In The News
Reports:
Newzoo is reporting that “the top 25 public game companies account for nearly 80 percent of the global market, and they generated $107.3 billion in revenue out of a total $134.9 billion market in 2018,” according to VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi. “That was the first time the top 25 have exceeded $100 billion in annual revenue … Combined, the top 10 companies grew 19 percent in 2018. However, the top 11 to top 25 companies together grew just percent.” Read the report here.
Finnish games are growing. The games industry in the country employed “around 3,200 by the end of 2018,” GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine writes. “This number is up from 2750 employees at the end of 2016 – a 16% increase … A total of 48 new studios were established in 2017 and 2018 … Neogames found that the number of women they employed rose from 406 in 2016 to 569 in 2018 – going from 18% of their employees to 20%.” The report can be found here.
Ubisoft pledged “€500,000 to help with the restoration and reconstruction of the [Notre Dame] Cathedral.” It’s also offering “Assassin’s Creed Unity away free on PC, for anyone who wants to enjoy it.”
Congratulations to Tyler “Ninja” Blevins on making Time’s “Most Influential People” list for 2019.
Nintendo Switch:
Tencent has been cleared to “start selling the Nintendo Switch in the country, paving the way for the console to enter the world’s largest video games market two years after it was first released worldwide,” Reuters reports.
A smaller, more affordable version of the Switch should be expected this fall, The Verge’s Sam Byford writes. “The device is said to be smaller and geared around portable play, but Nikkei says it will retain the ability to be hooked up to a TV.”
Google’s Indie Games Accelerator is back. It’s “open to mobile developers from 37 countries including India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand, Egypt, Guatemala, and more across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America,” Gamasutra’s Alissa McAloon writes.
The Akatsuki Entertainment Technology (AET) Fund “announced new investments as part of its $50 million fund for startups in the U.S. and India. The fund’s new companies span a variety of categories, such as media, esports, and hospitality,” VentureBeat’s Giancarlo Valdes reports.
Scopely is expanding “its headquarters in Los Angeles by leasing a 60,000-square feet building in Culver City, California. The new space will more than double the company’s office space,” Takahashi writes.
Another KOTOR? Don’t screw it up.
Showtime’s Halo has its Master Chief. Pablo Schreiber “will star as the Spartan commando. There’s no word on whether Schreiber’s version of the character will remained masked like his video game counterpart,” The Hollywood Reporter’s Patrick Shanley writes.
Game Informer Australia is shutting its doors.
Interviews: AbleGamers (PCGamesN).
Extra Esports News:
Super League Gaming is going to start creating “amateur tournament programs for LAN gaming centers that use ggCircuit’s software. More than 915 international venues use ggCircuit’s management and loyalty software, with more than 1M players creating accounts over the last two years,” TEO’s Andrew Hayward reports.
Partnerships:
SPORT1 and DreamHack are partnering, Hayward writes. “SPORT1 will air DreamHack’s 2019 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Rocket League tournaments on its pay-TV channel eSPORTS1. The deal provides platform-neutral and TV-exclusive rights for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.”
Dennis Smith Jr. has partnered “with Under Armour and Netherrealm Studios to produce a basketball shoe inspired by Mortal Kombat character Sub-Zero, the UA Anatomix Spawn Colorway,” Dustin Steiner at Unikrn reports.
IN: Jason “ANTi” Bates and Larry “Larry Lurr” Holland joined T1.
Interviews: YouGov Sport’s Scott Horowitz (Esports Insider), Nixon Peabody’s Michael Strauss (Esports Insider).