Free book for boys and reluctant readers
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Reading is important
Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him. –Maya Angelou
Most adults would agree that reading is important, but many kids detest reading. Video games, devices, and TV are preferred entertainment and escape. They provide instant gratification. Reading takes time. For some kids, reading isn’t engaging.
I had this same problem with my son, so I solved the problem.
The classic stories I remember enjoying as a kid don’t interest my son and his immediate attention span. If he doesn’t enjoy the story from page one, he will not read further.
So how did I get my son to read?
I showed him how much fun it is to get sucked into a story.
Your book is amazing I can’t stop reading it – Joseph Young via twitter
Contemporary and Classic titles alike don’t interest many kids. Don’t worry, the love of reading is learned. We need a starting point. We need that one book that is just as engaging on the first read as the fifth, just like a really great movie that kids want to see again and again. A positive association with reading will make kids want to read more.
A love of reading is cited as the number one indicator of future success. My son didn’t have the desire to read. He didn’t care about the books I chose to read to him, and was overwhelmed with the selection at the library. I want my son to succeed, so I had to do something. Since we struggled to find books he cared to read, I wrote one. An epic saga about the things he loves. I put it in a world he loves and addressed the issues he faces in his life.
I just love your books I’ve been reading them over and over again. -Carson via twitter
But it’s a video game book
Don’t worry; it’s not a book about video games, nor is it a game strategy book. Flynn’s Log is a hero’s journey that takes place inside the Minecraft world that today’s kids know and love. The protagonist, Flynn, naturally flows through Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (builds shelter and tools, learns what to eat and discovers a digital friend) and faces questions about his destiny. He learns important life lessons about friendship, integrity, and trust. Flynn’s Log is good for kids without being boring.
Thank you so so much for the free ebook. My son loves Minecraft now with this book I can get him to read to me. – Jennifer Wilkins
Start your son or daughter on journey today, reading Flynn’s Log 1: Rescue Island. Free on available these devices and apps.
Flynn’s Log is free on the following devices
Choose your device
KindleiPad/iPod/iPhoneGoogle Play (Android Tablets)nookkoboRead Online
US$8.99 Paperback
Why is Flynn’s Log 1 Free?
My son loves reading — finally. If you have experience with a reluctant reader then I know your pain and I want to help. I’ve seen thousands of kids transform with this book. My readers, who don’t usually read books during the summer, couldn’t put Flynn’s Log 1 down.
Good book I thought I would never read a book on my summer but I feel I’m gonna finish it soon – Multigamer 47 via twitter
Let this book change your kid’s life too. You have nothing to lose and an avid reader to gain.
Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.
–Frederick Douglas
I am giving away Flynn’s Log 1 free because I want to give you a risk-free way to hook your reluctant reader.
Please and I mean PLEASE, WRITE MORE! I absolutely love it! They’re outstanding books.
-Devon123321 via twitter
What are Books for Boys?
I spend lots of time with teachers and parents. I hear parents ask, “How do I get my son to read? Do you have books for boys?”
I wrote the Flynn’s Log series for my son, and this book is interesting for boys. However, the series is a non-stop read for both boys and girls, especially those who are interested in Minecraft.
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
—Dr. Seuss
What are you waiting for?
You have nothing to lose!
Flynn’s Log is free on the following devices
Choose your device
KindleiPad/iPod/iPhoneGoogle Play (Android Tablets)nookkoboRead Online
US$8.99 Paperback
News for Parents of Reluctant Readers
Get Reluctant Reader Book News from Stone Marshall
Minecraft Star Wars Sequel Skin Pack Announced, Available Now
Star Wars: The Last Jedi recently arrived on Blu-Ray and DVD, giving millions of fans the chance to watch it all over again. But that’s not the only place where you can celebrate your love for Star Wars.
Mojang has announced that it has released a new Star Wars Sequel Skin Pack for Minecraft, which is available through various digital storefronts for the low price of $2.99. You can find more details on its availability over at the Minecraft Marketplace.
The developer worked very closely with both Lucasfilm and Disney to capture that Star Wars essence in the skin pack, which features various characters from both The Last Jedi and the 2015 release The Force Awakens. This includes older Han Solo, General Leia Organa, Poe Dameron, Kylo Ren, Finn, Rey, older Luke Skywalker and Supreme Leader Snoke. This is just the beginning, as a number of characters from both films are available.
This is the latest skin pack to be introduced to the world of Minecraft, as we’ve seen countless ones offered over the years, from The Simpsons to Doctor Who to various Marvel properties.
The Minecraft Marketplace makes it easy to shop for these skins, so you can change up your game on the fly and see what they do for you. This helps extend the replay value of the game tremendously, enabling Mojang to support its millions and millions of fans, who keep coming back for more.
There’s a possibility that this release could lead to other skin packs coming over the course of the year, though the developer hasn’t said a word about what could be coming next. So, for the time being, just enjoy the Star Wars pack that’s currently available, and relive those great memories from both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi – if you’re not doing that from watching the movies, that is.
Check out the trailer above, which features a number of the skins in action, and then get to building in Minecraft for various platforms, including Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U, as well as a plethora of mobile devices and tablets.
Minecraft Star Wars Sequel Skin Pack Announced, Available Now
Minecraft on PC, Xbox One, Android adds opt-in experimental features
We’re talking about “Minecraft” here, AKA the game’s Bedrock Edition – the newer cross-platform version currently available on Xbox One, PC and smartphones.
Android, PC and Xbox One users can now toggle the option to enable new features which are still in beta testing. Right now, that includes elements from the game’s upcoming aquatic update like the new Drowned mobs (think: underwater zombies), a trident weapon, new enchantments and more blocks.
Microsoft had cautioned that, as a beta, things may go wrong (so backup your save). The game does create a separate world file (with ‘EX’ at the beginning of the name) to enable you to return to your prior save state should anything go badly wrong.
It’s sort of like the Minecraft Java Edition’s snapshots, which let you update your game client in small increments to receive new features as soon as they’re coded. The latest of these includes some of the same aquatic features.
Minecraft on PC, Xbox One, Android adds opt-in experimental features
Is Ready Player One OK For Kids?
The following story includes some major spoilers for the Ready Player One movie that are necessary to discuss its more adult moments.
Ready Player One is a movie full of fun pop culture and exciting video game action, but does that mean that it’s ok for kids? While the vast majority of the film is likely to be perfectly fine for the vast majority of the audience, every kid is a little bit different and there are certainly a handful of moments that parents will likely want to consider before deciding if Ready Player One is ok for their kids.
The first point to discuss regarding Ready Player One is the language. The film is PG-13 and that rating allows for a certain level of profanity which the script fully takes advantage of. The use of “shit” and “asshole” is fairly free and frequent, in the way that it is used by teenagers in most movies. The PG-13 rating does also allow for the use of a single F-bomb, and it does get used. Near the end of the movie when a nameless bad guy character is confronted by a particular horror movie character who scares him into using the word.
And speaking of horror movie characters, there is a prolonged sequence in Ready Player One that is dedicated to a particularly popular horror movie of the 1980s. While the Ready Player One certainly holds on to its own PG-13 rating, the horror movie in question was originally rated-R. As such, there are some horror movie elements that might be a little too much for very young kids, even though they are toned down from the original for the most part. The movie in question also contains a scene with a naked woman. In Ready Player One, the scene is shot in such a way to prevent the camera from seeing anything that would make it a rated-R movie, though it is still clear in the film that the woman is naked.
As far as violence goes, while there s a lot of it, it’s almost all of the video game variety. When one avatar gets killed by another, they explode into coins and items, rather than blood and guts, which can be collected by another character. It’s actually specifically referenced by the creator of the OASIS in the film that he didn’t want to include more blood in the game. It’s also made clear in the movie that death within the game doesn’t hurt anybody in reality, though many characters wear special suits that allow them to feel real pain when their character is hurt in the game.
The other thing the special suit does is allow characters to feel other sensations on their body. Everywhere. This leads to a particularly intimate dance sequence between two characters where a woman rubs up against a guy’s groin. What the viewer sees is the suit light up at the crotch and the guy wearing it get a look of pleasure on his face.
All things considered, Ready Player One will likely be fine for most kids. Though, obviously, every kid is different, so depending on yours, there are some potential red flags here to consider.
Everything you need to know about Shuri from Black Panther
The character was introduced in the 2005 comic “Black Panther Vol. 4 #2,” and she goes on to become Queen of Wakanda and take on the mantle of the Black Panther herself. She’s also Disney’s newest princess, which Wright said is “a wonderful thing.”
“I liked her because she was different,” Wright said. “She wasn’t a stereotypical character, she’s a well-rounded human being…a fun character, smart, super-intelligent, super amazing.”
Before “Black Panther,” Wright starred in the “Black Mirror” season 4 episode “Black Museum,” as well as the series “Humans,” on which she played Renie, a synthie.
Boseman was present for Wright’s audition, of which he said, “What she has — you can’t teach that.”
In an earlier interview with VarietyWright revealed that she actually met the creator of Shuri, Reginald Hudlin, shortly after the world premiere of “Black Panther.”
“He said it was perfect,” Wright explained. “And I said, ‘I hope I can continue to grow more with Shuri, if that’s where the future takes us with Marvel.’ Shuri’s young now, but when she grows into an adult, she’s kind of savage. She’s one of the coolest leaders in the comic books.”
‘Ready Player One’ to Storm Domestic Box Office With $53 Million
Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” will take over the domestic box office during Easter weekend with $53 million from 4,234 locations.
The VR-fantasy film starring Tye Sheridan launched a day early on Thursday after Warner Bros. decided to move up the release to take advantage of the vacation-friendly Easter holiday. With the added day, “Ready Player One” will come out more than $30 million ahead of the No. 2 film, “Tyler Perry’s Acrimony,” which is set to reel in roughly $16 million from 2,006 sites.
“Ready Player One” grossed $17 million on Friday, ahead of early forecasts, which had pegged the pic at around $38 million to $42 million for the Thursday through Sunday period. The film also opened day and date in 62 international markets, and earned roughly $28 million Friday for a foreign total of $42 million. In China, “Ready Player One” debuted at No. 1 with $14 million on Friday for a 60% box office share, marking the third-highest Chinese debut for a Warner Bros. film. Estimates for Saturday place the film’s take from China alone at $25.2 million.
Based on Ernest Cline’s 2011 novel, “Ready Player One” is set both in a dystopian version of Columbus, Ohio in 2045 and in an elaborate virtual reality world called Oasis, popular because it enables residents to escape the grim reality of their actual world. The film, written by Cline and Zak Penn, also stars Olivia Cooke, Lena Waithe, Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance. The sci-fi movie is sitting at a 76% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has received a A- CinemaScore.
Lionsgate’s “Acrimony” ended Friday with $7.26 million, with $1 million from Thursday previews, and has received an A- CinemaScore. The thriller stars Taraji P. Henson as a woman scorned and out for vengeance. Perry’s last film, “Boo 2!” made $7.4 million between Thursday previews and its opening day.
In third at the box office is Disney-Marvel’s record-breaking “Black Panther” in its seventh weekend with $11 million. The film has amassed over $1.2 billion worldwide and is the fifth-highest domestic grosser of all time, roughly $13 million behind 2015’s “Jurassic World.” This weekend’s take will narrow that gap, and the film will likely become the fourth-highest-grossing domestic film of all time in the coming weeks.
Roadside Attractions’ “I Can Only Imagine” slipped one spot from last weekend to land in No. 4 with a still solid $10 million. With the addition of this weekend’s total, the film will have earned over $50 million in North America. Starring J. Michael Finlay and Dennis Quaid, the film tells the story behind the best-selling Christian single of all time, MercyMe’s “I Can Only Imagine.” The surprise box office hit added another 395 theaters to its range to take advantage of Easter weekend.
Sliding from its No. 1 opening weekend is Universal’s “Pacific Rim Uprising” in the fifth place spot with around $9 million from 3,708 sites. The number marks a 67% decline from the film’s premiere weekend — 2013’s “Pacific Rim” dropped by 57% between its first two weekends. Starring John Boyega, “Uprising” sees a new generation of fighters facing the supernatural Kaiju monsters. The film is at a 45% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 53% Audience Score and B CinemaScore. Following the model set by its predecessor, “Uprising” has seen stronger numbers internationally, where it has earned over $120 million for a global tally of more than $160 million.
Other Easter-timed films include Sony-Affirm’s “Paul, Apostle of Christ,” which opened last weekend at 1,473 sites and should bring in $3.5 million through Sunday for a total of $11.6 million. Pureflix’s “God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness” will open to just over $3 million at 1,693 theaters.
‘Ready Player One’ to Storm Domestic Box Office With $53 Million
Watch this AI figure out how to place blocks in Minecraft
Artificial intelligence doesn’t compare favorably to humans when it comes to problem solving. Ask any eight year old child to place a few blocks on a grid in Minecraft and they’ll almost certainly be bored by the task. A computer, on the other hand, doesn’t grasp such difficult concepts so easily.
Stephan Alaniz, a researcher with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Technische Universitat Berlin, yesterday published a white paper titled “Deep Reinforcement Learning with Model Learning and Monte Carlo Tree Search in Minecraft.” In his paper the scientist explains his efforts to create a superior method for training an AI to perform simple tasks based on visual input.
If we’re ever going to have robots that can live and work among humans seamlessly without damaging us or our property they’re going to have to understand how to interact with the environment using visual context. One of the most popular ways to train AI for this task is using video games with simple controls.
We can judge an AI’s effectiveness at completing specific tasks in a structured environment, like Minecraft, by comparing it to human efforts.
Watching the above video, it’s apparent that AI – even one that’s shown to be more effective than other agents trained to perform similar tasks – isn’t very good at doing simple things yet. But developing cutting-edge technology takes time — though advances in machine learning techniques are happening at a terrifying pace.
Future research will drive training times down, effectiveness up, and generate new ideas for algorithms that further blur the lines between artificial and human intelligence.
But for now, it’s interesting enough to watch an AI process hundreds of different moves as it tries to figure out a simple block placing challenge in Minecraft. It might be worth remembering, in the future, how simple these things were when they began learning.
The Next Web’s 2018 conference is just a few months away, and it’ll be 💥💥. Find out all about our tracks here.
Keywords acquired 11 game services firms in 2017 as external development grows
You may not have heard about Keywords before, but it has become a big player behind the scenes in external game development. Headed by CEO Andrew Day, the company acquired 11 game development services companies in 2017. It has amassed more than 5,000 employees
Keywords was founded as a game localization company in 1998 in London, and it went public in 2013. It now has facilities in 42 locations in 20 countries and four continents. The company provides just about any services for games, including art, engineering, audio, localization, player support, and game testing.
The biggest game companies use Keywords to launch their games in multiple languages on the same day across the globe. It tests those games to make sure that they work properly across platforms and regions. In November 2017, it acquired Seattle-based VMC Consulting, which was the biggest North American company testing video games.
I caught up with Day at the recent Game Developers Conference to talk about the global market for game development. Here’s an edited transcript of our interview.
Above: Keywords Studios CEO Andrew Day.
GamesBeat: Tell us about Keywords.
Andrew Day: What Keywords is today isn’t what Keywords was. We started as a localization company, actually, localizing business software. Then, as games started to be localized, we found a niche for our services where we could marry the highly creative, immersive localization of storytelling in games with a more tool-based localization that’s used in business software. We created a bit of a niche of ourselves.
We became specialized in language services for video games, both the translation and testing of video games. Video games are made simultaneously in multiple languages, unlike film and TV, where it’s sequentially produced. Games are particularly complex, and often very story-driven, very rich in content. Cultural adaptation for games is complex. It’s a very specialized skill set. That’s where we started.
We saw that the games market as a whole was very imbalanced and a little bit fragile. You have very large global publishers, and they’re relying on hundreds of small companies for outsource services, just like Keywords in the 2000s. It seemed very imbalanced. You don’t see that in other industries. Hundreds of small companies, country by country, service line by service line. We thought this couldn’t continue. There would have to be some consolidation. If you’re a large company and you want to act more strategically with outsource providers, there’s nobody to engage with, nobody of any scale or sophistication, with the business acumen and transparency and financial strength and so on.
We set ourselves up to lead the consolidation in the industry, bringing together all these capabilities, all this expertise, and making it available to our clients. None of what we do can we use ourselves. Everything we do is for our clients. When we’re buying another company, adding it to the Keywords family, we’re not taking that talent for ourselves. We make that talent available to all the video game companies out there.
We’re providing a framework, a financial backbone. We’re using our management tools to control what we’re doing so we can be efficient. High utilization rates. Decent levels of profitability. Good investment.
Above: Keywords develops across all platforms.
GamesBeat: How big are you now?
Day: We’re now 5,000 people around the world in 42 locations. We’re about a third in Asia, a third in North America, and a third in Europe. We have, for instance, about 700-800 people in China, 250 in Tokyo, 350 in Manila, and 500 in India. Here in North America we have about 900 people in the U.S., and then about 1,500 in Canada. The U.S. people are in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Raleigh, North Carolina.
GamesBeat: So even in some high-cost areas?
Day: Yes. What we do—we’re not an offshore outsourcing company. The skill sets are very specific to video games and to interactive content generally. It’s more about the skill than it is about finding low cost centers. You can’t find the talent. You can’t find people that can translate games into 30 languages in India. You have to be where the talent is. Also, where we can, we want to be near our clients.
We’re able to do a two-footed approach. We have one foot on the west coast and one foot in India or China, which helps manage communications, manage cultural expectations on things like art creation, and still get some benefit of lower costs. But it’s really not about cost so much. That’s important, but more important is the efficiency, getting it right the first time, and the overall service. If, through delivery of what we do, we put a lot of burden on the client side to manage it, it doesn’t add up.
GamesBeat: The platforms that are your most popular, are there any in the lead there?
Day: We’re agnostic to platform. About 30 percent of our business is on mobile and the rest is on PC and console. VR/AR is also an important component of what we do. But it’s really across the board. We don’t differentiate internally in terms of how we manage the business by hardware type. Obviously we’re investing in all the new hardware as it comes out so we can test and develop on it. We’re authorized by all the major platform holders to get development kits and test kits and so on.
Above: Keywords acquired 11 companies in 2017.
GamesBeat: I wrote a story about the people who made Cuphead out of Canada. They’re a small company, two dozen people at peak, and in the last six months they got into a deal with a company called Illogika and doubled the size of their team. It sounded like an emergency move, but not the usual way something like that would happen in your business.
Day: There’s all sorts of business in our business. There is the situation where a client’s got a problem and they need help and we can dig them out. But more of it is planned. We have reasonable visibility. Our clients share with us their slate of work for the coming year. They let us know what they want us to help them with so we can plan ahead a bit. That’s important for everyone.
The repeat business is very high. There’s a lot of trust in this. Games are very complex. Not many organizations out there have worked on these big games before. When you get into that highly agile process, which game development is, it doesn’t suit a lot of more structured companies. I can imagine, if you come from software services generally and you find yourself in the game space, you’d think, “My God, what is this about? I’ve never seen something quite so chaotic.”
GamesBeat: I’m reading Jason Schreier’s book right now.
Day: Yes, yes.
GamesBeat: He found a bunch of stories from game development, whether it’s Naughty Dog at 500 people or one guy making Stardew Valley for five years.
Day: Lots of different ways of cracking the same nut, potentially.
GamesBeat: A lot of crunch.
Day: Well, this is the other thing about the industry. The way I look at it, the industry has only been around for 30-odd years. When people started to make games they had to do everything themselves, internally, because there was no other way of doing it. A lot of our clients have built their business in that same mode. They haven’t had time to stop and think. “If I were starting this business today, would this be the way I’d build it?”
They describe themselves as publishers, but they actually have all the means for production as well. They’ve become very large organizations. There must be a lot of overhead in managing a large testing department, or a translation workflow where you’re dealing with 10 or 20 or 30 different vendors to make 20 different language versions of a game. People perpetuate those behaviors. You can understand, in part, why they do that.
But our whole idea is we’ve now created the scale and geographic reach such that, for those clients that want to, they can offload some of those activities on us and focus on what is strategically important to them, which is always about the IP, commercializing the IP and being able to tweak the player experience to make that better, more engaging, keep the player for longer. If you keep the player longer you have the chance of getting more revenue. The trend toward games as a service has been very fast, very demanding, adding a lot of complexity to our clients. One way they can manage some of this complexity is to offload some of the services side, which might now look like a distraction.
GamesBeat: Have you developed any technology on that front in the way that PlayFab or GameSparks did?
Day: We have some of our own tech. We’re always developing tools and stuff internally that enable us to handle assets better, to produce art audio pipelines that are more efficient, and automated testing.
GamesBeat: Is your focus more on the development side than running a game once it’s launched?
Day: Yeah, the live ops stuff—I would love to be more involved in data analytics and predictive analytics. What we do is player support. We have a large team of customer support people that are passionate gamers themselves, that can resolve a lot of issues on first-time contact with players on behalf of our customers. We have chat bots and stuff available to us as well where that makes sense. We can use a bit of AI and tech, but a lot of what we do is people-oriented. The technology that we adopt, such as machine translation and so on, that has a role to play, but ultimately, to make a really beautiful, compelling game, I don’t think you can get away from humans.
GamesBeat: Would Streamline Studios be another comparison, then?
Day: Yes, I know Streamline. They’re a competitor of ours in a single area. They would compete with us in art creation. We have more than a thousand artists working for most of the large game companies, creating art assets for their games. Some of that we go right into the fully integrated pipeline. We have access to the game engine and we can do all the animation and art delivery right into the engine. Some is it still more along the lines of, “Can you produce 300 characters?” And then the client integrates them. But increasingly we’re becoming more integrated in the production pipeline.
GamesBeat: It seems like there are some specialists out there in the space, like Scalefast. They handle that e-commerce section. And then there are the other live operations companies. It’s all a form of outsourcing, but in bits and pieces.
Day: Yeah, that’s the whole point. It’s all in bits and pieces. You get lots of small companies that are probably good at what they do, but it’s still quite hard for our clients, the big game companies, to partner with these small companies. For us, the ability to do—we have seven service lines, for art, engineering co-development, audio, functional testing, localization testing, translation, customer support.
Being able to do all of that scale to support triple-A games, the world’s leading mobile games—a lot of it is this relentless cadence of games as a service. That becomes really hard for people to do. But we’ve been living with that for a while now in the mobile side of the business.
GamesBeat: I remember that MZ had their real time translation process. They built a real time infrastructure for mobile games. I wonder how well that could work. Their goal was to have a worldwide game, with people talking to each other in real time across cultural lines.
Day: We work with MZ and do that translation for them and so on. I wouldn’t—it’s daily and weekly.
GamesBeat: It’s not that easy.
Day: No, it’s not something for machines. It depends what you’re doing. You can use machine translation for certain types of content, where it’s not about how enjoyable is so much as just being able to make it understood. If you have a really good machine translation engine, of which there are not many, you can make a lot of content understandable. But actually making it enjoyable is a completely different challenge. I think it’ll be a while before that sort of vision can become a reality, where you can take all content in real time and make it consumable in 20, 30, 40, 50 languages.
Above: Keywords has offices in the U.S. as well for external development.
GamesBeat: With localization you’d hope you could get there are some point. Kate Edwards always talks about the “culturalization” work she has to do, though.
Day: Yes, I know Kate. We live with that every single day. That’s exactly what our guys do. The colors that you choose, or the symbols you have on walls in the background, all of that. Our guys are experts at that. That’s part of our role, to try and prevent our clients from making gaffes.
GamesBeat: What kind of specialists do you have in that area?
Day: We have subject matter experts. Depending on what type of game it is, we’ll have people that understand the history of the game, the backdrop to the game, the specific nature of things like tanks or battleships or whatever is part of the game. If it’s a children’s game we’ll have different people working on that type of content compared to working on a shooter. It’s very adapted to the content itself. You can’t treat all content the same. It’s all very different.
Increasingly now, we’re able to develop—we can do full game development. We can do co-development projects, where somebody like Ubisoft has five of their own internal studios working on Assassin’s Creed Origins, and a Keywords studio working on that game as well. We can work alongside them doing one specific aspect of the game.
GamesBeat: I’ve talked to a few iOS developers here about the difficult of developing on both iOS and Android. They’re choosing to go first on iOS and then have someone else handle the Android version, because of the fragmentation of the Android hardware.
Day: We do quite a lot of that. It’s not just iOS and Android. It’s also PC to console or console to PC, or back catalog stuff that’s going to be remastered for current generations.
GamesBeat: Do you do a lot of work for Switch?
Day: Yeah, we do Switch ports as well. Obviously there’s a lot of interest in Switch, a lot of Switch porting going on. It’s a very large, very vibrant, very demanding environment out there. I think we’re going to continue to grow. We’re growing very strongly and organically, just from repeat business with our clients, getting a bit more share all the time as we prove ourselves.
Acquisitions are also a big part of the Keywords story. We acquired 11 companies last year. The year before that it was eight and the year before that it was another eight. This fragmentation is enormous. Companies like to be part of the Keywords family, where we can relieve some of the financial pressure of running your own business and bring a lot more work to their door. At the same time, our clients like it because we’re able to put some financial footing underneath these companies worldwide, making them more solid and more easy for our clients to trust and partner work in more engaging work.
Above: Keywords
GamesBeat: How are financial results?
Day: Our revenues for this year are expected to be round about $308 million (250 million euros). I have to be careful here. I think the consensus from the analysts is around $43 million (35 million euros) in profit margin. We’re publicly traded in London. But of course those numbers are before any acquisitions. Any acquisitions we make this year will affect those.
It’s interesting, when you try to look at Keywords and the trajectory. It’s quite hard to follow. When you’re making as many acquisitions as we make, you have to try to get to the underlying revenues and profits of the business, rather than just the publicly quoted figures. At least on a historic basis. Looking forward, the numbers that you see exclude the effect of acquisitions. You have to add however many, six to 10 acquisitions that we might make during the year.
The good thing about it is that everyone who’s sold their business to Keywords has made some money, but they’ve stayed at Keywords, and they’re probably working harder than they’ve ever worked before. It’s not because we’ve got any handcuffs on them. They’re enjoying it. It’s a very exciting place to be.
We’ve gotten to this point from just being one of these small service providers in a single geography. We employed 50 people and had revenues of 3.5 million euros. Now we have a market capitalization of more than a billion euros. It’s growing fast.
Keywords acquired 11 game services firms in 2017 as external development grows
I Still Can’t Believe Microsoft Spent $2.5 Billion to Acquire Minecraft
In 2014, $2.5 billion might have looked like a lofty price tag, but each passing year is proving that “Minecraft” is more than just a game.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is no stranger to acquisitions. The company has written big checks within the last decade in order to purchase assets like LinkedIn and Skype, but even with its history of big buyouts, the decision to acquire Minecraft and its developer Mojang for $2.5 billion is one that stands out.
Minecraft doesn’t have flashy visuals or huge action set pieces. What’s more, its underlying technology isn’t something that ties into Microsoft’s other segments, and shelling out $2.5 billion for a studio dedicated to the ongoing development of a game that first released in 2009 was a bold move. That’s especially true because Microsoft has a checkered history when it comes to video game related acquisitions. However, the more time passes since the deal, the more it looks like Microsoft made a smart move.
Image source: Microsoft.
The world of Minecraft
For those unfamiliar with Minecraft, the game is like a virtual sandbox. Players can create their own worlds, socialize, and explore content created by other users. It’s sort of like a virtual Lego experience mixed with elements of social media — and the game is enormously popular.
Minecraft had sold roughly 50 million copies when Microsoft acquired Mojang in 2014. Today, the title’s sales have passed 144 million units, the third most of any game ever — and it looks like there’s still a long sales life ahead.
Minecraft isn’t a fad. It’s become a fixture in the gaming world, a sort of genre and platform unto itself, and Mojang’s title continues to add to a long list of sales and engagement achievements.
The game currently stands as the second-best-selling paid app on iOS according to AppAnnie, and it’s putting up great sales on other platforms as well. Minecraft released on Nintendo’s 3DS portable console last November and was the system’s seventh-best-selling game for that month, its third-best-selling game in December, and its fifth-best-selling game in both January and February. The title was the eighth-best-selling Nintendo Switch game in 2017.
Minecraft merchandise and spinoff content have also proven to be hits, with themed bedding, clothing, toy lines, and a YouTube miniseries produced by Mattel representing just a small slice of what’s out there across mediums. There’s even a big-budget Minecraft film in development.
Image source: Microsoft.
Minecraft is building bridges
In addition to putting up great sales numbers, Microsoft is using Minecraft to expand into new areas and take advantage of some emerging opportunities. The education-tech space is one area where that dynamic is evident. In 2016, Microsoft and Mojang released Minecraft: Education Edition — a version of the hit game designed for classroom use. Tech companies including Microsoft see a lot of opportunity in having a top position in ed tech, and Minecraft has the potential to be a significant asset in the space.
Educational video games have been around for decades, but Mojang’s magnum opus is unique in that it was already enormously successful before being adapted for teaching use. The game’s popularity and flexibility set the stage for continued evolution, with new tools and features being added that shape the broader world of Minecraft.
In February, Mojang debuted a chemistry-themed resource pack to Education Edition, and Microsoft also recently announced that an online Minecraft experience had helped teach 85 million people some basic computer coding principles.
The Education Edition suite had crossed two million users as of November. With the company charging $5 per student per year, that comes out to annual revenue of $10 million — not a bad start roughly 12 months out from release but still only scratching the surface of potential ed-tech subscription revenue and import. Minecraft: Education Edition also requires an Office365 subscription in order to log in, a move that gives schools another reason to stick with Microsoft’s operating system and software suite.
Building a multiplatform position
Minecraft has put a Microsoft property on nearly every modern gaming and computing device. At a time when many of the video game industry’s big hits are transitioning to a platform agnostic model, that’s giving the company some valuable data for future software releases and strengthening its presence on emerging computing platforms.
Image source: Microsoft.
Minecraft is already one of the big software draws for virtual-reality headsets — perhaps the closest thing there is to a killer app in mixed reality at the moment. Along those lines, chief technology officer at Facebook‘s Oculus division and game development legend John Carmack once said that Minecraft was the single most important virtual-reality game.
Microsoft has also made the game a part of its own push into the mixed-reality space. One of the first demos for the company’s HoloLens augmented-reality headset featured users transposing the game on to real-world surfaces. The HoloLens hardware is still a long way from going mainstream at the consumer level, but Microsoft has also put the game front and center in promoting its Windows Mixed Reality platform.
A great asset at a good price
In Minecraft, Microsoft appears to have purchased an asset that will pay for itself in relatively short order and help the company strengthen its business outside of gaming. Mojang reported $126 million in profits on $259 million in sales in 2013. That means that Microsoft paid roughly 20 times Mojang’s trailing earnings to acquire the developer in 2014 — a price that’s looking pretty nice in light of Minecraft‘s continued performance.
The game’s sales and margins have likely gotten better since the acquisition based on unit sales growth and the addition of in-game purchases to the title. When you factor in the potential for continued growth and the other ways that the game is an asset to the company, Microsoft made a great move acquiring Minecraft and Mojang.
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I Still Can’t Believe Microsoft Spent $2.5 Billion to Acquire Minecraft
Noxcrew is a full game studio making content for Minecraft Marketplace
Above: Noxcrew’s Summer Mini-Games Festival is a hit on the Minecraft Marketplace.
Minecraft’s Marketplace is growing fast enough that it has enabled several creators to focus on the platform as their full-time work. The Noxcrew team, which makes popular Marketplace content like Summer Mini-Games Festival, has taken that even further by employing the equivalent of an entire development studio.
Noxcrew chief executive officer Stefan “Noxite” Panic and co-owner Joe “Avondale” Arsenault both told GamesBeat that working on products for the Minecraft Marketplace is their day job. But the team is way bigger than the two of them.
“We have around 15 members, comprising of level designers, artists, musicians, writers, technicians, and marketing managers,” said Panic.
That’s bigger than a lot of indie studios that are making their own games, and the Noxcrew team thinks that is one of the key reasons their content stands out on the Minecraft Marketplace.
“We produce all our own music, textures, art, sound effects, and voice acting in-house,” said Aresnault. “And for the longest time, we were the only team who could say that.”
The Noxcrew leaders also think that they have found an audience by always trying to build something unexpected. Minecraft is a game about building things, and Microsoft has opened up its tools to enable anyone to begin modding assets. In that world, Marketplace content needs to surprise people while also maintaining a high level of quality.
At the same time, Panic and Arsenault don’t think that this space is closed off to new creators. They both expect a new generation of Minecraft community members to rise up and make their way into the Marketplace.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to get into Minecraft content creation,” said Arsenault. “The technology for the Bedrock Engine is still very new, and the community making content for it is very active and helpful, especially with new creators.”
Panic agrees.
“Noxcrew itself made it onto the Marketplace by ‘just starting to make stuff’ a long time ago,” he said. “I believe in the longevity of the Marketplace and as long as you know how to make your content look good to the public after it’s made, I don’t think it’s ever too late!”
Noxcrew is a full game studio making content for Minecraft Marketplace
Library listings: Minecraft, Star Wars and online branding on tap
The following programs are being held at the Edith Wheeler Memorial Library. Note that the library is now open Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. The library is no longer open on Wednesdays due to budget cuts.
Sensory Storytime
Sensory Storytime has sessions on April 21 and 28. Each session is from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. This is an interactive program especially designed for children on the autism spectrum, those who are sensitive to sensory overload or have other special needs, and those who have difficulty sitting through a traditional storytime. A parent or caregiver is required to attend with their child. Registration is required for each session and is limited to eight children.
See Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be playing Tuesday, April 3, at 7 p.m.
Learn about online branding
The Monroe Chamber of Commerce, Fairfield County SCORE and the library are sponsoring “10 Critical Tools for Promoting Your Brand Online (& Making Your Life Easier) on Friday, April 6, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. This presentation will uncover fresh ways to create or maintain a powerful and positive brand image on social media and in your digital media strategies. Lunch will be served, and networking opportunities will be available before and after the event. Registration is required.
Look back at 1918 flu epidemic
Hamish Lutris will present “I Smell Death Here: The Great Flu Epidemic of 1918” on Monday, April 9, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. This presentation will center on a short history of disease in the western world, te swine flu itself, its pathology and effects.
Career Tuesdays returns
Career Tuesdays Workshop Series focuses on interview skills on Tuesday, April 10, at 10 a.m. Registration is required.
Minecraft Meet-Up set
The next Minecraft Meet-Up will be Tuesday, April 10, from 4 to 5 p.m. This is for children in grades 6 to 12. Registration is required and limited to 12. Call the library (203-452-2852) or visit the Teen page to register online.
Program takes you on Italian tour
Town Council member and retired Monroe chemistry teacher Enid Lipeles will present a “Travelogue of Venice, Florence and Rome” on Sunday, April 15, from 2 to 3 p.m. In venice, see Doge’s Palace, St. Mark’s Basilica and take a gondola ride. After viewing art treasures in Florence, Lipeles will take everyone to Rome to see the ancient Colosseum, St. Peter’s Basilica and Square, the Vatican, and the Sistine Chapel. Registration is required.
Speaking with the Victorian Dead
Historian Robert Cox will explore the ideas that Spiritualists in Victorian America had in mind when communing with the spirits of the deceased in a program on Monday, April 16, at 6:30 p.m.
Artistic creations for adults
Sculpy Clay for Adults: Spring Flowers will be Tuesday, April 17, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Anna Mastroianni returns to show participants the techniques for making miniature Sculpy Clay flowers. Registration is required and is underway. It is limited to 16 people.
Nachos & A Movie set
Local teenagers, grades 7 to 12, can enjoy some nachos while watching Thor: Ragnarok on Friday, April 20, beginning at 6 p.m. Registration is required and limited to 20 people.
Spring concert series continues
Rhythms of the World with Judy Handler and Mark Levesque will be Sunday, April 22, at 2 p.m. Experience an exuberant celebration of cultures with this exceptional program of music from the around the world for guitars and mandolin. No registration necessary. Refreshments served after the concert.
Library listings: Minecraft, Star Wars and online branding on tap