We sensed this was coming. The All Points Bulletin massively multiplayer first person shooter game from Realtime Worlds fell victim to declining interest, lackluster reviews (58 out of 100 and 6.1 out of 10 user score at Metacritic), and poor business decisions.
Realtime Worlds has just undergone massive layoffs including the entire MyWorld Team (social gaming set to launch in 2011), and reducing the APB team to admin and skeleton crew size. As many as 60 employees have been cut so far.
It looks like this guy in the below high definition video Fucked Himself Up for no reason (creating a human APB avatar). The video is about 3 minutes long. Check it out below…………………………………
We have written frequently about social game developer Playdom.
Very shortly we expect an announcement that Disney will acquire Playdom. Disney is already a large investor in Playdom ($33 million out of total $76 million raised) and multiple sources have reported that the deal is in the final stages.
The estimated value of Playdom is about $340 million. Disney also recently acquired iPhone and Android mobile game developer Tapulous for about $35 million.
It looks like Disney is making big moves into the social and mobile gaming arena……………………..
Sony Online Entertainment is no stranger to layoffs. A bit of good news however that SOE has delayed laying off some of the additional 35 employees. Other prominent developers have already been let go and EverQuest II, Vanguard, and The Agency seem to be the hardest hit.
There is no official word yet on the layoffs or the delays. So really it is mainly bad news…………………….
Last week hundreds of thousands of World of Warcraft fans were in an uproar over the Blizzard Entertainment decision to show the real names of players in the official Battle.net Forums. This is an attempt to clean up some of the flame wars and trolling in the forums and give more accountability.
The issue of anonymous posting, internet usage, and gaming has burst into the limelight with outrage all around. Now throw in concerns about privacy, identity theft concerns, and losing a job over a WoW rant years ago that contains your real name.
Read the initial post here.
A shit-storm of rage ensued with claims that this was the stupidest thing that Blizzard has ever done and goodbyes as thousands promised they would never again use the forums.
Check out the below high definition video discussing the issue. The video is about 16 minutes long. Check it out below……………………………………….
When we last wrote about Metaplace, it was closing forever on January 1, 2010 after laying off the entire staff.
This was a dismal end for the virtual world startup. Social Gaming company Playdom has announced that they have purchased Metaplace taking over Facebook games Island Life with 457,000 monthly users and My Vineyard with 822,000 monthly users.
Playdom Chief Executive Officer John Pleasants said: “Playdom is very excited to add the Metaplace game design group to its growing family of game studios”.
Playdom has recently been on a buying spree purchasing Social Games Studio Acclaim Games, Hive 7…………………………..
As we predicted the Global Agenda massively multiplayer online role playing game has dropped it’s subscription due to declining interest and lackluster reviews.
A restricted free trial did not the struggling Global Agenda MMORPG so more drastic measured had to be taken. Hi-Rez Studios recently posted the announcement stating that the game client and expansions will still need to be purchased but the monthly subscription fee will be eliminated. The first major update Sandstorm will however be delivered for free.
The price has also been decreased by 1/3 to…………………………………………………….
In January we wrote that the CitiesXL game was cancelling the multiplayer aspect of the game. Predictably the Monte Cristo Developer is now bankrupt and has announced the shut down of CitiesXL.
This statement was released: “This is with deep regrets that we officially announce today the closure of our studio. As such Monte Cristo will close its door this week. We leave behind us a couple regrets but also, more important, a lot of good memories…”.
Check out the below high definition gameplay video. The video is about 5 minutes long……………………………………..
Nexon seems to be making the news left and right. Nexon recently announced revenues up 56% which they are quickly spending by first purchasing Ndoors Corporation for $154 million and now have announced obtaining a contrilling interest in GameHi. GameHi owns free-to-play massively multiplayer online role playing game Dekaron, Sudden Attack, Metal Rage, and others. The deal was reportedly for………………………………………
We have written frequently about Nexon most recently their $154 Million Aquisition of Ndoors Corporation. And it is no surprise since Nexon reported that their revenue is up 56%. The free-to-play massively multiplayer online role playing game market has been good to Nexon with revenus increasing from $359.7 million in 2008 to $561.4 million in 2009. Nexon America saw a 31% increase in revenues in 2009 with 2010 expected to be even better.
Nexon Chief Executive Officer Daniel Kim said…………………………………………………..
We have written frequently about the World of Warcraft Cataclysm expansion.
There is some rumor that the WoW Cataclysm release date will be delayed again. Frank Pearce Blizzard Executive Vice President of product development said regarding the 2010 release of the expansion: “Hopefully. If it’s ready. If not, then we’ll hold onto it.”.
The below videos include footage of Mount Hyjal. Mount Hyjal is a zone open to levels 78-82. The zone is currently under siege by Ragnaros in his quest to destroy the World Tree. The Guardians of Hyjal will be commanded by Malfurion Stormrage.
The videos are about 10 minutes long each. Check it out below…………………………………….
