Zynga has revealed that treasurer Mike Gupta is leaving the company. He will take up the same role at Twitter.
This news comes as Zynga has undergone major tumult from its top executives. The company most recently lost its CFO to Facebook as other executives were shifted around the company.
NPD’s Q3 2012 Games Market Dynamics report stated that $1.07 billion was spent in the U.S. by consumers on new physical video and PC game software. Additionally, $399 million was spent on used and rental games, and digital purchases (from full games and subscriptions to DLC) generated $1.4 billion.
“When including overall consumer content spending across both digital and physical formats in Q3 2012, there was a positive story for the industry,” said Liam Callahan, industry analyst, The NPD Group. “Despite declines in physical format spending of 16 percent from Q3 2011, strong growth in digital format spending, up 22 percent, helped offset this decline and led to 1 percent decline in content spending from the same quarter last year. Mobile App spending, digital full game downloads, and downloadable add-on content were the areas within digital format spending that helped drive this increase.”
Games are available on almost every different platform imaginable, from home consoles and PCs to iOS and Facebook. Not only that, but there are different ratings systems around the world, and Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello wants that to change.
“We live in an incredible age. In the past three years the audience for games has grown from roughly 200 million, to over one billion. Virtually everyone on the planet who owns a phone, can play a game. The Supreme Court has given us the same First Amendment rights as authors, musicians and film makers – a set of rights which we cherish. But as we are so often told: With great freedom, comes great responsibility. To live up to that responsibility, we need to do a better job informing the consumer, no matter the channel, the platform or the geography. We must adopt a self-regulated, global rating system across every format games are played on,” he said.
“We’re at a point in history when we’ve never been so free to create and distribute content,” Riccitiello continued. “But we’re also at a point when we need to update the way we inform consumers. Consumers are finding many new places to get their games – Facebook, Google, Apple, as well as services like Steam and Origin. Most have a rating system, but none are consistent. Consequently, we are confusing the consumer.”
ESRB head Patricia Vance has said that they are working with other ratings bodies to create a global system. “We must move beyond the alphabet soup of game ratings and consolidate behind a single standard that consumers will recognize and, ultimately, demand,” Riccitiello concluded.
Source: Polygon
Disney Epic Mickey 2 is the multiplatform sequel to the Wii’s Disney Epic Mickey. With Mickey and Oswald teaming up this time, this journey should be more epic than ever!
DmC has a cast of colorful characters, and that extends into the good guys as well as the bad guys. Here, the actors for Kat and Vergil discuss their fight against demons.
Hitman: Absolution marks the return of Agent 47 and he appears to be in good form. Check out this full launch trailer, parts of which you may have seen in recent TV spots.
Whether he was standing up to his adversaries or to members of his own political party, our 16th president was not afraid to make difficult choices. His story, documented in the new movie Lincoln is one of leadership, strength and courage in the face of opposition.
Disney has launched an interactive destination called the Lincoln Learning Hub working with historians and social studies curriculum experts to create an experience for students of all ages to connect to the film and its relevance. Fans can browse the interactive timeline and dig deeper into the events surrounding this pivotal moment in U.S. history. Meet Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals” and learn how he strategically used political muscle and the power of persuasion to build a coalition out of his quarrelsome colleagues. Get to know the key members of Congress and analyze the significant political maneuvering and leadership required to pass the Thirteenth Amendment. Lastly, explore themes of leadership with “What Would Lincoln Do” — an interactive look at how Lincoln might have grappled with some of history’s greatest challenges.
Teachers can find out more how they can use this information at Disney.go.com/Lincoln.
Chris Roberts Star Citizen has reached over $5 million worth of donations. This includes over $1.7 million from Kickstarter and over $3.4 million from Roberts Space Industries.
The space fighter sim has seen over 75,000 total backers. This includes 30,124 Kickstarter backers and 45,115 Roberts Space Industries backers.
Source: RobertsSpaceIndustries.com
Sony Computer Entertainment announced that it has sold 70 million PS3 units into retailers as of November 4, 2012. The company also announced that the Move motion controller surpassed 15 million units sold as of November 11.
SCE noted that PSN operates in 59 countries and regions around the world. “PS3 owners can access 170,000 downloadable digital content including 57,000 game content worldwide from PlayStation Network. In October 2012, SCE redesigned PlayStation Store for PS3, offering a more streamlined and accessible store experience, including a stunning new user interface, simple search, and powerful content discovery,” said the company in a release. “The new store is now available in Europe and North and Latin America with more countries and regions to follow.”
Apple and Google are reportedly looking at arbitration for their mobile patent conflicts. The companies are considering trading proposals on a licensing agreement over essential smartphone technologies.
“We have long sought a path to resolving patent issues and we welcome the chance to build on the constructive dialogue between our companies,” Google General Counsel Kent Walker said in a filed letter to Apple. “While we prefer to seek a framework for a global (rather than piecemeal) resolution that addresses all of our patent disputes, we are committed to reaching agreement on a license for our respective standard-essential patents.”
“Apple’s goal has always been to find a mutual and transparent process to resolve this dispute on terms that are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory without the threat or taint of exclusionary remedies,” Apple General Counsel Bruce Sewell said in a letter to Google.
Source: Bloomberg
