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gaming
AMD Needs a Multi-Core Killer App
After it released its first dual core Opteron for servers on April 21, 2005 followed by the Athlon 64 X2 for desktops a month later, Intel released its first dual core, the Pentium Extreme Edition. Around the same time, AMD splashed full-page ads in newspapers calling upon the bigger rival to join a duel to
Making Search Engines Work Like Engines: Automatically
By Jörg Überla, Guest Author Isn’t it astounding? Within only a few years, the majority of the adult population in the industrialized world has learn’t that searching is a matter of the right keywords. You type in your request, get 100,000 something results and try to narrow them down. This is a fantastic business model
Electronic Arts (ERTS) On The Way Up
By Frank Lara, Guest Author If John Welch is building a new Electronic Arts then how is the real Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) doing and is it worth your time and money for a potential investment opportunity? The quick answer – they are worth your attention. Electronic Arts is the big daddy of the gaming
Building the Electronic Arts of Casual Gaming: PlayFirst CEO John Welch (Part 10)
SM: What are some of your key learnings from this journey so far? JW: At my first startup we cut off our consulting business to focus on raising venture capital that never materialized. Cash is king. Build the business that makes you money and keeps the doors open; it can finance your riskier investments. During
Building the Electronic Arts of Casual Gaming: PlayFirst CEO John Welch (Part 9)
SM: Describe some of your team building experiences. Is your management team complete now? JW: The first hire was the toughest. We raised $5 million on a PowerPoint deck and the promise that we knew the industry better than anyone. But then weeks went by and we couldn’t seem to find the right people to
Building the Electronic Arts of Casual Gaming: PlayFirst CEO John Welch (Part 8)
SM: How did you finance the different phases of the company? Seed? Angel? VC? Corporate? JW: I supplied a very small amount of seed capital that basically covered expenses while we secured our first round of venture funding. The $5 million Series A was led by Trinity Ventures and Mayfield Fund in mid-2004. Rustic Canyon
Building the Electronic Arts of Casual Gaming: PlayFirst CEO John Welch (Part 6)
SM. How big is the market? How do you calculate TAM (Total Available Market)? JW: The casual games market is expected to hit $1.5 billion next year. More than 200 million people play casual games via the Internet today, with about 60 million downloads each month (Computerworld). Analyst firm DFC Intelligence predicts that casual games
Building the Electronic Arts of Casual Gaming: PlayFirst CEO John Welch (Part 5)
SM: What was the market landscape like when you founded the company? Competition? Competitive Positioning? JW: There was no formal publisher in the casual games space prior to PlayFirst’s entry. It was like authors not only writing books with no editor and no research staff but also having to scurry around from bookstore to bookstore
