In The News
Bethesda “is under investigation by law firm Migliaccio & Rathod for its refund policy towards Fallout 76 consumers,” GI.biz’s Haydn Taylor writes. “According to the Washington DC-based firm, Bethesda is refusing to issue refunds to people who bought Fallout 76 and found it unplayable due to bugs and technical issues.”
What’s Sony up to? “A new patent seems to suggest that something new is being worked on,” Techtastic’s Niels Zomer reports. “In South Korea this month a patent from Sony for an ‘electronic game cartridge’ was made public.”
Nintendo:
Nintendo makes a large chunk of its yearly revenue from the American holiday season, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime told Yahoo Finance’s Daniel Howley. “The Americas are the company’s most successful region by revenue, and the holiday season is the region’s biggest driver. ‘We typically do, in the Americas, about 60% of our revenue during that time frame.’”
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is officially the best pre-selling Super Smash Bros. title of them all. It’s also the best when it comes to pre-selling Switch games, too.
Valve released Prelude, a comic about its upcoming card game, Artifact.
Google Play is yanking games that were installing malware on users’ phones. “In total, the games had over 560,000 installs before being removed, and two made it onto Google Play’s trending apps list,” GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine reports.
Wargaming acquired Edge Case Games, Gamasutra’s Chris Kerr writes.
Appointments:
Vesa Raudasoja is the International Game Developers Association’s “new chair of its board of directors,” Gamasutra’s Emma Kidwell reports.
Frida Ericksson is Luckbox’s new director of operations, Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch writes.
Spacewar! is receiving “Pioneer Awards during an upcoming event hosted by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History,” Variety’s Brittany Vincent reports.
Sailor Moon is getting a musical, Nerdist’s Rosie Knight reports. “The official Sailor Moon website shared the news that the show would be coming to Washington D.C. and New York City in March 2019.”
Interviews: Jam City creative director Chris Tremmel (VentureBeat).
Players’ Lounge – Sponsored News:
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Extra Esports News:
MLG co-founder Mike Sepso and Bobby Sharma started “esports advisory firm Electronic Sports Group (ESG),” VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reports. “The new consulting firm will deliver strategic business advice to senior management at clients across the advertising, finance, sports, and media industries to ensure success in entering or accelerating growth in esports.”
Hearthstone posted “A New Challenger Approaches – Part 3.”
IN: AGO Esports signed Mikołaj “Elazer” Ogonowski.
Happy birthday Chai “Mushi” Yee Fung, Kim “Classic” Doh Woo and Jökull “Kaldi” Jóhannsson!