In The News
I survived my Bachelorette. Clearly the Friday newsletter did not.
Weekend in Review:
Eighty-six percent of UK parents “let their children play games rated for over 18s,” Gamasutra’s Chris Kerr writes. “The website quizzed over 2000 parents, and found that those who let their kids play 18+ rated titles do so without supervising, or even researching the game beforehand.”
Industry spend on advertising hit $27.7 million in June, VentureBeat’s Eleanor Semeraro reports. “PlayStation accounted for over a third of the total industry outlay, with an estimated spend of $9.6 million on just three commercials that ran 998 times.”
James Ohlen retired from BioWare.
Germany “has banned retailers from offering pre-orders for products without a solid release date,” GI.biz’s James Batchelor reports.
Ubisoft Berlin “has been approved for a city-granted subsidy” of around $1.85 million, GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine reports. “The funding will be used to expand the studio, which has plans to create around 150 new jobs.”
Arena of Valor has passed $3 million in revenue after 7 months in the U.S., Valentine writes.
Partnership News:
Luminosity Gaming and Universal Music Canada are partnering, TEO’s Trent Murray reports. “The partnership will enable the companies to develop cross-promotional content.”
OpTic Gaming and High School Esports League are partnering, Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch reports. “OpTic Gaming has added $25,000 to the prize pool for the initiative.”
Nintendo News:
A Nintendo account was banned after “he orchestrated a leaderboard hack” to highlight Splatoon 2’s cheating problem, Engadget’s Jon Fingas reports. He made “the leaderboards for different game modes spell out ‘please add anti cheat.’”
Nintendo Labo Creators Contest winners can be found here.
Miscellaneous Esports News:
Congratulations to Splyce on winning 4v4s at MLG New Orleans 2018! They defeated Tox Gaming to take home $100,000. Renegades came in 3rd and trifecta in 4th. Congratulations to King Nick on winning free-for-all.
Congratulations to OpTic Gaming on winning the Gears of War New Orleans Open! They defeated Echo Fox to take home $100,000. EUs Finest came in 3rd and Ghost Gaming in 4th.
Rainbow Six Siege players can now be instantly banned for “hateful language in the game’s text chat,” Shabana Arif at IGN reports.
Rise Nation’s Pierce “Gunless” Hillman did an interview with ESPN’s Sean Morrison about dynasties.
Happy weekend birthdayRasmus “MISERY” Filipsen!