In The News
PlayStation boss John Kodera said the PlayStation 4 “is entering the end of its lifecycle,” GameSpot’s Eddie Makuch reports. “Sony is not discontinuing the PS4 now or anytime soon, of course. The system is expected to continue to sell well, as new, exclusive games for it like The Last of Us: Part II, Spider-Man, and others come out.”
Halo community manager Brian Jarrard wants y’all to chill. Some folks are worried Halo: Fireteam Raven is taking away from Halo 6 development. He says that’s not the case. “Fireteam Raven has ‘zero impact’ on the team inside 343 Industries working on Halo 6, or whatever it ends up being called,” Makuch writes.
Pixel boobies rejoice! Valve eased off sexual games on Steam and apologized, PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk reports. “Valve apologized for the confusion and told HunieDev and others to disregard the email about their games violating Steam’s guidelines on pornographic content.”
Adult Swim acquired Big Pixel Studios, VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reports. “The acquisition is part of the entertainment network’s increased investment in gaming and overall commitment to creating more multiplatform content with Adult Swim’s own popular intellectual property.”
New Studios:
Introducing Neon Giant, a studio founded by “game developers Tor Frick, Arcade Berg, Erik Gloersen and Jonathan Heckley,” PC Gamer’s Joe Donnelly writes.
Avalanche opened a 3rd studio “in Malmö, Sweden,” GI.biz’s Matthew Handrahan reports. “Avalanche has appointed Sara Ponnert as Malmö’s studio manager.”
Gameloft revenue is down, Handrahan writes. It “fell 13 per cent in the first quarter, according to parent company Vivendi, largely due to a lack of new releases in the accounting period.”
Partnership News:
Fnatic and AMD extended their partnership, according to a press release. “AMD will be Fnatic’s exclusive hardware partner across four competitive gaming hardware categories: motherboards, GPUs, CPUs and laptops. In this third year of collaboration, the sponsorship will include AMD’s top-tier brands, Ryzen™ and Radeon™ RX.”
ESL is partnering with both DHL and Tinderbox, TEO’s Graham Ashton and Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch report.
Newbee and Secretlab are partnering, Ashton writes. “Secretlab will release a custom, Newbee-branded OMEGA 2018 chair.”
PVP.ME and Nano are partnering, Esports Insider’s David Hollingsworth writes. “PVP.ME users can exchange faster and will be offered a reduction in fees due to the nature of the Nano platform.”
NBA 2K League:
Intel is now a full sponsor of the league, Esports Insider’s Lydia Mitrevski reports. It’s “the first non-endemic brand to invest in the league.”
Celtics Crossover Gaming and Alley are partnering. “Alley, business services membership group, will host CLTX Gaming’s training facility at its Cambridge, MA location,” TEO’s Trent Murray reports.
Best Buy, according to Variety’s Stefanie Fogel, is “ending its Gamers Club Unlocked program, according to a leaked memo posted by @Wario64 on Twitter. GCU gave discounts, trade-in credit, and more on many of the video games sold at the retailer.”
Ossic, the 3D headset company, is no more. “Ossic announced that it is shutting down immediately. Though the company managed to ship some of its Ossic X headphones to the highest-level backers of its Kickstarter campaign, it will not be able to fulfill the remaining preorders,” Game Informer’s Joe Juba reports.
Ninja topped the streaming chart for hours watched on Twitch at 8.4 million last week, TEO reports. Shroud came in 2nd at 2.1 million and Dakotaz at 3rd with 1.3 million.
Congratulations to Team Envy on winning the latest Call of Duty World League Pro League Challenge! They defeated Enigma6.