Gaming stock 2014 in Review

This year's winner and losers from the world's gaming stocks.

Xbox One gets price cut in China

Microsoft pre-emptively narrows price gap in advance of next month's PS4 launch in the country

Last week, Sony announced its PlayStation 4 launch plans for China, saying the console would launch January 11 at RMB 2,899 ($468). That's significantly cheaper than the Xbox One, which has a price tag of RMB 3,699 ($598) for the least expensive version of the hardware. Microsoft has since moved to narrow that price gap, according to a Kotaku translation of a Sina.com report.

The Xbox One hardware have received RMB 500 ($80.77) price drops. The new prices are RMB 3,799 ($614) and is bundles with two games, whereas the PS4 will be sold on its own.

Why there are less games on PS3 and PS4 compared to PS1 and PS2?

The excitement when you buy a new console is just amazing. but the box you just opened up may not receive the same amount of Playtime like your last console did. Why? Because every generation the number of games released is decreasing.

The original PlayStation(2418) and PlayStation 2(3870) had 6288 games in total. The PS3 just had 795 and the PS4 in its very first year just have 77(Disc Based) games.If you compare it to PS2 which had 136 games in its first year.

So the question is why is This Happening? IF the gaming industry is rising, why the number of games made are decreasing?

The only answer is Increasing Development Costs. Average PS2 game costed $5-$10 million and the original PlayStation costed just $0.8 million-$1.7( source edge-online ) per game.
The below chart will explain it all


So this is why we wont see number of games for PS4 going much higher like PS2 and PS1 sadly even after Sony and Microsoft both tried to reduce the development costs by putting x86 architecture Processor in their consoles. Yeah it will take less time to make a PS4 game then a PS3 game usually took but still the power and resources that are needed to make upcoming games are simply way much higher than PS3, PS2 and PS1 ever needed.

DICE Stockholm relocating

Battlefield developer to consolidate game development, Frostbite, and EA Nordic operations in new building

EA DICE is moving to new digs. The Stockholm studio has outgrown the building it has called home for the better part of a decade, and next year will transfer all of its operations to an office in the city's Sodermalm district.

Nintendo was the big winner at The Game Awards

Dragon Age: Inquisition won Game of the Year, but Nintendo triumphed in four categories

Dragon Age: Inquisition was named Game of the Year at The Game Awards' inaugural ceremony in Las Vegas, but Nintendo was the biggest winner overall.

Nintendo won four categories in total: Best Sports/Racing Game and Best Family Game for Mario Kart 8, Best Fighting Game for Super Smash Bros. Wii U, and Developer of the Year. That overshadowed EA Bioware, which took home arguably the most important award of all: Game of the Year for Dragon Age: Inquisition, which also won Best RPG.

The full list of winners is below:

• Best Shooter: Far Cry 4 
• Best Action/Adventure: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor 
• Best Role Playing Game: Dragon Age: Inquisition 
• Best Fighting Game: Super Smash Bros. Wii U 
• Best Family Game: Mario Kart 8 
• Best Sports/Racing Game: Mario Kart 8 
• Best Online Experience: Destiny 
• Best Mobile/Handheld: Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft 
• Best Remaster: Grand Theft Auto V 
• Best Narrative: Valiant Hearts: The Great War 
• Best Score/Soundtrack: Destiny 
• Best Independent Game: Shovel Knight 
• Games for Change: Valiant Hearts: The Great War 
• eSports Player of the Year: Matt "NaDeSHot" Haag - Call of Duty 
• eSports Team of the Year: Ninjas in Pyjamas - Counter-Strike GO 
• Trending Gamer: TotalBiscuit 
• Best Fan Creation: Twitch Plays Pokemon 
• Developer of the Year: Nintendo 
• Best Performance: Trey Parker, South Park: The Stick of Truth 
• Most Anticipated Game: The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt 
• Game of the Year: Dragon Age: Inquisition

PS4 will be $110 cheaper than Xbox One in China

And the gap widens to $210 with Kinect

The PlayStation 4 will be sold at a lower price than the Xbox One when it launches in China, according to new reports from various Chinese media sources.

The rumour started on the estimable Chinese tech blog WPDang, which reported that the PlayStation 4 will sell for 2,999 RMB when it is released (in all likelihood) early next year. By contrast, the Xbox One, which is already on sale in China, currently sells for 3,699 RMB without Kinect.

3DS XL to be discontinued in Japan

Nintendo shifts focus to New line of 3DS hardware, original 3DS will remain in production

Nintendo is poised to cease production of the 3DS XL in Japan, shifting focus to the more popular New 3DS XL model.