IGAWorks’ Mobile Advertising Platform, adPOPcorn, Heading to KakaoTalk

by Wonacott Communications

According to a report by Pingdom, there are 1.1 billion smartphones in the world, each consuming about 500 megabytes of data every month. That is a lot of people with ability to communicate on the go. Thus, mobile advertising space has been the hot topic in the digital media industry. IGAWorks approached Wonacott to handle the launch announcement for its new mobile ad platform, adPOPcorn, in partnership with KakaoTalk, a global messaging app giant with 90 million registered users.

CGW – May 10 – More E3 Reveals

by Wonacott Communications

The pressure is mounting as E3 nears – can you feel it? There are just 31 days until the big day and a slew of press conferences from the industry’s leaders are going to set the stage for the upcoming holiday season. This week, publisher giants Activision and EA made headlines from what was revealed in their respective earnings calls. 

Wonacott, Majesco Execs Speaking at Mobile Gaming USA West

by Wonacott Communications

Experts from around the growing world of mobile games are coming together for the second annual Mobile Gaming USA West conference in San Francisco next week. The event was created specifically to address the challenges that mobile game developers and publishers are facing as they look to thrive in a constantly evolving marketplace.

Our own Mark Van Lommel, account director and video games PR extraordinaire, will lead a Lighting Talk as part of the Independent’s Day portion of the conference. His talk, “Mind Your Marketing,” will cover PR, social media, and promotional tips, tricks, and tools that indie developers can utilize to effectively market their mobile games, without breaking the bank.

• Date: Monday, May 13
• Time: 4:15-5:15 p.m.
• Location: Hotel Kabuki

We also are pleased to announce Stephen Saiz, general manager of mobile, Majesco Entertainment, will speak on the “Open for Business: Best practices for hiring talent in the growing mobile gaming economy” panel, discussing the overwhelming demand for new employees who specialize in the creation, monetization and marketing of mobile games.

• Date: Monday, May 14
• Time: 4:15-5:15 p.m.
• Location: Hotel Kabuki

 If you’re planning on attending the conference, make sure to swing by to catch these two in action!

CGW – May 3 – Starting to Feel Like Summer

by Wonacott Communications

It may not quite be summer yet, but with E3 right around the corner and blockbuster movies like “Iron Man 3” hitting your local cinema, it sure is starting to feel like it. We’ve noticed the trend lately of China’s increased influence when it comes to entertainment, and not just how the nation can prompt Hollywood executives to create China-specific edits of big movies. In a forecast by Niko Partners, China’s PC online market is poised to hit $11.9 billion in revenues in 2013, up a phenomenal 28 percent from 2012. That is a crazy amount of growth when compared with the sluggish videogame market in the U.S., but perhaps the kickoff of the next generation of home consoles will change all that.

CGW – April 26 – A June to Remember

by Wonacott Communications

With E3 kicking off in less than seven weeks on June 11, all of the major players in the video games industry are busy preparing to announce their latest news to a global audience of investors, partners, media and fans. After last year’s largely lackluster E3, this year is shaping up to be unforgettable, and the whole world will be watching. 

CGW – April 19 –Mobile Games Grow In Popularity But Still Don’t Beat MMOs in Revenue

by Wonacott Communications

This week, mobile games continue to gain in popularity. According to a Venture Beat story, “SuperData said the digital games category - which includes mobile, social and online games - was stable in March, up 1.1 percent from February.” The market research organization also found that mobile game revenues in the U.S. were up by 7 percent to reach $157 million in March. However even with this bump, mobile revenues still don’t beat out revenues for free-to-play MMOs. Jason Coston, a senior analyst at Interpet says, ”In the US, 48 million people are actively engaged in smartphone and tablet gaming, more than double the 23 million playing free-to-play MMOs on PC, but the average spend is so much weaker for mobile games that the two business models generate comparable revenues." The semi-annual GameByte study from Interpret indicates that mobile and tablet players on average spend 92 cents a month on full game apps and just 79 cents a month on in-game items. 

CGW – April 12 – While PC Sales Decline, Demand for Mobile Rises

by Wonacott Communications

This week, Blizzard Entertainment announced its acquisition of IGN Pro League’s technology, assets and staff members. The move allows IGN to focus squarely on its editorial mission while giving Blizzard the resources it needs to continue building out a major eSports presence. In a statement by Peer Schneider, IGN executive vice president, "With the continuing evolution of the eSports space and the renewed focus on our core media brand, we made the decision to sell the IGN Pro League technology and assets and become agnostic in our competitive gaming coverage. Following Blizzard’s acquisition of IPL assets, IGN will partner with multiple organizations and cover their events." 

CGW – April 5 – Digital Game Sales on the Rise

by Wonacott Communications

This week several changes took place at some of the largest game publishers: Disney announced its decision to shut down LucasArts. The publisher will shift its model from developing games internally through LucasArts, to focusing on licensing the “Star Wars” brand. At Square Enix, Yosuke Matsuda is set to take over as president in June and plans to review the whole company, after former president Yoichi Wada’s departure last week. In further Square Enix news, its Los Angeles office has eliminated positions in its marketing, public relations, accounting and IT departments as part of a corporate restructuring. Mike Fischer, CEO at Square Enix America, is rumored to be let go in May.

CGW - March 29 - Till Next Year, GDC

by Wonacott Communications

Today is the last day of GDC. During the week exciting announcements were made, valuable information was shared through a plethora of informative panels and winners were revealed for the 13th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards - with Journey sweeping the competition. Out of the ten awards, the game won six for Game of the Year, Innovation Award, Best Audio, Best Downloadable Game, Best Game Design, and Best Visual Arts. Sony gave away more details on the upcoming PlayStation 4. According to Sony Senior Staff Engineer Chris Norden, "The core gamers are our primary audience and are fundamental to PS4 gaming. They're the most engaged users and they're very important advocates for the platform. PS4 is architect-ed around their expectations. At the same time, we want to create a platform that can sail through a broad audience. The interface is designed to be fun, appealing, and accessible to the entire household." Another aspect of the next-gen console that he highlighted was that it will have a large hard drive, but did not reveal any details on the specifications.

CGW – March 15 – Eyes on PAX East and GDC

by Wonacott Communications

Today kicks off two major, back-to-back videogame industry events: PAX East starts today and runs through the weekend in Boston, and GDC starts on Monday, March 25 and runs throughout next week in San Francisco. Excitement is building as publishers reveal what will be shown at PAX East – Nintendo announced their lineup of seven Wii U and nine Nintendo 3DS titles, including Nintendo Land and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. Ubisoft posted a message on its Might and Magic X website encouraging attendees to meet them at PAX East, and Blizzard announced that a PlayStation 3 version of Diablo III will be available to play at the consumer-focused show as well. With GDC right around the corner, I’m excited to see what new game and tech announcements will happen and who will bring home some Game Developer Choice Awards.

Who Won The Bing Challenge?

by Melissa Chan

As a public relations professional, it is essential to keep informed and stay on top of the news. We regularly monitor our clients’ and their competitors’ news so that we can conduct analyses and create specialized PR strategies based on the media landscape or react as needed. A tool that helps us do our job well for this particular purpose is a great search engine.

Recently, Microsoft’s CEO Bill Gates participated in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) interview on Reddit where he openly answered questions on all topics, including one that questioned the quality of Microsoft’s Bing search engine. When asked “Do you guys really use Bing? I mean seriously...,” Gates challenged the community to take the “Bing challenge” and responded with, “Seriously Bing is the better product at this point. Try the challenge. I am biased but the work to make Bing better has been amazing.”

His confidence in the search engine piqued my curiosity, and I set forth on the challenge.    

The Best of SXSW

by Kia Gilstrap

My fellow tech geeks and entertainment junkies – the time has come and gone – South by Southwest (SXSW) wrapped Sunday night. The festival included the best the entertainment industry has to offer in music, film and emerging technologies. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to attend the festival. However, by means of PR support to our client, Music Mastermind (the company was at SXSW with their mobile music creation app, Zya, and we were sure to place the app on TechHive’s radar during their time at the festival) as well as Google Alerts and Twitter, I felt as though I was in Austin, TX.  Here are some of the highlights at SXSW:

Samsung Galaxy S4 Debut – What Do You Think?

by Chan Lim

Samsung was center stage (literally, holding a press event at Radio City Music Hall) of the technology media world late last week with the unveiling of its next flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S4. Does the phone live up to the hype, and will I be getting one? Let’s take a look at the hype versus what Samsung decided to reveal.

<Courtesy of Samsung Mobile>

CGW – March 15 – Trend Alert: eSports

by Wonacott Communications

Over the past few years, eSports have continued to grow in popularity. This week, Major League Gaming CEO Sundance Giovanni spoke with Polygon and Forbes about the future of pro-gaming. He predicts that eSports will continue to grow in North America and Europe, eventually rising to the same level of popularity as currently seen in game-crazed South Korea. 

CGW – March 8 – Competition is King for Core Gamers

by Wonacott Communications

eSports, competitive gaming, has been gaining popularity year after year. Professional gamers form teams, train daily and earn sponsorships to compete against the best in the world, while millions of fans watch for entertainment. As the following increases for eSports, a slew of fantastic opportunities flood in, including an abundance of new sponsors and an increase and demand for organized pro tournaments.

What Happens When a Good Game Meets the Right Advertising and PR Efforts

by Wonacott Communications

Cie Games, a Wonacott client, was featured on the recent Facebook’s earnings call as a successful example of utilizing the Facebook mobile advertising platform. The platform drove installs for the iOS game Car Town Streets. Through this initiative, Cie Games was able to achieve 40 percent lower cost per installation compared to other advertising.

Are You a Competitive Gamer?

by Wonacott Communications

Xfire’s newly launched Battleground, a fully automated online competitive tournament system, will bring competitive gaming to the masses, allowing them to challenge friends directly, set up personal tournaments, compete in sponsored tournaments for prizes and more. We worked with Xfire to spread the news far and wide this week, to sites including Got Game, Los Angeles Business Journal, PC Games N and VG 24/7. 

CGW – March 1 – The Great Migration

by Wonacott Communications

With all the recent talk about next-generation consoles, one can forget that many developers are drifting toward alternative platforms. To prepare for Game Developer Conference in a few weeks, organizers released a survey showing 58 percent of attendees’ next games will launch on either tablets or smartphones – consoles came in at 14 percent. It’s perfect timing as well, with Gartner predicting more than 1.2 billion mobile and smartphone devices will be sold this year. 

CGW - Feb. 22 - Drumroll…PlayStation 4 Revealed

by Wonacott Communications

Unless you live under a rock or were stranded on a remote island, you probably are aware Sony revealed its next-generation console, the PlayStation 4, on Wednesday. Although the company didn't show the console itself, Sony shared details on the system's interface, its new controller and exclusive launch games, includingDriveclub, Knack and The Witness. Gamers were up in arms about not getting to see what the console looks like (here's a prediction: it will be black and boxlike), but shouldn't gamers be more interested in what the console can do versus what the casing looks like?

Comparing Apples to Oranges: Why it’s Hard to Change the Way We Review Videogames

by Alex Van Lepp

How exactly should videogame critics approach a review for a given videogame? Should a review break down the mechanics of the game, focusing on gameplay and fun factor? Or should the reviewer approach a game experience from an artistic perspective, and offer criticism on how the game affects the player emotionally? The launch of Dead Space 3 recently brought this discussion to the forefront. The consensus is that it’s almost impossible to make a definitive choice and say one style of criticism holds more weight than the other.