In The News
Sony is “cracking down on sexual content in PlayStation 4 videogames globally, reflecting concerns in the U.S. about the depiction of women in games but also irritating some software developers,” The Wall Street Journal’s Takashi Mochizuki writes.
Iraqi lawmakers “are considering a ban on violent games that ‘threaten the social and moral peace’ of the country,” GI.biz’s Haydn Taylor reports. ‘Citing no evidence, Ghulab said violent video games were “affecting the social, psychological and educational level of everyone.’”
Financials:
Video games pulled in “over $1 billion in donations to creators since 2009” on Kickstarter, VentureBeat’s Giancarlo Valdes reports. “This total comes from the 3.2 million people who pledged money to almost 17,000 game-related projects.”
Brawl Stars raked in “$200 million in worldwide player spending across the App Store and Google Play” in 4 months, according to Sensor Tower. “This is an additional $50 million on top of the $150 million we showed the game had grossed in its first 90 days.”
Xbox:
Xbox One S All-Digital Edition will be available at retailers starting May 7 for $250, Engadget’s Jessica Conditt reports. Pre-orders are available now.
The Xbox Game Pass Ultimate has been announced.
Xbox and ELEAGUE are partnering “to showcase Gears 5 multiplayer in a new TV series on TBS called Eleague Gears Summer Series: The Bonds and Betrayals of Brotherhood,” Valdes writes. “The six-part Summer Series will tell the stories of six esports players and Gears of War fans as they compete in tournaments throughout the summer.”
Plug In Digital is opening an office in China, Taylor reports. “Chinese industry veteran Gao Zheren has been brought in to manage the branch.”
Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford wants y’all to STFU about the Epic Store.
Capcom is offering “the Capcom Home Arcade, a plug-and-play system with two full-size arcade joystick and button set-ups on a panel shaped like the company’s logo,” GI.biz’s Brendan Sinclair reports.
The Witcher Netflix series will drop in late 2019.
Guy “Dr. Disrespect” Beahm’s Twitter and Twitch were hacked last night, PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk reports. “It’s not known what happened at this point: The Twitch channel was completely gone for a while, but is currently back though offline (the viewers are expressing their displeasure in a very Twitch-like fashion) while the hacked tweets have been deleted and the account cleaned up.”
Gamescom 2019 will open with a new show called Opening Night Live hosted by Geoff Keighley, IGN’s Joe Skrebels reports. “The event will take place on Monday August 19, at 11am Pacific, 2pm Eastern, 7pm UK (that’s 6am AEST on August 20).”
IN: Jen MacLean, formerly of IGDA, has joined Amazon Game Tech.
Interviews: Unity’s Clive Downie (GI.biz).
Extra Esports News:
Gen.G has raised “$46M USD from a diverse syndicate of investors that includes several prominent Silicon Valley funds and high-profile individuals such as LA Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong and actor Will Smith,” TEO’s Ben Fischer writes.
World Rugby is taking a look at esports. It has “appointed Strive Sponsorship to help evaluate future opportunities within the video gaming and esports industry,” Esports Insider’s Laura Byrne reports. “The deal will enable World Rugby to tap into a market that the likes of football, Formula 1 and basketball have all seen success with tournaments such as the FIFA Global series, Formula One Esports Series and the NBA 2K League.”
OUT: T1 Entertainment released Sebastian “Xixo” Bentert.
Happy birthday Neta “33” Shapira!