Pixelot of The Gentleman Gamer writes: "The developer King (www.king.com), creators of popular games for your phone or toddler, have actually gained the word “Candy” as a trademark. They now have the ability to crush little developers, and even clothing companies for using the word “Candy” in their title, or on their products."
Katie Joell from Gamerscore Whores writes "It really comes as no surprise that a company that has failed to innovate much over the years (Call of Duty, Guitar Hero) has decided to buy a company that hasn’t innovated in it’s whole existence. Activision’s decision to spunk $5.9 billion dollars on a company that copies ideas and then sues the original makers over copyright really speaks volumes that the companies bottom line is much more important than their ethical reputation."
What a waste of money for Activision. I'm just imagining how many innovative new IP games Activision could have developed with all that money. What the hell were they thinking?
Actually looking at King's profits from the last year doesn't necessarily make it a bad deal. If the popularity of Candy Crush games holds they will get their money back. If they market it in other ways like merchandising it they will be fine. The company was almost fifty percent profit. Hard numbers to beat.
But candy crush isn't a core game. It's a time waster when stuck in a doctor's office or on the road. No one is going to buy candy crush merchandise lol. The casuals will just move on to the next 'newer' trend, and Activision done wasted their money.
You consider yourself a core gamer. What the hell does Activision care about that. They and all companies are businesses who's goal is to make profit. They don't care about silly core and casual or Microsoft versus Sony. They care about the bottom line. They may occasionally pimp gamers with comments with the constant goal of profits. That core mentally is exactly why so many developers go out of business and what could eventually kill hardcore gaming. A company would be stupid to walk away from a potential cash cow because they need to appease a relative few "core" gamers. Gaming is becoming mainstream, whether it's the Wii or DS bringing gaming to different audiences or phones the demographics are changing. Casual gamers already out number core and with more powerful phones and growing acceptance that gap will get bigger. Add the fickleness, selfishness and sense of entitlement of the core gamers and it won't be worth for anyone to waste money developing core games. Except for PC where new APIs will give you low level access and ease but far greater power and consoles could become a niche product. "Core" better realize they better start accepting something. Higher prices, shorter games, more dlc or microtransactins. Get over yourselves.
Wish I owned the rights to a time waster that generated over two billion dollars a year. You must have Bill Gates money to scoff at that. Hell Bill Gates would have better sense.
Waste of money?! I hate mobile, and Activision, as much as the next, but I'm willing to admit its a cash cow and they'll easily make that back, rather quickly.
George Lucas got schooled. He sold his whole empire for 4 billion. Skywalker sound, ILM, Lucasfilm and all the rights.
Meanwhile Activision pays almost 6 for Candy Crush developer.
I bet that has to sting George. Especially considering Disney will make half that plus back with just the first movie release.
Stupid move George.
Even worse is when you realize Steve Jobs bought Pixar from George and then sold Pixar to Disney for 6 Billion. George could have made a lot more money had he used his brain.
Plus Disney could easily make animated movies off of the LucasArts adventure games like Curse of Monkey Island. It really is amazing how little George sold LucasFilm for, like you said it wasn't just Star Wars, but all his production companies too and you just know in a few years a new Indiana Jones movie will be coming out.
I wouldn't be surprised to hear in a few years Disney made all their money back just by licensing their IP rights and that's not including the money Disney will make from the movies.
Grab It Magazine:
"We’ve all had an inkling for some time now that in-app purchases (IAPs) are a ludicrous source of revenue for developers. The proverbial pot of gold, if you will. After an in-depth look at the financial reports of casual game developer King (of Candy Crush fame,) there is certainly no doubt left. Since 2012, King has raked in over $4 billion in revenue from IAPs across all its titles. I don’t quite have the vocabulary to express how unfathomably large that number is."
So frustrating. So many great titles out there. They just don't have a chance with the App Store and the like being flooded with these types of IAP games. I hope for a future where the spotlight moves away from these guys and over to actual game developers
Totally agree. I don't think it's a fad that'll die out anytime soon though, especially with figures like that driving the market. :(
I think the industry will end up being just a playing field with all sorts of business models being a viable option, depending on the genre and platform being aimed at. I think games journalists, sites, mags etc need to keep playing their part in highlighting the games that may otherwise fly under the radar due to not having funds to market, or be aware of how to properly market.
IAPs and F2P are here forever now.
The cream tends to rise to the top and whilst there will always be casualties along the way, I've no fear that the indie community or even the triple A community will continue to find ways to achieve success.
In this continuing look at the various controversies plaguing the video game industry, Chapter VI discusses the events of the Ben Kuchera / Erik Kain twitter fiasco, Stoic's fight to retain The Banner Saga title from King Games' trademark of a common-use word, and the Stardock / Brad Wardell sexual harassment case.
They are just taking this shit too far, and it will alienate them from the people playing their games,
"They now have the ability to crush little developers, and even clothing companies for using the word “Candy” in their title, or on their products."
That's just crazy, and it also shows how flawed trademarking is...