09/18/13

GTA V: A Revenue-generating Parody

A great buzz has stirred on online news sources as the newest installment of the famous and best-selling franchise, “Grand Theft Auto,” was just released this week. Why is there so much publicity over this video game? Simply because it has generated over $800 million in a single day.

Even with a budget of $266 million, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) has broken quite the record. In comparison to movie blockbusters like “Avatar,” which took “17-days to cross the billion-dollar mark”, and other best-selling video games like “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2,” which “earned $1 billion in 15 days”, GTA V is an uncontested revenue-generator and achievement for the company. TTWO has climbed 3%; however, the sales projection has yet to include the figures from the upcoming launches in other countries.

While the immersive, realistic and open-world environment is great for those excited gamers, what does the infamous explicit content mean for society? Although there’s always controversy about GTA V, sales figures will increase; for one thing, the game isn’t the crime-perpetrating catalyst some people may think it is. Rather, it is a “mirror lash[ing] out at… today’s popular culture… including… social networking – a less-than-subtle dig at Facebook comes in the shape of “Lifeinvader” . Lifeinvader’s strapline… is: “Where your personal information becomes a marketing profile (that we can sell).”

The studio at TTWO is well aware of the implications of its game; it is also intentionally trying to demonstrate that its brainchild is not a culture-influencing threat and that perhaps we should re-evaluate some of the other parts of popular culture in our lives.

References

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/gaming/gta-v-rocks-sales-records-with-800-million-first-day/article14399767/

http://www.businessinsider.com/gta-v-earns-800-million-in-one-day-2013-9

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24066068

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take-Two_Interactive

09/15/13

From Hooters Girl To President

Kat Cole was once a selling beer and chicken wings at Hooters, even when she was attending high school. She was raised by a single parent, who she attributes her absolute success to. The moment in life where she seized and attempted to encapsulates her beliefs and goals are a lot about what is at the center of Cole’s examination about people and about how to do business: focus on the positive, even across a wide experiential or cultural background. By focusing on the good in a situation or in a person, Cole says she sees, “possibility where 99 percent of human beings do not”. This led her to her most acclaimed piece of work, ever since she jumped ship at Hooters at the age of 19, where she then progressed onto receive an MBA in Australia, without having a bachelor’s degree.

She created a simple seven-step guide for like-minded, entrepreneurial, young go-getters like her.

1. Never say no to an opportunity

2. As a leader, listen really closely to your employees

3. Gratitude is good, but in moderation

4. Donate your time. It will come back threefold

5. Find a way to see every challenge as a change to learn

6. Don’t remind your colleagues that you are young

7. Think bigger. Always think bigger than even think you should

It is with these seven factors that have encompassed her success to be her thing. She claims her ability to see the possible in the impossible people and situations. Because she can see the potential, she attempts to help people go further, past seeing their own prospective, and translating it into a reality.

From Cole’s example,we are able to see that any passionate and good-willed individual is capable of achieving success through perseverance and the insight to keep looking beyond boundaries. This is one of the definitive traits of an entrepreneur.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227970

09/11/13

Facebook Toying with Our Privacy… Again

Vindu Goel’s and Edward Wyatt’s article “Facebook Privacy Change Is Subject of F.T.C. Inquiry” describes the Federal Trade Commission’s new inquiry about whether or not Facebook’s new policies comply with an agreement made with regulators in 2011.

This 2011 agreement establishes that Facebook requires the “explicit consent of its users before exposing their private information to new audiences” (para. 2). Conversely, Facebook’s new policies force users to grant the company “wide permission to use their personal information in advertising” (para. 3) as part of the service agreement.

Repeatedly, our privacy is disrespected by the social media giant. From a business perspective, the new policies seem like a profitable move for the company to elevate its advertising revenue; however, it may prove to be an unethical imposition on its millions of daily users. Even one of the world’s greatest companies, Apple Inc., says that it will not infringe people’s privacy through its new fingerprint technology.

For stakeholders, F.T.C.’s inquiry into Facebook may translate into yet another warning about Facebook’s mentality and views on social responsibility. Every business has its right to flourish but there should be no repercussions for its community. Some may simply suggest that Facebook is in a desperate situation to meet the advertising revenue expectations of investors; others are more likely to state that in this age of ever-growing daily-use technology, our privacy becomes much more valuable than the performance of some company.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/technology/personaltech/ftc-looking-into-facebook-privacy-policy.html?ref=business