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French publisher expands its free-to-play developer stable with purchase of tween-targeted Howrse maker.
Ubisoft has pursued a “why build what can be bought” strategy for amping up its online presence in recent years, and the next move in that gambit occurred today. The publisher said that it has purchased Owlient, a Parisian game development studio specializing in free-to-play games. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Founded in 2005, Owlient boasts a development team of 40 and specializes in creating online communities and monetizing free-to-play games. The studio’s development expertise lines up with Ubisoft’s tween-targeted Imagine and Petz line of games, having created such online titles as Howrse, Babydow, and Fashiown. Ubisoft noted that Owlient’s Howrse brand has nearly 2 million monthly active users.
Owlient is just the latest in a growing number of online-focused acquisitions made by Ubisoft. In 2008, Ubisoft acquired World in Conflict studio Massive Entertainment, charging it with creating and aiding in the development of “several ambitious unannounced projects.”
A year later, Ubisoft picked up TrackMania creator Nadeo. Last November, the publisher bought Quazal, better known as the studio behind Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood’s online multiplayer technology.
Ubisoft said that it expects to close on Owlient sometime during its second fiscal quarter.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
“Ubisoft acquires Owlient” was posted by Tom Magrino on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 11:56:41 -0700 -
End of Xbox 360 exclusivity opens door.
Limbo developer Playdead has explained why it has taken a year for superb downloadable game Limbo to launch on the PlayStation Network and Steam.
Limbo began life as a PC game, but Danish developer Playdead decided to make the abstract puzzle platformer multiplatform. It was through this process that Microsoft secured Xbox 360 exclusivity in exchange for its support.
Limbo was then released as an Xbox Live Arcade title in July 2010 as part of Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade promotion.
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Criterion Games’ new downloadable racing game heading to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network next month; no price offered.
During Electronic Arts’ annual Summer Showcase last week, the publisher made official Burnout Crash, the long-rumored new entry in Criterion Games’ racing franchise. It was announced for a vague fall 2011 release, but now EA has tightened that window.
Burnout Crash will speed to the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network this August. Unfortunately, EA did not affix a more specific release date or a price to the game.
Burnout Crash sports three game modes across six unique locations, and it boasts 18 crash junctions. Additionally, the game supports the Autolog feature, an online social infrastructure that was first introduced in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.
The XBLA iteration of Burnout Crash will support Microsoft’s gesture-recognition technology, Kinect. The Kinect-enabled game mode has two teams using gesture controls to crash and burn in what EA calls a “party battle.”
For more on the racing title, check out GameSpot’s latest preview of Burnout Crash.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
“Burnout Crash speeding in August” was posted by Eddie Makuch on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 11:20:45 -0700 -
Expand and build your own custom army.
Upcoming real-time strategy game Dawn of War III will allow gamers to build their own custom armies, developer Relic has revealed.
It will also simulate the idea of a “war that rages eternal,” Relic marketing manager James McDermott told Eurogamer.
“Looking at what we had real success with with Dawn of War II Retribution, with the DLC, and with customisation and building their armies and collecting being a big part of what 40k fans really love, we want to make that a big part of DOW3,” he said.
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Fable, Halo, and Gears of War franchise overseer Shane Kim appointed to board of directors at retailer; will “support the advancement of GameStop’s digital strategy.”
In 2009, Microsoft bid adieu to Shane Kim, VP of strategy and business development for the company’s Interactive Entertainment division–which includes Microsoft Studios–when he retired from his role. Now, the man who helped launch franchises like Halo and Gears of War is working at the industry’s biggest game-specific retailer.
Retail juggernaut GameStop today announced that Kim has joined the Grapevine, Texas-based company, and he will serve as a member of the board of directors. It was not expressly noted what Kim will work on at the company, but GameStop executive chairman Dan DeMatteo said, “[Kim will] bring valuable insight in supporting the advancement of GameStop’s digital strategy.”
As for GameStop’s digital ambitions, last year the company said, “retail is not going to last forever,” and soon began selling Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network games in its stores. GameStop also bought Flash game portal Kongregate last July, which is now integrated into its website.
In March of this year, GameStop acquired digital distribution service Impulse and streaming game company Spawn Labs. And in April of this year, GameStop launched a Facebook store through the social networking behemoth.
At Microsoft, Kim’s near 20-year tenure had him overseeing big-time first-party franchises like Gears of War, Halo, Forza, and Fable, as well as leading the Xbox Live technology team.
As for GameStop, the company’s first quarter results were rosy. The retailer earned $80.4 million in net income on a record $2.28 billion of revenue. That was a 6.9 percent increase from $75.2 million in profits and a 9.5 percent boost from the $2.08 billion in revenues GameStop took in during the same period in 2010.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
“Ex-Microsoft exec joins GameStop” was posted by Eddie Makuch on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:34:27 -0700 -
Overhaul leaves “no aspect untouched”.
All existing Darkfall characters may be wiped when Darkfall 2.0 launches, developer Aventurine has forewarned.
Existing players stand to lose hundreds of hours of invested game-time should that happen.
But Darkfall producer Tasos Flambouras insisted that in Darkfall 2.0, wiping a character’s progress “would not be as drastic” as in Darkfall 1.
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SouthPeak label 7Sixty takes control.
Castle building strategy game Stronghold 3 will be published by new company 7Sixty this autumn.
7Sixty is an affiliate of SouthPeak Games. The latter will work as a distributor, with 7Sixty fronting projects in the traditional publisher role.
Less traditional, however, will be 7Sixty’s requirement that every game have “digital scope” as well as a physical on-shop-shelves presence.
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Super Meat Boy designer Edmund McMillen has spilled a few beans about his twisted new project for PC gamers: The Binding of Isaac, a ‘roguelike’ RPG due out in September…
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“Master Chief the John Wayne character.”
Microsoft has admitted losing its way with Halo following the release of Halo 3 in September 2007.
Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach both lacked one vital ingredient: “Playing Master Chief,” said Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer to OXM.
“We kind of lost our way a little bit, I’ll say. And that’s why I wanted to make sure that at the unveiling of Halo 4, you knew you were playing Master Chief, that John was back – because Master Chief is the John Wayne character of that universe, and that’s who you want to play.”
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But who is the website trickster?
The website www.ModernWarfare3.com redirects visitors to the official Battlefield 3 website, www.battlefield.com.
Who is responsible? An anonymous owner who registered www.ModernWarfare3.com with Domains by Proxy – a US service that keeps buyers private.
Before ModernWarfare3.com pointed elsewhere, the site contained an anti-Call of Duty video and defamatory text claiming Battlefield 3 would be the superior game, according to Kotaku.
