News

Week of May 8-May 14, 2000

[Friday, May 12, 2000]

PC Data's Top Ten
The Sims continues its reign at the top while the Everquest expansion pack debuts in second place in PC Data's list of the top ten PC games for the week of April 23-29, 2000.

1 The Sims, Electronic Arts
2 EverQuest: Ruins Of Kunark, 989 Studios
3 Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Disney
4 MP Roller Coaster Tycoon Hasbro, Interactive
5 Microsoft Age Of Empires II: Age of Kings, Microsoft
6 Soldier Of Fortune, Activision
7 MP Roller Coaster Tycoon Corkscrew Follies, Hasbro Interactive
8 Grand Slam Bridge III, Electronic Arts
9 Star Wars Episode 1: Phantom Menace, LucasArts
10 Jane's WWII Fighters, Electronic Arts

Sierra and Valve to Offer Mod Grants
. Over the next few, months Valve and Sierra will be awarding endowments to multple Half Life mod development teams. Later this year the best of the mods will be published in a mod pack by Sierra. Several Half-Life mods are on show at E3 but the real highlight for the home-grown development community will be the second annual Half-Life Mod Expo in San Francisco this summer which will be open to the public..

AIAS Announces Winners
The Academy of Interactive and Sciences has announced the winners of its third annual Interactive Achievement Awards. The Sims, developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts, received three awards, including the Game of the Year while Soul Calibur and Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings earned Console Game of the Year and Computer Game of the Year, respectively. A complete list of the winners is available here.

Infogrames Nearly Doubles Turnover
Infogrames Entertainment today announced it has increased its third quarter turnover for 1999/2000 by 125% (from $52.7 million for the same quarter of 1998/1999 to $118.7 million). Infogrames is benefiting from a multi-format, multi-platform global strategy, which has enabled the company to constantly better its results and to achieve its goals. These goals include doubling this year's turnover and achieving a turnover for the year 2000-2001 of close to $1 billion. Over the first nine months of 1999/2000, Infogrames' turnover grew to $383.2 million, up from 80% last year. GT Interactive, in which Infogrames acquired a majority stake last November, already represents half of the group's turnover for the third quarter of 1999/2000 and 30% for the first nine months of the year. In like comparison, turnover for Infogrames increased by 13% in the third quarter of 1999/2000 in comparison with the same period in 1998/1999 and by 26% for the first 9 months of the year in comparison with the first nine months of 1999/2000.

[Tursday, May 11, 2000]

Sony Announces PS2 Pricing
Sony revealed that the PlayStation 2 will appear in stores in the United States, Canada and Europe on October 26, The PlayStation 2, which will also play DVD movies, will sell for $299, priced extremely competitively with dedicated DVD players already on the market. the sleek black box will cost less than many digital video disc players. The recently announced hard drive for the PS2, which you'll have to buy separately and which will not be available at the launch, will let users store digital home movies and music, as well as give users a place to save games and movies downloaded from the Internet.

Sega Parries Sony, Discounts Dreamcast
Countering the splash Sony made by announcing the PS2's release date and pricing, Sega said it will discount the Dreamcast by $50 for a limited time, to $149.

Annual IDSA Report Released
Hoping to change the stereotypical image of videogame players as single white males, the Interative Digital Software Association (IDSA) released a report indicating that violent games are not as popular as people might think. The survey shows that 59% of gamers play with friends and most play with members of their family. The annual survey of more than 1,600 households showed that most people say they play videoames because they are challenging. Other top reasons are that games relieve stress, provide a lot of entertainment value for the money, are engrossing and can be enjoyed with family and friends. And yes, games aren't as violent as the mass media wants everyone to believe. Only one of the top 25 video games for 1999 was a first-person shooter (Soldier of Fortune).

Other E3 news: In his keynote address, AOL President Robert Pittman said that 52% of the game players on America Online are women and the largest segment are in the 35-44 age group, lending credence to industry claims that video games are a mainstream activity.

Sales of computer and video games reached $6.1 billion in 1999, an 11%increase from 1998 sales, Lowenstein said.

Turbine Offers Up Asheron's Call Engine
Turbine Entertainment Software said it will begin licensing its Turbine 3D game engine, called WorldBuilder 2.0, which was originally created for the massively-multiplayer online game, Asheron's Call. The engine includes the graphics and rendering engine, animation and sound systems, physics and AI systems, their client-server technology, and performance monitoring and enhancement tools. Turbine is unveiling WorldBuilder 2.0 at the E3 show today.

Hasbro's Nuon Titles
VM Labs, creator of the much delayed Nuon game platform, said it had signed a multi-title deal with Hasbro to bring games to that platform. Hasbro and VM Labs are developing a number of Nuon titles from Hasbro, the first of which will be Tempest, The Game of Life, and Monopoly. These titles will reportedly this year. DVD International, as part of a separate agreement, will distribute the initial Hasbro titles.

New Midway Brand
Midway is launching a new "arcade-style, rule-breaking sports brand", called Midway Sports Asylum. Midway said that its consumer research had indicated that players were "tired of ultra-realistic sports simulations and are looking for experiences where their unrepressed alter egos can take control." Current titles in development include NFL Blitz 2001, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2, Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed, CART Fury and NBA Hoopz.

[Wednesday, May 10, 2000]

Activision Q4
Activision reports losses in the fourth quarter, and warns of more to come. Activision's loss for the fourth quarter totaled $53 million, an increase from a loss of just $5 million in the same period last year. Revenues for the quarter were flat, increasing to just $116 million from $115 million in the fourth quarter of 1999. The greatest portion of Activision's loss comes from a pre-tax restructuring charge of $70, and the company reports that net income totaled $1 million before the charges. Activision doesn't expect a turnaround soon, and is forecasting continuing losses for the next quarter and for the year as it transitions to a console focus. The company is suggesting that fiscal 2001 will see a 10 percent drop in revenues and a 30 percent fall in earnings.

UT Europe
Rage Software is grabbing exclusive rights to sublicense the Unreal Tournament engine in Europe. Rage, itself a licensee of the technology, will receive a royalty for each license it secures with the publishers and developers of Europe, and will provide technical support of the engine in conjunction with Epic. "We're very pleased to have entered into this partnership with Epic Games and have the highest regard for their Unreal technology," said Rage CEO Paul Finnegan, "We also look forward to helping Epic expand the use of this technology across Europe."

3DO Doubles
3DO's fourth quarter revenues are up 104 percent. In a stark contrast to other game publishers feeling the pinch of a flat games market, 3DO's revenues for the fourth quarter rose to $47.3 million, an increase of 104 percent from $23.2 million in the same quarter last year. Income for the quarter saw a similar increase, growing to $11.5 million from last year's total of $2.6 million. The company plans to expand on the positive results. "As evidenced by our strong infrastructure now in place and our success this past quarter, we will continue to aggressively increase our presence in Europe and other territories outside the U.S.," said 3DO Chairman Trip Hawkins. 3DO will release 50 titles in the coming year.

Dreamcast Phone
Sega want gamers to use the Dreamcast to make phone calls. The company is creating a joint venture with Internet phone service provider Inno Media to offer phone calls from consoles. Sega holds a 20 percent stake in the venture, with Sega affiliate Isao Corp. taking 30 percent and Inno Media holding the remaining 50 percent. Sega plans to begin offering the service in Japan as early as August, with a roll out in the United States to follow.

[Tuesday, May 9, 2000]

Interplay Q1
Interplay's first quarter shows a 34 percent reduction in net losses. Revenues for the quarter reached $18.1 million, a decrease from revenues of $21.6 million in the same period last year. Net losses, however, were cut to $5.5 million from $8.3 million in the first quarter one year ago. The company has been able to significantly reduce operating expenses, and with the addition of fresh cash from Titus is increasing its investment in new title development. "This is our second consecutive quarter without transition and re-organization charges. We are pleased that we have been successful in stabilizing our returns and allowances provisions and reducing our total operating expenses without reducing our product development expenditures, thus improving gross profit margins and operating results without affecting our product development efforts of future title releases," said Interplay Chief Operating Officer Manuel Marrero.

Activision Buy Back
Activision is initiating a stock buy back. The company's board of directors has authorized the buy back of up to $10 million of its common stock, a purchase the company plans to finance with a combination of notes and available cash. The buy back follows the company's adoption of shareholder rights plans in an effort to ward off unwanted takeover attempts.

Infogrames Gets UT
Infogrames is locking up Epic Games' Unreal franchise in an exclusive publishing deal. Infogrames will hold all worldwide PC, Macintosh, and console publishing and distribution rights to Unreal Tournament and the upcoming Unreal 2, with an option to publish the original Unreal. These rights had been held by GT Interactive, now itself owned by Infogrames, and the transfer may signal a move by Infogrames to fold GT as a brand. Further details about the deal have not been disclosed.

New Lucas Execs
Lucas Arts is bringing in a new vice president of development. Randy Breen is joining Lucas Arts after fourteen years at Electronic Arts, most recently serving as creative director overseeing the design and direction of EA's upcoming James Bond title The World is Not Enough. Other new appointments at Lucas Arts include Mike Nelson to the position of vice president of finance and Andrea Yelle to director of human resources.

[Monday, May 8, 2000]

Activision Hires
Activision is bringing in EA's Michael Pole to replace Mitch Lasky as executive vice president of worldwide studios. Pole has been with Electronic Arts for seven years, rising to the position of senior vice president of product development. At Activision, Pole will keep an eye on all product development, including product acquisition and research and development. Lasky will be vacating the VP of worldwide studios position in order to transition to a strategic role in the launch of a new Activision Internet endeavor. "[Mitch's] strong grasp of the industry should enable him to make a smooth transition to his new role in our Internet venture where we believe he will continue to make even more important contributions to our continued success," said Activision President Ron Doornink.

New Sony President
Sony is making changes at the top by appointing a new president. Kunitake Ando, who was promoted to COO of the Sony Corporation just last month, will be elevated to the position of president on June 29. He replaces Nobuyuki Idei, who will become chairman and retain the title of CEO. The changes are being made in an effort to divide executive responsibility, with Idei charting Sony's group strategy while Ando looks after the company's core electronics business. "It was too much for one CEO to pursue both the group's strategy while strengthening our core electronics business,'' said Idei, "By separating the two roles of taking care of the group as a whole and strengthening the electronics business, we will be able to ensure smooth business management."

Red Storm Distributes
Red Storm Entertainment is set to take on its own distribution. Red Storm will handle North American distribution of its own titles starting with products released after June 1. The company is partnering with Sykes Enterprises to manage the manufacturing and supply chain functions of Red Storm's distribution. South Peak Interactive, Red Storm's current distributor, will continue to handle previously released titles through the end of the year.

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