This week’s episode takes a look at this week’s Gaming Flashback, Viva Pinata.
The news includes:
Let us know what you think.
This is the third attempt in as many weeks at making an episode.
There’s no real news items this Thanksgiving as the podcast is giving away free Swimsanity codes and talk about the games they’ve been playing that month.
Let us know what you think and win a Swimsanity code.
Halloween is a scary time of year, no less when you’re posting a $310 million net loss. EA CEO John Riccitiello sees “weakness” at retail in October and we’re betting this isn’t the end of the road of sorrow for game publishers around the globe.
Electronic Arts isn’t unfamiliar with bad times and we’re sure to see them make constant adjustments to their headcount, game releases and press as the economy goes into a bit of a slump. Although the game industry won’t see as big a hit as the financial market, everyone is going to watch their spending during slower economic times.
That slowness is a red flag for the mega-publisher, which says it’s “proactively making cost adjustments now.” One of those adjustments is the axing of some 600 EA employees across the globe. (Kotaku)
Last year Electronic Arts lost a “small” $195 million during the same time, not exactly a gold star on the financial records but it sure looks better than this loss. A few games may crumble under the economic pressures, Tiberium for example, but let us not forget the good times! EA posted some nice figures for Spore, Madden NFL 09, Warhammer: Age of Reckoning and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.
So, they mixed a few sequels with a few new franchise hits and gave gamers some pretty hot titles for the year. Of course, hot titles in our hand do not always translate to positive revenue in theirs.
Although PlayStation 3 is still third in worldwide sales, behind the Xbox 360 by about 5-million units, the PS3 community services now have as many online gamers as Xbox 360 says Sony. Sony posted on their blog saying, “with 14 million active accounts and 273 million pieces of content downloaded, we know that you’re thirsting for this digital entertainment.”
Although US sales of the 360 are killing the PS3, the community membership does give gamers a reason to get online with the PS3. Nobody wants to buy into a console that has very few active online games or an easy way to find friends (*cough* Wii). Having 14-million users helps them bridge the sales gap by building gamer confidence. Social networking is the new term; gamers want to socialize with each other online and with their consoles.
Microsoft recently announced their 14-million subscriber base and continue to update folks when they hit big milestones. The main difference, LIVE is a subscription system — those 14-million gamers are also paying for the service (we’re not sure if silver memberships count in that figure) and this means income for Microsoft while Sony does their service for free.
Although Microsoft is making money on their service, no doubt Sony will bypass their total membership because it has no cost barriers to play. The biggest cost barrier to get on Sony’s network is the PS3 itself and many gamers hold out for price drops which aren’t coming anytime soon (so says Sony). However, building a larger community on a free network allows Sony to siphon gamers to buy downloadable content, games, music, movies and all the goodies that go with these services.
It seems a better idea to triple your audience with a free service knowing a large amount of “hardcore gamers” attach themselves to the easy to buy content on said service. So, is it better to make US $50.00 a year on half the population or give triple that population an opportunity to spend more money on content?
“Thanks to all of you, PS3’s momentum is stronger than ever. There are nearly 17 million PS3 systems around the world, and in the United States, PS3 hardware sales are up nearly 100 percent from where we were at this time last year. Software sales have tripled from a year ago. Yes, we’re proud about everything we’ve accomplished, and we’re even more psyched about where we’re going with our holiday software lineup” (playstation.com)
Eventually gamers may have access to Sony’s Home project, which could raise the community figures and give Xbox 360 something less to brag about. Although, we’re sure Sony would rather be boasting “number one” console again, at least they’ve finally got a win on their side because 14-million users is only the beginning for them.
Plus, it’s hard to argue free.
