Majesco Weighing Console 3D Game Strategy

LOS ANGELES -- Majesco Entertainment is still weighing its plans for stereoscopic 3D console videogames after releasing Attack of the Movies 3D in the spring for the Wii, Director of Marketing Liz Buckley told Consumer Electronics Daily at E3 last week. For now, the third-party game maker is focusing its 3D efforts on games for the coming Nintendo 3DS, she said.

Attack of the Movies 3D used only the old anaglyph 3D process as opposed to the more advanced stereoscopic technology being pushed by some PC game makers and Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) for the PS3 now. Only a small number of stereoscopic 3D games were spotlighted at E3 as Microsoft and Nintendo continued to stay on the sidelines for 3D on home consoles.

Console stereoscopic 3D gaming “hasn’t been on our radar that much,” and “we'll need to look at how that fits into our business model,” which largely has the company focusing on the Nintendo platforms, Buckley said. Majesco is “probably not going to be there on day one” when the first stereoscopic 3D PS3 games are released, she said.

Majesco is weighing its “opportunities to exploit hot new technologies such as 3D,” CEO Jesse Sutton said in a conference call early this year, calling it “the most talked about technology” at CES (CED Jan 19 p4). But for now that interest has translated into only the one anaglyph 3D Wii game and six coming 3DS games: BloodRayne: The Shroud, A Boy and His Blob, Face Racers: Photo Finish, Lion’s Pride: Adventures on the Serengeti, a Martha Stewart title that had yet to be named and WonderWorld Amusement Park (CED June 23 p5).

Attack of the Movies 3D has only been available since late May, so it was “not out there long enough” to gauge initial sales, Buckley said. NPD had also yet to release May U.S. sales data. The game shipped with four pairs of paper anaglyph 3D glasses bundled in each box.

On the flip side, Take-Two Interactive -- a third-party publisher that tends to enjoy most of its success with AAA console games for the Microsoft and Sony consoles -- disclosed at E3 that the PS3 version of its coming NBA 2K11 basketball game will support stereoscopic 3D (CED June 16 p1). But it’s yet to announce any games for the 3DS. NBA 2K11 is the first console stereoscopic 3D game that the publisher, best known for its Grand Theft Auto titles, has announced. But it did previously say that the PC version of its coming game Mafia 2 will be in stereoscopic 3D (CED June 10 p1). Like most stereoscopic 3D PC games to date, it will use Nvidia’s 3D Vision technology to achieve the stereoscopic effects.

Take-Two has found success on the Nintendo platforms with Carnival Games, one of the better-selling third-party Wii titles to date. It’s not ruling out 3DS games, but Take-Two spokesman Alan Lewis told us at E3 that the company is “focused on doing high-caliber” games and before it adds any new technology to a title, Take-Two must feel that the addition would be “meaningful.” What’s important to weigh is how the consumer is “going to benefit from this,” he said. Adding 3D and other new technologies will increase the development time, he said, and “just because you can do something doesn’t mean … it makes sense” to do it. Adding 3D is going to be difficult to add to some games because “there’s so much physics involved,” he said. But he said, Take-Two is “talking and working with all of the first parties to evaluate the various” new technologies they are offering, including PlayStation Move for the PS3 and Kinect for Xbox 360. Take-Two said nothing specific at E3 regarding Move or Kinect support.

Majesco had yet to release any games for the PS3, but that will change when it ships the multi-platform Greg Hastings Paintball 2 Sept. 14, Buckley said. It will also release a PS3 SKU of Zumba Fitness when that title is released in October or November, she said. That’s the first title from Majesco that will support the new PlayStation Move and Kinect for Xbox 360 motion control systems. The company is “still evaluating pricing” for the game, she said. While SCE said first-party Move games will cost $39.99, Microsoft said nothing about how much Kinect titles will cost. Majesco is “going to be doing some aggressive marketing” for Zumba Fitness, including TV ads and promotions with the Zumba dance fitness program, Buckley said. For example, the game will be spotlighted at the annual Zumba Instruction Convention in Orlando, Aug. 26-29, she said.

Majesco is also planning an aggressive marketing campaign for its coming Wii game Babysitting Mama this holiday season, Buckley said. The publisher was finalizing merchandising plans and had “a lot of good conversations” with major retail accounts for the title and expects to have it featured on endcaps with “at least one or two accounts,” she said. The latest extension to its popular Cooking Mama franchise will ship with a plush baby doll that the Wii Remote gets placed into during game play. A TV spot will highlight that game and also mention the coming DS game Crafting Mama, another Cooking Mama extension, Buckley said.

There are no plans for now to release additional packaged PSP games, Buckley said. But she told us Majesco will release the downloadable game Karmastar for the PSP Go. That title was in the certification stage with Sony as of last week and “should be released within the month,” she said. Majesco released a small number of packaged PSP games and wasn’t ruling out more, but the publisher “had so much success” with games for the DS that it’s focusing on Nintendo’s platform in the handheld space now, she said. Majesco is “always evaluating” what platforms to release its games on, she said. But it’s a “challenging environment at retail” and retailers tend to want what’s selling best, she said. PSP support among third parties in general has been much weaker in the U.S. than for the DS as Sony’s handheld system continues to be far outsold in the market by Nintendo’s platform.

Also on tap are four more iPhone/iPod Touch games in addition to the two that Majesco already released, Buckley said. They will launch by the end of February, she projected. One of the new titles will be a version of Gardening Mama, which will also be its first iPad title, she said. The other titles weren’t disclosed yet. Asked if Majesco will develop titles for Android smartphones, she said only that the company was “always evaluating” new platforms, but there was “nothing on deck right now.”