Survarium Rises From GSC Ashes

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Developer GSC Game World had been in trouble for a while but has now confirmed that they have closed and that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has been canceled. Instead, the main team from GSC has formed Vostok Games, which will work on a free-to-play MMO FPS entitled Survarium and set in the ‘Zone’ of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.

“The concept of Survarium is a next evolution step for the idea of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. we’ve been working on for the last ten years,” shared project lead Ruslan Didenko. “Survarium will go way further forcing mankind to fight for survival not only within the closed area of Chernobyl zone, but also far beyond.”

Source: MCV

Apple First-Time Device Owners Increasing Via iPhone, iPad

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An NPD Group study revealed that a quarter of all iPad owners say that the device is their first Apple product. Additionally, 37 million homes in the U.S., roughly a third, own one Apple product – 69 percent of that group own iPods.

“iPad sales are growing much faster than any other Apple product has this soon after launch,” said Ben Arnold, director of industry analysis at NPD. “”In fact, one-in-five Apple owner households has one — nearly equivalent to the number that own an Apple computer. This demonstrates the appeal of both the new form factor and Apple’s app ecosystem.”

The study of 3000 respondents also said that while 82 percent of Apple consumers say the iPod was their first product, more recent consumers say that the iPhone or iPad has been their entry into Apple devices. 70 percent of long-term Apple users said the iPod was their entry device, but that number drops to only 57 percent in the last two years.

“Should more households become multiple Apple product homes, these platforms will become even more important in the acquisition and sharing of content between devices,” added Arnold. “Forty percent of electronics shoppers say owning devices in the same brand family is an important purchase factor. As consumers look for greater interoperability between devices and more brands become aligned with platforms, we could see fewer multi-brand ecosystems in the household.”

Apple households own 2.4 Apple devices on average. Apple owners aren’t exclusive to the company’s devices, as 58 percent of Mac owning homes also have a PC and 30 percent of Apple fans own a non-Apple smartphone.

Angry Birds Veterans Found Boomlagoon

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Antti Sten and Tuomas Erikoinen have left Rovio to be CCO and CEO of Boomlagoon. The former server manager and lead artist will build web and mobile games with HTML5.

“Through our experience of seeing multiple start ups, we’ve gained the necessary skill set for founding and running a company with high values on all departments of the company,” said Sten. “Our core skills are in game development but we’ve also had the opportunity to study fields such as PR, branding, recruitment, business negotiations, leading teams, HR, and networking.”

“We know a thing or two about successful games and high volumes and we’ll use this knowledge to spawn something very cool and new,” Sten continued. “If we play our cards right we just might end up with the next Angry Birds.”

Source: GamesBeat

 

Skullgirls Hits 50,000 Sold In 10 Days

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Reverge Labs has announced that Skullgirls has sold over 50,000 copies in 10 days of availability. The European PSN release is still pending and will come May 2.

“Reverge Labs and Autumn Games would like to sincerely thank everyone for their support,” said the company in a tweet. “We’ve started on the first updates, so stay tuned!”

Source: Twitter

Are You A Schemer?

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Courtesy of IGN, a new site called Schemer {link no longer active} has launched with recommendations on cool spots and things to do related to games, movies, TV, gadgets, and more. Fans can connected with their Google account and connect with friends, plan and scheme something to do!

Microsoft Planning Woodstock Music Service: Report

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Reports are that Microsoft will show off a new Xbox music service during E3 2012 called Woodstock. The plan is that Woodstock will replace the Zune brand that never quite caught on with consumers.

Woodstock will work with the Xbox 360, along with Windows 8, Android, iOS, and various web browsers. Users will be able to scan their music into the service and also build build playlists with friends on Facebook.

It is expected that Woodstock will launch in Fall 2012, right around the same time as Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.

CrowdStar Pivoting From Facebook To Mobile

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CrowdStar’s CEO Peter Relan has confirmed that the social games maker is no longer developing for Facebook. The company is shifting all of its development resources onto smartphones.

“We are maintaining the old games, like Happy Aquarium, but we don’t build new Facebook PC games any more — we are 100 percent focused on mobile,” Relan said.

While 90 percent of the company’s revenues came from Facebook last year, he predicts that 90 percent will come from mobile in 2012. Zynga continues to dominate Facebook as a gaming platform, leaving smaller developers struggling to make money.

It used to be that social gaming companies could post to players’ walls to virally get the message out about their games, but with those channels closed, it’s harder to keep up with companies like Zynga, Electronic Arts, Wooga and King. CrowdStar now attracts 8 million monthly users, down from 29 million just last year.

Crowdstar’s Girl franchise, including Top Girl, Social Girl and Modern Girl, has collectively hit 20 million downloads across both iPhone and Android, with Modern Girl alone surpassing 2 million downloads within three weeks of its launch. The company has found an audience in females aged 13 to 30 less interested in sitting in front of a PC or a console to play games. “They are very mobile and communications-oriented,” he said.

While Relan says his audience has gravitated to mobile, he’d still be reluctant to develop for Facebook because he thinks the audience has plateaued or started to decrease. “If I was going after an older audience, I might focus on tablets,” he said.

Source: All Things D