In The News
EA:
I wasn’t going to put this first but it made me laugh, so here we are. The Walt Disney Company says it has a “good relationship” with EA and doesn’t plan to make games itself, Variety’s Brian Crecente reports. “We’ve had good relationships with some of those we’re licensing to, notably EA and the relationship on the Star Wars properties, and we’re probably going to stay on that side of the business and put our capital elsewhere,” Disney’s Bob Iger said.
Translation: Walt Disney gives approximately 0 of whatever expletive you prefer about Star Wars games, and will continue to allow EA to murder them. Huzzah.
EA’s revenue in its third fiscal quarter was “$1.29 billion … Its adjusted revenue was $1.61 billion, falling short of Street forecasts. Ten analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.75 billion,” the Associated Press reports. EA’s shares have risen 17% since the start of the year. The earnings report can be found here.
Battlefield V’s sales aren’t where EA would like them to be. “CEO Andrew Wilson announced that Battlefield V missed its sales expectations for the holiday quarter,” Game Informer’s Jeff Marchiafava writes. “Battlefield V has sold 7.3 million copies, putting it 1 million units below the company’s expectations.”
Square Enix:
SE saw “declines across the board thus far in the fiscal year,” GI.biz’s James Batchelor writes. “Operating income and ordinary income have been impacted more heavily. The former is down 65.3% year-on-year to $106 million, while the latter fell 54.1% to $145.5 million. Profits are down 60.1% year-on-year, from $203.5 million to $81.3 million.”
Kingdom Hearts III has shipped “five million copies since its release late last month,” Game Informer’s Imran Khan reports.
Take-Two Interactive “reported strong financial results for the third quarter of 2019,” GameSpot’s Tamoor Hussain writes. “Red Dead Redemption 2 has ‘sold-in more than 23 million units worldwide.’”
Hi-Rez Studios released a statement on employee Thomas “Elvine” Cheung, who was just arrested in a child sex sting, stating it fired him.
Casinos are paying attention to “skill-based games” and “more than 70 percent of 100 casinos surveyed said that they plan to adopt” them, VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reports.
Pennsylvania:
Go away, Pennsylvania. The Entertainment Software Association is pushing back against a proposed law to tax video games in the state, arguing it’s a “violation of the US constitution,” GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine reports.
Or, maybe don’t? You confuse me. Pennsylvania just made Feb. 6 “Esports Day” and February “Esports Month,” Gambling News’s Julie Moraine reports.
Flaskbreak raised “$2 million in funding for live mobile game competitions that reward gamers with real-money rewards,” Takahashi reports.
Microsoft Studios is rebranding to Xbox Game Studios.
Nintendo is bringing “text and voice chat to Nintendo Switch games” via Vivox’s software development kit, VentureBeat’s Jason Wilson writes.
Partnerships:
NBCUniversal and Starbreeze are partnering “to publish a new first-person shooter mobile game dubbed Payday: Crime War,” Takahashi reports.
Hatch and DOCOMO are partnering “as part of collaboration aiming to bring the 5G cloud gaming revolution to Japanese consumers,” a press release reads.
BioWare posted “Onward to Launch!” after its Anthem demo.
Interviews: Take-Two Interactive’s Strauss Zelnick (GI.biz).
Extra Esports News:
Let’s talk about Genesis 6. Ben Goldhaber is up with a Medium piece titled “How Genesis 6 smashed viewership records, and my expectations.”
Here’s a snippet: “This is huge. But I’d be lying if I said this peak satisfied my craving for absurd growth.”
Partnerships:
Ajax eSports and ICONIX are partnering, Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch reports. “The deal includes Ajax eSports and has been signed to last for almost 10 years.”
LOOT.BET and UCC are collaborating, Esports Insider’s Cody Luongo writes. “The agreement is set to go into effect today and last until February 2020.”
Happy birthday Zeng “Faith” Hongda, Harrison “psalm” Chang and Garrett “GarrettG” Gordon!