Because the biggest news is always left for last in the week; Activision Blizzard will become an independent company as CEO, Bobby Kotick, and the company’s co-chairman, Brian Kelly, have led a $8.2 billion buyout from the parent company, Vivendi. Vivendi has been shopping around for a buyer of the…
Read MoreWith the announcement that Index Corporation would be looking to sell off its assets as it struggles through bankruptcy, the games industry has naturally looked towards the fate of Index’s champion developer and publisher Atlus. There have been a lot of theories thrown around, and one of the most popular…
Read MoreNintendo’s “last hold-out” stance on region locking has become something of a rolling boulder of controversy over the last few weeks, and it continues to gain momentum. Over the last couple of days there’s been a couple of apologist stories that have emerged defending the use of region locking, even…
Read MoreThe big news from today was that Microsoft’s former President of Interactive Entertainment, Don Mattrick, would be making the move from the American giant to join the struggling social gaming developer and publisher, Zynga, as its CEO. This is obviously a big win for Zynga, which has been hit by…
Read MoreXbox boss Don Mattrick is making the move from Microsoft to Zynga. Updated portion: Zynga has officially named Mattrick CEO and he will indeed join Pincus at the company that the former Zynga boss started. Pincus isn’t really going anywhere though as he’ll be taking the Chief Product Officer position…
Read MoreNiche developer/ publisher, Atlus, is in the thick of a filing for bankruptcy by its parent company, Index Holdings. Currently in more than a little hot water, Index Holdings is under investigation for ‘improper accounting’. The company has just filed for bankruptcy in Tokyo District Court and allegedly is some…
Read MoreNot a day after the depressing news that the Australian game development industry had shrunk to a third of the size of what it was a few years ago, the Federal Government announced the “winners” of its $6 million Games Enterprise investment into the growth and development of the industry.…
Read MoreThe Australian Bureau of Statistics has released some raw statistics regarding the games industry that shows that the industry is in a horrific state of decline. For the 2011-2012 financial year there were just 581 people employed in games development in Australia. Of that number, just 51 of them are…
Read MoreThree former Nippon Ichi America (NISA) staff have banded together to form a new company, acttil (stands for: “acceptance + creativity + teamwork + trust + innovation + love”). The team; Jack Niida, Hiroko Kanazashi, and Nao Miyazawa, have a remarkably simple goal for their new company; “acttil will focus…
Read MoreJust a quick note to report on a press release that dropped in my inbox this morning; XSEED has been rebranded as Marvelous USA. Nothing about the company will really change – the President and CEO will remain as Shinichi Suzuki and the team will continue to be based in…
Read More