Intent on bringing originality and a sense of humor back to video gaming, the former executives of Gathering of Developers (G.O.D.) have risen from the ashes like the mighty Phoenix (if said Phoenix was a six foot tall boxing rooster) to announce the launch of a major new independent game publisher, Gamecock Media Group.
Two of the most successful entrepreneurs in the history of the game industry -- Mike Wilson, former CEO of G.O.D. and rooster enthusiast, has joined forces with Harry Miller, former president of G.O.D. and Cockpit thumb wrestling champion three years running -- are fully versed in the substantial structural and financial issues that have been plaguing today's goliath game companies. Gamecock Media Group will offer a welcome solution -- a well-funded, independent, artist-driven game publishing company -- to the bloated and originality-starved industry.
Taking its lead from the rise of the independent film movement, Gamecock Media Group will favor only the most innovative and original video game developers in the industry. The company will be relationship-driven, offering its developers a high-degree of participation and the freedom and financial incentives to perform to their utmost abilities.
"The major publishers have been focusing on safe bets -- large budget games often attached to major licenses or sequels," said Mike Wilson, CEO of Gamecock. "This insufficient emphasis on the creation of original game properties has created major dissatisfaction among the industry's most talented game designers and has made the current system unpalatable. In other words, things are getting stale. We aim to change that."
Already the industry's most creative developers are clamoring to work with Gamecock and the company has signed several major original titles across multiple platforms. Alex Seropian, founder and CEO of Bungie, creators of the best-selling Xbox franchise, Halo, has a title in the works.
"These guys have a stellar track record and a reputation for producing innovative titles," said Alex Seropian. "Their ability to identify and develop new hit properties from new teams and then market them successfully worldwide is virtually unmatched."
Gamecock already has strong global distribution alliances in place offering access to a worldwide market opportunity. And, the company's lean production studio approach allows the advantage of being agile and able to adapt to new trends and developments including leading the way for digital distribution.
Based in the downtown Victorian that was once Austin's first hospital, Gamecock Media Group will be the most attractive avenue for publication and promotion for today's "new generation" of independent developers with innovative content. According to Harry Miller, "The success of these innovators has been the building blocks for the gaming industry and is the way the industry should continue its incomparable growth."
Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.
Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.
Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.
"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."
That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.
As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.
And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.
They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -
INDIE Live Expo, Japan’s premiere online digital showcase series , will debut never-before-seen games & content updates across more than 100 titles on May 25th.