GamingShogunDavid Haddad Named Senior VP of Digital Publishing for Warner Bros. Interactive
BURBANK, Calif. May 9, 2013 – Games Industry Veteran David Haddad has been named Senior Vice President, Digital Publishing, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, it was announced today by Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Haddad will oversee the global publishing business of the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s digital games business, which includes Light Persistent World, Massively Multiplayer Online, Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, Free-To-Play PC and other digitally distributed games. He will also be responsible for identifying and evaluating new business opportunities in the digital games space and will manage virtual merchandise sales as well as in-game advertising and product placement…
Disney and EA Sign Multi-Year Star Wars Games Deal
BURBANK & REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) and Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced a new multi-year exclusive licensing agreement to develop and publish globally new games based on Star Wars characters and storylines. Under the agreement, EA will develop and publish new Star Wars titles for a core gaming audience, spanning all interactive platforms and the most popular game genres, while Disney will retain certain rights to develop new titles within the mobile, social, tablet and online game categories. “This agreement demonstrates our commitment to creating quality game experiences that drive the popularity of the Star Wars franchise for years to…
The ESA Applauds USTR for International Copyright Protection
May 1, 2013 – WASHINGTON, DC – The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) today released its annual “Special 301” Report, in which it highlighted shortcomings in copyright protection and/or market access for U.S. copyrights in more than 40 countries and territories by assigning them to the Priority Watch List or Watch List, launching reviews, and in the case of Ukraine designating it a “Priority Foreign Country.” The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) applauded these decisions and other country placements which follows recommendations made by it and other industries that depend on strong intellectual property protection and enforcement. “Protecting…
Madden Breach of Contract Case Heading to Trial
San Francisco, Calif. – After more than two years of legal maneuvering by Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA), a California federal judge has denied EA’s final attempt to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Robin Antonick, who, according to the lawsuit, was the original designer and developer of its best-selling video-game Madden NFL. Antonick is seeking millions in allegedly unpaid royalties, punitive damages and disgorgement of all profits arising from the $5 billion Madden NFL franchise and related sports videogames, according to court filings. The case will now proceed to a trial, scheduled to begin on June 17, 2013. Antonick, according to…
2K Games Will Not Have E3 2013 Booth
On its forums today, 2K Games Ronnie Singh announced that the company would not have a booth at this year’s E3 expo. Forum Post: At 2K, we’re excited for the new opportunities coming with the next generation of hardware, and are hard at work preparing our announced titles for release. While 2K will not have a booth on the show floor at this year’s E3 conference, we will have a lot of great news coming your way this spring. Our slate of titles coming this year include highly anticipated games like Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Brave New World, XCOM: Enemy Unknown for iOS,…
Nintendo Will Not Have Large E3 Press Event
According to a Gametrailers post, Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, has stated that the company will not hold a traditional, large-scale E3 press event as they have done in years past. Instead, the company will be holding a number of smaller events focused directly on the West. Here is a translation of Satoru’s comment from a recent investor conference: “Unlike previous years, we will not have a large-scale presentation [at E3] directed to everyone in the world. Instead, we are planning several smaller events focusing on software for America. Among these hands-on events will be one for American distributors and another for western media.” Depending…
Cloud Imperium Games Opens Santa Monica Office
SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 23, 2013 — Cloud Imperium Games™, led by legendary game designer Chris Roberts, has opened an office in Santa Monica to help create Roberts’ new space sim game, Star Citizen™. The game marks Roberts’ return to the gaming industry and has garnered headlines in the last six months by bringing in more money via crowd funding than any other game to date. Cloud Imperium has raised more than $8.6 million since October of 2012 for the development of Star Citizen. Roberts is best known for creating the hugely popular Wing Commander line of games in the 1990s. Those games sold millions of…
Ubisoft Acquires Related Designs
SAN FRANCISCO — April 11, 2013 — Today, Ubisoft announced the acquisition of Related Designs, a leading German development studio for PC strategy games, including the critically-acclaimed AnnoTM franchise. Ubisoft previously owned 29.95 percent of the company and is acquiring the remaining 70.05 percent in a cash transaction. Established in 1995, Related Designs is a highly accomplished studio known for creating the award-winning PC titles Anno 1701TM, Anno 1404TM, Anno 2070® as well as real-time strategy games such as No Man´s Land and Castle Strike. As part of Ubisoft, Related Designs’ experienced 65-person staff will continue development of the browser-based…
Disney Closes LucasArts
According to Kotaku who got word through a un-named LucasArts source, Disney has shut the doors on the long-time game developer, also canceling Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault. We are filing this under rumor until a reliable source can be located. *UPDATE: Sadly, this is official, folks. Here is the official statement from Disney received by GameInformer: “After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs…
The ESA Announces Parental Controls Education Campaign
Washington, DC – March 11, 2013 – The U.S. video game industry today announced a new national public education campaign to educate American parents further about the tools and information available so they can manage the entertainment choices for their families. The campaign’s focal point will be a new series of Public Service Announcements (PSA) encouraging parents to review the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) video game ratings and utilize existing video game console parental controls. “This campaign will connect with consumers in an immediate and sustained way in addition to the traditional mechanisms over TV outlets. By channeling our…
THQ to Sell Off Other IPs
AGOURA HILLS, Calif. – THQ Inc. (OTC: THQIQ) today announced that it will sell certain of its remaining intellectual properties (IP) via a Court-supervised sale process. Last month, THQ sold the majority of its studios and games in development as part of its Chapter 11 case. The company expects to complete the bidding and sale process for these remaining IP assets by mid-May. The company has designated six lots of IP titles for bidding: Darksiders; Red Faction; Homeworld; MX; Other Owned Software, including Big Beach Sports, Destroy All Humans!, Summoner, and more; and Other Licensed Software, including Marvel Super Hero, Supreme Commander, Worms, and more….
EA Los Angeles and EA Montreal Layoffs
Looks like we have more bad news for lots of people working in the video game industry today as, according to an article at Polygon, Electronic Arts has begun laying off an unspecified number of staff at EA Los Angeles and EA Montreal. The news of these layoffs is timed with a statement by EA president of labels, Frank Gibeau. The statement is very carefully-worded to make what is essentially laying off a bunch of people sound like a great part of their “console transition” with yesterday’s PlayStation 4 announcement. Gibeau does mention that those laid off will be given…
IGN Layoffs, 1UP, UGO and GameSpy Closing
Looks like the new owner of IGN Entertainment, Ziff Davis, is shutting down long-time gaming websites, 1UP, UGO, and GameSpy. According to a news post at Polygon, the company has also laid off a number of staff members over at IGN. The Editor-in-Chief over at UGO, Chris Radtke, has even posted up a goodbye letter to their readers. It is a sad day for gaming journalism and we hope all those affected get picked up by other outlets soon. Internal Memo from Ziff Davis CEO, Vivek Shah Today, we took some difficult but important actions that will ensure the continued…
THQ’s Last Day Photo
THQ’s official Facebook page put up a heartfelt goodbye post earlier which caught my eye. I just wanted to pass on our thanks to THQ for all the great gaming experiences over the years and we hope everyone who lost their positions finds new homes soon. “Today marks the last day of THQ. From our entire family, we would like to say a heartfelt “Thank You” for your support during our amazing 20+ year run. Game on!”