The Week in Games: At Least Someone's Still Excited About Xbox

What's happened in the business of video games this past week ...

QUOTE | "Xbox is the only thing that has investors excited about Microsoft, so it makes little sense to divest."—Analyst Asif Khan, talking about other analysts' comments that Microsoft should sell its Xbox business.

QUOTE | "We could kill this industry if we don't get more inclusive."—Patrick Liu, creative director at Rovio's new Stockholm studio, talking about the attitude of some veteran developers that mobile games 'are not real games'.

QUOTE | "Even as a developer now, when I say I'm working on NBA Live, people kind of snicker at that."—NBA Live Executive producer Sean O'Brien, talking about the pressures involved in bringing this game back.

STAT | $349 and $399 – Prices that analyst Michael Pachter expects for the PS4 and the Xbox One, based on the estimated cost of goods; he also expects a subsidized Xbox One for $299 and price cuts on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

QUOTE | "All the things that build a community have been actively blocked by console owners. That has to change."—Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester, talking about how being able to update titles freely has helped PC and mobile game publishers.

QUOTE | "Below that [minimum level of quality ] you're not a fun game and you're not worth anybody's time, let alone their money."—David Reid, chief marketing officer for CCP, talking about Dust 514 and CCP's future.

QUOTE | "The pressures of building and iterating games at a relentless pace did, in fact, create diamonds."—Brian Kahrs, former Zynga product manager, talking about the way ex-Zynga employees benefited from their experience.

STAT | $3.5 billion – Amount of money spent on games in Q1 of 2013 in the USA, according to NPD; this amount includes $1.37 billion in physical software, $559 million on used games, and $1.49 billion on digital games (including mobile and DLC).

QUOTE | "Great design of a free-to-play game can put the monetization and the gameplay side-by-side without really requiring each other."—David Brevik, president/COO of Gazillion Entertainment, talking about how the Marvel Heroes MMORPG will avoid crippling the game experiences.

QUOTE | "It's disruptive technology, right? It's fun to see what these technologies can do."—Sega of America director of mobile business David Zemke, talking about putting Sonic games on the Ouya console.

STAT | 29% – Percentage of gamers classified as "free & mobile" according to a survey of 8,831 people by NPD; this percentage jumped up from only 2% last year at the same time.

QUOTE | "There's a lot of free-to-play games where it's more like free-to-pay games."—Matt Nava, former Journey art director and now of Giant Squid, talking about why he's making a free-to-play game.

This Week in the Business courtesy of GamesIndustry International

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