In The News
Weekend In Review:
Goodbye, H1Z1 Pro League. It “will close months after its April launch, according to a message sent to its teams and players from Twin Galaxies co-chairman Jace Hall,” ESPN’s Jacob Wolf reports. “The news comes after a number of issues within the league, including delayed payment of stipends for the league’s teams, as well as incorrect visa classifications for its players, according to a report by VPEsports confirmed by ESPN.”
Industries opinions came from the likes of Richard Lewis, Scott “SirScoots” Smith, eUnited’s Daniel Clerke, Dignitas’s Hugo “HugS” Gonzalez and more. H1Z1 Pro League’s Jace Hall responded to a multitude of threads about Pro League’s end.
Disc-free Xbox could be coming in 2019, Thurrott’s Brad Sams reports. “The company is planning to release an updated console next year, but this device will not be in the Scarlett family, according to people familiar with the company’s plans.”
Drama llama Cliff Bleszinski would like everyone to know “I am NEVER making another game.” He double-confirmed his doneness to GI.biz.
Mythical Games, “founded earlier in the year by former Activision CEO John Linden and CCO Jamie Jackson … has secured $16 million in funding which will help fuel its efforts to develop and co-produce games across mobile, PC and consoles,” Gamasutra’s Emma Kidwell writes.
Bandai Namco Studios Vancouver closed its doors, GI.biz’s James Batchelor reports. “The closure was announced by senior video president and Tekken Mobile game director Landon Nguyen via Twitter. Nguyen and most of his Canada-based team have been laid off as a result.”
Valve has responded to irate fans angry over its Artifact pay model in its “11/18 Beta Update.” The original Reddit rage thread is here.
Discord’s “Early Access has gone live with an impressive five-game lineup,” PC Gamer’s Samuel Horti reports.
DayZ has surpassed 4 million units sold, Bohemia Interactive announced. “The studio currently anticipates the game will reach its 1.0 release later this year,” GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine reports.
Fundraising:
The Waylanders surged past its $150,000 Kickstarter goal and is at $168,999 as of this writing.
Star Citizen has “raised $200,009,399 from 2,121,229 pledgers,” Eurogamer’s Wesley Yin-Poole writes.
Leave it to Fallout 76 players to launch 3 nukes at once and crash the server.
Devil May Cry is getting “an animated-series adaptation … developed by Castlevania executive producer Adi Shankar,” IGN’s David Griffin reports.
Interviews: Baobab Studios’ Maureen Fan and Eric Darnell (VentureBeat).
Players’ Lounge – Sponsored News:
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Extra Esports News:
Congratulations:
G2 Esports on winning the Rainbow Six Pro League Season 8 Finals! They defeated FaZe Clan to take home $75,000. PET Nora-Rengo came in 3rd and Fnatic in 4th.
Virtus.pro on winning The Kuala Lumpur Major! They defeated Team Secret to take home $350,000. Evil Geniuses came in 3rd and Ninjas in Pyjamas in 4th.
Team Envy on winning the Paladins World Championship 2019! They defeated Natus Vincere. Fnatic came in 3rd and Spacestation Gaming in 4th.
Splyce on winning the SMITE World Championship 2019! They defeated Team RivaL. Dignitas came in 3rd and Trifecta in 4th.
TOX Gaming on winning the HCS Finals! They defeated Team Reciprocity.
OpTic Gaming on winning Gears Pro Circuit Columbus Charity Invitational! They defeated Rise Nation.
Smash Summit 7 winners can be found here.
Red Bull Conquest Finals winners can be found here.
Partnerships:
Challengermode and Female Legends are partnering for “the Women’s Esports League. The European league is aimed at providing women a ‘safe’ gaming environment,” TEO’s Max Miceli reports.
OpTic Gaming and Scuf Gaming renewed their partnership, Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch writes. “This partnership mainly covers OpTic Gaming’s console teams in Call of Duty and Gears of War, as well as its content creators.”
Cloud9 and Secretlab are partnering “for a series of officially-licensed gaming chairs,” TEO’s Andrew Hayward reports.
Rainbow Six Siege “will add branded character skins based on esports organizations,” Hayward reports. “Organizations in Siege‘s revenue-share pilot program get a cut of the net revenue.”
Happy weekend birthday Nam “Hurricane” Ki Woong and Monday birthday Zhou “iAsonu” Hang and Pontus “Breez” Sjogren!