Shanda, a Chinese developer of MMORPGs, announces financial results for the fourth quarter of 2005. Net revenue was 360.5 million RMB ($44.8 million), a 16.3% decrease, and net loss was 538.9 million RMB ($67 million) compared to the Q4 2004 profit of 231.4 million RMB ($28.7 million). (Gamasutra)
February 27, 2006 (Monday)
Details of Microsoft's Origami Project are leaked. Halo is among the applications seen running on the portable device. (Gamasutra)
Midway announces financial results for the last fiscal quarter of 2005, ending December 31, 2005, as well as the full fiscal year. Net revenues for the quarter were $69.8 million, down 9.6% from 2004. Quarter loss was $37.8 million, compared with profits of $17.6 million in 2004. (Gamasutra)
Mark "Chip" VanDeVelde, a vice president of Crave Entertainment and a long time video game industry veteran, dies. Crave Entertainment starts a scholarship fund for VanDeVelde's daughter who is then 11 years old. (Gamespot)
February 20, 2006 (Monday)
David Perry, founder of Shiny Entertainment, has quit the company. Atari, which owns Shiny, recently announced that it would be selling off all its internal development studios. (Gamasutra)
February 17, 2006 (Friday)
Atari releases a statement stating that they are restructuring the company "which will result in a worldwide workforce reduction of approximately 20%". (Gamasutra)
CERO, the Japanese video game rating organisation, will implement a new rating system, starting from March 2006. (Gamasutra)
NVIDIA releases financial results for the quarter ending January 31, 2006. Revenue was up 12% to $633.6 million, and profits were up 104% to $98.1 million. (Gamasutra)
The Chinese government announces new legislation that will prohibit teenagers from entering Internet cafes or karaoke bars. Also, it will be illegal to display "audio and video products and electronic games" that threaten national security or disparage other nationalities or races. Specifically, the entertainment may not "damage China's unification, sovereignty, or territorial integrity". (Gamasutra)
NCsoft, the Korean company behind titles such as Guild Wars and City of Heroes, reported financial results for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2005. Revenues were up 17% to 338.8 billion Won ($346.5 million), a record high for the company. Operating income fell to 76.6 billion Won ($78.3 million), due to rising costs and expenses. (GameDaily BIZ)
February 13, 2006 (Monday)
Ralph Baer, the inventor of Pong, receives the National Medal of Technology "for his work in developing and commercializing interactive video games, which spawned related uses and mega-industries in both the entertainment and education fields". (Joystiq)
Atari publishes results for the third quarter of 2005, with revenue down to $100.8 million, as compared with $156.4 million in the same period in 2004. The company posted a loss of $4.8 million ($19.6 million profit in Q3 2004). Atari CFO Diane Baker resigned, although the company stated this was not directly related to the poor results. (GameDaily BIZ)
Capcom publishes results for the third quarter of 2005, showing a 418% increase in profit over the previous year. The company also announces that Resident Evil 4 has sold over 3 million copies. (Gamasutra)
Sega Sammy announces financial results for the first nine months of its fiscal year, with revenue up 5.4% to 420.8 billion yen ($3.56 billion) and profits of 63.5 billion yen ($537 million), up from 46.2 billion yen ($391 million). (Gamasutra)
Duke Nukem Forever had previously won the awards in 2001, 2002, and was given the Vaporware Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. (Wired)
Activision announces revenue for third fiscal quarter of 2005 was $816.2 million, while profit dropped 30% from $97.3 million to $67.9 million. The company joins rivals THQ and EA in showing poor results. The company also revealed that an extension of its Tony Hawk franchise, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, will be released in 2007. (GameDaily BIZ), (Yahoo)
February 3, 2006 (Friday)
Famitsu releases a survey of readers, game developers, and retailers on the level of interest in both next-generation and current game consoles. The results indicate that the PlayStation 3 is first, closely followed by Wii. (Revolution Report), (Gamasutra)
THQ also announced revenue for the third fiscal quarter of 2005 of $357.8 million and a profit of $47.6 million, exceeding the company's own expectations. Revenue was down over the same period last year, however. (Gamasutra)
February 2, 2006 (Thursday)
Following yesterday's lay-offs, Electronic Arts today announced that net revenue for the third fiscal quarter of 2005 was down 11% compared to the quarter in 2004, to $1.27 billion. Profits were down 31% to $259 million . (Gamasutra)
The winners of the 2006 Imagina Games Awards are announced. The winners:
In response to recent accusations that Activision's title GUN promotes racism and genocide, the company stated "Activision does not condone or advocate any of the atrocities that occurred in the American West during the 1800s. GUN was designed to reflect the harshness of life on the American frontier at that time." ... "It was not Activision’s intention to offend any race or ethnic group with GUN, and we apologize to any who might have been offended by the game’s depiction of historical events which have been conveyed not only through video games but through films, television programming, books and other media."(GamesIndustry.biz)
An SEC filing reveals that Gizmondo parent company Tiger Telematics has managed to obtain a $5 million lending agreement with Laffitte Partners. Last week, Gizmondo Europe had filed for bankruptcy. (Gamasutra)