In The News
Weekend in review:
Don’t forget to check out The Daily Walkthrough’s interview with ELEAGUE’s Richard Lewis about what it’s like to host a CS:GO Major, and what goes on behind-the-scenes!
Awesome Games Done Quick raised over $2 million for charity. “The marathon wrapped up early today [Sunday] after raising a record breaking $2,263,093 for the Prevent Cancer Foundation,” Kotaku’s Ethan Gach reports.
Quantic Dream is in the news, and not for any good reason. Polygon’s Owen S. Good writes that the Detroit: Become Human developer has been accused of being “a hostile workplace rife with racist and sexist humor. David Cage, the studio’s founder, vehemently disputed those allegations.”
Tyler Barriss has formerly been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the swatting death of Andrew Finch.
G:loot now has $12.1 million to play with, GamesIndustry.biz’s Haydn Taylor reports. “The investment was led by Swedbank Robur.”
Eh. That’s Nintendo’s continued opinion on virtual reality, Game Informer’s Suriel Vazquez reports. “[Philippe] Lavoué stated that he doubts VR is viable in a mainstream way, and that consumers aren’t going to want something that isn’t a total package. The same goes for 4K, which the company does not see as widely adopted as it should be for them to invest in it.”
Sales news:
GamesIndustry.biz’s Brendan Sinclair reports that GameStop “reported results for the nine-week holiday period ended December 30, showing sales up 10.6% year-over-year to $2.77 billion.”
Taylor writes that Xbox One beat out PlayStation 4 in sales for the month of December.
Las Vegas’s first official esports arena is set to open March 22.
Major League Soccer and Electronic Arts are partnering for “the eMLS Cup, a competitive esports tournament with representatives of 19 real-world teams vying for a shot at the FIFA 18 World Championship title,” PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk reports.
The Esports Observer’s Angelos Anastasopoulos writes that the New York Red Bulls “signed seven-times-U.S. champion Mike “michs09” LaBelle, who will represent Red Bull in the recently announced eMLS.”
Ubisoft and Tencent are partnering “in order to bring a number Ketchapp mobile games to Tencent’s social media app Weixin Mini-Game,” Taylor reports.
Cleveland Cavaliers put out their “first NBA 2K League virtual jersey sponsorships—a Hot Pockets patch on the upper right chest,” according to AListDaily’s John Gaudiosi. He spoke with senior director of digital partnership Jonathan Sumers about that sponsorship and more.
Team SoloMid’s Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios is retiring from competitive Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
Congratulations to Team Kaliber on defeating Luminosity Gaming to win the CWL New Orleans Open championship.
IEM Katowice will now host a $50,000 PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds tournament, Dot Esports’ Scott Duwe reports. “Sixteen teams will compete at the event on Feb. 24 and 25 at IEM Expo in Katowice, Poland.”