In The News
Amazon, Comcast and EA are bidding to buy Nexon, Reuters reports. “Last week, South Korean tech firms Netmarble and Kakao and private equity fund MBK Partners submitted letters of intent to buy the holding firm.”
Investment:
Sviper raised “$2.8 million in funding from Modern Times Group,” VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reports. “To date, the company has raised $4.3 million.”
Hipfire Games “raised $205,000 (€180,000) for its VR and smartphone game, Fail Space. The developer raised the capital from Sisu Game Ventures and a group of other unnamed investors,” GI.biz’s Christopher Dring writes.
Closing:
Techland is shutting down its “Polish publishing division by the end of the year” and expects to lay off 13 employees, GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine reports.
Wish Studios is shutting down, GI.biz’s Haydn Taylor reports. “Indie developer Wish Studios is closing its business, resulting in the redundancies of 13 full-time staff.”
OUT: Christofer Sundberg is leaving Avalanche Studios, which he founded, GameSpot’s Eddie Makuch writes.
The United Kingdom’s Labour Party is revealing its “new policies on online gambling,” Esports Insider’s Oliver Ring reports. “From a gaming and esports perspective, Watson will announce he is going to undertake a ‘Gamer’s Consultation’ with the purpose of ‘gathering evidence’ about the relationship between gambling and gaming – with a particular focus on loot boxes and skins.”
Tencent and Intel are partnering to launch a “service called Instant Play,” Gamasutra’s Emma Kidwell reports.
Playdius is rebranding to Dear Villagers.
Interviews: Intel’s Bob Swan (VentureBeat), Ascendant Studios’ Bret Robbins (GI.biz) and Obsidian’s Feargus Urquhart (Game Informer).
Extra Esports News:
World Cyber Games announced some of the titles games for its rebooted competition, Unikrn’s Dustin Steiner writes.
MSI is providing high schools with “more than $174K USD in prizing in the form of MSI computers and peripherals. The Spring Major features competition in nine games, including Overwatch, Rocket League, and League of Legends,” TEO’s Andrew Hayward writes.
Partnerships:
Pringles and ESL are extending their partnership, Ring reports.
Wolves and Weibo eSports are partnering “to form a new esports team in China called Wolves Weibo eSports,” Esports Insider’s Chenglu Zhang reports.
OUT: Saleem “Salem” Akiel Young is no longer with Team Liquid.
Happy birthday Lee “Heen” Seung Gon!