In The News
EA attempted to reassure Star Wars fans in the wake of its cancelled game, GameSpot’s Chris Pereira writes. Here’s a portion of EA’s statement: “We’re fully committed to making more Star Wars games, we’re very excited about Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order from Respawn, and we’ll share more about our new projects when the time is right.”
Game Growth:
Digital games grew 13% last year, according to SuperData. “Digital games and interactive media grew 13 percent to $119.6 billion in 2018, partly on the strength of Epic Games’ Fortnite, which itself generated $2.4 billion in the year,” VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reports.
Seventy-four percent of consumer spending on app stores in 2018 was on games, App Annie announced. “Mobile saw the fastest growth in the gaming sector, beating out consoles, PC, and handheld,” VentureBeat’s Mike Minotti writes.
Jam City raised $145 million, Forbes’ David Bloom reports. “The company said the funding would support ‘acquisitions and global growth initiatives.’”
Looks like a cookie was shared with Unity. PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk reports that “Unity has once again updated its terms of service, this time to state explicitly that developers are free to use any third-party service they want.” The blog post can be found here.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sold 5 million copies in its first week.
PEGI plans to “label physical releases that include in-game spending. A content descriptor for in-game spending in digital-only games is already in use, but this is the first time the new icon will appear on packaging of physical products,” GI.biz’s Haydn Taylor reports.
Ubisoft is apologizing for requiring a romance path in its latest Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey DLC that ignores players’ decisions. Here’s a portion of its statement, courtesy of Eurogamer’s Tom Phillips: “Reading through player responses of our new DLC for Legacy of the First Blade, Shadow Heritage, we want to extend an apology to players disappointed by a relationship your character partakes in.”
Playtika acquired Supertreat, PocketGamer.biz’s Craig Chapple reports. “Social casino firm Playtika has swooped in to acquire Austria-based casual card game developer Supertreat for an undisclosed fee.”
Former Infinity Ward developers opened a studio called Winterborn, GI.biz’s James Batchelor writes.
Extra Esports News:
ReKTGlobal raised “a $10.8M USD Series A round from both new and existing investors. The round was led by entrepreneur and early investor Nick Gross, who will join ReKTGlobal’s board,” TEO’s Andrew Hayward reports.
Curious about what esports opportunities looked like in 2018? HitmarkerJobs.com “has released an infographic that displays the job opportunities in the industry from 2018. Almost 6,000 esports opportunities were posted on the platform over the course of the year,” Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch writes.
Partnerships & Sponsorships:
McLaren Esports Program and Huami are partnering, TEO’s Max Miceli reports. “Huami technology will help determine a winner of the McLaren Shadow Project esports competition.”
Tempo Storm and LucidSound are partnering, Esports Insider’s David Hollingsworth reports.
IBUYPOWER and the National Association of Collegiate Esports are partnering, Hollingsworth writes.
CompLexity Gaming and HyperX are partnering, Hollingsworth reports. “As part of the deal, HyperX gaming headsets, keyboards, mice, mousepads and internal memory will be used exclusively by compLexity Gaming’s teams.”
Jersey Mike’s is sponsoring Team Liquid, TEO’s H.B. Duran reports. “A Team Liquid jersey will be given away each month, along with various food-related offers.”
R+V Versicherung is sponsoring FC Schalke 04 Esports, TEO’s Graham Ashton writes. “The German insurance company will be the main sponsor for Schalke 04’s teams in League of Legends, FIFA, and Pro Evolution Soccer.”
LFT: FGC player Justin “JWong” Wong.