In The News
Total industry spend “is down 11% compared to this time last year in the United States, market research firm The NPD Group reported,” according to VentureBeat’s Jason Wilson. “Sales of hardware, software, accessories, and game cards was to $1.2 billion, and NPD said that declines happened in all these segments … A sagging hardware market resulted in a weaker first quarter in 2018 as compared to 2019 — it was $3.2 billion, down 2 percent.”
Some of the first teasers for the next Call of Duty game are here. According to Charlie Intel, “Activision hosted some sort of event for athletes today to allow them to play the new Call of Duty title, which no details have been announced publicly on.” A host of college football athletes posted Instagrams at the Call of Duty event.
Sales:
Kingdom Hearts III “is now the franchise’s best-selling entry in the U.S.,” VentureBeat’s Mike Minotti reports from The NPD Group. “It is also the best-selling game of 2019 so far in the U.S. Kingdom Hearts III takes the series’ U.S. top spot from the original Kingdom Hearts, which came out for the PlayStation 2 back in September 2002.”
Frostpunk ticked over “1.4 million copies” sold since its release a year ago. “A studio rep said that Frostpunk, which surged to more than 250,000 copies sold just three days after release, had its best performance in the United States,” Wilson reports.
Interviews: Reboot Develop’s Warren Spector (GI.biz).
Extra Esports News:
Axiomatic Gaming raised “$21 million April 18, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The $21.5 million raised was part of a planned $25 million round,” Los Angeles Business Journal’s Samson Amore reports. “Axiomatic has now raised $89 million since its 2015 founding.”
Forbes did a profile on Ateyo co-founders Rachel Feinberg and Breanne Harrison-Pollock.
Poland’s president considers esports a sport, according to Daily Esports’ Naim Rosinski. President Andrzej Duda said “Esports without a doubt can be considered sports.”
GumGum “has announced its latest product, a sponsorship management platform, which is intended to change the game when it comes to sponsorships on live streams,” Esports Insider’s Graham Corking writes. GumGum is an “artificial intelligence- powered sponsorship measurement platform.”
Partnerships:
WCG and Samsung are partnering, Esports Insider’s Joe Wong reports. Samsung will be “their presenting partner for the WCG 2019 Finals in Xi’an. From July 18th to 21st, the WCG makes its return to the international stage.”
Team Vitality and HKS are partnering “to create their first esports facility in Paris. The goal of the collaboration is to transform the organisation from digital to physical in central Paris,” Corking reports.
Interviews: Tyler “Ninja” Blevins (Time).