What's happened in the business of video games this past week ...
QUOTE | "Nintendo has set up the Wii U for failure."—Dan Hsu, editor in chief of GamesBeat, talking along with journalists and analysts about the mixed critical reception to the Nintendo's launch of the Wii U.
STAT | $500 million—Amount that Call of Duty: Black Ops II generated in its first 24 hours of release worldwide; Activision says it's the biggest entertainment launch of the year for the fourth year in a row.
QUOTE | "The next generation of young gamers is definitely being raised on tablets."—Greg Harper, general manager, Supercell North America, talking along with other developers about the future of tablets as a mass market gaming platform.
QUOTE | "The THQ of today possesses little of value, either in IP, brand equity, or intrinsic core competency in its business."—Jon Kimmich, CEO of Software Illuminati, along with other industry insiders talking about what THQ could possibly do to revive its business.
QUOTE | "For next-generation [console games] the buzz is much more 'game as a service, continued content'."—Joe Minton, co-founder of Digital Development Management, talking about what kind of games are coming for next-gen consoles.
STAT | 50 million—Number of Steam users so far, according to Sega VP of digital distribution John Clark; some 5 million users are playing concurrently
QUOTE | "You'd be hard-pressed to find many funds looking at console gaming as an investment opportunity."—Bram Sugarman, venture capitalist, talking about why mobile and free-to-play games are drawing major investments now.
QUOTE | "It was draining and upsetting—a tough time in the company."—Rockstar VP Dan Houser talking about the studio's legal trouble over the Hot Coffee sexual minigame inside Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
STAT | 5 million—Number of Russians playing Crytek's free-to-play Warface FPS; the game attracted 1 million registered users in its first week.
QUOTE | "Perhaps the backlash starts with the perception of greed and panhandling."—Rob Fahey, former editor of GamesIndustry.biz, talking about the criticism of high-profile Kickstarters from industry vets David Braben and Peter Molyneux.
STAT | 10%—Percentage of Windows Phone gamers that spend more than $25 per month (called "whales"); this is far higher than the 4% a month common on both iOS and Android.
STAT | 6 million—Number of 3DS handhelds Nintendo has sold in the US so far; Nintendo has sold over 22 million worldwide.
This Week in the Business courtesy of GamesIndustry International
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