Archives

EU Hands Microsoft Largest Fine in European History

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 24, 2004 - 5:21am.
Brussels -- The European Union has ordered Microsoft to pay $606 million for breaking EU antitrust law -- the largest fine meted out by the EU to a company in history. "Dominant companies have a special responsibility to ensure that the way they do business doesn't prevent competition on the merits and does not harm consumers and innovation," European Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said. "Today's decision restores the conditions for fair competition ... and establishes clear principles for the future conduct of a company with such a strong dominant position." The U.S. software giant now must unbundle its Windows Media player within the next three months, as well as provide rivals with "complete and accurate" information in the next four months. Microsoft said it would appeal the decision, a move that could drag out the case until 2009, analysts say. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that while he respected the commission's authority, he believed the ruling would actually reduce consumer choice and hurt European software developers. "If you compare the Commission's action with the settlement we proposed, it's clear that our settlement would have offered far more choices and benefits to consumers," he said. Microsoft rival RealNetworks, which has filed a $1 billion antitrust suit against Microsoft over its Windows Media Player bundling, called the decision "fundamentally significant because the European Commission has formally declared that Microsoft's media player bundling strategy is illegal and has established the guideposts for future bundling cases."
tags: Microsoft | EU | Fine |

Major League Baseball Pondering Public Offering for Internet Unit

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 24, 2004 - 5:19am.
New York -- Major League Baseball (MLB) is considering a public offering for its Internet streaming business that could potentially raise several hundred million dollars, people involved with the plan told The New York Times. The league's Major League Baseball Advanced Media unit has in recent years stepped up its offering of live and archived video and audio coverage of baseball games on the Internet. One analyst estimate valued the unit, which is owned equally by the 30 MLB teams, at $1 billion. Yesterday, MLB announced a two-year, $40 million deal with Microsoft to serve as its streaming partner to deliver games online. "The company has been successful sooner than anticipated and earned a profit a year earlier than we expected," MLB president Bob DuPuy told The Times. "But no decision [regarding a floatation] has been made, taken to the commissioner or taken to the clubs."
tags: Baseball | Major League Baseball | Public Offering | Sport | Internet Unit |

Report: 2003 Online-Capable Console Video Game Sales Totaled $1 Billion

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 24, 2004 - 5:18am.
Port Washington, N.Y. -- U.S. retail sales of console video games with online components exceeded $1 billion in 2003, a 167% increase over 2002, according to data from New York-based market research firm NPD Group. Since the category's introduction in 2000, online-capable console video games have sold over 33 million units, bringing in over $1.5 billion. "In some cases, consumers aren't necessarily aware they're buying games with online capabilities, but whether they're aware or they aren't, the onus falls in the laps of the software developers to provide games with multiple playability features," said NPD's Richard Ow. The firm found that in 2003, online-capable sports titles generated the largest market share with 51%, followed by shooter (22%), racing (15%) and roleplaying (4%) titles.
tags: Games | Reports | Sales | Online-Capable Console |

Mobile Music Recognition Firm Shazam Raises $5 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 24, 2004 - 5:17am.
London -- U.K.-based mobile music-recognition company Shazam Entertainment announced that it has received a further $5 million in a funding round led by new investor DN Capital and IDG Ventures Europe, an investor from two earlier rounds. As part of the investment, Shazam said DN Capital's Nenad Marovac would join the company's board of directors. "Shazam has leapt forward in the past 12 months, and to capitalise on the remarkable progress in establishing our music recognition services worldwide, we decided to raise additional funds to accelerate growth further," said CEO Jerry Roest. The company said the funding would also be used for expansion into non-consumer areas like broadcast monitoring, royalty tracking and information services for the music industry. Just last April, the company secured more than 6 million euro ($7.3 million) in a funding round led by IDG Ventures Europe and Lynx Capital Ventures.
tags: Mobile | Music | Shazam | Mobile Music Recognition |

Video Game Distribution Provider Boonty.com Raises $2.4 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 24, 2004 - 5:16am.
Paris -- Boonty.com, developer of a video game downloading platform for Internet portals and ISPs, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $2.4 million from private investors and funds from OTC Asset Management. Founded in 2001, Paris-based Boonty's technology distributes games from providers including Atari, Ubisoft and Acclaim through customers including Yahoo, Wanadoo, T-Online, Tiscali and Virgin. The company will use the funds to continue its international expansion.
tags: Games | Deal | Boonty.com |

IGN/GameSpy to Power Online Titles for THQ, LucasArts

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 24, 2004 - 5:14am.
San Jose, Calif. -- IGN/GameSpy, a provider of online gaming technology services and publisher of video game news and reviews sites, announced on Wednesday deals with game developers THQ and LucasArts to develop and enhance online gameplay for their titles. For both companies, San Francisco-based IGN/GameSpy will provide software development kits that enable online matchmaking, community, administrative and networking functions, in addition to file hosting and beta testing services. The first THQ title to feature GameSpy online support is its "Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior" for PC and PlayStation 2; GameSpy will also manage online components for LucasArts' "Star Wars: Battlefront" for PC and PlayStation 2, and "Star Wars: Republic Commando" for PC. IGN/GameSpy also on Wednesday announced the launch of GamerMetrics, a service that will track awareness, purchase intent and competitive product relationships for video games. Data for GamerMetrics will be culled from real-time observation of the gaming audience's interest in specific games on the company's network of gaming sites.
tags: Internet | THQ | LucasArts | IGN/GameSpy | Power Online Titles |

Microsoft Releases Video Game Development Software Platform

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 24, 2004 - 4:45am.
San Jose, Calif. -- Microsoft on Wednesday launched its XNA video game development platform, software designed to lower production costs developers of games for Microsoft's Xbox, as well as its Windows PC and Windows Mobile operating systems. As part of XNA, Microsoft said it will make Xbox Live billing and matchmaking tools available to developers, in addition to developing a common controller design for use across multiple platforms. The company will also port several Xbox development tools for Windows-based game developers and vice versa.
tags: Games | Microsoft | Video Game | Software Platform |