In The News
Stealing the top of the newsletter here for a bit: I’m very excited to finally tell y’all I’ll be hosting CWL Las Vegas Dec. 7-9! Tune in and watch me kill it or go down in rather epic fashion.
Loot Boxes:
The Federal Trade Commission will investigate “video game loot boxes to ensure that children are being protected and parents are educated on the matter,” Variety’s Brian Crecente reports.
The Australian government is also undertaking “a comprehensive review of loot boxes by the Environment and Communications Reference Committee,” Taylor reports.
Free-to-play console games saw revenue “triple year-on-year to $64 million during Black Friday and Cyber Monday,” SuperData found via GI.biz’s Haydn Taylor. “Overall digital spending for the holiday period was up by 14.5% year-on-year; premium console spend climbed 24.5% to reach $1 billion worldwide, while PC was up 18.3% to generate $586 million.”
Geoff Keighley teased “more than 10 new games” to be announced at The Game Awards Dec. 6.
A gamer has been arrested for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl while his PlayStation microphone was still on, WFTS reports. “The alleged rape was witnessed by another gamer who overheard the incident while playing the game with the suspect over PlayStation 4 … Daniel Enrique Fabian, 18, was arrested on Wednesday, November 21 and charged with lewd and lascivious battery in connection to the incident which occurred on June 28, 2018.”
Nifty Games raised $3 million “to make high-quality sports games on mobile and digital platforms,” VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reports.
Sorry guys, Nintendo squashed rumors of “the prospect of a Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword port for Nintendo Switch,” Eurogamer’s Tom Phillips writes.
Facebook Gaming introduced a charity livestreaming feature, Engadget’s AJ Dellinger reports. “Gamers who broadcast on Facebook Gaming will be able to set up fundraising programs to raise money.”
The Southeast Asian Games now have esports has a medal event, PC Gamer’s Fraser Brown writes. “The Philippines SEA Games Organising Committee made the announcement today, revealing that it would be partnering with Razer to support the Filipino athletes.”
Games4EU would rather not do the whole Brexit thing. The “anti-Brexit organization … has published an open letter detailing the group’s concerns over the UK’s impending separation from the European Union and the negative effects it believes the split will have on the local game industry,” Gamasutra’s Alissa McAloon reports.
Jam City is opening a Toronto studio “to support the acquisition of the Bingo Pop IP and development team from Uken Games,” GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine reports.
First things first, no one “pens” anything anymore, Variety. Anyway, a Call of Duty movie sequel is already in the works, Justin Kroll writes.
Calling all D&D enthusiasts, you can now slay in style. Old Spice created “its own class within D&D: the Old Spice Gentleman Class,” Nerdist’s Blair Marnell reports.
Interviews: THQ Nordic CEO Lars Wingefors (GI.biz) and Electronic Sports Group Chairman Mike Sepso (TEO).
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Extra Esports News:
NetEase “has announced its 2019 esports plan for multiple Blizzard esports games, including Hearthstone, Starcraft II, Warcraft III, and Heroes of the Storm,” TEO’s Hongyu Chen writes. “NetEase will provide ¥5M RMB ($720K USD) as total prize pool for its Warcraft III competitions.”
Dota 2:
Came in 4th for hours watched on Twitch in the last week at 8.23 million, TEO reports.
V7.20 patch notes can be found here.
Black Ops 4 came in 6th for hours watched on Twitch in the last week at 4.03 million, TEO reports.
Partnerships:
Williams Esports and Razer are partnering, Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch reports. “Described as a long-term partnership, this deal will see the two parties work on activations and the development of ‘innovative technology solutions.’”
Audi is partnering with FOKUS CLAN and Schanzer Esports, Fitch writes. “FOKUS CLAN’s partnership with Audi was initiated with involvement from STARK eSports, and will see the inclusion of Audi’s branding on the team’s apparel and social channels. Activations are also planned for the future.”
Interviews: Agent Barry Lee (Akshon Esports, Inven Global).