Kept you waiting, huh? It’s time for another In Case You Missed It, the weekly news roundup from the world of games journalism. Without further delay, let’s get started.
In Case You Missed It, The MiniNES is Gone…
You aren’t alone. Last Friday, Nintendo released their NES Classic Edition, a plug-and-play console with thirty or so built-in games. They also sold out of those MiniNES-es in quick succession. Amazon reportedly launched them at 2PM Pacific time, but all of their stock had been purchased in less than a minute. Nintendo has stated that they intend on shipping more, though some crafty types are selling theirs on eBay and other sites for quite a bit of money.
In Case You Missed Being a Cyborg Ninja in Space…
Perhaps it is time to come back to Warframe. Last week, the developers at Digital Extremes added the latest expansion to their free-to-play PvE brawler. A follow-up to Warframe’s “The Second Dream” story update, “The War Within” boasts new levels and tile sets, new enemies, new gear, a new Story quest, and mysterious Riven Mods that can provide massive upgrades to your gear. This massive update adds the most content to the game compared to any previous outings, and there are still many secrets to be found.
In Case You Missed Talking About Activision-Blizzard…
That’s kind of weird, seeing as there are about 482 million other people currently playing Activision-Blizzard games every month. This is the latest statistic from Activision-Blizzard’s Third Quarter report. 482 million is not a small number by any means, but it is important to note that this marks the highest number of monthly active users in the company’s history. The report, which you can read here, also mentions that players have logged in more than ten billion hours across the last financial quarter.
In Case You Were Wondering About Marketing in Mobile F2P Games…
I got you covered. Last week, a marketing firm called DeltaDNA published the findings of a survey of over 200 publishers and developers about ads in their free-to-play mobile games. The results… are actually kind of interesting. Currently, over half of developers surveyed are uncertain about the path they’ve chosen for advertising. The most common concern is player retention, as developers are afraid that having ads in their games too frequently will drive players away. Luckily, Nick Ross at the University of San Fransisco has stated in a separate study that “there is no evidence to suggest that the density of ads shown by a game in the first session affects whether a player returns for a second session.”
That’s all for this week, my friends! Be sure to return next Monday for another In Case You Missed It, but do take a look at the other articles here on The Game Fanatics. After all, these are just the things we missed. There are plenty of other stories that have been and will be told here.
