In The News
Square Enix is raising money for “real-life warriors in the darkness,” GI.biz’s Haydn Taylor reports. “Tying into the upcoming launch of Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, Square Enix will be donating up to $50,000 to the Gary Sinise Foundation.”
Nintendo is opening its first new store in 14 years in Tel Aviv, Israel. “The opening comes just a couple of months after the country received an official online store,” NintendoLife’s Ryan Craddock writes.
Steam is ending support for Ubuntu, PC Gamer’s Corbin Davenport reports. “A developer at Valve announced that Ubuntu Linux 19.10—which is due to come out this October—won’t be supported by Steam. Valve is still supporting Linux, just not future versions of the Ubuntu operating system.”
A book of Satoru Iwata’s interviews is being compiled and published. The former Nintendo president passed away in 2015. “The book is being published by Hobonichi, which is best known for their planners, and is run by Earthbound/Mother creator Shigesato Itoi. Itoi was a long time friend of Iwata, as the then-prodigy programmer helped rescue the first Mother game on NES by overhauling its code,” Game Informer’s Imran Khan reports.
Interviews: Xbox’s Phil Spencer (Kotaku), 2K Silicon Valley’s Michael Condrey (VentureBeat).
Extra Esports News:
Hector “H3CZ” Rodriguez is still a shareholder in OpTic Gaming after Immortals acquired the brand, Unikrn’s Dustin Steiner reports. “However, the representative would not comment on whether he was involved in day-to-day operations of the team when pressed.”
Hainan, a Chinese island province, announced “an esports development fund, providing details on talent development, tax rates, international visa applications, tournaments, and esports streaming,” TEO’s Hongyu Chen writes. “Hainan’s government plans to use ¥1B RMB ($145.6M USD) for esports development in the province.”
Trust Esports invested “€1.5 million ($1.7 million) … in VR operator and studio smartVR. Trust Esport is the investment fund from management company Apicap, specifically focused on providing seed financing for esports start-ups,” GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine writes.
Razer and Visa are partnering, TEO’s Andrew Hayward reports. “The partnership is initially targeted towards the Southeast Asia region, in which a majority of people do not have a bank account.”