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Archive

Posts Tagged ‘Money’

Penny Arcade Scholarship now accepting applications

April 19th, 2010 No comments
Wondering what it feels like to be on the receiving end of the benevolence frequently exhibited by the creators of Penny Arcade? If you're a college student with starry-eyed ambitions to change the video game industry for the better, you might be able to bask in the warm light of their generosity by receiving the fourth annual Penny Arcade Scholarship, a $10,000 academic grant set aside for a special student with a GPA over 3.3 and the aforementioned revolutionary aspirations.

Applications for the scholarship are currently being accepted and must be sent in by May 30, along with two letters of recommendation, an academic transcript, an essay on how you plan to change the industry and your photograph, which will only be seen publicly if you're the winner, as displayed on the scholarship's page. It's not like the Penny Arcade guys are basing their decision on prettiness or anything.

[Via GamePolitics]

JoystiqPenny Arcade Scholarship now accepting applications originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Survey determines average U.S. game developer income

April 13th, 2010 No comments
The results of Game Developer Research's ninth annual Game Developer Salary Survey recently surfaced, giving us our yearly reminder that we're totally on the wrong side of this industry. According to the survey, the average "American mainstream videogame industry salary" is $75,573. Over here at Joystiq Inc., we're only pulling in $75,571.42. We're thinking about going on strike until parity is achieved.

The survey also breaks down average salaries for the different disciplines which compose our beloved industry. The highest-paid gaming professionals are PR and marketing executives, earning $129,167 a year on average. The lowest head on the totem pole is that of the QA tester, whose average annual income is $37,905. We're betting the recent winner of The Tester wishes he had chosen to participate in The Public Relations Professional instead.

JoystiqSurvey determines average U.S. game developer income originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Who Makes More, Game Designers or Game Programmers? [Money]

March 31st, 2010 No comments

How Video Games Taught Me Everything About Capitalism [Money]

March 15th, 2010 No comments

First Claims Laid to Million-Dollar Perfect Game [Mlb 2k10]

March 4th, 2010 No comments

Barely two days after release and MLB 2K10 players are boasting they've pitched perfect games - worth a $1 million bounty to the first to do so, verifiably. But cool your jets, we won't know for sure for a while.

To recap: 2K Sports has offered a cool million for the first player to go 27-up, 27-down - under a rigorous set of conditions - in MLB 2K10. Yesterday, the first reports of perfectos started cropping up in the 2K Sports forums, with screenshots purporting to show the confirmation code the game offers if you manage to register the feat.

Naturally, since all obscure the confirmation code, everyone's calling shenanigans and fakery and making other such allegations. Me, I think it's easy enough to bring up a game's boxscore showing a pitching line with no walks and no hits. Linescores aren't proof enough. But whatever the case, 2K Sports' admins have reminded everyone that they aren't even going to start evaluating the video submissions for the perfect games until May 2. And the contest rules state a winner, if there is one, won't be announced until June.

That said I'm sure we can expect many more third-party proclamations and screenshot evidence over the next two months. Seven figure sums will do that.

Win One Million Dollars If You Throw the First Perfect Game in MLB 2K10 [2K Sports Forums]



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Take-Two revenue up $14m, laying off 15% of execs

March 3rd, 2010 No comments
Take-Two just released its fiscal 2010 Q1 financial report, dropping always thrilling financial news on us about the company's performance between November 1, 2009 and January 31, 2010. Aside from a $13.8 million year-over-year increase in net revenue ($163.2 million this year over $149.4 million last year), Take-Two also reports a diminished net loss (again, year-over-year) to the tune of $20 million.

Aside from those exciting highlights, the investor report additionally notes plans for "a targeted restructuring of its corporate departments," resulting in a "15 percent reduction in corporate headcount." More shocking, the "restructuring" (read: layoffs) will amount to "approximately $8 million in savings in fiscal 2010." Holy cow!

JoystiqTake-Two revenue up $14m, laying off 15% of execs originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EA Sports supports ‘Project Ten Dollar,’ out to ‘digitize’ Madden consumers

March 2nd, 2010 No comments
Watch out, Madden consumer, 'cause Peter Moore is coming -- and he's gonna digitize you. In a speech at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference yesterday, the EA Sports prez said, "I think we need to move much quicker, in particular with Madden, through a digital world ... you're going to see more announcements there how we digitize our Madden consumer." He was likely referring to the currently "burning" business model that revolves around disc-based media, a topic Moore has remained outspoken about for some time now.

In his eyes, rather than focusing on moving more units which each year's release, EA Sports should instead be looking at "How do I get an extra $4 or $5 dollars?" from the already existing 6 million person-strong install base. He insisted that, in line with the company's "Project Ten Dollar" aspirations, digital content keeps gamers from trading in their titles. "It keeps the disc in the drive longer, it stalls trading the game in, it allows me to be able to take further advantage of that consumer over a longer period of time." We'd like to remind you that Moore was speaking to a group of financial analysts, so when he talked about being able to "further take advantage" of you, he meant it in the nicest way possible. Promise.

He finished up by promising that future EA Sports titles will have new business models that allow for a customer to trade in their annualized sports games while simultaneously granting EA the ability to earn money from that customer -- a "best of both worlds" take on the transition from retail to digital, if you will. We'll see what happens in the not-too-distant future, as Moore also promised "We're [EA] certainly going to do a lot of that this year."

JoystiqEA Sports supports 'Project Ten Dollar,' out to 'digitize' Madden consumers originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stadium Events sells for $41,300, becomes most expensive NES game ever

February 27th, 2010 No comments
We're not sure which element of this story is the most newsworthy, so we'll lead with this: Some person, somewhere in the world, recently spent $41,300 on an extremely rare NES game. Someone was perusing the eBay auction block, saw Stadium Events (which Nintendo bought the rights to and retitled World Class Track Meet), and said, "you know what? That looks like the kind of thing I'd like to spend an American's median annual income on."

According to Video Game Price Charts, that auction has turned Stadium Events into the most expensive NES game ever sold. There are around 200 copies of the game still floating around out there -- which should be enough to send most of you rushing to your local pawn shop in a Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory-esque tizzy.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

JoystiqStadium Events sells for $41,300, becomes most expensive NES game ever originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: The Ten Most Expensive Video Game Budgets Apparently Are… [Business]

February 24th, 2010 No comments

As video games get bigger and bigger, video game budgets get bigger and bigger, too. But what's games have the biggest budgets?

The sticky part of video game budgets is that some developers will not confirm the actual budgets, and there is some speculation in these numbers. But here, according to website DigitalBattle.com, here are the hugest of the huge:

10. Killzone 2: US$45 million
Most estimates put the budget at $45 million, but higher estimates put the budget at over €41 million or $56 million.

9. Final Fantasy XII: $48 million
The game's budget was $48 million — without marketing costs. As Digital Battle points out, there are rumors that Final Fantasy XIII had a 50 percent higher budget.

8. L.A. Noire: $50 million
Tom Crago, the president of Game Developers' Association of Australia, cited Noire as "one of the most expensive games in development today". Developed in Australia, Noire has been given a massive budget.

7. APB: $50 million
In development for five years now, the game officially has a budget of 50 million.

6. Halo 3: $55 million
According to Digital Battle, the budget was in the neighborhood of $55 million, excluding the $200 million Microsoft spent on developing the game.

5. Metal Gear Solid 4: $60 million
Digital Battle puts the budget at $60 million, which it says was shared between Konami and Sony. The game was in development for four years.

4. Too Human: $60 million plus
Eons in development, platform and engine switching. Too Human was too expensive.

3. Shenmue: $70 million
This Dreamcast game held the most expensive game budget record for almost ten years.

2. Gran Turismo: $80 million
In development for over 5 years, the official budget was $60 million. In 2008.

1. Grand Theft Auto 4: $100 million

Top 10 most expensive video games budgets ever [Digital Battle]



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SouthPeak revenue down 42% year-over-year in second quarter of FY2010

February 18th, 2010 No comments
Wake up! After that headline, we saw you start dozing and we wanted to make sure you were with us for the next hundred-ish words of pure, unbridled excitement. According to SouthPeak Interactive's fiscal 2010 second quarter financial results released this morning (which make up the last three months of calendar 2009, ending December 31), the publisher netted $10.1 million, a 42% decline from fiscal 2009's second quarter results of $17.3 million.

In one of the report's few positive notes, company CEO Melanie Mroz notes that the My Baby franchise grew 45 percent "compared with the last holiday season" -- and we were so worried about SouthPeak's baby! Notably, the decline in revenue was blamed on "a decrease in the number of titles released in the fiscal 2010 period." Also, the games that the company did publish weren't the pricier Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 titles. We've got a free solution for you though, SouthPeak -- My Baby Next-Gen: Future Baby for the aforementioned consoles.

That one's for free, guys. The next one'll cost ya.

JoystiqSouthPeak revenue down 42% year-over-year in second quarter of FY2010 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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