Gaming - Page 927

Ubisoft reports stellar first quarter revenues and sales driven by strong digital growth across all segments and platforms, including PS4, Xbox One and PC.

French games-maker Ubisoft is transforming more and more of its business into digital revenue streams, and this initiative is paying off big. The company recently announced total sales earnings of 202.1 million euros ($232.78 million) in the three-month period ending June 30, all without even releasing a new game.

What's even more impressive is that 80.4% of these earnings, or 164.2 million euros ($189.07 million) were from digital purchases such as full game sales as well as recurrent consumer spending via microtransactions, DLC and add-ons. Ubisoft categorizes the latter digital monetization revenues as PRI, or "Player Recurring Investment," which also saw tremendous growth in the quarter: the company earned 83.1 million euros ($95.69 million) in PRI, up a mighty 73.4% year-over-year. PRI actually made up 41.1% of the quarter's total sales, meaning almost half of Ubisoft's digital revenues consisted of paid add-ons and other content.

As the games industry shifts towards a digital-powered games-as-a-service model with recurring revenue streams at the whims of consumers, analyst firm SuperData reports that console gamers will purchase and consume more digital content in the form of microtransactions, DLC, and add-ons than games in 2017.

In today's market, digital-driven games like Overwatch, GTA Online, Rocket League and FIFA dominate consoles across the world, earning billions in combined revenue. We've just reported on how Ubisoft's digital-first strategy is paying off big, and other publishers are just as keen on slicing off their share of the lucrative market as gamers are to spend on their creations. Analyst firm SuperData predicts that add-on content--which includes microtransactions, DLC, season passes and other post-release content like map packs--will make up over 50% of the console gaming sector's total revenues for 2017.

This effectively means console gamers are willing to spend more money on add-ons than they are on full game downloads.

Take-Two Interactive's massively lucrative online-based Grand Theft Auto game has pulled in considerable lifetime-to-date earnings, according to research firm SuperData.

Grand Theft Auto V's massively popular persistent online open-world component, GTA Online, has generated an estimated $1.092 billion in total revenues, analyst firm SuperData reports. GTA V is the highest-earning digital console game of all time thanks to its hugely profitable add-on content, the firm said in a recent market report, with total revenues of $1.4 billion since its release in 2013--78% of which was earned by add-on content through GTA Online.

Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two Interactive reported strong earnings in its last fiscal year thanks to the years-old GTA V and GTA Online powerhouse. The company earned $927.1 million in digital net revenues, with recurrent consumer spending on DLC/add-ons/microtransactions making up 50% of revenues, or $460.85 million. GTA Online had a tremendous effect on digital sales revenue, too: bookings from recurrent monetization streams grew a substantial 52% over last year to an impressive $562.7 million, or 57% of total digitally-delivered bookings.

Microsoft today reported strong Q4 and full year fiscal earnings across all of its segments, and its gaming branch pulled in over $9 billion in revenues despite lower Xbox console sales.

Despite Sony's dominant lead in console sales, Microsoft's gaming segment is extremely healthy and prosperous as the company's digital cross-platform transformation continues paying off. The Redmond-based titan has unified Windows 10 PCs, mobile phones, and Xbox consoles with its unique Xbox-as-a-service initiative, which sees Xbox LIVE connecting a manner of popular devices together.

In its fiscal year 2017 financials, Microsoft reports that there are now 53 million Xbox LIVE users and counting, and that its gaming segment raked in $9.076 billion in total revenues during the 12-month period ending June 30, 2017.

Ubisoft has stated that all of its games will have live services that tie into recurring player investment, hinting that Assassin's Creed: Origins may be monetized with in-game purchases and microtransactions. In a Q1 earnings call, key Ubisoft executives give more clues on how the next Assassin's Creed will continue earning money long after initial sales.

French games-maker Ubisoft has made a tremendous transformation in the last few years, and its digital-first strategy is paying off big. Instead of focusing on single-release games, Ubisoft has embraced the next evolution of gaming which sees digital titles being treated as a service--the Games-as-a-Service trend, or GaaS--to ensure its games keep pulling in revenues months or even years after release. One of the main ways it achieves this goal is by infusing microtransactions into its games. While online multiplayer games like Rainbow Six: Siege and For Honor are obvious choices for this monetization path, traditional game like Assassin's Creed are prime targets as well.

The Assassin's Creed series is no stranger to in-game microtransactions, and I expect the upcoming Egypt-based Assassin's Creed: Origins to be no different. I've already predicted that Ubisoft will monetize AC: Origins with loot boxes that contain randomized items, gear, or skill buffs, and now key corporate Ubisoft execs are adding weight to these predictions. In a recent Q1 earnings call, Ubisoft exec Alain Corre hints that the company may use Origins' heavy RPG focus as a path to recurring revenues.

Blizzard is making good on its promise to kill off support for legacy Windows operating systems in its popular franchises.

Blizzard has announced that Windows XP and Windows Vista users will no longer be able to play StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, Diablo III, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm after the killswitch is flipped in October.

"Starting in October of this year, we will begin the process of ending support for Windows XP and Windows Vista in World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm," the games-maker wrote in a recent forum post.

Nintendo's third smartphone game is booming, raking in considerable six-month sales.

Fire Emblem Heroes has made $114.9 million in revenues since its release on February 2, analyst firm SensorTower reports. These substantial earnings were generated with a rather smallish 11.7 million user install base compared to Super Mario Run's 90 million downloads in its first two weeks. Unlike Nintendo's "Mario on mobile" smartphone game, Fire Emblem Heroes has generated significant revenue from in-game purchases thanks to its specific earnings strategy.

The star mobile game leverages the massively lucrative "gacha" free-to-play business model, which sells in-game currency called "orbs" starting at $1.99 all the way up to $74.99. These in-game orbs are used to unlock new characters, upgrade stats, and other bonuses. Although the playerbase is smaller than most high-earning smartphone games, Fire Emblem Heroes is Nintendo's most profitable mobile game to date.

Nostalgia is massively lucrative, and it looks like Nintendo will continue stirring up millions of consumers with a Nintendo 64 Classic Edition in 2018.

Nintendo today filed a very interesting and instantly recognizable trademark in the European Union Intellectual Property Office that shows the Nintendo 64's iconic controller. As the graphic is quite similar to previous visual trademarks used in previous Nintendo "mini" consoles, it's very likely to represent a future Nintendo 64 Classic Edition micro-console to be released sometime in 2018.

Both the NES Classic Edition and the upcoming $79.99 SNES Classic Edition micro-consoles feature a distinctive controller logo on the top of their boxes. We've included a few side-by-side comparisons to illustrate.

AMD has taken its next-gen Radeon RX Vega onto the road, landing in Budapest first. AMD is showing off its new GPU architecture to gaming fans, teaming up with ASUS to show off AMD/ASUS products.

The company has since shown off its new logo/branding for Radeon RX Vega, testing RX Vega with AMD's own Ryzen 7 1800X processor and Battlefield 1 at 3440x1440 on a beautiful FreeSync-powered UltraWide display. There was also another gaming PC next to it running NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 (and not the GTX 1080 Ti) pitted against Radeon RX Vega.

The GeForce GTX 1080 powered gaming PC had the same 34-inch display and native 3440x1440 resolution, but was a G-Sync panel, compared to the RX Vega powered PC and its FreeSync Display. Both monitors were covered so you couldn't tell the difference between the systems, making it a blind test.

I had a NES back in the 80s and had never heard of Stadium Events until now, but TIL that it's one of the most rare NES games in the world.

So much so, that a sealed copy of Stadium Events was sold to a private buyer for a huge $41,977. The seller went for a traditional auction on eBay but the person who won didn't end up paying, so the seller contacted the "serious buyer" who coughed up the massive $41,977.

This isn't the first time that copies of Stadium Events have been sold, with a sealed copy being sold in 2015 for $35,100 and another sealed copy in 2010 sold for $41,300.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is fast becoming a household name in PC gaming, and has rocketed to success in just months. Big-name publishers like Ubisoft are taking notice, but the French games-maker says it doesn't feel threatened by PUBG's big chicken dinner wins.

Bluehole's early access battle royal PUBG is an early access sensation: the game raked in $100 million in revenues with 10 million copies sold on Steam in just 3 months time. Thanks to the new Facebook streaming deal, the game's playerbase continues to grow--in fact PUBG just surpassed Rockstar's GTA V titan in peak players on Steam.

Ubisoft has taken note of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and its massively engaged playerbase, and despite the strong numbers, the publisher isn't perturbed. Company CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot affirms that Rainbow Six: Siege is still doing very well, and in the call he announced R6 had 30 million registered users at the end of June. At the same time, however, Mr. Guillemot says that PUGB elements could be adapted into Ubisoft-published games like The Division and Rainbow Six: Siege.

Bethesda is unloading tons of value for current and potential DOOM players, starting with free multiplayer DLC, a MP overhaul, a price cut, and last but not least, free weekends.

If you've yet to pick up id's new explosively gritty, demon-smashing, skull-crushing, rip-and-tear shooter DOOM, then Bethesda is making it worth your while. The publisher today launched DOOM's v 6.66 update, a big 30GB+ update that makes all multiplayer DLC for all owners of the game--the season pass has been abolished!--and gears the game up for free weekends.

Also included in the aptly-named 6.66 update is a considerable overhaul to the game's fast-paced multiplayer, including a complete revamping of the progression system--unlockable items are now gated behind EXP progression rather than being randomized.

Nintendo today launched its hotly debated Nintendo Switch Online smartphone chatting app, and it's just as bad as you predicted.

The Nintendo Switch has two major online-based first-party games: ARMS and Splatoon 2. Rather than allowing players to easily hook up third-party headsets directly to the Switch, or into the Switch's Pro or JoyCon controllers, the company has taken a more confusing integrated approach: by forcing users to download an app to their phones for voice chatting. The app, which is required to chat with friends in parties in online games like Splatoon 2, launched today to strong frustration from the community.

Splatoon 2 isn't yet available, so only games press currently have full functionality of the app. And from what we're hearing it's quite awful, and Switch owners aren't happy. According to Forbes' Paul Tassi, the app is marred with a litany of problems including: the phone's screen must stay on to chat, you can't chat with friends when the app is minimized so say goodbye to communication while you answer a phone call, and, of course, there's real issues of battery drain considering the phone's screen must stay on and connected to the internet at all times to work.

Ubisoft's move to future-proof its games and embrace the digital market is paying off big as the French games-maker reports big earnings despite not releasing any new games.

In the last few years Ubisoft has transformed from a company that relies strongly on game sales into a massively profitable business whose games now make money long after their initial sale. This paradigm shift made Ubisoft one of the most interesting companies to cover, and now the European titan has created a billion-dollar empire with strong recurring revenues. Case in point: Ubisoft just made 202.1 million euros ($232.71 million) in its first quarter 2017 without releasing a single new game.

In the first quarter of FY18, Ubisoft pulled in total sales of 202.1 million euros ($232.78 million), up 45.2% year-over-year since Q1'16. Total Q1 sales exceeded Ubisoft's 170 million euro target by 18.88%. The company reports that digital is making up more and more of its total sales revenue, and for Q1'17 digital accounted for a staggering 80.4% of sales, or 164.2 million euros ($189.07 million).

PC peripherals-maker Razer hopes a new IPO will raise the company's valuation to as much as $5 billion.

After 12 years of being private, Razer currently plans to go public with its shares with an IPO. The company will open its shares in an initial public offering in Hong Kong, China, this October, sources familiar with the matter tell Bloomberg. The Singapore-founded American company is most known for its vibrant PC gaming products including keyboards, mice, and headsets, as well as premium-priced laptops like the Razer Blade.

With its IPO, Razer aims at a valuation of anywhere between $3 billion and $5 billion. Sources say the launch in Hong Kong is no mistake: the company is pursuing China's massive $27 billion games market, which is largely set on the mobile games segment. The company has already made its mark within the massively lucrative region with its first retail store based in Hong Kong.

Blizzard is taking a page out of Valve's playbook to fund StarCraft II eSports tournaments.

With its new War Chest initiative, games titan Blizzard is essentially mimicking Valve's unique interactive Battle Pass monetization program to raise money for competitive StarCraft II competitions. War Chest essentially allows StarCraft II players to purchase cosmetic skin packs via in-game microtransactions and earn exclusive rewards while taking part in an engaging marketing campaign.

Blizzard notes that 25% of all War Chest purchases go directly to StarCraft II eSports ventures. Blizzard will add the first $200,000 raised via War Chest to the BlizzCon 2017 tournament pool making a total prize pool of $700,000.

The developers at Vicarious Visions have played some mind games with old-school Crash fans.

If you've played the new Crash Bandicoot remaster, you're probably having a tough time with the jumps. Thankfully we finally know why. It's not just you: Crash isn't jumping right, and his jumps really are off. These aren't the old-school PlayStation games you remember just updated fancy graphics, the devs at Vicarious Visions finally admitted, but a new game with an altered physics system.

"Many fans have picked up on the fact that Crash's jump isn't quite the same as it was, particularly in the first game, Crash Bandicoot," the dev team said in a recent Activision blog post.

Far Cry 5's campaign length will be on par with previous games in the series, Ubisoft says.

With a living, breathing open world based built with Ubisoft's next-gen world tech mixed with chaotic and explosive FPS action, Far Cry 5 looks to be the most ambitious Far Cry yet. Since the game won't release until 2018, Ubisoft has been a bit tight-lipped about specific details, but lead writer Drew Holmes drops some new info.

In a recent interview with Gamingbolt, Mr. Holmes said that Far Cry 5 has deep customization and a massive level of guns and other toys to spread wanton mayhem across rural Montana. "It has a robust school system. There's going to be lots of weapons to play around with. We're going to go into it later. But expect improvement and stuff you have seen in previous Far Cry games," Mr. Holmes said. When asked about Far Cry 5's total campaign length, the writer affirmed it should be around 25-30 hours.

Before Nintendo, Atari reigned supreme: the games-maker was on top of the gaming world and conquered the market with its home video games consoles. Now that nostalgia has become an extremely profitable market, Atari wants to cash in on the trend with its new Ataribox and put the once-mighty company back into the game.

It's been 24 years since Atari released its last console, the ill-fated Atari Jaguar, before fizzling out of the hardware market and relegating its retro games library to third-party storefronts like Xbox LIVE and Steam. But with its latest Ataribox, the company may be poised on a big comeback. Official details on the Ataribox are vague; in a recent newsletter (which you can see below in full) Atari affirmed that the new box is a "new product that stays true to our heritage, appealing to old and new fans," and that it'll deliver "classic and current gaming content."

Although Atari CEO Fred Chesnais said the Ataribox is "based on PC technology", I predicted that the Ataribox is will be more aligned with the NES Mini rather than a modern console like the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. The Verge seems to match my predictions. There's many reasons for this, but the principal one is that Atari simply can't take the risk of being utterly demolished by today's top console competitors.

After 17 years of working with BioWare, current General Manager Aaryn Flynn will depart the company at the end of July.

Today BioWare General Manager Aaryn Flynn announced his departure from the renowned Edmonton-based studio, where he helped make beloved games as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the Mass Effect series, and the Dragon Age franchise of RPGs. BioWare alum Casey Hudson will return to BioWare and lead the myriad of development teams as the new General Manager, Mr. Flynn said.

Mr. Flynn's departure comes at a key pivotal turning point for the company. BioWare is currently developing Anthem, its new action-based IP and most ambitious game to date with extensive online components and massive vertical open world exploration. BioWare's Edmonton team is also developing a new Dragon Age game, which is likely a big AAA RPG endeavor and not a spin-off.