Los Angeles Times writes: With the world's biggest video game publishers devouring their rivals, is it game over for mid-size companies?
Analysts said Monday that Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., the New York company behind the "Grand Theft Auto" franchise, seemed to have little choice but to join industry giant Electronic Arts Inc. EA pressed Take-Two shareholders to accept its unsolicited takeover bid of $2 billion.
If successful, EA's bid would leave seven companies together controlling more than 75% of the $11-billion U.S. market for game software, said Ben Schachter, an analyst with UBS Securities.
Take away the big game console makers -- Sony Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. -- and there would be four. EA and Activision Inc., which is bulking up in a pending merger with Vivendi's games business, would reign over THQ Inc. and UbiSoft Entertainment.
Get the scoop on Comedy Central's exciting new cartoon show inspired by the iconic Golden Axe video game
Golden Axe is a great game I enjoyed it on the SMS, Genesis and in the arcade. Great game but it truly was a quarter eater back in the day. I wish Sega could get the rights to the arcade port of Moonwalker another great arcade game I enjoyed. Collect so many monkeys and become Robo Michael lol.
GB: "With this feature, we will be taking a look at 15 of the best games from the PlayStation 2's vast library."
With so many games fighting for players' attention and interest losing out over time, time sink games are at risk of eventually losing steam.
It was worrisome to begin with.
It's a niche genre with only a handful of hits that can stand the test of time.
Only a few will catch on. You need a perfect storm to be successful in GaaS and a bit of luck on top of that. But a potential cash cow will keep them trying and some will go out of business because of it.
Helldivers 2 manages just fine…
Keep production costs low… don’t just make custscenes until the mechanics and enemies are perfected first.
Make so much content that you can drip extra content for years, and the game already feels complete without them.
Most importantly: make weapons, enemies, levels, and mechanics that will stand the test of 1000 hours. This might require more devs embracing procedurally generated leveled, which I think separates Helldivers 2 from Destiny’s repetitiveness.