This week in Jetsetter we sweep across the European continent to look at PlayStation 3 sales, look at a little Belarusian company's success in Russia with World of Tanks, and stop off in Japan to lament Zynga's fall in the country.
Geseende Kersfees! Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah! Nadelik looan na nlooan blethen noweth! Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad! You feel what I’m laying down, reader? I’m saying Joyeux Noel to y’all. La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou. Feliz Navidad, you dig?
It’s how you say Merry Christmas the Jetsetter way. So Nadolig Llawen, bros and sisters. Welcome to the second to last Jetsetter of 2012, when we take one last look at the international world of video games in Digital Trends premiere column about the international world of video games. YA HEARD!
* PlayStation 3 hits 30 million sold in Europe.
The Xbox 360 was certainly a success for Microsoft, but even with 70 million sold globally that machine is as American as apple pie. The US is the source of most Xbox sales, while it’s the rest of the world that’s keeping Sony warm at night. Sony also has 70 million HD consoles sold worldwide, and European countries are the source of its delight. As announced on Wednesday, Sony has sold a total of 30 million PlayStation 3s across the UK and continental Europe. “This is a major milestone for us and clearly shows just how popular the PlayStation brand and products are within Europe and PAL territories,” said Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s Jim Ryan, “We are really pleased with the success of the PS3 system over the last six years, and are committed to continuing our support of the platform with high quality products and titles that are of the caliber that PlayStation fans have come to expect.” Cool, SCEE. Now how about convincing Sony Japan Studio to finish The Last Guardian already.
* Russia loves World of Tanks.
Belarus-based developer Wargaming.net is fast becoming a major power in the video game industry. Who’d have thunk it? It’s all thanks to its MMO World of Tanks. People love that World of Tanks. How much? Over the past three years, World of Tanks has racked up a player base of 45 million users. That’s more than two times the number of Gamecube’s Nintendo sold over the course of seven years! The game’s got huge followings across Europe and China, but no one loves World of Tanks as much as Russia. Wargaming reported that 600,000 World of Tanks players in Russia were playing simultaneously on a single server one day this year. That would be like the entire city of Boston playing a single game together at the same time. If that doesn’t blow your mind, nothing will.
* Zynga shuts down its Japanese studio.
A year can change everything. In December 2011, Zynga was the hottest video game company in the world with Farmville still blowing up and the company raking in 12 percent of all the money made on Facebook. Today, the company’s executives keep jumping ship, it’s getting sued for stealing other people’s games, and Facebook has cut off its exclusive agreements with the company. Rough! Zynga’s global operations are contracting as well. Zynga Japan’s CEO Kenji Matsuraba announced on Friday that the studio would be shuttered at the end of January. It’s not all bad news. Zynga Japan’s most popular game, Ayakashi (pictured above), will remain online.
Source : digitaltrends[dot]com
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