In The News
Rockstar dropped its lawsuit against the Pinkertons, Game Informer’s Imran Khan reports. “Rockstar and Take-Two state that they voluntarily withdrew the lawsuit, but considering there is no mention of the Pinkertons’ cease & desist proceeding to any sort of suits on their end, it is likely the two parties reached a deal to quietly just pretend none of this ever happened.”
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice ticked over 2 million copies sold in less than 10 days, according to a press release.
Acquisition:
JD.com has purchased “the exclusive rights to ‘Minecraft: Education Edition’ in China, according to a joint announcement released Wednesday by JD.com and Microsoft. The move is part of JD Cloud’s foray into the education sector,” Technode’s Nicole Jao writes.
Animoca Brands acquired “a 75 percent stake in developer Skytree for $850,000 in cash and shares,” Gamasutra’s Chris Kerr reports.
Ubisoft removed a slur from The Division 2, GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine writes. “The slur is written in ‘leetspeak’ and appears on the badge of a police officer depicted on a piece of street art in the game that spans multiple stories of a tall building.”
Interviews: Xbox’s Mike Nichols (The Telegraph).
Extra Esports News:
Chinese esports is expected to reach a value of “¥21.1 bn RMB (£2.3bn) by 2020. CCTV also reported that there are over 50,000 working in the industry — a number which is also expected to rapidly increase to past 250,000 by 2020,” Esports Insider’s Chenglu Zhang reports.
Portland Trail Blazers’ Meyers Leonard “announced that he has invested in esports team FaZe Clan. Leonard hinted at the partnership by wearing custom FaZe Clan sneakers during a basketball game on April 9. According to a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA), Leonard and FaZe Clan will collaborate on content this summer,” TEO’s H.B. Duran writes.
Fox Sports obtained the broadcast rights for “a number of FIFA 19 eSports events this year. Following the EA Sports FUT Champions Cup last weekend, it will broadcast FIFA 19 Global Series events in the US,” Engadget’s Kris Holt reports.
Happy birthday Choi “Trust” Sung Il!