In The News
Uh oh. Nintendo Switch has been hacked, Eurogamer’s Richard Leadbetter reports. It was hacked “with two similar exploits released in the last 24 hours following a complete dump of the console’s boot ROM. The hacks are hardware-based in nature and cannot be patched by Nintendo.”
Jay Moon passed away, according to Gamasutra’s Alissa McAloon. “Moon played critical roles in a wide variety of notable games that sprung up during the 1990s, acting as producer, project manager, music coordinator, and public relations.”
Sales news:
March National Purchase Diary numbers are out, courtesy of Game Informer’s Imran Khan. Here are the top 3:
- Far Cry 5 (top selling game for 2018)
- Sea of Thieves (a record for Rare)
- MLB 18: The Show
GamesIndustry.biz’s Haydn Taylor writes that “although hardware spending in March was down by 32 per cent to $331 million, spending for the first quarter of 2018 rose by 13 per cent to $925 million.”
The Esports Insider’s Graham Ashton reports MTG, the company that owns ESL, “reports record Q1 sales of €450M, with 9.2% organic growth compared to a year earlier … MTGx, the company’s digital, online games and esports division, saw a 226% increase in sales—with esports sales up 32%.”
Microsoft news:
Microsoft moved against ElDewrito, Eurogamer’s Wesley Yin-Poole reports. “343 Industries has signalled Microsoft has lawyered up. In a post on Halo Waypoint, 343 said Microsoft had ‘initiated actions to protect its Halo intellectual property’ … ElDewrito is a community-made mod for Halo Online.”
GamesIndustry.biz’s Brendan Sinclair reports “Microsoft’s senior director of Xbox console marketing Albert Penello today announced on Twitter that he is leaving the company.”
Put your phone down when you’re driving and pay attention. That includes Paul “Ice_Poseidon” Denino, who almost got into a car accident.
Belgium dinged loot boxes, Yin-Poole reports. “A statement from Minister of Justice Koen Geens said FIFA 18, Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive were therefore illegal and demanded their loot boxes removed.”
Partnership and acquisition news:
Esports Insider’s David Hollingsworth writes that Twitch and SLIVER.tv partnered “to add their Tilted Trivia extension to the platform, allowing viewers to play live by contributing Twitch Bits.”
Ashton reports Lagardère Sports “has been appointed as the exclusive partnership sales house of RFRSH Entertainment … [It] will be responsible for all sales promotion for esports teams Astralis and Heroic, as well as CS:GO tournament series BLAST Pro Series.”
Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch reports NEVI acquired the Copenhagen Flames. “As explained by Copenhagen Flames in its announcement, this acquisition will ‘enhance our financial capabilities’ and ‘accelerate our current growth.’”
Details are out about Kartridge’s revenue sharing, VentureBeat’s Stephanie Chan reports. “Kartridge will enable developers to set their own price points on their games. Its new terms also now state that developers will always take home 100 percent of their first $10,000 in revenue generated on the site. After that, the revenue share will be 70 percent.” Kartridge is developed by Kongregate.
Happy birthday to Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev!