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!
League Land
Riot posted “Patch 9.3 Notes: Lore Edition.”
Lore: Udyr, Jarvan IV, Sejuani, Master Yi, Annie.
The Spring Splits for LEC and LCS are ongoing. LCS’s Spring Finals will be in St. Louis.
LoL Esports posted “LEC Mic Check: Week 3 | Spring Split 2019.”
Interviews: Counter Logic Gaming’s Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes (Travis Gafford), Cloud9’s Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu (Locodoco), Clutch Gaming’s Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme (Akshon Esports).
Yesterday’s PBE update includes balance changes to Rek’Sai, Sylas and Vi.
Champion and skin sale: RIP outdated forever.
Weekly free champions: Annie, Corki, Dr. Mundo, Fiora, Karthus, Kayle, Lucian, Wukong, Mordekaiser, Sion, Tahm Kench, Warwick, Xin Zhao, Zac.
Over/Under Watch
Happy birthday Alberto “Crumbz” Rengifo!
Lunar New Year is ongoing through Feb. 18. Information can be found here.
Overwatch League:
Overwatch League Season 2 begins Feb. 14. Information can be found here. The full schedule can be found here. The official Player Tracker from OWL is here. Reddit’s OWL Free Agency Tracker is here. The Overwatch League Shop is open!
Meet the new talent and check out the Twitter hashtags for each team.
Direction? Hmm. Dot Esports’ Liz Richardson is up with a piece about “a lack of direction” for OWL going into Season 2.
Atlanta Reign posted “Atlanta Reign: Player Highlight – Gator.”
Houston Outlaws posted “Boink Interview | Houston Outlaws 2019.”
Toronto Defiant posted “Toronto Defiant Fans Swarm EB Games Canada! — First Team Meet and Greet.”
Josh “Sideshow” Wilkinson posted “Sideshow on: Washington Justice (D.C.).”
The Game Haus posted “WatchHaus Ep. 16: ZachaREEE Joins the Crew!”
OUT: Based Tryhards disbanded.
Reddit AMA: Florida Mayhem’s John Kracum.
Interviews: Paris Eternal’s Julien “daemoN” Ducros (Zaroide), New York Excelsior’s Kai Mathey (Forbes), Florida Mayhem’s Marvin “Promise” Schröder (The Overguard).
Overwatch Contenders:
Contenders Season 3 is over.
The Broverwatch posted “The Broverwatch Podcast Official Power Rankings! | Broverwatch (Episode 48).”
IN: Outta My Game picked up We Have Org’s core and added new players.
KYUNG JE “AMON” KIM joined Geekstar.Eclipse.
Wake Me Up Before You CS:GO
Congratulations to Anders Blume on the healthy birth of his daughter.
Joshua “steel” Nissan posted “IGL Series: Different Methods To Attack A Site.”
Intel posted “Astralis – Winners of $1,000,000 Intel Grand Slam | Intel.”
Betway esports posted “CS:GO Pros Answer: Who is the Most Legendary Player?”
IN: Joshua “m1cks” Micks joined Rogue on trial.
Blast Pro Series announced the São Paulo pre-sale is live.
IEM Katowice Major 2019 is Feb. 13 through March 3. Changes are detailed here. Teams advancing to the New Challengers Stage are here.
Royale Review
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
IN: Elevate announced their roster.
Mehmood “Moody” Askar joined Don’t Let’em Getcha.
National PUBG League is ongoing.
OPPO PUBG Mobile India Series 2019 is ongoing.
Go4PUBG North America is “every Sunday at 15 ET (noon Pacific).”
Asia Pacific Predator League 2019 is Feb. 15-17.
Season 5 of mobile PUBG is ongoing.
Fortnite Battle Royale
Season 7 is ongoing.
Wins And Fails
It’s important to laugh. That’s why TheDW has compiled some of the best wins and fails of the last 24 hours.
- People posting about how they “just made something” like wtf how?!
- That’s a “no” from me, dawg.
- They ain’t wrong.
Secret Unlocked
Steam’s Lunar New Year Sale is live.
Upcoming Releases And Events
RELEASES
Trailers: Halo: Outpost Discovery Announcement Trailer.
Metro Exodus – Artyom’s Nightmare (Official 4K).
MLB The Show 19 – Gameplay Trailer | PS4.
Mortal Kombat 11 – Official Kabal Reveal Trailer.
Friday: BlazBlue CentralFiction Special Edition on Switch.
God Eater 3 on PC and PS4.
Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 2 on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
Stunt Kite Party on Switch.
DELAYED: Phoenix Point until September.
EVENTS
Today: ESI Winter Forum Series 2019.
Ongoing: CWL Pro League.
Friday: Steam is holding an award show for its Steam Awards Friday at 1 p.m. ET.
Sponsorship Inquiries & Comments
Email at katie@thedailywalkthrough.com.
Disclaimer: Katie Bedford works with MLG as a host for Call of Duty: World League.