Eric Johnson

News Byte

Nintendo Says 3DS-Exclusive Games Are Selling Better Than They Were Last Year

Eric Johnson in News on May 16 at 4:25 pm PT

One P.S. to that IDC/App Annie report from this morning: Mobile games may be pulling in more money than those on “gaming-optimized handhelds,” but Nintendo doesn’t want you to count it out yet. The company said in a press release that games made exclusively for its most recent handheld device, 2011’s Nintendo 3DS, sold twice as well in the first four months of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. It took 18 weeks to sell two million units of “first-party software” for the 3DS, vs. 30 weeks last year, according to the press release.

News Byte

King Touts Latest Gaming Numbers: 70 Million Daily Players, 21 Billion Games Played Per Month

Eric Johnson in News on May 16 at 6:30 am PT

On the back of its hit Facebook/mobile game Candy Crush Saga, casual game studio King said in a press release that it has crossed the 70 million mark in daily active players across all platforms. That puts it within striking distance of Zynga’s all-time quarterly peak of 72 million daily active users (achieved in Q2 2012), and well beyond that competitor’s latest quarterly total of 52 million DAU, as reported last month. The company also said that its cross-platform games are now being played more than 21 billion times per month.

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Hedge Fund Investment Pulls Zynga, Groupon Shares Out of the Weeds

Eric Johnson in News on May 15 at 9:56 am PT

Zynga and Groupon shares shot up 7 percent and 5 percent, respectively, on news of an investment from hedge fund Jana Partners, first reported by Reuters earlier this morning. The long-term picture of both companies’ stock prices has been less than rosy. After peaking in March 2012 at close to $15 per share, Zynga hasn’t risen above the $5 threshold in nearly a year. Meanwhile, Groupon has similarly remained below $10 per share in the same time frame, peaking shortly after its November IPO close to $26 per share.

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Twitch App for Xbox 360 Will Let You Watch (But Not Stream) Game Videos

Eric Johnson in Media on May 14 at 6:01 am PT

Videogame video-streaming service Twitch is getting an Xbox 360 app, the company announced today. The app will let owners of Microsoft’s console watch any of the site’s top 300 live channels, though it will not let them make their own videos, one of the features Sony has promised for its upcoming PlayStation 4. However, a Twitch spokesperson said Microsoft will show off the app in more detail shortly after its next-generation console event, “Xbox Revealed,” next week.

News Byte

Club Penguin Waddles Into Mobile

Eric Johnson in Mobile on May 9 at 12:01 am PT

An iPad companion app to Disney’s MMO-for-kids, Club Penguin, is slated to roll out today, the company said in a press release. Players will be able to customize and sync their penguin characters between the iPad app and the popular Web-only Flash game, and also play four mini games ported over from the Web. Disney Interactive VP Chris Heatherly (who sat down for a Q&A with AllThingsD last month) said the studio plans to update the app roughly once a month until the whole game experience is playable on mobile.