In The News
Today’s top story can be found in the Extra Esports News section.
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley is introducing his “bill to ban the sale of loot boxes to children” today and has the support of Massachusetts and Connecticut Sens. Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal. “Hawley’s Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act would, if approved, prohibit video game companies from selling loot boxes to children under the age of 18 and make it unlawful for minor-oriented games to include pay-to-win mechanics,” The Verge’s Makena Kelly reports.
A report out by TIGA shows “the British game development sector now contributes a record £1.8 billion to the UK’s Gross Domestic Product,” GI.biz’s Matthew Handrahan reports. “The previous edition showed that the British game development sector contributed £1.6 billion to the UK’s GDP, but that has increased by more than 12% in the year since to a record high of £1.8 billion.”
Australia’s game industry is also showing growth. “Australia’s Interactive Games & Entertainment Association … announced today that consumer spending on video games reached $4.029 billion in 2018; that’s up by 25 percent over 2017’s spending,” GameSpot’s Eddie Makuch writes. “Digital sales stood at $2.851 billion with physical retail sales amounting to $1.179 billion.”
Take a look at “Atari VCS™ Classic Joystick and VCS Modern Controller updates.” The blog post shows of designs for both the joystick and controller for Atari’s upcoming console.
Bandai Namco and Iskn are partnering “to release an unnamed entertainment platform later this year. In a joint press release, the two companies described their upcoming product as being family-friendly, and that it’ll be a ‘ground-breaking entertainment ecosystem,’” VentureBeat’s Giancarlo Valdes writes.
The nWayPlay platform “is available for alpha testers and will formally launch later this year,” VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reports. It’s a “multiplayer platform for its ChronoBlade and Power Rangers games.”
Animoca Brands has raised “$2.5 million in funding for The Sandbox blockchain gaming platform. Animoca’s Pixowl division is remaking The Sandbox as a blockchain-enabled game,” Takahashi reports.
Razer is ending support for “Ouya’s digital game store, a move that comes three years after the physical microconsole itself was discontinued,” Gamasutra’s Alissa McAloon reports.
Extra Esports News:
Turner “Tfue” Tenney’s lawsuit against FaZe Clan may have accomplished its goal. Ricky Banks, also known as FaZe Banks and the organization’s owner, tweeted last night that “Our legal team is preparing everything, we will release the contract with all the context in the world when we can.” He has been very vocal on Twitter about the lawsuit and responded with his own YouTube video May 20 titled “Dear Tfue.”
Prior to Banks saying FaZe Clan will release the contract, Tenney responded to a series of statements FaZe Clan put out contradicting his initial claims in his lawsuit with a May 22 YouTube video titled “My Response #ReleaseTheContract.” In the description, Tenney claims he has attempted to be released from his contract multiple times, and that this lawsuit was “what had to be done.” In a pinned comment on the video, Tenney states that “I want to make it very clear that I tried multiple times for multiple months to get out of this contract. No one was blindsided by this, NO ONE.”
Partnerships:
WarnerMedia and ELEAGUE are partnering for an “esports tournament for Mortal Kombat 11. The tournament will culminate at RTX Austin, Texas from July 5 to July 7,” Takahashi writes.
OddsMatrix and Luckbox are partnering, Esports Insider’s David Hollingsworth writes.
OUT: Luminosity Gaming has benched Call of Duty star Peirce “Gunless” Hillman and will be using substitute Richard “Ricky” Stacy.