In The News
Mobile spending globally in 2018 is set to pass “$76 billion globally,” GI.biz’s James Batchelor reports. “App Annie attibuted this to not only increasing spend on mobile games but also the rise of in-app subscriptions for non-gaming mobile offerings.”
Discord raised $150 million “in funding at a $2.05 billion valuation. The round was led by Greenoaks Capital with participation from Firstmark, Tencent, IVP, Index Ventures and Technology Opportunity Partners,” TechCrunch’s Lucas Matney writes.
Bethesda wants to placate annoyed Fallout 76 players with free games, according to an Instagram post. “ANYONE who logged into the full release of #Fallout76 in 2018 will receive an entitlement for Fallout Classic Collection on PC. This applies to Xbox One and PS4 players, too. The entitlement is expected to go live in early January.”
Wanderword is a new studio in Boden, Sweden founded by “Microsoft Xbox veteran Peter Zetterberg and Fatshark chairman Thomas Lindgren,” GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine reports.
Nintendo head of partner management Damon Baker has left the company.
Blizzard’s Cork, Ireland office is looking a little empty after “over 100 staff” decided to leave after accepting “a voluntary program which offers staff money to leave Blizzard, and are not mandatory,” Gamasutra’s Emma Kidwell reports.
Microsoft’s looking at creating a slew of webcams for 2019 which are, allegedly, Xbox One-compatible, Thurrot.com reports.
Players’ Lounge – Sponsored News:
Players’ Lounge redesigned its product, resulting in a 25% increase in week-over-week matches played for four weeks running.
Investors continue to assault our inboxes. Including a few billionaires. We’re holding strong.
Players’ Lounge is hiring a Senior Vice President of Engineering! Know a brilliant, competitive senior developer with PHP and AAA/F2P development experience? Slide into our DMs.
Extra Esports News:
JD Gaming owner Richard Liu will not be charged “with rape in connection with an incident involving a University of Minnesota student,” Star Tribune’s Randy Furst reports.
2019 SEA Games esports titles were announced.
SMAAASH Entertainment is acquiring “Simplicy Esports … the team announced. SMAAASH, which operates various entertainment facilities around virtual reality, gaming and more in India, closed at a value of $2.25 per share prior to the acquisition, with a total market cap of $10.84 million,” ESPN’s Jacob Wolf writes.
Oriental Pearl is expanding “its business in esports. The company has signed multiple partnership deals with Shanghai University of Sports, Shanghai Jiushi Sport, and the Qunxin Career School,” TEO’s Hongyu Chen writes.
Partnerships:
Ultimate Gaming Championship and Skillshot Media are partnering “to improve the production of its upcoming Halo Classic event. Taking place over January 11-13th right outside of St. Louis, Missouri, the tournament will feature 4v4 and FFA competitions on Halo 3 with a combined prize pool of $35,000,” Esports Insider’s Max Miceli writes.
DreamHack and Esport-Management are partnering, Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch reports. “The deal includes head sponsorship for events such as CORSAIR DreamHack Masters, DreamHack Open, DreamHack Pro Circuit, and DreamLeague throughout the year.”
Hearthstone posted “Pro Scene Point Update: December 2018.”
IN: Anthony “Methodz” Zinni and Andres Lacefield joined G2 Esports’ CoD team.
OUT: Richard “Ricky” Stacy and Brice Faccento were released from G2 Esports’ CoD team.
Happy weekend birthday Yao “Yao” Zhengzheng and Amsah “Amsah” D. Augustuszoon and Monday birthday Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk!