In The News
Reddit broke out in slapfights over Amazon allegedly allowing sales of pirated games. “Amazon may have sold pirated GOG versions of Frostpunk and Surviving Mars at heavy discounts on its platform,” GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine writes.
Valve relaxed its publisher policies for games, but some adult-themed games are still being held. Love in Space’s game, Shining Song Starnova, is being delayed pending Valve’s approval. “‘Yes, some titles are being held. We will have more info on this soon,’ a representative from Valve said via email,” to Gamasutra’s Emma Kidwell.
Saudi Arabia will ban 47 games, “including Grand Theft Auto V, Assassins Creed 2 and Witcher, for unspecified violations of rules and regulations,” The Associated Press reports. The bans come in response to two deaths allegedly caused by playing the “Blue Whale” social game.
Mobile Game News:
Mobile game spending is up, GI.biz’s Matthew Handrahan reports. It increased “19 per cent in the first half of 2018 … on the App Store and Google Play.”
Marvel Strike Force “has brought in $25 million in worldwide player spending” in the 4 months it has been out, Valentine writes.
Funding News:
Klang Games “raised $8.95 million in funding to support Seed, an artificial intelligence-driven massively multiplayer space colonization online simulation,” VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reports.
Octi “raised $7.5 million in seed funding to pursue” its “proprietary method for re-creating 3D space using the human body and your smartphone,” GI.biz’s Brendan Sinclair reports.
Stanga Games “raised an additional $500,000 in a funding round,” Valentine reports. “This is on top of $500,000 in funding raised last December.”
Ninja came in 1st for hours watched on Twitch last week at 3.8 million. Shroud came in 2nd with 1.7 million and tsm_myth in 3rd with 1.7 million, TEO reports.
Hearthstone is up with “The Boomsday Project: Lab Logs Part 1.”
West Ham United and Basset & Gold are partnering, Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch reports. “Basset & Gold’s logo will be prominently displayed on the sleeves of West Ham United’s Premier League, Premier League 2, and Academy team’s jerseys as well as supporting the club’s esports efforts.”
Congratulations to OpTic Gaming on winning the Call of Duty World League Pro League Challenge! They defeated Lightning Pandas.