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Tag: Expansion

  • Netflix Wants to Take Over the World by 2017

    Netflix Wants to Take Over the World by 2017

    By 2017, Netflix thinks it can complete its global expansion and be in 200 countries around the world.

    That’s the lofty goal outlined by CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells in the company’s latest letter to shareholders. The company just reported its Q4 2014 earnings, posting a record 13 million new members (up to 57.4 million total) and $1.305 billion in revenue from its streaming service. Of that, Netflix was able to net $83 million, an increase from $48 million year-over-year.

    “Our international expansion strategy over the last few years has been to expand as fast as we can while staying profitable on a global basis. Progress has been so strong that we now believe we can complete our global expansion over the next two years, while staying profitable, which is earlier than we expected. We then intend to generate material global profits from 2017 onwards,” says Hastings.

    “We already offer Netflix in about 50 countries and have learned a great deal about the content people prefer, the marketing they respond to and how to best organize ourselves for steady improvement. Acceleration to 200 countries is largely made possible by the tremendous growth of the Internet in general, including on phones, tablets and smart TVs. We intend to stick to our core ad-free subscription model. As with our initial round of international expansion, we’ll get some things wrong and do our best to fix them quickly.”

    In 2014, Netflix launched in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium. Soon it’ll finally come to Australia and New Zealand.

    Netflix knows that expansion into some countries will be much easier than to others, but the company is ambitious – even discussing how and to what degree it could find itself operating in China.

    “For most countries we have a good idea of the best approach for Netflix to take. For China, we are still exploring options — all of them modest. We’ll learn a great deal if we can successfully operate a small service in China centered on our original and other globally-licensed content. That is our preference, for the next few years, if we are able to acquire the necessary permissions,” says the letter.

    For Netflix, the benefit of rapid global expansion is threefold.

    “It is advantageous for Netflix to become global in many ways. The big one is absolute size (faster to $10B in revenue) because that revenue allows us to develop and license more content for our members and improve our service. A second is being able to source great stories from around the world and deliver them to the world. A third is the efficiency and influence of being a unique global licensor that provides worldwide distribution.”

    Speaking of content, Netflix says it plans to debut 320 hours of its own content this year. Over the next few years, Netflix says it’ll continue to spend more and more on original content.

  • ‘Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls’ Expansion Announced

    It’s been over one year since Diablo III was released on PC. The game enjoyed massive sales, but upset early players with half-baked always-on DRM. Now, with the game is set for release on current-gen consoles in less than a month, Blizzard is announcing its first expansion for Diablo III.

    Diablo III: Reaper of Souls will add a new act and a new playable class to the game. In addition, the level cap for the game will be raised to 70. The story of the expansion involves an angel, Malthael, stealing the black soul stone that houses Diablo’s essence.

    The new playable class will be the Crusader, a melee character in heavy armor and shown wielding a flail. In addition, existing classes will be getting new powers, abilities, and spells to help them through the new content. Loot has also been tweaked for Reaper of Souls, and items are now more customizable. The game’s Paragon system has gotten an upgrade as well, and two new game modes will be added: “Loot Runs” and “Nephalem Trials”.

    Along with the announcement, Blizzard has released two videos previewing Reaper of Souls. One is the opening cinematic for the expansion, another in a long line of award-worthy Blizzard CG creations:

    The other is a gameplay teaser that previews the Crusader, new enemies, and the setting of Reaper of Souls:

  • Major League Soccer Plans Expansion To 24 Teams

    Soccer may not be catching on as quickly as Major League Soccer had hoped when it began in the 90s, but that is not stopping the league from planning to expand to 24 teams from its current number of 19.

    The newest addition to the league with be New York City FC, which will join the league in 2015. The team will be the 20th team in the league and the tenth added since 2005, a torrid pace for any sports league.

    No details have been given regarding the next four that will reportedly be added, but speculation is already circling around cities such as Atlanta, Miami, and the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. When the locations are decided and the teams are added the MLS will become the largest top-flight soccer league in the world.

    Part of the league’s rapid growth is the large upside that comes with owning a franchise. Teams can be bought for a fraction of the price that an owner would pay for a team in any of the other major sports, and MLS has been showing signs of growth in popularity and TV time. A growing immigrant population and the improvement of the national team are aiding this growth, as well as Americans who are warming up to the sport of their own volition.

    League commissioner Don Garber is optimistic about the growth, and has even higher aspirations than merely growing at home:

    “As MLS enters a period of accelerated growth, the addition of new teams will allow us to expand our geographic coverage, grow our fan base and help us achieve our vision of being among the best leagues in the world by 2022.”

    Whether or not MLS can reach such heights is unpredictable at best, but with so many more teams than other major leagues it will become more likely that foreign players begin to see playing in the United States as an option. That, combined with homegrown talent, could create quite a bright future for soccer in America.

  • Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Brave New World Gets A Launch Trailer

    Just one more turn.

    A lot more gamers will be saying that soon as the latest expansion for Sid Meier’s Civilization V hits PC and Mac next week. The expansion is called Brave New World and it adds a number of features and new civilizations to the base game.

    To be exact, Brave New World adds nine new civilizations – Poland, Brazil, Assyria, Zulus, Portugal, Indonesia, Morocco, Venice and Shoshone. Besides Portugal and Zulus, this is the first time these civilizations have appeared in the franchise.

    The expansion also adds eight new wonders – the Parthenon, Broadway, Globe Theater, The Motherland Calls, Borobudur, the International Space Station, the Uffizi, the Red Fot and Prora – for players to build, alongside two new scenarios – American Civil War and Scramble for Africa.

    On a final note, the diplomatic aspect of the game has been improved with the addition of the World Congress. Now maybe players will actually try for a diplomacy win instead of the usual military or science wins that many of us are so fond of.

    Civilization V: Brave New World will launch in North America on July 9. It will be available everywhere else on July 12.

  • Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen Launches On April 23

    Dragon’s Dogma is not a perfect game, but it was my personal game of the year in 2012. The only real problem with Capcom’s ambitious RPG was that it was a little too small. That will be remedied a bit in April with the launch of a new expansion.

    Capcom announced today that Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen will hit retail on April 23 in North American and April 26 in Europe. The game is an expansion, but it includes the entirety of the main game alongside of it with some marked improvements that came about from player feedback.

    What about those who already own the original game? Can we just buy the expansion? Unfortunately, that won’t be the case. To help incentivize owners of the original, however, Capcom will be offering a number of bonuses to those who have already completed the game.

    Owners of the original Dragon’s Dogma will be able to export their existing characters and all other saved data to continue their journey as the Arisen, and face a new threat that has emerged from the cavernous depths. Players will be able to take their characters to new heights with brand new high-level skills and augments as well as all new weapons and armor sets. Furthermore, owners of the original Dragon’s Dogma will receive 100,000 Rift Crystals, unlimited Ferrystones and the Gransys Armour Pack consisting of six brand new costumes for free, upon purchasing Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen.

    Capcom has also released a new trailer showing off the new content that players will find in the depths of Gransys:

    If you prefer text over video, here’s all the new content being added to the game:

  • A massive new underground realm to explore featuring over 25 terrifying new enemies
  • More skills/equipment/augments:
  • Level 3 Skills
  • DD: DA provides each character class with a new tier of skills, giving players new devastating abilities and skills to master
  • Over 100 pieces of new equipment
  • All new high level weapons and armor sets for players venturing into the underground caverns
  • 14 new character/Pawn augments
  • New tiers of equipment enhancement
  • And there’s more:
  • Increased character customization options
  • Item appraisal
  • Option to select Japanese voice over
  • Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen will retail for $39.99 when it launches on April 23. It will be available for Xbox 360 and the PS3. It will also be available via the PSN on April 23.

  • Sims 3 Seasons Expansion Out Today [VIDEO]

    All anyone in the gaming world will be talking about today is Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Activision’s yearly military shooter is sure to make millions and break records, but EA also has a big release hitting stores today. Though they might not compete with Call of Duty’s pre-order numbers, the expansion sets for The Sims 3 have been consistently making EA money for quite a while now.

    The latest expansion is dubbed The Sims 3 Seasons. It features “changing seasons with transformateive weather.” Along with the changing weather comes different activities for sims to participate in. Snowboarding, soccer, roller-skating, building snowmen, egg-hunting, pie-eating contests, horseshoe toss, and other events are all included in the expansion.

    The Sims 3 Seasons will offer fans more than just sunny days to tell their stories by dramatically transforming each world from one season to the next,” said Ryan Vaughan, producer for The Sims. “In a first for The Sims, new festival lots and holiday celebrations have added ways for players to truly revel in the spirit of each season.”

    The launch trailer below gives a taste of the silliness Sims fans can expect from the Seasons expansion. In addition to expansions for The Sims, Maxis, the developer of The Sims, is currently working on the next generation of SimCity.

  • Sprint Rolls Out 4G LTE in Four Markets

    Though Sprint is far behind other mobile carriers in their 4G LTE network implementation, the company has begun making strides. And with less expensive, truly unlimited data plans, customers are generally getting what they pay for.

    Today Sprint announced that it has rolled out its 4G LTE service to four new cities. Subscribers in Baltimore, Maryland; Gainesville, Georgia; Manhattan/Junciton City, Kansas; and Sedalia, Missouri can now connect with faster 4G speeds.

    “Our customers are enjoying new applications and devices that increase the demand for mobile data,” said Bob Azzi, senior vice president for network at Sprint. “The network build-out – that today is playing out in four new cities – will provide nothing less than a state-of-the art network platform for the next generation of customers. Customers across the country will begin to experience better 3G service on their devices and will be able to take advantage of 4G LTE on cutting-edge devices as we continue to launch more cities.”

    In addition to its LTE rollout, Sprint also announced that customers in Baltimore, Boston, and Washington D.C. have just gotten the company’s improved 3G service. That should come as a relief, as tests earlier this year found that Sprint’s 3G speeds were abysmal in comparison to the other major carriers.

  • WoW: Mists of Pandaria Beta Invites Going Out Soon

    I can’t believe that World of Warcraft is already almost 8-years-old and still going strong. I guess it speaks to the loyalty the fan base has displayed over the years. While other MMOs like The Old Republic may be taking away some of its subscribers, its new expansion, Mists of Pandaria, should bring back players into the world of Azeroth for some panda fun.

    Blizzard announced on the battle.net site that they are about to start beta testing for the new expansion. Those who are eligible for beta invites include annual pass holders, press, fansites, friends and family. There’s also a way to get into the beta through an opt-in system, but more on that later.

    Blizzard is quick to point out that there will be no NDA on the Mists of Pandaria beta so players can upload all the screenshots and videos they want. This will make the press’ job so much easier and allow fans to get a good look at what’s coming with the new expansion.

    For those who are not in the above mentioned bracket of potential beta testers, Blizzard has created a way for you to opt-in for the beta. You are eligible if you have a Battle.net account and have attached at least one Blizzard game to said account. From there, head on over to your Beta Profile page and apply for the betas you want to participate in. If you’re selected, you will receive a confirmation email from Blizzard.

    If you have an annual pass to WoW and aren’t invited in the first phase of testing, worry not. Blizzard says that they will be inviting annual pass holders in waves over the course of the beta. If you aren’t selected for the first wave, just wait until the next one. They will, however, be giving priority to long standing WoW account holders. All annual pass players will be invited though.

    If you haven’t been keeping up with WoW lately, check out the trailer for Mists of Pandaria. The ancient China/Panda motif is pretty jarring when set up next to the Western fantasy that is usually associated with Warcraft.