Dailymotion Launches Its Own Live Streaming Gaming Platform

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By: Jessica Klein

Dailymotion is looking to take on Twitch with the launch of Dailymotion Games, a new live-streaming platform for gaming creators and fans.

Available at games.dailymotion.com and powered by the company’s video player and live-streaming technology, the new platform allows users to create, distribute, and share live gameplay streams. Monetization is also available via ads, which Dailymotion says users have control over.

Viewer-centric features include search, recommendations, and real-time chatting, video recommendations.

Read more…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

 

Now Hiring! Amazon, Pinterest, And More Marketing Jobs For January 14th

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[a]listdaily is your source for the hottest job openings for senior management and marketing in games, entertainment and social media. Check here every Wednesday for the latest openings.

Meeting unexpectedly cancelled Here are some tips for managing that surprise free time around the office.

  • Amazon – Head of Consumer Marketing (Seattle, Wash.)
  • Pinterest – Strategic Partner Manager (Chicago, Ill.)
  • Intel – Global Social Campaign Manager (Hillsboro, Ore.)
  • Cloud Imperium – Marketing Director (Santa Monica, Calif.)

For last week’s [a]list jobs postings, click here. Have a position you’d like to place with us Email us at pr@ayzenberg.com.

Kabam Acquires New Studios, Prepares L.A. Location

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We’ve previously talked about how Los Angeles is slowly but surely becoming the place for digital studios to emerge, whether it’s for game development or for some other means of virtual occupancy. Now, it appears that Kabam is joining the party, promising to open up a new studio after adding two more companies to its folds.

Re/code has reported that the free-to-play gaming company has acquired two gaming studios based in Los Angeles, TapZen and Magic Pixel. With these pick-ups, the company is set to open up a new Los Angeles-based studio to house them both, and get to work on new projects.

With the opening of this office, which will be closer to Culver City but still close enough to Los Angeles’ business district, Kabam continues to show its interest in the area, already working with a number of movie studios on big name franchises, including The Fast and the Furious and The Hobbit – both which continue to be quite relevant with new movie releases either in theaters (The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies) or headed that way (Furious 7).

Both of the studios acquired are small but steady when it comes to business. TapZen previously only worked on one game, the 2014 release This Means War, although it’s gained a fair amount of popularity since its release. Magic Pixel’s been around for a little while longer, working on a number of independent PlayStation titles, as well as the mobile game Stick To It.

This Means War has managed to stay in the top 250 grossing apps across various countries for both iOS and Android, but Magic Pixel’s success hasn’t been so great, as its latest release, the card battle game Outcast Odyssey, only stayed in the top 250 for a short while.

As part of the deal, TapZen CEO and former Zynga chief creative officer Mike Verdu will join Kabam’s team of executives, although his specific role hasn’t been named just yet. However, Kent Wakeford, the chief operating officer for Kabam, told VentureBeat, “On the one hand, we are striving for leadership. Mike Verdu is one of the industry’s greats. He has had success in console games, social and now mobile. Those are rare people who have made that successful transition.”

Wakeford added, “We have had success in working with Hollywood studios, translating their iconic intellectual properties to mobile. So for us, building an office with senior leadership on the ground in the heart of the entertainment capital is important.”

Verdu had plenty to say as well. “Joining Kabam was an opportunity we could not pass up,” he said in a released statement. “I’ve been impressed at how Kabam has quickly become a leader in the free-to-play games space, and I look forward to helping the team drive the evolution of mobile games into the next generation.”

Magic Pixel’s co-founder Michael Seegers added, “Kabam has a proven track record of bringing awesome strategy games to global audiences. We are thrilled to become a part of their team and bring our talents to an even bigger stage.”

This will no doubt make Los Angeles an even more likely city to thrive with digital content and game releases. Congrats to all involved!

‘Minecraft: Pocket Edition’ Notches 30 Million Downloads

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Mojang’s Minecraft is no stranger to setting sales records, as it’s already sold millions of units across the board for PC, as well as consoles – which probably stood out as the key reason Microsoft acquired the studio for a record sum last year. That said, it looks like the mobile version of the game is an unstoppable beast in itself.

MCV UK has reported that Mojang has revealed the download numbers for Minecraft: Pocket Edition, which is currently available for iOS and Android as a premium app download. The game has downloaded more than 30 million times, which equates to big money since it usually sells for around $4.99-$6.99 per copy.

In addition, the game has managed to pass the one million concurrent PC users point for the first time ever, with the number currently peaking at 1.4 million. That’s a huge number, although not surprising given the game’s addictive nature of building things, either alone or alongside friends.

Mojang also revealed an interesting statistic when it came to reaching the one million point. Half the players involved were taking part in a single player session, while the other half were engaging in multiplayer, either building things with friends or competing in some other activity.

These are big numbers for Mojang, and no doubt good news for Microsoft regarding its investment. The one million point for a single game release is a big thing, especially in comparison to Steam’s previously reported numbers of a concurrent user record, standing at 8.5 million gamers at once. The only game that comes close to this on that service is DOTA 2. The MOBA-based game reported that, during peak points, it reaches 900,000 concurrent players at the same time.

Will these numbers continue to rise in 2015 We don’t see why they wouldn’t. After all, Minecraft builders certainly aren’t going to stop now.

Free To Play ‘Crossy Road’ Sees Gains With In-Game Ads

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Sometimes, following the formula for free-to-play games can pay off. Just ask the team at Hipster Whale.

The company’s latest mobile release, the Frogger-style arcade game Crossy Road, has managed to generate over $1 million from in-game ads since the game’s launch in November 2014, according to Unity. These ads were separate video pieces that, when watched, awarded players with in-game currency, which could then be turned around to purchase new characters.

$1 million is a staggering amount of money for a game that’s based on a free-to-play basis, only charging players for additional characters featured in the game, including “special chickens,” a walking piggy bank and more. Those purchases have been measured on a separate scale, although no specific numbers were given by the publisher at this time.

The game had been out on iOS for over a month before it finally arrived on Android in time for the holiday season. Thus far, it’s racked up 10 million downloads on iOS, and just over a million on Android over its release weekend.

“We wanted it to be free, so that everyone has a chance to play,” said the game’s co-creator, Matt Hall, speaking with MCV UK. “I thought that video ads were a really good way to earn money without getting into people’s faces. We just needed to figure out a fun reason for players to watch them.

“We didn’t want any consumable purchases, we wanted to do something that everybody could pay a little bit for if they wanted to, but where it wasn’t necessary to keep paying.”

It’s a move that’s certainly paid off, keeping players addicted without pounding or punishing them with necessary purchases to continue onward. And obviously Hipster Whale has benefitted as well, perhaps paving the way for a new business model for companies to adapt with their own free-to-play releases. We’ll see what the year brings as it goes along.

Meanwhile, we’ve got a Road to cross…

Museum Sees Video Games As Works Of Art

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In the past, there have been arguments whether video games qualify as art (the late film critic Roger Ebert has argued that they aren’t), but that hasn’t stopped a select few from celebrating it as such, whether it was through special exhibits at the Smithsonian, or online through a special Tumblr blog. Now, a new exhibit in the Netherlands has its own special exhibit that puts video games on full display.

The New Horizons exhibition, now available at the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, shows the strength of what video games can do in terms of art, featuring a number of conceptual drawings and special pieces from a number of video games, featuring the work of various artists, including Jennifer Steinbeck, Harun Farocki and Cory Arcangel.

The exhibit, detailed by GamesIndustry International, allows visitors to see their favorite games in a whole new way, with works ranging from such popular releases as Portal and Battlefield 4 (where screenshot-based multiplayer map prints are on display) to more obscure favorites, like Sony’s artful Flower and the first-person adventure Mirror’s Edge.

New Horizons is a tie-in with the annual Next Gen Art Event, which will feature a number of discussions and workshops featuring leading developers, who will no doubt talk about the art style put to work in a number of their games. It’s featured a number of inclusions from such companies as Irrational Games (the creators of the Bioshock franchise), Oddworld Inhabitants and Capcom, among others. More popular companies include Naughty Dog, who contributed its “The Art of Naughty Dog” collection, and BioWare, who has plenty of art from its Mass Effect series on display.

“One thing we’ve always talked about at BioWare is how to get concept art and environmental art in a gallery,” said Derek Watts, art director for the Mass Effect series, speaking with GamesIndustry International.

Mike Lester, systems engineer for Thatgamecompany (the developers of the artful Flower), added that the students and the location really prompted him to take part in the event. “The Netherlands isn’t known for having a particularly large game dev community, and I like the idea of starting at the student level to help get it going.

“I liked being able to connect with the students,” he concluded. “I feel like they really heard my message.”

More details about the exhibit, and GamesIndustry‘s visit to it, can be found here.

 

Microsoft Chooses The Detroit Auto Show To Confirm ‘Forza Motorsport 6’

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Emboldened by the runaway success of Forza Motorsport 5 as the Xbox’s fastest selling racing game of all time with over 1.8 million copies sold to date, Microsoft has unveiled a new entry in the Forza franchise, choosing the historical heart of America’s automotive industry for the special occasion.

Detroit’s North American International Auto Show played host to the announcement, where Microsoft confirmed that Forza Motorsport 6 is in the works at Turn 10 Studios and set to come out later this year.

The Ford F-150 Raptor, GT, and Shelby GT305 Mustang were showcased as cars included in the game.

Dan Greenawalt, Turn 10 Studios’ creative director, tied the critically-acclaimed racing series’ history into that of the prestigious automaker founded by Henry Ford. “Just as Ford has pushed the boundaries of car technology in GT, Forza Motorsport 6 will embrace that spirit of innovation as our most technically advanced racing simulation to date, offering a fun and realistic automotive experience for both car lovers and gamers.”

The North American International Auto Show is a smart spot for Microsoft to unveil Forza Motorsport 6, as the franchise is known for its creative partnerships with big-name manufacturers. A venture with Honda brought the Civic Type R to Forza Motorsport 5 just this past holiday season.

More information about Forza Motorsport 6, including an exact release date, is expected at E3 in June.

Video Ad Platform Teads Raises $30M

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By: Sahil Patel

European video ad startup Teads has raised $30 million in new financing as it looks to enter more international markets.

The financing is an even split between equity investment and debt. Investors include existing backers Gimv, Partech, and Elaia, as well as new investor BPI. The other half comes via a “mid-term” line of credit from Bank of China, HSBC, BNPP, and BPI.

The money will allow Teads to “speed up the company’s growth on a global scale,” according to Teads executive chairman Pierre Chappaz. He says Teads will focus on technology innovation as well as expansions in the US and new markets like Brazil, Russia, South Korea, and Japan.

Read more…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

‘Call of Duty Online’ Launches In China

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There’s no question that the Call of Duty franchise has made a huge mark in the U.S. gaming market, with billions of dollars in revenue in the franchise’s history. Now, the brand could be doing even more business in China, as Activision and Tencent have teamed up to bring Call of Duty Online to the masses. The main difference is that the game is free-to-play, rather than the pay-up-front model used in other parts of the world.

The two publishing giants have launched the game’s beta in China, providing millions of players the opportunity to take on single player missions, a survival mode (featuring cyborgs in place of the traditional zombies) and, of course, multiplayer. The beta is available for hundreds of millions of gamers, and should expand even further when the game finally launches, even though a date hasn’t been given yet.

“Millions of gamers in the West have come to appreciate that white-knuckled, epic thrill-ride that only Call of Duty delivers. And now an entire new audience of gamers will experience this for the first time. We believe Call of Duty Online is going to be a game-changer for Chinese gamers,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. “We’ve worked closely with our partner at Tencent, and we’ve challenged one of our most trusted and talented development teams at Raven Software to create a true Call of Duty experience tailored for the Chinese market. Throughout testing, the community feedback has been tremendous. We couldn’t be more excited and we look forward to winning the hearts and minds of a new community in China.”

Steven Ma, senior vice president of Tencent, added, “Since announcing Call of Duty Online, we have gone through a series of alpha and closed beta tests, with each test generating incredibly positive results. Call of Duty Online is a top tier game developed by an elite team and we are honored to bring this highly anticipated title to the Chinese players.”

The gaming landscape in China has changed quite a bit over the past few years. A number of PC-based and mobile titles have stepped up in popularity, including Puzzle & Dragons and League of Legends. And with the recent announcement of the country’s removal of its ban on video game consoles, Microsoft and Sony have opted to make an impact with their own offerings as well.

But the spotlight remains firmly on the PC gaming scene for now, and the powerhouse teaming of Tencent and Activision will no doubt take a big chunk out of it, with millions of players expected to put the game through its paces while in its beta period.

There’s no question that both companies have put quite a promotional push behind the game. In fact, Activision produced a live-action trailer featuring plenty of Call of Duty action, as well as an appearance by Captain America himself, Chris Evans. You can view it below.

No word yet if Call of Duty Online will launch for other markets, but, at the moment, it isn’t likely. Fortunately, gamers still have the likes of Advanced Warfare and other titles to turn to.

 

25% Of Spotify Users Want Pay For Better Streaming

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A couple of months back, Spotify had revealed that it had some impressive audience numbers, with 50 million users and 12.5 million paying subscribers. Going into 2015, however, it’s shown quite a bit of increase.

VentureBeat has reported that the popular music service has managed to gain 10 million active users since that time, rising up to 60 million users total. Meanwhile, out of that audience, 15 million actually provide payment for the service. This continues to remain consistent with the site’s general numbers, with a fourth of users choosing to subscribe.

Following the release of a free version of its service for mobile devices around this time last year, Spotify has been working to increase its subscriber base with more key features for the $9.99 monthly program. That said, while 15 million is certainly a healthy base, the company still has a ways to go when it comes to keeping up with other digital music titans, such as Apple and Google, as well as upstarts like Rdio and Deezer.

That said, the company may make changes to its formatting for 2015 in an effort to keep people from leaving. Spotify already suffered a brutal blow last year when artist Taylor Swift removed her music from its library, stating that she didn’t want to share her music based on an ad-supported tier. That said, the company’s CEO was still confident in its success, despite Swift’s decision.

Some questions have also arisen in regards to the company being purchased by a larger conglomerate in an effort to increase its own music subscription plans. There’s been talks that Google may be an ideal partner for this, in an effort to keep up with the likes of Apple and other competitors. As of now, though, the company remains independent, and is rumored to be preparing an IPO to increase its chances for success in 2015.

For now, it seems, the beat just goes on . . .