Silicon Knights closes offices, lays off employees

Silicon Knights art assets and equipment find their way to Precursor

Developer Silicon Knights has closed its offices and sold its equipment and game assets, according to a report by Polygon. Silicon Knights chief financial officer Mike Mays told Polygon that a skeleton crew of employees remains and the studio is “definitely alive,” but local real estate agents confirmed that Silicon Knights’ offices are empty and available for lease.

Silicon Knight founder Denis Dyack is currently the chief creative officer of Precursor Games, a studio working on a new title, Shadow of the Eternals. The game is a spiritual sequel to Silicon Knights’ Eternal Darkness and currently Precursor is running a funding drive for the title. According to Precursor CEO Paul Caporicci, art assets for Shadow of the Eternals were among the items sold to Precursor.

Caporicci was laid off from Silicon Knights last July and could not comment on his former employer. In an interview with GamesIndustry International, Caporicci stressed that Precursor was a “wholly different company” from Silicon Knights.

“From my experience in July, I was laid off from Silicon Knights with a number of other people and I was saddened, you know, that we were going to go our separate ways,” he added. “And so I started reaching out to other people and seeing if they were interested in starting something brand new.”

Silicon Knights is on the hook for $4.45 million in damages in its case versus Epic Games, over the use of Unreal Engine 3 in the development of Too Human. Silicon Knights is still in the process of appealing the court ruling.

Epic Games filed legal motions to ensure that Silicon Knights formatted its computers before selling them to Precursor Games. According to court documents obtained by Polygon, the computers were wiped clean, preventing Silicon Knights’ game assets from making their way to Precursor. Precursor’s Shadow of the Eternals is being developed with Crytek’s CryEngine.

“Silicon Knights was selling off extra assets to laid off employees and we, along with others, purchased some of them,” Caporicci said to Polygon. “Like so many others who have been laid off in this difficult economy, we are simply trying to turn a tough situation into something positive.”

 

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Sony, Nintendo aim to appeal to mobile developers

Far from putting their IP on mobile phones, Japan’s platform holders want mobile developers to come to them

Have you ever been on a busy train carriage which pulls up to an equally busy station at rush hour? The doors open, and several moments of eyeballing and general unhappiness ensue as the people already on the train realise that yes, all of those people on the crowded platform are definitely going to try to squeeze onto this train. Some shuffle backwards to make room; others puff out their chests and try to claim as much air space around themselves as possible, projecting physically the notion that there’s no room at the inn. It never works; puff all you like, you’re still going to get a face full of someone’s slightly sweaty hair and a peculiarly sharp elbow rammed into your kidneys for the rest of the journey.

“PlayStation Mobile hasn’t been all that impressive thus far, and the cost wasn’t very high in the first place, but the platform has immense potential”

It’s those few moments that I think of when I consider how mobile games businesses and the traditional business – most notably the console platform holder businesses – have considered each other over the past five years. There’s been an uneasy standoff in some regards. Some have talked down mobile, while others have expressed fear (or in some instances, rather unseemly joy) at the notion that mobile will kill off dedicated gaming hardware for good. For the first few years, platform holders focused on downplaying the importance of mobile, even as publishers spent huge amounts of money on getting their foot in the door by acquiring hot mobile and social gaming firms (few of whom turned out to be worth the money paid, in the end).

It’s increasingly obvious that we’re now in stage two of this relationship. The people from the platform have boarded the train, and we’re on our way to destinations unknown. It’s now crowded and a bit uncomfortable, and some people are going to get crushed. The past year, and the coming years, will see an interesting dance being played out – a jockeying for position, an attempt to remove elbows from ribs or to figure out who ought to be giving up a seat for whom. I wouldn’t put much stead by anyone proclaiming to know who’s going to be in the best state when they alight at the next station.

Look at the past week’s events for some interesting pointers on just how intertwined these businesses are becoming. Sony, which has arguably embraced mobile as part of its core games strategy more than any other platform holder (that’s not saying a great deal, admittedly), has completely dropped the cost barrier for developers who want to create games for the PlayStation Mobile platform. PlayStation Mobile hasn’t been all that impressive thus far, and the cost wasn’t very high in the first place, but the platform has immense potential. Its problem, right now, is that it targets PlayStation Vita and a handful of not terribly popular Android handsets – primarily Sony Xperia phones, but also a menagerie of handsets from the likes of HTC. PS Mobile arguably needs a big platform coup to become a serious contender. If Sony could get the platform supported on Samsung’s phones (perhaps an olive branch too far) or finally get a bit of momentum behind Vita, PS Mobile could be a serious feather in the company’s cap.

“Finally, we now have an actual business move from Nintendo which acknowledges that games exist on mobile devices”

More dramatic, in a sense, is Nintendo’s announcement that it’s going to launch tools aimed at helping smartphone developers to bring their software to the Wii U. This announcement is more important in terms of what it adds to the mood music of the industry than it is in actual commercial terms, I suspect. Lots of commentators have spent the past five years arguing either that Nintendo should or must bring its world-class IP to mobile devices, and plenty of hot air has been generated over the industry’s favourite fantasy football pairing of Apple and Nintendo, regardless of the extraordinary cultural clash such a combination would inevitably engender. Through all of this, Nintendo maintained a stoic silence about the import of the mobile space, broken only by Satoru Iwata’s occasional acknowledgement of new competition for gamers’ attention – acknowledgement that may have gained a slightly wry edge when the 3DS started confounding everyone by outperforming its world-beating predecessor, at least in Japan (which is also a seriously big market for mobile games).

Finally, we now have an actual business move from Nintendo which acknowledges that games exist on mobile devices, and not just Pokemon companion applications. Yet it’s precisely the opposite of what the world has insisted the company must do. Far from putting Nintendo games on iOS or Android, Nintendo is inviting developers on those platforms to come and bring their games to Wii U. Apple market commentator John Gruber describes this as Nintendo being “on the right road, but driving in the wrong direction”. I take his point, and I’m not even sure I entirely disagree (although I certainly don’t entirely agree either) – but I couldn’t help but laugh at the sheer brass neck of Nintendo’s move.

With both Nintendo’s outreach to bring smartphone games to the Wii U and Sony’s PlayStation Mobile platform, I can’t help but feel that there’s a strong element of PR involved. Not PR aimed at consumers, but PR aimed squarely at developers – small studios in particular, people who have come to see mobile phones as the natural home for their software while regarding Nintendo and Sony’s platforms as being closed-up gardens, tucked away behind high walls that can only be scaled by multinational publishers and other such deep-pocketed types. We’ve seen with the tone and pitch of Sony’s PlayStation 4 announcements how important it considers it to be to get support from grassroots developers as well as sewing up a steady stream of AAA titles. PlayStation Mobile as an early shot in that war – and to the surprise of many, it looks like Nintendo may now be willing to court the same market.

“The real objective is something else – it’s a way to show developers that the gates to console development are standing open in a way they never really were before”

So is this a “fight back” against the rise of mobile? Not really, no. The reality is that even if GungHo’s Puzzle & Dragons is making millions of dollars a day on mobile (it’s the most embarrassingly addictive mobile game I’ve ever played, for the record, and while I have yet to give it a single Yen of my hard-earned after a month of play, I won’t regret doing so down the line), its presence on the Wii U still wouldn’t be a system seller, or even a terribly big commercial success, most likely. Much of the coverage of Nintendo’s announcement has been focused on the idea of existing mobile titles being launched on Wii U, just as early coverage of PlayStation Mobile pitched it alternately as a way to bring PSone classics to mobile phones and a way to bring mobile phone games to Vita. In both cases, the real objective is something else – it’s a way to show developers that the gates to console development are standing open in a way they never really were before.

For Sony, the realisation of the increasingly distributed nature of game development – which was once centralised in a tiny number of publishers and a slightly less tiny number of expensively-run studios – took a tough hardware generation and a fair bit of internal struggle. For Nintendo, I suspect that it runs even more counter to the firm’s internal philosophy, and I would not be hugely optimistic about the company’s chances of building a really welcoming platform for the wider development community. All the same, a firm doesn’t stay in business for over a century without becoming pretty good at moving with the wind when the times require it. First for Sony and now for Nintendo, the strategy for dealing with the influx of mobile is not to surrender – it’s to be about figuring out how to co-exist in the industry’s new reality.

 

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2 million downloads in 3 months for Pixel People

iOS game brings in $700,000 for creators Lambdamu

Developer Lambdamu has cited its partnership with publisher Chillingo as key to the success of its iOS title Pixel People. The game has achieved 2 million downloads and $700,000 in revenue in the 3 months since launch.

CEO Ivan Loo said the decision to work with Chillingo was driven by the need for “a huge PR splash.”

The decision was a good one, the game secured 1 million downloads two weeks after launch. Interestingly chief creative officer Abhishek Radhakrishnan added that success may mean the next Lambdamu game may not need a publisher at all.

“Even if people don’t know Lambdamu, we can say ‘from the makers of Pixel People’ on the next game’s splash screen.”

LambdaMu Games is based in Singapore and is currently focused on iOS titles. Its other games include Infinight, Dice Soccer and Crazy Critters.

 

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Rift goes free-to-play

Trion Worlds opens up entirety of 2011 MMORPG for non-paying gamers starting next month

Another MMORPG will make the switch from subscriptions to a free-to-play format next month. Trion Worlds today announced its first game, the fantasy MMORPG Rift, will go free-to-play starting June 12.

At the same time the switch is made, Trion will launch a new content update and open up an expanded in-game store where players can purchase items and services with real-world money. As a nod to those who already paid for the game, existing subscribers and those who purchased copies of Rift will be able to have more characters on their accounts, as well as other perks. Trion will continue to offer subscriptions that allow players to progress in the game faster, and has said it will roll out a loyalty program to reward its veteran players.

“We have been listening to feedback from our players and watching the continuously developing MMO community, and are now ready to launch Rift as a premium free-to-play experience,” said Rift creative director Bill Fisher.

Like the rest of the industry, Trion Worlds appears to be moving away from the subscription model entirely. Last month it released Defiance for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, with an upfront charge but no subscription required for online play. Its upcoming shooter Warface and real-time strategy game End of Nations will both be free-to-play from launch.

 

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E3 still vital to industry, says ESA

Trade group exec says attendees overwhelmingly pleased with the show, confirms it will return to LACC through 2016

For Rich Taylor, there’s been at least one constant throughout all the turmoil the gaming industry has faced in recent years. As the Entertainment Software Association senior vice president of communications and industry affairs explained to GamesIndustry International, that steadfast rock of certainty has been that people will question whether the Electronic Entertainment Expo is still relevant.

“It’s interesting. I’ve been at ESA now for six years, and that question has come up pretty much every year,” Taylor said. “I think the show answers the question itself both through the level of attendance and participation, from the news that comes out of it, and it remains extraordinarily… not just relevant, but vital to the industry, and vital to those who want to share news through the billions of impressions that come out of it. When we convene this show, all the attendant eyeballs and ears are pointed toward Los Angeles to see the news that comes out.”

“I think people really are fairly thrilled about what we have now and the model we have now, the size we have now, the timing we have now”

Rich Taylor

Despite the questions from industry watchers, Taylor said the E3 feedback from attendees, exhibitors, and ESA member companies hasn’t reflected those concerns.

“Right now, the overwhelming finding is where we are now is a really positive sweet spot,” Taylor said. “Folks feel good about the room they have for their exhibit space, meeting room options, the number of attendees is still large enough to get all the principal folks that people hope to encounter during the show into the LACC, but also not so overwhelming that you can’t actually play and experience the games themselves, which is of course a key part of the show… I think people really are fairly thrilled about what we have now and the model we have now, the size we have now, the timing we have now. That seems to be where the model will sit for the foreseeable future.”

One part of the model that will stay the same is the show’s home, as the ESA has recently committed to running E3 out of the Los Angeles Convention Center through 2016. While there were concerns last year that construction of an NFL football stadium next to the LACC could limit the building’s available space for the show, Taylor said the plan for the stadium construction has encountered setbacks. Combined with assurances from the LACC and AEG to minimize any impact on E3, that means the possible new stadium is at this point “a bit of a non-issue” for E3, Taylor said.

While the general format of the show is set for the near future, Taylor said the ESA is still adapting to keep up with the changing industry, specifically the growing mobile market. In response to a cry for better coverage of that sector, Taylor said this year’s E3 will feature an Online Mobile Gaming Pavilion where gaming for handheld devices will have its own dedicated space, “perhaps more conducive to the experience of playing those games.”

 

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