In The News
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New Zealand’s Department for Internal Affairs said loot boxes are not gambling, GamesIndustry.biz’s Haydn Taylor writes. “It’s not illegal for New Zealanders to gamble online with overseas gambling providers and under current legislation the Department has no ability to regulate loot boxes.”
The Consumer Electronics Show starts in less than a month, and CEO Gary Shapiro spoke with VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi about what to expect this year around.
Here’s a snippet: “In terms of footprint, we’ll be bigger. Last year, we were about 2.6 million net square feet. This year, we just surpassed 2.6 million net square feet. It will be bigger. The official stat is more than 2.6 million.”
What’s esports going to look like in 2022? A lot of money, according to SuperData. GamesIndustry.biz’s James Brightman reports that “global revenue for the sector [will be] up 26% by 2020 and reaching $2.3 billion by 2022.”
Market Realist’s Adam Rogers reports that the most popular esports games include League of Legends, CS:GO and Dota 2. League was the most watched game on Twitch in October of 2017.
“The game was watched for a total of 94.3 million hours, while 37.3 million were eSports hours. The other top games that were viewed extensively include Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and Activision Blizzard’s (ATVI) Hearthstone. They clocked in 15.5 million, 14.6 million, and 6.4 million in eSports hours, respectively.”
Bungie is making additional changes to Destiny 2 content after continued backlash due to some activities being restricted by DLC purchases. “It’s clear that we’ve made some mistakes with how we have handled content access,” a press release reads. “To make matters worse, our team overlooked the fact that both of these mistakes…”
Have mic, will rant. Hazelight Studios co-founder Josef Fares doesn’t regret his viral “fuck the Oscars” rant at The Game Awards last week. He told Polygon’s Samit Sarkar: “’I can’t change who I am,’ said Fares in a phone interview. ‘It’s very hard to control. When I get excited, it’s like — it’s hard to control. Like, it’s almost like: In my head I want to say something, but my mouth, it kind of, like, takes out everything.’”
SportsBusiness Journal released its “50 Most Influential People In Sports Business,” and a number of esports folks made the list. The Esports Observer’s Angelos Anastasopoulos writes that names like Robert Kraft, Jerry Jones, Ted Leonsis and Bobby Kotick.
Naughty Dog announced its Uncharted’s franchise has sold over 41 million copies.
Ah, babies. Throats aren’t where you find them, but in Hideo Kojima’s case, they are. He spoke with IGN’s Martin Sliva about Death Stranding and its trailer at The Game Awards.
Here’s a snippet: “‘One of the themes of this game is life and death. So I want people to realize that when they die in the game, that isn’t the end’ … At that point, you’re not dead or alive. It’s the equivalent of that screen that says ‘Continue?’ and a counter ticking down towards zero.’”
Ataribox (Credit: Atari)
Ataribox pre-orders go live Thursday, Engadget’s Timothy J. Seppala reports. “The company emailed the news to fans recently and even teased that there will be a chance for the “earliest supporters” to snag one at a discounted price.”
Applications for Twitch’s second Hosting and Interview Workshop are open. It takes place Feb. 1-2, 2018.
Xbox One S and Xbox One X have a new app that allows you to watch YouTube in 4k.
Valve removed a game from Steam that ruffled some feathers. Called You Must Be 18 or Older to Enter, it’s a horror game taken down over pornography concerns.
“Sexual content appears in the form in in-game (and selectively blurred) ASCII art that the game’s protagonist attempts to stealthy view on a home computer without being caught by their parents,” Gamasutra’s Alissa McAloon writes.