile, free-to-play and cross platform titles like Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess, Foul Play and Superbia.

“Having lived in Brighton and Hove for many years it’s obvious how much creative and technical talent can be found on the doorstep,” said CEO Dave Bailey. “Plus, a city this vibrant makes an awesome setting for making games.”