QUOTE | “It seems The Witness is the #1 game on a certain popular torrent site. Unfortunately this will not help us afford to make another game!” - Indie developer Jonathan Blow talking about the unfortunate levels of piracy that he’s seen for his much-praised new game The Witness.
Elsewhere in the business of gaming this week...
QUOTE | “Succinctly speaking, the top 10 PC games earn more than the top 10 mobile games.” - SuperData analyst Joost van Dreunen talking about the $61 billion digital games market and how PC is actually an undervalued platform.
QUOTE | “The steady performance of the PlayStation over the last quarter is quite remarkable.” - ICO Partners’ Thomas Bidaux on the impact that a steady stream of media coverage can have, which Sony gets in December with its PlayStation Experience.
STAT | 8.4 million – The number of PlayStation 4 consoles Sony sold during its third fiscal quarter, bringing the total sold this fiscal year to date to 15.4 million, higher than the number sold during all of the last year.
QUOTE | “I think GameStop is taking a very different approach, they’re not a traditional publisher and as a result we have greater control.” - Insomniac boss Ted Price on working with retailer GameStop to publish the Metroidvania-style underwater exploration game Song of the Deep.
QUOTE | “EA’s player experience underscores E3 as the global launchpad for video game news, announcements, and excitement.” - The ESA’s communications head Rich Taylor reacting to the news that publisher EA won’t have a booth at E3 this year but will have its own event next door during E3.
QUOTE | “Time and time again people underestimate the amount of preparation a successful campaign needs.” - Luke Crane, Head of Games at Kickstarter, offering a bevy of tips on how game developers can run successful campaigns on the crowdfunding platform.
QUOTE | “The more people said that we couldn’t do something the more we wanted to do it, if only to piss them off. It’s innate to us.” - Former Criterion developer Alex Ward talking along with Three Fields co-founder Fiona Sperry about their approach to making games and why they’re building a golf title.
STAT | 6 million – The number of copies Konami sold of Metal Gear Solid V (including digital) worldwide after parting ways with famed developer Hideo Kojima.
QUOTE | “I became so frustrated with the games industry generally trying to target everybody.” - Johan Pilestedt, CEO of Helldivers studio Arrowhead, on why they just make games for themselves and ignore the mass market.