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Majesco CEO leaves 14 Jul, 2005, 10:47 / 7 comments

By Remi


Amidst bad earning reports and other impressive sounding stock... things... it probably comes as little surprise to see Majesco CEO Carl Yankowski leaving ship.
In an interview with the Associated Press, [Janco Partners analyst Mike] Hickey said Majesco has failed to market its games properly, leaving a critical winner like Psychonauts floundering on shelves. "For them not to make that anything more than an underground title is unfortunate," Hickey said. "This could have been a home run for them."

More over at IGN.
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7 Comments

  • Twilo on 18 Jul, 2005, 11:00…
    Sort of odd choice for a quote from the article though, considering that it's about Carl Yankowski and not [Janco Partners analyst Mike] Hickey.
  • Scummbuddy on 15 Jul, 2005, 23:58…
    i think they did a fantastic job with advertising. not only did they get reviews everywhere (with high marks) they had G4 and Xbox mag totally in love with it, as well as always promoting it. They'd answer a question "Why aren't there any good games with story anymore?" with, go get psychonauts and be complete.

    they had commercials on AdultSwim, at least. This company poured money into advertising for advent rising and psyhonauts, and its only the fault of hte market, in my opinion. definitly not the ceo. whilst, i agree that it is incredibly sad that psychonauts may only become a sleeper, perhaps they should have put it off to be a killer app for Xbox 360, available on the first day of release.
  • Remi O on 18 Jul, 2005, 03:00…
    Fantastic job? They broke pretty much all the rules when it came to commercials at least. Yelling about a new game from Tim Schafer (who only few people know who is) without showing any of the attributes of the game was just silly. Take a look at the San Andreas commercials - they looked ultra cool, and showed off the game perfectly well, with Guns & Roses rocking in the background. Rockstar appealed to Joe Public, which is the point of advertisement. Majesco probably alienated the Adult Swim, Comedy Central, MTV, etc. market by not showing that they had a superbly fun game on their hands, thus wasting millions. As for G4 and reviews... most people don't even know that they exist.

    Using millions on promotion might sound good, but Majesco didn't know how to do it well. Seeing that they're a public company, it makes sense that the CEO has to leave.
  • Shanty on 15 Jul, 2005, 11:32…
    I'm pretty sure this guy had nothing to do with lackluster Psychonauts sales.
    I think we all know what's to blame for that.
    Count them with me now! Explosions on the box: ZERO.
  • Shmargin on 15 Jul, 2005, 10:53…
    Yeah...Poor Psychonauts...Maybe Lucas was right and the market isnt ready for a Adventure title....Nah, I just think they need to read my brain and get the idea that I have in there for a point and click 3D adventure engine that rocks...Or maybe I should learn to code and do it myself....or maybe I should invent a time machine....
  • Udvarnoky on 14 Jul, 2005, 14:45…
    We can't have nice things!
  • Jake on 14 Jul, 2005, 14:34…
    I agree with [Janco Partners analyst Mike] Hickey.