QUOTE | “We’ve basically seen Metacritic all but become obsolete right now… We get obsessed with it…but it doesn’t really matter, as far as the sales of the game.” – Double Fine COO Justin Bailey, talking about what things have and have not influenced the sales of their games
Elsewhere in the business of video games this past week …
QUOTE | “It’s harder to make games for casuals than for hardcore gamers.” – Assassin’s Creed Unity director Marc Albinet, explaining that casual games force devs to better understand their players
QUOTE | “Sales have skyrocketed since the new price took effect on Nov. 2. Compared to the previous week, Xbox One sales in the US have more than tripled.” – Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of Marketing, Strategy and Business, Xbox, talking about the surge in sales Xbox One has seen since the bundles priced at $349 were shipped.
STAT | 70% – Amount that the combined first year total sales of PS4 and Xbox One are higher than combined first year total sales for Xbox 360 and PS3, according to NPD; overall retail sales were flat last month compared to 2013, because increased hardware sales offset the 28% decline in software sales
QUOTE | “Great games aren’t commodity products that can be reliably manufactured from a recipe.” – Riot Games CEO Brandon Beck, talking about why he thinks great people are the most important thing a great game company needs
QUOTE | “The general environment has trained people to expect low prices for huge amounts of content or even apps for free.” – Ustwo director Neil McFarland, talking about the wave of one star reviews the company got for releasing a paid expansion for their mobile game Monument Valley
QUOTE | “It’s no secret that games culture isn’t the friendliest space to women.” – Rebecca Cohen Palacios of the Pixelles Game Incubator, talking about why they are helping women and girls explore game development
QUOTE | “The eShop is now one of Nintendo’s top retailers. We sell as much software as some of the major chain stores through the eShop.” – David Wharton, director of marketing and analytics for Nintendo, talking about the demand Nintendo sees for digital content
STAT | 25% – Number of Steam Early Access titles that have been released as a full, completed game so far; of the 9 games released in March 2013, only 3 have been released as full games in the 18 months since then
QUOTE | “If you look at the work we’ve been doing with Assassin’s Creed, we’re a partner who is now able to influence the vision of the entire game and franchise.” – Hugues Ricour, Senior Producer for Ubisoft Singapore, talking about the importance of the little-known studio to Ubisoft as a whole
