In The News
News broke last week that a Rhode Island state representative intends to introduce legislation seeking to tax video games with a rating of “Mature” or higher. The Daily Walkthrough found there are multiple constitutional hurdles the bill will have to overcome.
Read a snippet of “Rhode Island ‘Video Game Tax’ Faces Constitutional Obstacles, ACLU Opposition“:
“‘Video games, like magazines and newspapers, are protected speech. We believe any attempt to impose a discriminatory tax on certain video games based on…’”
Matt Carroll is Sports Interactive’s first chief operating officer.
SuperData posted its “2017 Digital Games & Interactive Media Year in Review.” All hail gaming.
Blizzard president Mike Morhaime and head of esports product and operations Kim Phan did an interview with VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi. Here’s a snippet: “‘How people consume the content in gaming — they’re already accustomed to watching on mobile devices, playing on mobile devices. They’re already on that screen. Where you choose to watch esports right now…’”
Partnership news:
Twitch and The 1,000 Dreams Fund are partnering “to help promote up-and-coming female streamers on the platform” with financial assistance, Game Informer’s Elise Favis writes.
The Esports Observer’s Graham Ashton reports that Shadow.gg and Battlefly are partnering for collegiate League of Legends.
Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch reports ESL Meisterschaft and Gillette are partnering.
Nintendo spiffed up its website so Switch users can leave “reviews on Switch games’ product pages — so long as you sign into your Nintendo Account,” Engadget’s Jon Fingas writes.
That’ll be $10, please. Metal Gear Survive restricted “the number of character save slots. Players have access to just one slot, while three additional character slots are locked behind an in-game currency purchase,” Polygon’s Michael McWhertor reports. Fans are less than enthused.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is selling well, but the biggest complaint people seem to have is the amount of bugs still present. According to PC Gamer’s Vikki Blake, executive producer Martin Klíma wishes his team had had more time.
Congratulations to Avangar on winning the PUBG IEM Katowice Invitational. OpTic Gaming came in 2nd, Cloud9 in 3rd and FaZe Clan in 4th.
Hearthstone news:
Congratulations to Jack “Jakattack” Gifford on winning HCT Sydney.
Dot Esports’ Callum Leslie interviewed caster Dan “Frodan” Chou.
Leslie also interviewed caster TJ Sanders.
Call of Duty MLG caster Jack “CouRage” Dunlop is leaving to pursue streaming.