In The News
Weekend in Review:
Goodbye, Machinima. Otter Media confirmed Machinima is closing after its YouTube videos were made unavailable. Eighty-one employees have been laid off and operations “ceased,” Deadline’s Patrick Hipes reports.
Metro Exodus has its fair share of drama. The Epic Games Store exclusivity isn’t sitting well with a lot of fans. “The latest development saw the publisher of Metro Exodus ask angry fans not to focus their upset at the developer of the game,” Eurogamer’s Wesley Yin-Poole reports. “Deep Silver issued a statement over the weekend in response to an impassioned comment from one of the developers of the game about the anger from some that Metro Exodus will not be sold on Steam despite being available to pre-order on Valve’s platform for some time.”
StreamElements put out a report showing 9.36 billion hours were watched on Twitch in 2018. YouTube Live saw 2.31 billion and Mixer saw 167.96 million. When it comes to growth, Twitch’s hours watched grew by 25%, YouTube by 104% and Mixer by 179%.
Earnings:
Sony’s “PlayStation division accounted for around $670 million (JP¥73 billion) in profit from circa $7.3 billion total revenue,” Engadget’s Jamie Rigg reports. “PS Plus is more popular than ever, too, with 36.3 million subscribers on the books at the turn of the new year.”
Capcom says Monster Hunter: World “was the first game in Capcom’s history to exceed 10 million units shipped,” PC Gamer’s Fraser Brown reports. “Net sales specifically for games, which made up the greatest chunk of Capcom’s earnings, was up 55.2% from the same period in the previous fiscal year.”
Konami’s “profits and revenues are up so far this financial year,” GI.biz’s James Batchelor reports. “Revenue for the nine months ended December 31 is up 7.8% year-on-year to $1.75 billion, while operating profit saw a slight uptick of 2.4% to $358.9 million.”
Michael Condrey joined 2K Games.
A Sony patent has us paying attention. “The next PlayStation could include backward compatibility for previous PlayStation consoles,” IGN’s Colin Stevens writes of the patent. “The patent details a process that could run software from legacy devices perfectly on a new device.”
Xbox Live capabilities are stepping up. “Xbox Live will soon have a cross-platform developer kit that integrates the service into Android, iOS and Switch games,” Engadget’s Jon Fingas writes.
The FBI is looking into illegal happenings being facilitated through Discord. “Discord groups dedicated to cybercriminal activity are being investigated by the FBI. The groups are being used by low-level hackers to share stolen data, like usernames and passwords,” Forbes’ Thomas Brewster writes.
The Chinese government is set to recognize “gaming as an official profession, according to a newly released list of job titles from China’s Occupation Skill Testing Authority (OSTA),” Variety’s Emily Gera writes.
Nintendo and Illumination “are partnering on a movie starring Mario, co-produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and Chris Meledandri!”
Raymond Doerr, the developer behind Rise to Ruins, is closing down the game’s Patreon due to its success and offering to return donations — and double them.
Interviews: Terry Crews (Pedestrian).
Extra Esports News:
CWL London will be hosted by Gfinity, Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch reports. “Taking place in the Copper Box Arena in the English capital, the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 competition will run from May 3rd-5th.”
WESG Grand Final “will be held in the Chongqing Olympic Sports Center, with over $2.5M USD as the total prize pool,” TEO’s Hongyu Chen writes. “Alisports will partner with multiple segments of the Chongqing government.”
Team Gullit and Robey Sportswear are partnering, Fitch reports. “The deal will see the team – which is owned by former footballer Ruud Gullit – have its own merchandise in a similar vein to traditional sportswear.”
Red Bull posted “We send off Melee’s 2018 with the final ten, and start anew with Genesis.”
Team Liquid announced “Liquid Smash League, a brand new online league for all skill levels building towards a grand championship on the fourth week.”
IN: Asa “Stimpy” Butterfield joined Panda Global.