The Four Video Game Billionaires

Since I am a Game Design student, and this my last blog post, I might just as well write something related to video games. Specifically, I am writing about four video gaming billionaires and their contrasting fortunes as of now. The four gentlemen are: (former) Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, GungHo Online Entertainment Inc shareholder Taizo Son, (former) Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi and Valve Corporation co-founder Gabe Newell.

Of the four, Mark Pincus is no longer a billionaire. He sort of deserve his fate because of the predatory practices of his company, Zynga.  Zynga is an unimaginative and uncreative company that copied a lot of its published games from smaller companies. Even its most popular game, Farmville, was "inspired" by another less well known game. Currently, Zynga is not really in a good state. The following links may help in illustrating why.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/07/01/the-fall-of-mark-pincus-from-billionaire-to-zyngas-former-ceo/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/08/08/a-photo-retrospective-of-the-games-developers-claim-zynga-has-cloned/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/09/12/zynga-presses-luck-with-pokemon-inspired-montopia/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/06/04/zynga-reaps-what-theyve-digitally-sowed/

In contrast with Pincus, Taizo Son only became a billionaire recently due to the shares he held in GungHo Online Entertainment Inc. The most popular from the company is the mobile game with the highest revenue generated (yes, higher than Candy Crush Saga), Puzzles and Dragons. Puzzles and Dragons is relatively unknown worldwide, but is incredibly popular in Japan. The following articles will explain what made this match-3 game stand out from the rest.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-08/billionaire-taizo-son-emerges-with-puzzle-dragons-app.html

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/AndrewVestal/20130721/196689/Puzzle__Dragons__Monetization_How_Great_Game_Design_Drives_GungHos_Global_Hit.php

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/MichailKatkoff/20130225/187247/How_Puzzle__Dragons_Does_It.php

Hiroshi Yamauchi retired from his position as Nintendo president in 2002, but still held many shares in the company (hence his wealth). Once the second richest person in Japan, he is now out of the top ten richest. This has a lot to do with the performance of the company Nintendo. The latest generation of console, the Wii U, has really weak sales compared to the previous console, the Wii. With the launch of the PS4 and the Xbox One on the horizon, the Wii U may just end up being a failure. Read the following links to find out more.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/04/former_nintendo_president_hiroshi_yamauchi_slumps_to_13th_in_japans_rich_list

http://kotaku.com/the-wii-u-sales-are-really-really-bad-973133897

http://www.forbes.com/sites/terokuittinen/2013/08/05/nintendo-loses-grip-on-home-console-market/

http://beta.fool.com/keithnoonan/2013/08/14/why-nintendos-wii-u-failed/42871/

Finally, Gabe Newell is a newly minted billionaire in 2012. His company, Valve Corporation, has other major plans in the pipeline to follow up with the success of their Steam digital distribution system. Valve Corporation's continued innovation, in contrast with Nintendo after the success of their Wii console, may just make the company more relevant in the gaming industry than the trio of Nintendo, Sony and, Microsoft in the future. The following (rather lengthy) writings will shed light on why this is the case.

http://www.gamekicker.com/gaming-news/its-official-gabe-newells-a-billionaire

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/12/10/why-valves-steam-box-pc-console-will-be-a-game-changer/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2013/01/15/why-steambox-and-shield-may-cause-the-death-of-consoles-as-we-know-them/2/

http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/6/3958162/valve-steam-box-cake

Coursework marks aside, it is highly recommended that the above articles are read. Seriously, they are very interesting and informative, even if you are not a video game fan. That's the last thing I have to say in this short-lived blog. Thanks for the 800+ page views.