Blog Archives
Microsoft Buys Mojang for $2.5 Billion
The rumours are true. The biggest little indie studio in the world is being bought by the biggest evil empire in gaming (except for maybe EA… and Ubisoft). The earlier reports about Microsoft buying Minecraft developer Mojang was just a little off the mark. The US tech giant bought the Swedish indie studio for a whopping $2.5 billion.
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Microsoft Trying to Buy Minecraft Dev Mojang
The biggest little indie studio in gaming might soon become part of the current evil empire of gaming. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft is strongly pursuing Minecraft developer Mojang and has a deal worth more than $2 billion on the table for the company.
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Microsoft Introducing Digital Purchases at Retail Stores
Microsoft is looking to put an emphasis on digital distribution and downloadable games by bringing them to the brick-and-mortar game shop near you. The green brand is launching a pilot program in the US and UK to allow gamers to buy codes for select Xbox 360 and One games.
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Tomb Raider Sequel to be Xbox One Exclusive
It wasn’t but a few months after release that Square Enix said that they were disappointed with the sales of Tomb Raider. That didn’t stop them from trying to cash in with a next-gen re-release and the announcement of a sequel at E3.
The latter wasn’t a case of Square Enix realizing the error of their analysis or their finance team being able to make budgets and projected revenues work out. It seems to be a case of Microsoft stepping in to make the money work as Rise of The Tomb Raider was announced to be an Xbox One exclusive.
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Xbox Loses $400 Million in 2014 Fiscal Year
The launch of a new video game console is an exciting time to be a gamer but investors are often a little less excited about that. Traditionally, consoles are loss leaders with the manufacturers making up the difference through license fees on game sales, patch certification fees, their own stores and subscriber programs.
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EA Announces Xbox One Game Subscription Service
Back when the Xbox One was first launched, EA came on to the stage and mentioned that they had a special relationship with Microsoft and the Xbox brand. Back in 2013, that meant cancelling their online pass program because they knew that Microsoft was going to load the Xbox One with DRM.
In 2014, that special relationship means that EA is bringing a new product offering exclusively to Xbox One. However, it’s not a new exclusive game. It’s a subscription service that’s exclusive to the Xbox One called EA Access.
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Microsoft Says It’s Not Killing Games for Windows Live
Reports of Games For Windows Live’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Despite Windows’ Xbox.com PC Marketplace being shuttered last summer, reports suggesting GFWL was due to close at the end of the month and the mass exodus of games from the GFWL platform, Microsoft says that they have no plans to close Games For Windows Live.
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E3 2014: Xbox Press Conference Trailer Roundup
Even I, with my limited knowledge of growing a community and increasing page views, know that you don’t tuck trailers from E3 into another post when you can make a separate post for extra page views. Granted, I’m not doing the standard one trailer per post to flood your various social media feeds and RSS readers with our posts.
Anyway, having just wrapped up our recap of the Xbox One press conference, it’s time to actually watch some of what Microsoft and friends had on offer at their big E3 keynote. We have the announcement trailer for Halo’s Master Chief Collection. Sunset Overdrive headlines the gameplay videos along with The Witcher III and Assassin’s Creed: Unity. As an added bonus, I’ve thrown in the Tomb Raider sequel teaser trailer.
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E3 2014: The Xbox One is Now a Games Console
When the Xbox One was unveiled last year and presented again at E3 last June, the focus wasn’t really on the games. Microsoft was more interested in pitching the Xbox One as an all-in-one entertainment unit for the living room by touting the entertainment apps and Kinect integration. Between not worrying about the games, the lingering DRM controversy and a price point $100 higher than the PlayStation 4, Microsoft has been in catch up mode for the last twelve months.
It’s amazing what a difference a year makes. With new Xbox division boss Phil Spencer at the helm, this year’s Microsoft E3 press conference was all about the games. The Kinect was hardly mentioned. Entertainment apps may as well not have existed.
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Another Xbox One-80: Microsoft to Sell Console without Kinect
After launching at a price point $100 higher than the PlayStation 4 and insisting that the Kinect was an integral part of the Xbox One and had to be connected for the console to work, Microsoft has completely walked back on all claims about the Kinect 2.0.
Microsoft announced that they will begin selling the Xbox One without the Kinect starting in June for $100 less than the original $499 asking price.
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