‘GTA V’ To Break A Billion

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The wait for Grand Theft Auto V is over and the game has arrived for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 starting late last night. Now it’s just a matter of seeing how sales do for the highly anticipated game – though analyst Colin Sebastian already has a good idea.

With its “unprecedented pent-up demand,” according to Sebastian, the game is expected to bring in a huge amount of revenue, to the tune of over $1 billion in retail sales in its first month alone.

“To date, Take Two has shipped roughly 25 million units worldwide of GTA IV, and our checks suggest an uptick in catalog sales in the weeks ahead of tonight’s GTA V launch. Given the significantly higher installed base of relevant console platforms at launch, greater sales concentration among the top video game franchises, and unprecedented pent-up demand, we expect GTA V to outpace GTA IV sales, and generate roughly $1 billion in retail sales during the first month,” he said.

Shipments of the game are estimated at 12 million for the two remaining weeks in September, with 20 million reached by the end of the fiscal year. “Given strong pre-order volumes, little direct competition in the launch window, and strong follow-on sales likely through the holiday period, we believe there is good visibility in Take Two hitting these GTA targets, and potentially exceeding our estimates,” he added.

Even though several AAA titles are expected for the holiday season that could compete directly with Grand Theft Auto V, Sebastian feels that this release will help set a domino effect that will affect other games. “We believe that consumer demand for GTA V is a useful yardstick to measure potential sales momentum for other key 2013 releases, most notably Call of Duty Ghosts (ATVI), Battlefield 4 (EA) and Assassin’s Creed IV (UbiSoft). Our retail checks suggest that Activision and EA are both aggressively courting GTA buyers to pre-order titles,” he said.

Grand Theft Auto V is available now for Xbox 360 and PS3.

Source: Gamesindustrybiz

‘Disney Infinity’ Sells Big

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Disney Interactive was banking big on its interactive figure-oriented video game Disney Infinity, and it looks like the gamble has paid off.

The company recent reported that the “bring-toys-to-life” game has gotten off to a strong start, selling 294,000 copies in the first two weeks alone. That’s not including figure and accessory sales, either.

“Disney Infinity sales are off to a strong start, selling 294,000 starter pack units in the US during the last two weeks of August,” the spokesperson said. “We’re very pleased with the launch in both the U.S. and globally, and believe Disney Infinity is well-positioned for the critical holiday sales season.”

The game came up in a steady third place in the NPD Group’s US retail sales chart for August, placing behind the popular Madden NFL 25 and Saints Row IV.

Disney has spent more than $100 million on the project, but with its momentum and new toys and playsets set for introduction later this year it’s likely to pay off big.

Source: GamesIndustry International

iStoryTime Expands Services

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iStoryTime, an interactive eBooks application that has spread across a number of major mobile app stores and digital book marketplaces, is about to take its service to the next level.

The company has managed to consolidate access to its various stories, where parents can purchase various books aimed at children on their own, as part of a new update to the app, version 2.0. In addition, potential readers can also earn book credits by passing a message on to the advertisers, as well as subscribe to an entire collection if it suits their fancy.

iStoryTime works with a number of popular studios for licensed content, including all of DreamWorks’ movies, as well as content from Sony, Jim Henson, Cartoon Network and others. Familiar brands include Shrek, Ice Age, Kung Fu Panda, The Croods and others

“For a long time, we’ve been doing one app, one story,” explains iStoryTime co-founder Graham Farrar, who previously was a part of the founding team at Sonos. “Now we’ve launched our iStoryTime library as the second phase of our strategy – we’ve built the content library, now we’re building the distribution side,” he says.

You can download the app for iOS here.

Source: TechCrunch

Steam Box Reveal Coming?

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The Steam Box could be more than just a rumor by this time next week.

The long-awaited PC-to-TV device, which has been rumored for months and set as a competitor to certain game consoles on the market, could very well be unveiled within a few days’ time, according to Valve president Gabe Newell.

While speaking at LinuxCon, Newell stated, “next week we’re going to be rolling out more information about how we get there and what are the hardware opportunities we see for bring Linux to the living room,” stopping just short of confirming the Steam Box project.

No word yet on pricing or release date either, but those are sure to be coming soon.

Source: Ars Technica

App Discovery Getting Pricier

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When it comes to a variety of games and applications to find for mobile devices, there’s no shortage. In fact, there’s something out there for everyone – maybe too much of something, in certain cases.

A report from The Parallax Corporation indicates that as the market grows, it also becomes susceptible to getting overcrowded, to the point that some publishers and developers’ applications can’t even get noticed.

According to the report, for the month of March 2013 in itself, 31,000 new iPhone apps and over 22,000 new Android apps came out in the US, with approximately 18 to 22 percent being games. With that high a count, a number of them went unnoticed, with very little fanfare.

David Garth of The Parallax Corporation writes: “According to the FIKSU Cost Per Loyal User Index, the average cost, for brands who proactively marketed their apps (across all types of app categories, which are generally less expensive than for games), rose from $0.94 in March 2011 to $1.36 in March 2013,which is an increase of 45 percent. The Cost Per Install (CPI or Acquisition Cost Per User, the ACPU) for unpaid installs in the gaming world is currently in the $1 to $8 range.”

To attract attention on the consumer front, most companies need to turn to a larger budget for acquisition and installs. Obviously, smaller companies and developers just can’t afford that. More details are available at the link below.

Source: Gamesbrief

Netflix Sees Competition Heating Up

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At one point, Netflix was considered the go-to channel for on-demand entertainment, as millions of users signed up to gain access to instant streams of various TV shows and movies. The company is still quite popular today though its competition is stronger than ever, forcing the company to revise its “long-view” statement.

In the statement, CEO Reed Hastings stated, “We compete very broadly for a share of members’ time and spending, against linear networks, DVD’s, other Internet networks, video games, web browsing, magazine reading, video piracy and much more. Over the coming years, most of these forms of entertainment will improve. Consumers will choose and consume from multiple options.”

Hulu Plus and HBO remain Netflix’s biggest competitors when it comes to original entertainment and services, but listing other activities is a step forward for the company. At least it’s finally acknowledging them, along with general TV and other forms of media. Will Netflix decide to compete in other areas as well as video streaming

Source: QZ

‘GTA V iFruit’ App Extends Game To Mobile

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Rockstar Games’ long-awaited Grand Theft Auto V is now available in stores, and players everywhere can’t wait to get back into its immersive criminal world. If that wasn’t enough, Rockstar has also launched a special app for iOS devices that lets them do a little bit more with their gaming experience.

Called Grand Theft Auto iFruit, the app allows players to perform a number of duties that can have an effect on their game. For instance, you can pay a visit to Los Santos Customs and design vehicles that you’d use in Grand Theft Auto V, from the window tint to the wheels. Once you’re finished with the order, an in-game phone call will let you know when it’s parked in your garage.

Customizable license plates are also available, though players will need to reserve specific tags when they become available in Grand Theft Auto Online, which will be ready for download on October 1.

Finally, there’s Chop. This is a pet simulator that focuses on the digital K9 featured in the game and taken care of by one of its main characters, Franklin. Players play with and take care of the dog, and have him sniff out hidden items in the game, which you can use at a later time. Like a Tamagotchi, though, they’ll need to avoid leaving him alone, as he can become upset.

Rockstar Store access, as well as Social Club features, are also available in the app. It’s available now, free to download.

Source: Cinema Blend

Sony’s Bid for Greatness

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Sony’s grand strategy for a return to profitability and relevance in consumer electronics is finally becoming clearer, with games playing a central role. The announcement of the PS Vita TV last week represented a significant part of the comprehensive content and distribution strategy that will put Sony on a collision course with Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon. All of these giants are preparing to battle for the lion’s share of consumer hearts, minds and wallets in the future with a combination of hardware, software, services, and content. Sony’s PS Vita TV points to the way forward for Sony.

Pete Davison at USGamer summed up the PS Vita TV: “This 9,480 yen (just under $99) device is set to launch on November 14 in Japan (other regions are yet to be announced) and is, like the aforementioned Android microconsoles, a tiny little game-playing box that you connect up to your TV, then use with a wireless controller — in this case, the PlayStation 3’s familiar, comfortable DualShock 3. It features the same hardware guts as the Vita handheld (an ARM Cortex-A9 core processor and an IMG SGX543MP4+ GPU, for those who enjoy unmemorable strings of letters and numbers) which makes it — currently at least — one of the most powerful microconsoles on the market. It has 1GB of onboard storage and slots for both Vita game cards and memory cards, plus USB and Ethernet ports along with 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 wireless capabilities. It outputs video at 480p, 720p or 1080i, and can even stream PS4 games to a different TV via Remote Play.”

At launch the PS Vita TV will support all downloadable PSP games along with PSone classics and select PS Vita titles, with over 1300 games available. Many of these games already have a serious fan base, and the PS Vita TV could unleash them on new markets. In Japan Sony will be streaming Netflix and other services, and you can bet on a full range of streaming music and video in other markets as well. It’s going to be tough competition for Roku and other inexpensive streaming boxes, as well as gaming consoles in the same price range.

The train of enthusiasm was derailed for a bit when SCE president and CEO Andrew House said the PS Vita TV is intended only for Asia, but Sony Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida quickly walked that back with the following tweet: “For people wondering about PS Vita TV outside Japan, we are just saying now ‘PS Vita TV releasing first in Japan’. Stay tuned.” It seems obvious that the PS Vita TV will eventually arrive in North America and Europe. The PS Vita TV sold out quickly at Amazon Japan.

Sony’s strategy brings together its successful history in games along with its music and movie divisions in the unified Sony Entertainment Network. While the execution of this still has its rough spots (as do all its competitors), the basic plan is to have appealing hardware at a variety of price points offering compelling content. Ideally, you’d have a single account where you can access your content any time, any place, on any device. Profits may not be high on the hardware itself in order to be competitive, but digital content margins should more than make up for that in the long run.

Sony’s hardware coverage will be pretty much complete with the PS Vita TV. With consoles, Sony will have the PS Vita TV at the low end ($99 to $150 with controller), the middle (PS3 at $199 to $249), and the high end (PS4 at $399). All of these devices will be used for game playing, movies, and music. When Gaikai’s technology is fully implemented, games from any source could be streamed to any device with very low latency. Sony’s got portable gaming covered with the PS Vita at $199 as well as its smartphones and tablets.

Outside of consoles, Sony’s lineup looks very appealing. Of course there’s the respected VAIO line of laptops, and now Sony’s gathering good reviews with its Xperia lines of Android smartphones and tablets. Now we see Sony bringing the best of Google TV apps with Bravia TV apps in the Bravia Smart Stick, which currently only works with late-model Bravia TVs — but that compatibility could easily be expanded later on (the product has not yet been formally announced or priced). Sony’s PlayStation Mobile initiative brings classic PlayStation games to a growing variety of Android devices.

Microsoft has been busy with its own comprehensive strategy for devices, content and services. The Xbox One is the flagship of this effort, and Microsoft has been busy adding substantial NFL support, original content (the new Halo series) and a variety of media features for augmented TV viewing. Microsoft is now manufacturing tablets with the Surface line (initial models flopped, but new models are coming September 23rd) and smartphones with its Nokia acquisition. Microsoft has also toyed with the idea of a set-top box and a small Surface tablet. So its hardware lineup may get even broader.

Meanwhile, Google continues to press forward with new tablets and smartphones, and Google TV is represented through Android consoles like Ouya and SmartStick. Google Play has a solid lineup of music and video. Google’s strategy is somewhat different, as it seeks to expand its offerings in order to boost advertising, its primary moneymaker.

Rumors continue to swirl that Amazon is on the verge of introducing its own Android-based set-top box (perhaps to be called ‘Kindle TV’), with a heavy emphasis on gaming. Amazon will doubltess be introducing new versions of its best-selling Kindle Fire tablets soon, and they are rumored to be working on a smartphone as well. Amazon tends to keep its hardware prices low in order to maximize the reach of its enormous retail engine, which now includes very substantial music and video components (original video content coming soon).

Finally, there’s Apple’s recent introduction of the 64-bit A7 chip, which provides Xbox 360 level graphics in a smartphone. That may be overkill for a smartphone, but it would fit very nicely into an Apple TV, wouldn’t it Imagine Xbox 360 level power for $99 with all of Apple’s content behind it, including a vast array of games.

The battle is clearly going to be fought across multiple devices, with each of the big players hoping to get consumers locked into a specific ecosystem. The competition is already intense, and it’s only going to get hotter with billions of dollars at stake. Consumers will be the winners, as the vast war chests of huge companies are opened up to spend heavily on attracting, engaging and retaining consumers. The losers will be the smaller companies that aren’t able to make the right deals for content, or somehow find a market in the crevices between the massive efforts of megacorps.

The broad outlines of this battle are clear, and now it becomes a test of how well each company can execute its strategy, and how quickly. Can Sony smoothly integrate the Sony Entertainment Network across all these devices Can Microsoft bring some of the Xbox magic to tablets and smartphones Will Apple ever introduce an Apple TV with an app store Will Amazon really bring out a set-top box and perhaps a smartphone Can Google or Apple ever crack the content problem with cable TV providers This battle is going to be huge, and games are a central part of the fight.

Building A Game Company On Platforms, Not Hits

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Digital Media Wire’s New York Games conference kicks off tomorrow with a keynote by a different kind of game company, one that stresses success in the digital games business comes from a careful platform strategy and not necessarily chasing big hits.  New York-based Arkadium thrives on following a model that contrasts someone like a Rovio, which found huge success in digital games seemingly overnight with its first Angry Birds game. While not exactly a household name, Arkadium has been around for 12 years making games for a huge segment of the casual gaming audience, the ones who dawdle on web sites for their favorite TV shows and online portals for major media companies.

Arkadium co-founders Kenny Rosenblatt and Jessica Rovello

Arkadium is co-founded by husband and wife team Jessica Rovello and Kenny Rosenblatt. They’ve released more than 300 games. According to Rosenblatt, they boast about 10 million active users. Yet while the company’s games are on the most popular digital game platforms, Facebook, iOS and Android included, it credits its longevity to platform partnerships with companies like Comcast, Xfinity, CNN, the Discovery Channel and, most recently, Microsoft.

Ned Sherman, CEO and publisher of Digital Media Wire, says Arkadium is perfect for its conference keynote. For its New York event, DMW turned the focus to helping digital game makers find the money. Many of the sessions revolve around monetization, and the speaker list has that air of pairing successful players in the space, whether game makers, publishers or marketers, with up-and-comers. Aside from knowledge sharing, there’s also the opportunity for more meaningful partnerships, for instance attracting investors. One of the programs on the conference agenda is a pitch session where a handful of promising startups have a chance to present their business plan to a panel of venture capital firms.

“As it becomes increasingly more difficult for indie developers to reach an audience, there is a greater need for them to partner with companies like Arkadium that have the experience, resources and channels to reach an audience and increase the chances of success in a crowded market,” Sherman said.

Arkadium’s success going forward may hinge on how it’s putting a lot of attention on one platform, Windows 8. It struck a deal with Microsoft before the launch of the operating system to become a preferred games developer, and is in-fact now the official developer of updated versions of classic bundled-in Windows games like Minesweeper and Solitaire. This past spring the company turned to outside funding for the first time since its founding, raising $5 million in a series A round with Edison Ventures. That money may have gone towards what Arkadium announced some months later. In July, it said it had developed a metrics platform for Windows to rival performance data app makers get from the likes of Apple, Facebook and Google. At the time, Rosenblatt told Inside Social Games that robust analytics that could help app makers with user acquisition were one of the “major barriers” on Microsoft’s platform.

We had a chance to talk with Rovello and Rosenblatt to get more insight on how Arkadium has found success and, as a preview of tomorrow’s keynote, what it hopes to impart on other indies in the space.

Tell us about the strategy to put a good chunk of your resources behind supporting Microsoft and Windows 8.

Rosenblatt: We have always charted our own course and did what was right for the business. We saw the rise of Facebook gaming, we saw the rise of iOS and Android, and an opportunity came from Microsoft when they were launching Windows 8 to be one of the premiere providers of games on that platform, and be a close partner to Microsoft. We knew that they already had the number one gaming console, we knew that they had 800 million Windows 7 devices out there, and Microsoft had a lot of money to spend to make sure that over time Windows 8 would be a dominant platform. So we looked at the value creation from companies like Facebook and what that did for Zynga, and a company like Apple and what that did for Rovio, and we said here’s our opportunity after waiting 12 years.

We decided to commit to that platform because they knew games, and we knew over time they would gain market share on mobile and on tablets because those markets are too big for Microsft not to be a part of. So we decided to go that route because we knew the value it would build for our business long term versus trying to differentiate ourselves on Android and iOS, which are cluttered. This is our opportunity to be number one.

Arkadium says its pre-bundled Windows 8 games reach 150 million players

DMW Conference organizers have hinted that this keynote is going to be a unique one in some respects. How will it be unique?

Rovello: I think what [people] should expect is something a little bit different. We’ve been in the industry a long time. A lot of times you don’t get a dual keynote or a husband and wife team. I think we’re just different all around.  A New York audience is very different than a West Coast audience as far as our industry goes. We believe that we’re going to be speaking to a lot of people dealing with issues we were in five, six, 10 years ago. We really want to help people on how they can effectively grow their business without needing to take too much capital, without losing control, without worrying about where that next hit is coming from, and will they survive. Really it’s about smart tactical [ways] for how you can really fundamentally grow a gaming business.

As a teaser, what are some of the big takeaways attendees can expect?

Rosenblatt:  What we’re trying to get across is that there are opportunities for game developers to build themselves to last. It’s very rare to find an independent game developer that’s been around for 12 years and hasn’t gotten itself scooped up by a larger game publisher. I think we’re going to be talking about one of the tactics we’ve used to stay independent, love what we do, and build a real business. One of the core principles we want to get across is that while games are a hit driven industry and a lot of game companies’ revenues are directly tied to the success of their games, there are certain tactics you can take to even that out so that even if you don’t have a successful title under your belt, there are ways to bring in the revenue and keep the lights on.

Rovello: One of the things we’ll be talking about, what Kenny was just touching on, is how to build a business for the long term without having the deep pockets that some of your competitors do. One of things we took to heart at the beginning was to be able to use our clients to extend our brand. Initially, we have a very large distribution network on the web through these top media companies and portals. They’ve been hosting and distributing our games for many, many years. For us, the way that we’re able to get above all of the noise is by establishing our game brands early on, on the web and the mobile web, through our distribution channels. In addition to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars [on promotions], we have additional marketing channels where we can get the word out about our games.

You sound like a big publisher despite being an indie, talking about building brands and channel marketing. How did it come to be that Arkadium approached its business so differently than most independent game developers?

Rosenblatt: Maybe because I come from a marketing background, or maybe just because it’s what we’ve done for so many years, it’s become ingrained in our DNA. Really we don’t think about other game developers as being our only competition. We see Netflix original content as our competition. We see HBO series as our competition. Anything that people are doing to get enjoyment for a couple minutes a day is potentially a competitor to us. We really need to think that way. It’s about media content consumption as opposed to game players. We know our demographic is so broad that it could be somebody watching Game of Thrones, or somebody who’s watching Food Network.

Arkadium’s services include building branded game portals

Where have you had the most success with generating awareness when you launch a new game?

Rovello: We have a number of users that we can market to already.  We have a large database of users who play our games prolifically. We reach out and try to get them interested. We do soft distribution through our online distribution network. We either do teasers of games or light version of games, and then we do traditional digital marketing — ad buys when titles are released, then work to get editorial coverage and spotlight promotion [in app stores] if we can.

Disney Star Wars An Annual Affair

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Disney dropped a few hints about how it plans to turn its $4 billion purchase of Star Wars from Lucasfilm into a moneymaking machine.  According to Variety, Disney CFO Jay Rasulo said that the company is planning one Star Wars release each year, starting with the J.J. Abrams helmed film in 2015. Disney is also looking to broaden the licensing reach of the franchise internationally, where Lucasfilm focused on US-based rights. Rasulo was speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference.

Disney has orchestrated an ongoing trickle of news about its plans for Star Wars since acquiring the rights.  Earlier this year, the studio said that Harrison Ford had agreed to appear in Abrams’ first film, said to be an origin story. Casting the septuagenarian actor to reprise a role he first played more than 35 years ago raised speculation that Abrams may turn to the same visual effects Disney used to recreate the youthful version of Jeff Bridges’ character in Tron.

Rasulo reiterated that Disney is planning “origin story” films in addition to continuing beyond episode VI, where George Lucas ended his films’ storyline with Return of the Jedi. That and news of annual Star Wars films will surely excite fans, though whether that excitement endures will come down to how Disney and Abrams come out of the gate.  Rasulo assured that Disney’s strategy starts with “a great first film.”

Rasulo did manage a disturbance in the force, at least from a fan perspective if not for the investor audience he was speaking to. He said a string of box office disappointments for Disney, which recently laid a couple of eggs with John Carter and The Lone Ranger, is affecting film budgets at the studio.

“There needs to be a cap on tentpole franchise movies,” he said, adding, “Going forward, we will see a cap on spending on those movies.”

Source: Variety