In The News
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has passed away at 65 from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Discord’s game store is open to all.
Rockstar Games News:
Rockstar Games is defending representation of women in Red Dead Redemption 2, co-founder Dan Houser told Vulture’s Harold Goldberg. “‘There are also ones who are weak and ones who are weak and become strong and ones who think they’re strong but are not.’” This wasn’t the most contentious bit, however. Houser said “100-hour weeks” went into Red Dead. This didn’t exactly go over well, as Houser issued a later statement saying “There seems to be some confusion arising from my interview with Harold Goldberg. The point I was…”
Former Rockstar developer Job J. Stauffer gave a less-than-cheerful review of his reported experience with the past overtime work culture in a series of tweets. He said, in part, “During the GTA IV era, it was like working with a gun to your head 7 days a week.” His tweet comes after Kotaku’s Jason Schreier tweeted he has “been working on an article about work conditions at Rockstar for quite some time now.”
A host of other voices chimed in to talk about their past overtime work experiences, which GI.biz’s Brendan Sinclair has compiled.
Cloud9 was included in Forbes’ “Next Billion-Dollar Startups 2018.”
Sega eliminated “80% of what it calls ‘long overtime hours,’ or working more than 100 overtime hours a month,” Game Informer’s Imran Khan reports.
Gaea Interactive Entertainment acquired 20% of Behaviour Interactive, “the maker of the popular Dead by Daylight horror game,” VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reports.
Tom Shepherd, formerly of Rockstar Games, joined Microsoft’s The Initiative, Windows Central’s Asher Madan reports.
Frédérick Duguet will be Ubisoft’s new CFO starting in 2019.
Actor Mark Strong will be Battlefield 5’s singleplayer narrator.
Bandai Namco will publish Cyberpunk 2077 in Europe.
Australian federal court “granted search and seizure orders against players believed to be connected to the cheating software ‘Infamous’” used for Grand Theft Auto V, Gamasutra’s Emma Kidwell reports.
Fox Sports built a new virtual studio that uses Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, Engadget’s Billy Steele writes.
Interviews: Designer Greg Lobanov (GI.biz).
Extra Esports News:
There’s another esports award show.
Cloud9 has raised “$50 million in Series B funding,” Forbes’ Matt Perez reports. “The round was led by Valor Equity Partners, and its founder and managing partner, Antonio Gracias, joins Cloud9’s board.”
Hearthstone’s tournament feature is being put on hold, PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk reports. It recently posted “Upcoming Balance Update – October 2018” and “The Ballad of Sir Annoy-O.”
Sponsorships & Partnerships:
Nescafé is sponsoring Mad Lions E.C., TEO’s Graham Ashton reports. “The agreement focuses on creating digital content and fan experiences around the Mad Lions League of Legends team.”
Gillette and Mkers are partnering for “a one-year content collaboration,” Ashton writes.
ESL and Swisscom are partnering “to launch … the Swisscom Hero League,” Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch reports. ESL is also partnering with Deloitte “for the upcoming ESL Dutch Championship finals to take place at Bright Days,” Esports Insider’s Melany Moncav reports.
Movistar Riders and Pull&Bear partnered for a clothing line, Moncav writes.
PGL Esports and Monster Energy are partnering for “the Kuala Lumpur Major,” Fitch reports.
IN: Nicholas “Classic” DiCostanzo joined Luminosity Gaming’s CoD team.
OUT: Doug “Censor” Martin retired from CoD.
Happy birthday Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat!