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Blizzard Starting Subscription Magazine for ‘Warcraft’

Irvine’s Blizzard Entertainment Inc. recently inked a deal with Britain’s Future PLC to publish a quarterly magazine based on “World of Warcraft,” Blizzard’s blockbuster online game.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Blizzard hired Future’s custom publishing unit to create and distribute the magazine, which is set to debut in the fall and weigh in at about 150 pages.

Blizzard officially launched the magazine at its annual fanfest in Anaheim,Blizz-Con,which was held two weeks ago (see story, page 1).

The magazine won’t have any advertisements and will only be sold by subscription ($40 for one year and $70 for two years). The magazine also is set to be published in French, German and Spanish.

Future’s magazine lineup in the U.S. includes PC Gamer and the official magazines for Nintendo Co., PlayStation and other console systems.

Dan Amrich, a senior editor of the Xbox 360 official magazine, will be editor-in-chief.

The idea is that World of Warcraft: The Magazine will look more like a glossy coffee table book geared toward fans and collectors.

Some in the industry have questioned Blizzard’s decision to go into print media during a time when the industry is hurting.

Others argue that Blizzard has enough of a captive audience to make money with subscriptions.

More than 11 million people around the world pay about $15 a month to play “World of Warcraft” online.

“Warcraft” isn’t the only Blizzard game that sells swag.

Ahead of its new “StarCraft II” trilogy, Blizzard teamed up with Carlsbad-based Razer USA Ltd. to develop specially branded computer gear aimed at serious players.


Vizio Stays No. 1

During the second quarter, Irvine’s Vizio Inc. held on to its market share lead for the most popular type of flat TVs sold in North America.

Vizio had a 22% market share for liquid crystal display TVs, up from its 21% share in the first quarter and its 15% share during the fourth quarter, according to data from El Segundo-based market tracker iSuppli Corp.

Vizio beat out No. 2 Samsung Group (21% market share) and No. 3 Sony Corp. (12% market share).

Vizio shipped 1.5 million LCD TVs in the second quarter, up 11% from the first quarter, the data showed.

Vizio’s TVs, which are designed in Irvine, are often hundreds less than competitors’. It sells them through big-box stores and national retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and others.


UST Global in Chile

Aliso Viejo’s UST Global Inc., which provides custom software services, outsourcing and consulting for big companies, is set to open an office in Chile.

Officials from UST met recently with President Michelle Bachelet at Chile’s White House: El Palacio de la Moneda in Santiago.

The Chilean government has committed millions of dollars in incentives to attracting investment from U.S.-based companies.

Arun Subramony is set to head operations of the Chilean business, which is set to operate as a business unit of UST Global.

The Chilean office, in the port city of Valparaiso, should open at the end of the year.

UST builds custom software for large companies in several markets, including healthcare, insurance, finance and media.

Customers include Dell Inc., Apria Healthcare Group Inc., Carnival Corp.’s Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. and San Diego’s Sempra Energy, among other big companies.

UST Global has been readying to go public, possibly in 2010, when it’s shooting to see $500 million in yearly sales.


Integrien’s Venture Funding

Irvine’s Integrien Corp., a startup maker of software that helps manage e-commerce, stock trading and other programs that are costly if they go down, has raised $6.5 million in venture funding.

This was Integrien’s third round of venture funding for an estimated total of around $30 million raised to date.

Its investors are Menlo Park-based Clearstone Venture Partners and private equity firm Acartha Group LLC.

Integrien plans to use the money to expand its sales and marketing efforts, according to Chief Financial Officer Mark Smialowicz.

“The company is going through a really big growth period right now,” he said.

Integrien’s software helps manage other monitoring software. It crunches data and tells tech workers when to pay attention and what to pay attention to in order to head off potential problems.

Integrien targets customers in healthcare, banking, payment processing and online retail.

Some of its customers include Lake Forest’s Western Digital Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., eBay Inc.’s Shopping.com, San Diego’s Qualcomm Inc. and Baxter International Inc., among others.

In a separate announcement, Integrien said it added IBM Corp. executive Ian Dodd to its technical advisory board.

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