In The News
Epic Games:
BAFTA is awarding Epic Games for “its growth from its founding in 1991 to ‘world-renowned industry leader and innovator,’” PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk reports. “Special Awards are given irregularly, to recognize broad contributions to the industry.”
Some aren’t so enthused with Epic, though. Re-Logic vice president Whitney Spinks tweeted that Re-Logic won’t “ever” have “an Epic Store exclusive. There is no amount of money we could be offered to sell our souls.”
Ubisoft:
Rainbow Six: Siege “has grown to more than €1 billion ($1.12 billion) in cumulative net bookings since the game’s release in 2015,” VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi writes. “The game’s player base has also topped 45 million, up 40% from the same time a year ago.”
Skull & Bones has once again been delayed, this time until March of 2020, and Ubisoft teased 3 unannounced titles that will drop “between January and March 2020,” Game Informer’s Javy Gwaltney reports.
The Division 2 did not meet “Ubisoft’s commercial expectations on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The French publisher confirmed on an earnings call today that the console edition failed to meet sales targets, but sales of the PC edition were in line with Division 1,” GameSpot’s Eddie Makuch reports.
Tencent saw “year-over-year increases in both revenue and profit for the first quarter of its 2019 financial year,” Gamasutra’s Alissa McAloon writes. “Tencent reported RMB 85.5 billion (~$12.4 billion) in revenue for the first quarter, up 16 percent year-over-year. Profit for that same period came in at RMB 27.9 billion (~$4.1 billion), a 16 percent increase year-over-year.”
MainStreaming raised “$6 million in funding to broadcast online games and other programming in the U.S. and Europe. The company will use the money to expand into cloud-based gaming,” Takahashi reports.
IBuyPower and Toyota are partnering “to better prepare racing drivers for real world tracks, and producing some custom PCs,” PC Gamer’s Alan Bradley reports. “iBuyPower has created a Gaming Zone inside Toyota’s Performance Center in Cornelius, North Carolina.”
Steam Link is now available on iOS and Apple TV.
Extra Esports News:
OpTic Gaming CEO Hector “H3CZ” Rodriguez reportedly met with “Immortals CEO Ari Segal and Infinite Esports & Entertainment ownership group leader Neil Leibman … to discuss a potential role for Rodriguez moving forward shall Immortals be selected as the winner to buy Infinite,” ESPN’s Jacob Wolf reports. Upcomer first reported the news Wednesday that “Immortals wants Rodriguez to reprise his role as CEO of the OpTic Gaming brand.”
Esports will drive growth in China’s games market, according to Niko Partners. “Chinese market for mobile and PC online games was worth a combined $30.84 billion in 2018, up more than 11% against its value in 2017,” GI.biz’s Matthew Handrahan reports. “The PC esports scene in China is larger than that on mobile, which earned $5.6 billion in 2018. However, mobile esports game revenue is projected to eclipse PC and reach $11.5 billion in 2023, at which point it will represent 45% of mobile games revenue.”
Partnerships:
Complexity Gaming and MillerCoors are partnering, Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch writes. “The Miller Lite Player Lounge will be an area for players to let off some steam with each other and will have a ‘video wall’ where people can watch gameplay.”
Disneyland Paris and elytics are partnering “for the Dota 2 Major,” Fitch reports.
IN: Sylvain Maillard, Sonia Manueco, Julien Dupont and Florent “ElChikito” Gutierrez joined Team Vitality.
OUT: Denial Esports’ beleaguered CEO Zachary Smith “will be stepping down from running day-to-day operations to focus on other endeavors,” Upcomer’s Kevin Hitt reports.
Interviews: STILL8’s Seo “Shark” Kyung-jong (TEO).
Happy birthday Jerome “JayPL” Trinh!