Joystiq

Gazillion shutting down Fortune Online, focusing on Marvel properties

Alexander Sliwinski — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:33:00 EST

Gazillion confirmed to Joystiq this afternoon that the MMO publisher will shut down its Diablo-esque Fortune Online. There's no announced timetable on when the company will shut down the project, nor how many employees will be laid off from the studio in San Mateo, California. Gazillion will try to shift the team to its two Marvel projects.

The publisher will continue focusing on its two Marvel-based MMOs, Marvel Super Hero Squad Online and Marvel Heroes (formerly known as Marvel Universe). A company spokesperson told Joystiq, "We will continue delivering and refining content for Super Hero Squad Online, along with building and developing the Marvel Heroes game."

After a series of moves that cut weight from the company, we had to ask if it was positioning itself for a Disney acquisition, considering its two remaining announced projects are Marvel (and therefore Disney) properties. The company denied that being the plan.

It's worth noting that Gazillion inked the rights to Marvel MMOs for ten years back in 2009, before the comic book company was purchased by Disney. At this point, Disney can either keep letting Gazillion hold the rights to what is surely a lucrative property or make it a Galactus-size buyout offer.

Update: A representative for Gazillion tells us, "Fortune Online is shutting down on February 29, however if our records show a player has made a purchase in the game at any point, they will be receiving a full refund to the payment method used."

Gazillion shutting down Fortune Online, focusing on Marvel properties originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Marvel Universe Online shows off some (back)sides of its superheroes

Jessica Conditt — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 22:30:00 EST

Developer Gazillion and Marvel have been showing off some superheroes for the coming MMO Marvel Universe Online, and with the inclusion of Iron Man, we think it's about time you took a good look at these guys. So far, the MMMSociety has released renders of Deadpool, Wolverine, Cable, Captain America, Thor, Thing and Iron Man, all in fairly traditional spandex and ironclad garb. Iron Man, for example, looks a bit like Robert Downey Jr. under that sleek armor design -- trust us, we would know that rear end anywhere.

Gallery: Marvel Universe Online (12/3/11)

Marvel Universe Online shows off some (back)sides of its superheroes originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 03 Dec 2011 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gazillion bringing two MMOs to Europe with the help of German publisher

Mike Schramm — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 22:30:00 EST

Gazillion is bringing two of its free-to-play MMOs to the Old Continent this summer. Marvel Super Hero Squad Online and Fortune Online are being released in Europe under the oversight of ProSiebenSat.1 Digital, a German media publisher that's previously been responsible for releasing games in the region from the likes of Nintendo and Sony. Both games are browser-based, so ProSiebenSat.1 Digital's main responsibility will be connecting Gazillion's titles to a new European audience.

We assume, of course, that they'll also be responsible for taking both games around to see the sights while they're visiting. They're both currently in beta, but they'll be out for release as soon as they've taken in the requisite tours of the Lourve and the Tower of London.

Continue reading Gazillion bringing two MMOs to Europe with the help of German publisher

Gazillion bringing two MMOs to Europe with the help of German publisher originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 10 Jul 2011 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cryptic boss leaves for Gazillion

Ben Gilbert — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 15:30:00 EST

First at Sony Online Entertainment, then at Cryptic Studios, and now at Gazillion Entertainment, John Needham has seen a lot of massively multiplayer worlds in his time. The much experienced exec is now at the helm of Gazillion Entertainment in order to work on "converting all of its major games to the free-to-play business model." The plan, Needham says, "is where the secret sauce is for the industry."

Gazillion most recently launched Lego Universe, which was then immediately sold to the Lego Group (along with the dev team at NetDevil). The publisher's next game is Fortune Online, which is currently in closed beta.

Cryptic boss leaves for Gazillion originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 12 Mar 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lego Group purchases Lego Universe and dev team from Gazillion

Alexander Sliwinski — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:02:00 EST

The Lego Group has acquired Lego Universe -- and most of the NetDevil developers who were part of the project. A Gazillion representative explained to Joystiq that before Gazillion's acquisition of NetDevil, NetDevil had already begun Lego Universe as a work-for-hire project, and now Lego has bought the rights from Gazillion for Lego Universe itself.

"The transition of members of our team to the Lego Group allows us to conclude the work-for-hire segment of NetDevil's business and lets us expand our internally-published, free-to-play game businesses," said David Brevik, President and COO of Gazillion. "We're proud of the Lego Universe game that our team built, and we are certain that it has a bright future."

Gazillion notes there was a "minor staff reduction" at NetDevil, but that most of the staff was retained by Lego. Lego System A/S is expected to take over the space that NetDevil is currently occupying, and the remaining non-Lego-aligned NetDevil staffers are moving to a new building. NetDevil is currently working on Fortune Online, with Gazillion unable to comment on the status of Jumpgate Evolution due to the current legal entanglement.

Update: Following up on NetDevil's "minor staff reduction," a Gazillion rep told us: "Less than a quarter of the Lego Universe team was let go with the transition."

We weren't able to obtain NetDevil's prior or current head count, but we were told that 40 people are working on the Fortune Online project, which is the studio's key focus.

Lego Group purchases Lego Universe and dev team from Gazillion originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gazillion's 'Fortune Online' is Diablo-esque, closed beta begins

Alexander Sliwinski — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 02:00:00 EST

Gazillion Entertainment had an announcement one-two punch with Fortune Online today, not only revealing the game, but also the start of its closed beta. The multiplayer browser-based, free-to-play dungeon crawler looks to be the latest game that's happy as sin to dole out that Diablo fix while Blizzard's sequel takes the hellishly long road to market.

Company COO David Brevik, who was part of the team that made the original Diablo and Hellgate: London, says that Fortune Online is a great example of Gazillion's focus on free-to-play, console-quality games for browsers.

Check out a video of the Flash-based title after the break, which is looking like a decent descent into familiar loot-obsessed dungeon exploration. Head on over to FortuneOnline.com if you're interested in testing out the beta.

Gallery: Fortune Online

Continue reading Gazillion's 'Fortune Online' is Diablo-esque, closed beta begins

Gazillion's 'Fortune Online' is Diablo-esque, closed beta begins originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 03 Feb 2011 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Game companies raise record $1.05B in 2010, up 58 percent

Alexander Sliwinski — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 01:30:00 EST

VentureBeat estimates game funding by venture capital broke $1.05 billion this year, a 58 percent increase from last. It's also a significant growth from the previously recorded high of $936.8 million in 2008. The video game industry - which is now spread across boxed, digitally distributed, mobile and social (i.e. Facebook) products - has obviously given VC firms plenty of places to gamble, er, strategically invest millions of dollars.

Big winners this year (at least, those that revealed investments) were Zynga (Farmville) with $150 million from SoftBank (with, possibly, significantly more from Google). Also, ZeniMax Media (Fallout, Elder Scrolls, id Software), also received $150 million. There were also major investments in Gazillion, OnLive and Playdom. Head on over to VentureBeat to see the millions of dollars going to game companies you'll likely never hear of... ever.

Report: Game companies raise record $1.05B in 2010, up 58 percent originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 24 Dec 2010 01:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Codemasters sues NetDevil over Jumpgate Evolution delays

Alexander Sliwinski — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:00:00 EST

Codemasters is apparently sick of waiting on NetDevil to finish Jumpgate Evolution and has sued the developer, along with its parent company Gazillion Entertainment, over breach of contract [PDF link]. The publisher claims to have spent over $1.4 million on the interminably delayed project, which included $1.1 million in advances and $300,000 in "art assets." The suit states that NetDevil was to complete the project for "commercial release on or before February 24, 2009."

Law of the Game on Joystiq columnist Mark Methenitis explains, "Codemasters wants their money back, in short, for a product that was never delivered. In a contracts case like this, it's one of your only two options given the fact scenario: Everyone gets back what they put in to act like the contract never happened (rescission) or the court forces everyone to complete the contract as written (specific performance). I doubt Codemasters wants the product at this point, so they're asking for what amounts to a refund."

Jumpgate Evolution warped back into development in May 2009 after NetDevil's "Friends & Family" testing brought up issues. A Gazillion representative informed Joystiq that the company has nothing to report on the status of Jumpgate Evolution or its release window at this time, and that the company doesn't comment on legal matters.

Codemasters sues NetDevil over Jumpgate Evolution delays originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gazillion raises another $60 million

Alexander Sliwinski — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 03:00:00 EST

MMO publisher Gazillion Entertainment, which recently launched Lego Universe and c urrently has at least three other MMOs in development, has raised another $60 million in its latest round of funding. Gamasutra reports the funding is intended to assist the company as it enters "a key phase of expansion."

Gazillion's next release should be Marvel Super Hero Squad Online sometime in 2011. The company is also working on Marvel Universe and the interminably (not terminally) delayed Jumpgate Evolution.

Gazillion raises another $60 million originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Marvel Super Hero Squad Online images released by Gazillion

JC Fletcher — Thu, 13 May 2010 12:30:00 EST

Gazillion Entertainment has officially announced the first of its MMO games based on Marvel properties, the unfairly adorable Super Hero Squad Online. How are we supposed to resist the idea of playing as Chibi Thor or Widdle Silver Surfer in "Super Hero City"?

This game allows players "to be their favorite Super Heroes in a living online world," as long as said players don't mind being (almost literally) Nerfed versions of those heroes. Players can join up with friends to form squads to fight evil together. Of course, they can also collect items for their customizable personal spaces.

If you'd like to see these lil' heroes (and the game) in action, GameTrailers TV will debut a trailer on Friday at 12:30 AM.

Update: Gazillion informed us that these are CG images and therefore don't precisely reflect the actual game's visuals.

Gallery: Super Hero Squad Online

Marvel Super Hero Squad Online images released by Gazillion originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 13 May 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jumpgate Evolution beta snags 250K sign ups

Alexander Sliwinski — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:00:00 EST

After jumping back into the slipstream of development this past May, NetDevil announced today that the latest beta for Jumpgate Evolution has had 250,000 sign-ups. The game is currently in the "friends and family testing phase," but it plans to go into full beta ... um, somewhere in the future.

Jumpgate Evolution's development is in an interesting place at the moment. All we know officially is that the game missed its June release, and that feedback during the current stage of testing of the "feature complete" game caused the team to rethink some stuff.

Jumpgate Evolution beta snags 250K sign ups originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jumpgate Evolution jumps back into development, won't make June release

Alexander Sliwinski — Thu, 28 May 2009 04:00:00 EST

Jumpgate Evolution will not be making its scheduled June release. What, you've nova heard of a delay before? Anyway, following three years of development, NetDevil noted on its forums that the game is going back into the darkness of development to emerge at some point in the future. The company doesn't even plan on announcing a new release date until it has "established [its] road map for the next few months."

The delay was caused after response during the "Friends & Family" phase of testing brought up a lot of feedback. Considering how competitive the MMO market is now, the company is probably taking the wise approach by polishing the "feature complete" title to a shine before release. MMOs don't get a second chance to make a first impression anymore.

Jumpgate Evolution jumps back into development, won't make June release originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 May 2009 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gazillion adds Microsoft exec to its roster

Alexander Sliwinski — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:45:00 EST

Gazillion Entertainment has picked up former Microsoft Game Studios exec Stuart Moulder to be VP of studios. He'll be tasked with management of all Gazillion development studios. Back in Xbox land, Moulder managed Bungie, Ensemble and FASA. Um, we'll take this as the wrong time to point out that two of those studios are dead and the third broke off in a successful coup.

On a more positive note, Moulder has over 20 years of experience and started his career at Sierra ... okay, that's not helping either. We wish Gazillion and Moulder all the best in efforts to make a successful MMO publishing house.

Gazillion adds Microsoft exec to its roster originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 20 May 2009 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stargate Worlds studio head gates to Gazillion

Alexander Sliwinski — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:00:00 EST

Dan Elggren, studio head of Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, is heading over to Gazillion Entertainment. CME is the studio responsible for Stargate Worlds, a game that always seems to skirt the edge of being Wraith-sucked in the womb. TenTonHammer has a quote from the Elggren's family blog (now locked), where it's revealed that over 100 employees have left CME since October and Elggren was no longer being paid. Allegedly, Stargate Worlds is only a few months from launch.

We've contacted Gazillion for official word of what Elggren will do at the company. Hopefully, this time around, he'll get paid until he ships the product -- and, if it's not a colossal failure, maybe even after.

[Via Massively]

Stargate Worlds studio head gates to Gazillion originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 13 May 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC09: Joystiq interviews Gazillion VP about Marvel MMOs, Lego Universe and where the publisher came from

Alexander Sliwinski — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:00:00 EST

Gazillion. Up until a couple weeks ago, the word was representative of numerical hyperbole, and now it represents a publisher with massive venture capital backing and the MMO rights to major IPs like Marvel and Lego. We had a chance to interview the company's VP of Marketing Paul Baldwin -- with a fire drill intermission -- during GamesBeat 2009 last week. We asked him pretty much anything we could think of ... you know, considering we knew almost nothing about this new publisher.

Joystiq: We're here with Paul Baldwin, who is the vice president of marketing at the "newly founded" Gazillion Entertainment? What's the deal there?

Baldwin: Newly announced. The company was in stealth mode since 2005, so we've been around for a while, but we are "newly announced."

You guys just appeared on the scene and got the Marvel license. I can tell you, we spent hours the day we first heard of the company, just calling up several journos and PR asking, "Who are these guys?" So, who are you guys?

Good question, I have to first say that I was amazed myself that we were able to keep the company quiet since 2005, additionally when we acquired NetDevil in July of '08 and obviously we were very excited to get Jumpgate and of course Lego Universe, then we also acquired a company in Seattle, and we've been slowly building up the Marvel Universe studio, Gargantuan, in San Mateo, and throughout this period we were able to keep it quiet, which, once again, really surprised all of us. As I mentioned, the company started in 2005. At that point, we had kind of modest goals, frankly. We had an original IP, which is going to be a big client, high production quality -- World of Warcraft-like production quality -- coming out. That was the first product we had actually on tap.

Continue reading GDC09: Joystiq interviews Gazillion VP about Marvel MMOs, Lego Universe and where the publisher came from

GDC09: Joystiq interviews Gazillion VP about Marvel MMOs, Lego Universe and where the publisher came from originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Marvel Universe MMO keeping masked until 2012

Jason Dobson — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 13:15:00 EST

What with analysts anticipating new console launches and the Mayans predicting our doom, 2012 is set to be a pretty eventful year, though we'll probably be too busy living out our lifelong fantasy of being Ant-Man to notice. Simon Philips, Marvel's president of worldwide consumer products, let slip in a recent interview that the upcoming Marvel-based MMO isn't expected to be released until sometime in 2012.

The exec told MTV comic blog Splash Page that the time will be spent creating an "environment that is going to be a totally immersive experience and a perpetual storytelling experience as well." Until that time, we suppose we'll just have to make do with dressing up in spandex and pretending to save the world ourselves. Or, as we've come to call it, Wednesday.

[Via Big Download]

Marvel Universe MMO keeping masked until 2012 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 28 Mar 2009 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC09: Marvel getting involved in Gazillion's MMO with art and writers

Alexander Sliwinski — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:39:00 EST

Speaking at the inaugural GamesBeat conference in San Francisco, Ira Rubenstein, head of the global digital media group at Marvel, stated that the comic book company plans to stand behind Gazillion's future Marvel-based MMO, lending its writers and artists to the project.

Rubenstein didn't want to speak for Gazillion, but said that Marvel offers an IP that isn't very common -- a full universe of superheroes that has yet to successfully manifest in an MMO. Considering the 10-year deal Marvel has inked with the "new" company, there should be enough time to get some MMO based on the popular characters out the door.

GDC09: Marvel getting involved in Gazillion's MMO with art and writers originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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