In The News
Earnings news:
Engadget’s Nick Summers reports “in the full year leading up to March 31st, 2018,” Sony “raked in revenue of 8,544 billion yen (roughly $78.1 billion) and operating income, or profit, of 734.9 billion yen (roughly $6.7 billion).”
VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb writes that Microsoft’s “Xbox division brought in $2.251 billion in the quarter that ended March 31. That’s up 18 percent year-over-year compared to $1.906 billion in Q3 2017.”
AListDaily’s H. B. Duran reports “Global consumers spent $8.9 billion on digital video games in March, an increase of two percent (YoY) … Console digital revenue was the primary driver of growth last month.”
Partnership news:
Nintendo is partnering with Cygames, Game Informer’s Imran Khan writes, to co-develop “an action RPG called Draglia Lost.”
Wizards of the Coast and Tencent are partnering “to launch the game’s [Magic: The Gathering] most-recent digital version across Asia,” The Esports Observer’s Ferguson Mitchell writes.
North and Adidas signed a sponsorship, Esports Insider’s Sam Cooke writes. “The partnership will run for at least the rest of 2018 with ‘a mutual ambition of extension.’”
Esports Insider’s David Hollingsworth reports “UK Esports Awards has partnered with G FUEL as the headline partner for their upcoming awards ceremony.”
Hiring news:
The Esports Observer’s Graham Ashton reports ESP Gaming acquired Auzom and hired “Gerard ‘Atlas’ Kelly, former co-owner of NRG Esports, as VP of League Operations.”
Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch reports “100 Thieves … hire[d] Jason Ton, bringing him on board as Vice President of Finance and Operations … Ton previously acted as the Finance Director for Riot Games.”
Hearthstone esports head Che Chou did an interview with Dot Esports’ Callum Leslie about the game. Here’s a snippet: “From what I could see coming in for a year it felt like it was Blizzard’s recognition that, whether or not Blizzard gets involved, the…”
The NCAA put up an article about esports, titled “Game On.” Here’s a snippet: “They feel the spotlight’s gleam on their faces as they represent their school with their teammates at a college athletics conference championship. They hear their names…”
Blizzard has started to sell community-made maps for StarCraft II. Two maps are currently available for $4.99.