Tag archive: franchise

FarmVille addicts rejoice. Like so many rural folk, the pull of modern society may soon bring you to the city. Zynga has unveiled CityVille, its newest social game. Instead of building a farm, players will become a mayor of a city and build it from the ground up, a la Sim City. In the next couple weeks, beta versions of the game will be rolled out in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. “Instead of harvesting crops you're… Read More

In recent months, game publisher Activision has been all about building its franchise juggernauts, announcing it would be killing off games series it didn't think had to the potential to become long-running franchises in favor of long-running titles it can iterate (and sell) over and over again. At the same event where the company announced its Blizzard unit would start running ads from Microsoft subsidiary Massive, Activision also… Read More

At the Leipzig Games Convention, Electronic Arts has announced the release date The Sims 3, the latest follow-up in the company's virtual world, simulated environment franchise. The Sims 3 will hit stores and electronic retailers February 20, 2009, after the end-of-year holiday buying season. The Sims 3 will launch on the Windows platform, and feature an open living neighborhood where players can explore new surroundings including a… Read More

According to market research firm NPD Group, Activision's Guitar Hero franchise has set a video game industry sales record, surpassing $1 billion in North American sales in 26 months. What's more, the latest installment, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, is now that top-selling single-year video game title of all time in terms of units and total dollars earned. “Guitar Hero is one of the biggest brands and one of the… Read More

The world's largest video game publisher, Electronic Arts, has snapped up another one of its game development partners, this time paying 175.5 million SEK (about $24 million USD) to acquire Sweden's Digital Illusions CE (DICE). Digital Illusions develop's the Battlefield game franchise for EA; last month, the company's announced Battlefield: Bad Company will hit the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in 2007. DICE will… Read More

Are you a fan of Majesco Entertainment's Worms franchise? If so, you'll be happy to know that today the video game company announced Worms 4: Mayhem for the Xbox and PC. Developed by Team 17 and available for $19.99 this fall, Worms 4 marks the 10th anniversary of the well established franchise. In Worms 4, Majesco said, players can create a customizable team of up to six worms in numerous environments. The game features a new… Read More

“The companies will collaborate on a new franchise for next-generation consoles, they said this afternoon, although details have not been discussed. “Next-generation consoles” could include any of Xbox 2, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution. “The partnership brings SEGA more Western-developed content in preparation for high-growth opportunities presented by next-generation hardware platforms,” SEGA said in a… Read More