Features// SPOnG's Videogames Review of 2013: July

Posted 2 Jan 2014 10:34 by Tim Smith

Companies: Activision Microsoft Sony
Games: Pikmin 3 (Wii U) Minecraft

The first noteworthy event of July would be a fairly direct consequence of what had gone on in June.

Following a disappointing reveal and a disastrous E3 the Xbox One’s reputation was in dire straits and the man responsible, Don Mattrick – head of Microsoft’s games division at this point – left his position to become the new CEO of primarily Facebook-based games developer Zynga.

Maybe Mr. Mattrick could feel a little vindicated later in the month when an online petition urging Microsoft to make another U-turn and reinstate their reviled policies.

Thankfully it didn’t really go anywhere. While there are some reasonable arguments to be made in favour of a fully digital age I’d argue that Microsoft’s inept handling of the whole thing suggests they definitely aren’t the right hands to usher such an age in.

Mattrick’s departure would lead to a corporate restructuring of Microsoft’s entertainment division that ultimately left Julie Larson-Green as the new boss of all things Xbox.

Speaking of corporate reshuffles, Activision went through a bit of a shake-up as they bought themselves free from their parent company Vivendi in one of those massive multi-million dollar deal things that ultimately end up having zero effect on the lives of regular gaming Joes like me.

And this news shouldn’t surprise anybody at this point but yes, the Wii U is still not selling. You know the drill now – Nintendo says change is coming soon, nothing much changes, one developer or another comes out to say the console’s too unprofitable to work with and we all carry on with our lives.

In a particular hard blow to the console’s chances supermarket chain Asda decided to stop stocking the console due to its lack of sales. Even harder times than usual for the Wii U then...and all of this despite Pikmin 3 being perhaps the biggest new release of the month.