In The News
Weekend in review
The Olympics has some conditions if esports wants to be included. The International Olympic Committee said over the weekend that “‘In order to be recognized by the IOC as a sport, the content of eSports must not infringe on the Olympic values,’” and esports needs a governing body, Polygon’s Owen S. Good writes.
The clock may be winding down for Magic Leap’s big reveal. Bloomberg’s Jamie Feltham reports that “sources familiar with the matter [say] that the augmented reality company is planning to ship out its first device to a ‘small group of users’ within the next six months, and it will cost between $1,500 and $2,000.”
Get out of the way, Wii U. The Nintendo Switch could overcome Wii U’s 5-year lifetime sales in just 1 year. Engadget’s Mat Smith reports that “Nintendo has announced it’s sold a further 2.93 million Switch consoles over the latest quarter, reaching just shy of 8 million units total … The company is now aiming to sell 14 million units by the time the Switch turns one year old — up from 10 million.”
Opinion: Esports as a whole has an opportunity in the wake of Li “Vasilii” Wei Jun’s domestic violence incident to affect change in other sports and stay the better course. Companies, teams and players have some tough questions they’ll have to deal with, first.
But what about the QUARIANS?! We’ll finally figure out what happened with their Ark in a novel intended to finish loose ends from Mass Effect: Andromeda. “Mass Effect: Annihilation, by Catherynne M. Valente, has been announced and given a publication date of June 26, 2018 in North America and the U.K., Australia on Aug. 28, 2018. Titan Books is the publisher,” Good reports.
Two cancellations. One allegedly troubled from the beginning, another about plants and zombies.
Kotaku’s Jason Schreier reports that “the [Star Wars] project was more troubled than EA has admitted publicly. Among game developers, it’s been an open secret for months that Visceral’s game was in danger … Ragtag was a project sunk by many factors, including a lack of resources, a vision that was too ambitious for its budget, a difficult game engine, a director who clashed…”
Game Informer’s Imran Khan reports that EA Vancouver was working on a Plants vs. Zombies game that has since been cancelled. “Vancouver had reportedly been working on an unnamed Plants vs. Zombies title that was cancelled, either because it was not shaping up or to prepare the studio for taking over Visceral’s Star Wars title.”
FIFA 18 eWorld Cup qualifiers begin Friday.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds news
PUBG is in a bit of a pickle in China. China likes socialism, a lot, and said “‘the gladiator-like mentality of the computer game deviates from the values of socialism and is deemed harmful to young consumers,’” GamesIndustry.biz’s Haydn Taylor reports.
The online qualifiers for PUBG at IEM Oakland saw Avangar, WhiteKids, aAa and Team PogChamp qualify on the EU side and Ghost Gaming, Ronin Esports, Miami Flamingos and Corn Shuckers on the NA side.
The event takes place Nov. 18-19, Dot Esports’ Scott Duwe explains.
Foxy foxy. Marin the Fox is BlizzCon 2017’s “Golden Legendary Hearthstone card,” Dot Esports’ Justin Binkowski reports. “Purchasing the BlizzCon 2017 virtual ticket will be the only way to get Marin the Fox as a gold card.”