It’s that time of week again when we take a fond look back at the top five news stories from the week. Welcome to the Weekly Wrap-Up. Below is a brief summary, but for the full stories simply click on the hyperlink. Let us know if you agree with our top five. If you have suggestions for future Weekly Wrap-Ups, feel free to email me at jeremy.tyler@bagogames.com.
Enjoy!
Number 5
Lay-Offs Announced at Frontier Developments as Kickstarter Continues
Frontier Developments has announced that last week it laid off 14 of its 233 staff, with cuts affecting employees involved in the disciplines of art, animation, and audio. Speaking to Eurogamer, Managing Director David Walsh said that the lay-offs had taken place due to “the changing mix of skills requirements for our current and future projects – it is not a reflection on the company’s prospects, which remain healthy”. He added: “We are actively recruiting to shift the balance of skills we have within the company to enable us to deliver the set of projects currently in development.”
Number 4
Earthbound Fans Get a New Glimmer of Hope
Recently, EarthBound creator Shigesato Itoi tweeted something which started to get Earthbound fans excited. Keeping in mind that fans have been campaigning for years to get the series to come outside of Japan the creator tweeted (as according to a translation from EarthBound Central) the following message: “Since it’s now okay to blurt this out, here goes: the ‘Mother republication’ thing I mentioned briefly before is making progress. It’s not Mother 4 though! This has to do with making Mother playable. I can’t give out any details just yet, but I do at least need to say that it isn’t 4.” For those of you who are unaware of what “Mother” is, it is the Japanese name for the “EarthBound” series.
Number 3
30 Million People Now Own PS3 Systems In EU
Sony have announced that as of December 17, that the PlayStation 3 has sold 30 million units across the EU, including the UK or anywhere else which sells PAL versions of the console. As of the 30 Million shipped by Sony, at least 5 Million were sold to the UK a lone although no other specific information such as this was stated for other European countries.
Number 2
Zynga CEO Named One of the Worst CEOs in 2012 by Businessweek
Just in time to ruin Zynga CEO Mark Pincus’ Christmas, Businessweek has ranked him as one of the worst CEOs this year. The company, masters of Farmville, have seen their stock drop by a staggering 75% and continue to lose many talented employees. Sydney Finkelstein, who Businessweek went to for his vast amount of Business knowledge, stated that Pincus has made ‘some rookie mistakes’, despite his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and his MBA from Harvard. One example in particular was Zynga’s close ties to Facebook and how the company depends on them for a huge amount of revenue. Pincus later moving 16 Million shares didn’t come across as a good sign either.
Number 1
THQ Files for Bankruptcy, Clearlake Capital Offers to Acquire Assets
THQ, publisher of Darksiders, Saints Row and Company of Heroes, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and has entered an Asset Purchase Agreement with Clearlake Capital Group, L.P., who will come into possession of the publisher’s assets; which includes four game studios and all games currently in development. THQ will continue their business operations, as all studios and games in development are set to carry on as usual, during the sales period.
“The sale and filing are necessary next steps to complete THQ’s transformation and position the company for the future, as we remain confident in our existing pipeline of games, the strength of our studios and THQ’s deep bench of talent,” said Brian Farrell, Chairman and CEO of THQ. “We are grateful to our outstanding team of employees, partners and suppliers who have worked with us through this transition. We are pleased to have attracted a strong financial partner for our business, and we hope to complete the sale swiftly to make the process as seamless as possible.”
Honorable Mentions
This week had a lot of big news and the news staff and I found it hard to narrow it down to the usual five stories. Here are some of the articles for the honorable mention section. Ubisoft Might Be Interested in THQ’s Assets, Xbox SmartGlass Gets support for ESPN Apps & NBA Game Time, Staff Cuts Confirmed At Square Enix
If you missed out on the big news items this week, you can check out our weekly podcast and get an audio update of this week’s madness from our podcasting team. Listen to us as we talk about some things seriously and a few other things not so much. We guarantee this episode will make you shake your fist at times and nod your head at others. And finally, check out The Interview with Q, hosted by Matthew Quinlan.
