EA sticks with Tiger Woods, bails on PC
Electronic Arts is sticking with Tiger Woods during his current problems, but is bailing out of PC packaged goods for its latest golf video game, launched in a free open beta today.
EA is switching to an online version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour, withsales dwindling to almost nothing for PC disk-based sports games, due to rampant piracy and many players preferring the console versions. Read more
Is Icahn’s Take-Two tango aimed at a sale?
Carl Icahn , the billionaire activist investor, is upping his stake in another troubled company – revealing on Thursday in a regulatory filing that he holds more than 9m shares in the video game publisher Take-Two .
Wedbush Morgan analysts speculated today that Mr Icahn taking an 11.3 per cent stake in a company he has long held an interest in could be an attempt to force a sale. Mr Icahn “acquired the shares in the belief that the shares were undervalued,” says the filing, and he may “seek to have conversations” with management. Read more
EA takes the money and runs with iPhone 3.0
A battle of the bands is coming to the iPhone. No sign of Guitar Hero yet, but Electronic Arts showed off Rock Band for the iPhone and iPod touch this week at the CTIA show in San Diego.
That will put it in competition with the hugely successful Tap Tap Revenge from Tapulous, a similar rhythm game that has brought out special editions for musicians such as Coldplay, Lady Gaga and Nine Inch Nails. Read more
AT&T, next-gen developers move to OnLive
The major video game publishers have switched development of next-generation games from consoles to the OnLive platform of internet-based gaming, according to the service’s founder.
Steve Perlman, (pictured) OnLive chief executive, said his service was also gaining considerable attention from investors, as he announced a major funding round led by AT&T Media Holdings. Read more
Mixed results for EA
Electronic Arts reported that losses widened and revenues fell over the past three months. But the world’s second-largest videogame maker had a better than expected quarter thanks to some well-timed releases.
Even as overall spending on videogames is down, EA results were bolstered by strong sales of “The Sims 3″, the latest release in one of the industry’s best-selling franchises, and “EA Sports Active”, a new title for the Nintendo Wii. EA lost $234m in the three months through July, compared with $95m during the same time last year. Read more
EA v THQ in martial-arts fight
The top-selling video game for May on the latest consoles is unlikely to be disputed. UFC 2009 Undisputed, released on May 19, shipped 2m copies in its first two weeks, according to its publisher THQ, and looks likely to top the NPD charts when the research firm releases its figures on Thursday.
It’s a sign of the growing popularity of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the sport of mixed martial arts. It’s also a signal for THQ’s competitors, namely Electronic Arts, to seek a piece of the action. Read more
Sony’s Free Realms takes on Runescape
Sony opened its online kingdom Free Realms on Wednesday – its response to the success of the browser-based role-playing game, Runescape.
Britain’s Jagex has found a lucrative market among pre-teen boys and girls for Runescape, which has similarities to the world’s most successful online role-playing game World of Warcraft. Read more
I’m with Stupid, says EA
Will Wright, creator of one of the video game industry’s most successful franchises The Sims, is leaving the publisher Electronic Arts after 12 years to start his own company.
EA is tempering its loss by taking an equal stake with Mr Wright in his new venture – Stupid Fun Club. Read more
Video games save not take lives, says EA
Are video games suffering a bum rap again at the hands of the authorities? Peter Moore, head of Electronic Arts’ Sports division, thinks so.
An ad (pictured) launched this month by the UK Department of Health, entitled “Risk an early death, just do nothing”, shows a bored child holding a PlayStation controller. Read more
EA cuts games business to the core
Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello, a keen gamer, must have that stuck-on-the-same-level feeling after the video game publisher’s latest results.
He returned to EA in April 2007 with the task of improving an underperforming giant of the industry. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
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