In The News
Twitch and Nintendo are partnering to offer “Twitch Prime members up to a full year of the Nintendo Switch Online service,” according to a press release. “Starting today, Twitch Prime members can claim three free months of Nintendo Switch Online when they visit twitch.amazon.com/nintendo. After 60 days, they can come back to get another nine months of Nintendo Switch Online, for a total of 12 months.”
Zammis Clark pleaded guilty “to hacking into Microsoft and Nintendo networks,” The Verge’s Tom Warren reports. By pleading guilty, the 24-year-old avoided jail time. “In total, around 43,000 files were stolen after Clark targeted Microsoft’s internal Windows flighting servers. These servers contain confidential copies of pre-release versions of Windows, and are used to distribute early beta code to developers working on Windows.”
Spawn Wave is up with an investigative piece detailing alleged plans for a Game of Thrones game via From Software.
Tencent opened “its own cloud gaming platform, ‘Start’, for public testing by users in Shanghai and Guangdong,” Gamasutra’s Emma Kidwell writes. “This announcement comes just over a week after Google revealed its own cloud streaming platform, Stadia.”
Rovio invested “$3 million in Play Ventures’ venture capitalist fund aimed at making early stage investments in a number of gaming companies,” GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine reports.
Hyper Light Drifter is getting a “TV show led by developer Alx Preston and producer Adi Shankar,” Kidwell writes.
Firecraft Studios’ Matchington Mansion has “surpassed $100 million in IAP revenue and 50 million downloads,” Apptopia reports. “February of this year was Matchington’s biggest month ever in terms of both downloads and revenue.”
United Kingdom Digital Minister Margot James has an op-ed out on GI.biz titled “Digital Minister Margot James: ‘This government is committed to helping games companies.’”
The “Into The Pixel” video art exhibit at E3 is now accepting submissions.
Summer Games Done Quick announced the 2019 games list.
Extra Esports News:
Partnerships & Sponsorships:
World of Warcraft and GOG.com are partnering, according to a tweet. “In anticipation of the 25th anniversary of Warcraft, we’ve partnered with @GOGcom to rerelease the real-time strategy classics that started it all—Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and Warcraft II http://Battle.net Edition.”
Alliance and Razer are partnering, Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch reports.
Esports Stadium Arlington and N3rd Street Gamers are partnering, Fitch writes. “As a result of the deal, N3rd Street Gamers’ National Championship Series will be integrated into Esports Stadium Arlington’s Strike League.”
ESP Gaming and Avira are partnering, Fitch reports. Avira will be “the exclusive cyber-security and gaming optimization partner of World Showdown of Esports‘ fifth event, taking place on March 30th-31st.”
Acer’s Predator brand is sponsoring Team Envy, TEO’s Andrew Hayward writes. “The deal includes logo placement on Envy players’ jerseys, content creation and appearances, and hardware for the team’s headquarters.”
Interviews: OverActive Media’s Patrick Sauer (ESPN), OverActive Media’s Chris Overholt (TEO).
Happy birthdays Alexey “Awers” Chistiakov and Owen “ODPixel” Davies!