A couple of EA related news with the first being Syndicate will not have an Online Pass and a few details were revealed from the company's earnings confrence for the third quarter.
Synidcate will not be given an online pass due to the game being designed around cooperative play for both gameplay and online structure which has made EA unwilling to harm potential sales or reception by using the pass. EA also explained they only own publishing rights to the game and left the decision up to Starbreeze who decided against it. No actual funding was given by EA during the actual development of the game.
The majority of details given by EA during its phone conference mainly dealt with The Old Republic MMO game such as 300,000 users have dropped out of the game from a base of 2 million users. Their mobile division was able to become a $100 million per year revenue provider, the social games division will be ramped up and include 5 new games this year, and they are expecting at least $100 million in revenue to be generated from this year's FIFA Ultimate Team program.
Quote:
* Origin now has 9.3 million users.
* The Old Republic sold two million copies across retail, digital.
* TOR has 1.7 million active users, with 300,000 users having “opted out” (read: quit) or not started at all.
* A “majority” of the 1.7 million active users of TOR are paying subscribers.
* EA was reluctant to discuss the outlook of TOR, saying it had avoided the worst outcomes, the game was profitable, but that “there could be a wide range of outcomes.”
* There will be a “major update, larger than the first [one]” for TOR sometime in March.
* Pre-orders for Mass Effect 3 are currently ahead of where Mass Effect 2 during the same period.
* Battlefield 3 sold more than 11 million copies, and more downloadable content is coming.
* EA claims to have had 11% of the first-person-shooter “market” prior to Battlefield 3. Now, it claims to have 23%.
* Mobile games are a $100 million-per-year business for EA.
* The company expects to generate more than $100 million from FIFA Ultimate Team in the next year.
* A major social game, based on an unknown but existing EA property, has been delayed a few months.
* There will be five new Facebook games based on EA properties within the next year.
* When asked about copying in social games, Riccitiello said this: “Fast iteration and mimicry is something we have to guard against.”
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http://www.joystickdivision.com/2012...on_syndica.php
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/tidbit...ngs-call/3958/
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Daily Recap:
1) According to Sony's financial report for the third quarter (Sept-Nov), the company lost $2.9 billion with the Consumer Products and Services division (contains the Playstation division) accounting for about $1.5 billion in losses.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...-billion-loss/
2) Ubisoft reveals some new details for the Rayman 3 HD remake with remastered audio, 15-20 hours of gameplay, and 9 mini-games confirmed to go with a digital release of March 21 for PSN and XBLA.
http://kotaku.com/5881427/ubisoft-tr...c-in-hd-remake
3) Based on a ratings leak by ESRB, Game Gear games will be arriving in the near future for the Nintendo 3DS eshop Virtual Console. Shinobi and Sonic Triple Trouble could be the intial games released based on the leak.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...rated-for-3ds/