In The News
Some 75% of mobile revenue generated in 2019 is from gaming, Sensor Tower reports. “App Store and Google Play users generated a combined $39.7 billion in spending on mobile apps and games during the first half of 2019 … Mobile game spending was up 11.3 percent Y/Y in the first half, reaching an estimated $29.6 billion across both stores.”
Paid Nintendo Switch memberships surpassed 10 million, Gamasutra’s Alissa McAloon reports. “It is worth noting that three-month-long subscriptions to Nintendo Switch Online (up to one year’s worth) are being given away as a perk to Twitch Prime members through January 2020, and that ongoing giveaway has likely given the service’s numbers a boost.”
TinyBuild is clarifying its position on DRM after a representative said it’s “not smart business,” GI.biz’s Haydn Taylor reports. “CEO Alex Nichiporchik has since made a post on Reddit in support of DRM-free games, and explaining how the confusion emerged.” Read the thread here.
New Studios:
Mediatonic opened a studio in Spain, GI.biz’s James Batchelor reports. “The Madrid branch of Mediatonic actually first began operating in 2017 as a five-person team in a co-working space, but has expanded over the past two years.”
Keywords Studios opened a recording studio in São Paulo, Brazil, McAloon reports. “Keywords notes that the new studio also introduces a dedicated and scalable solution for Brazilian Portuguese voiceover recording.”
Content creator Caff has been axed from The Yogscast, a “game streaming collective.” Batchelor writes that “Yogscast CEO Mark ‘Turps’ Turpin has confirmed his company will no longer be working with” Caff due to allegations of sexual harassment. Turpin’s Reddit statement is here.
Interviews: Improbable’s Herman Narula (VentureBeat), Bethesda’s Pete Hines (GI.biz).
Extra Esports News:
Congratulations PSG Esports on winning DreamHack Pro Circuit: Valencia 2019! They defeated NRG Esports to take home $50,000. Complexity Gaming came in 3rd and The Bricks in 4th.
Partnerships:
Team Flash and Fitlion are partnering, Esports Insider’s Laura Byrne reports. “The deal covers Team Flash’s current and future esports athletes in Southeast Asia and sees Fitlion become the organisation’s official nutrition partner.”
Method and TaKeTV are partnering “to stream its world first race in the newest World of Warcraft raid, The Eternal Palace. Race to World First: The Eternal Palace will be hosted in partnership with TaKeTV from July 16th in Germany,” Esports Insider’s David Hollingsworth writes.