In The News
One chamber down, one to go. Efforts to save Net Neutrality were successful in the Senate with a 52-47 vote. The House will now vote on the measure, and if it passes, will be sent to President Donald Trump.
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick is happy with the Supreme Court’s decision to allow sports gambling, Gamasutra’s Alex Wawro writes. “Zelnick told a conference call full of investors that legalized gambling on esports may have a ‘meaningfully positive influence’ on the company’s business.”
Google has rolled back the Chrome update that broke game audio, PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk writes. “Google product manager John Pallett announced the change in a Chromium bug report thread, saying the autoplay policy has been removed—but only temporarily.”
Peter Nørrelund is MTG’s new DreamHack co-CEO, The Esports Observer’s Trent Murray reports. “Nørrelund will also serve as MTG’s head of product development and incubation.”
Check out Microsoft’s Adaptive Controller, meant for players with disabilities. Xbox took “input from AbleGamers, Warfighter Engaged, SpecialEffect, Craig Hospital and the Cerebral Palsy Foundation,” Engadget’s Jessica Conditt reports. “The Xbox Adaptive Controller will cost $100 when it goes on sale later this year.”
Revenue News:
Take-Two Interactive’s “fiscal 2018 full-year results … [show] net revenues up slightly year-over-year to $1.793 billion, its best full-year since fiscal 2014,” GamesIndustry.biz’s Brendan Sinclair reports. “Net bookings were also up 5% to $1.99 billion, while net income was up 158% to $173.5 million.”
Tencent “first quarter net profit came in at 23.29 billion yuan versus an estimate of 17.5 billion yuan,” CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal writes. “Revenues totaled 73.53 billion yuan, a 48 percent year-on-year rise.”
Rovio’s “games business remained relatively flat at €56.8 million, compared to €56.6 million in Q1 2017,” GamesIndustry.biz’s James Batchelor reports. “More promising is the firm’s operating profit, which rose by 73 per cent year-on-year to €9.6 million – a significant improvement on last year’s €5.6 million.”
THQ Nordic “posted a year-on-year net sales increase of 673 per cent for Q1 2018,” GamesIndustry.biz’s Haydn Taylor writes. “Bringing in $72 million revenue for the period, THQ posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of $25.9 million.”
Sea Limited “earned $197M in adjusted revenue, 81.2% growth over Q1 2017 and up 19.8% over last quarter,” Murray reports. “The bulk of Sea Limited’s revenue came from its digital entertainment platform, Garena.”
Team Vitality and Infront are partnering, according to Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch. “It will market Team Vitality’s sponsorship offers … [and] identify and secure new commercial opportunities.”
Happy birthday to Kim “SuperNova” Young Jin!