In The News
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Bethesda and Sony are about to hit a rough patch if Sony stays obstinate on cross-platform play. “‘I am aware of the conflict that arises given that statement but we are continuing to work on it.’ He said Bethesda is ‘always’ talking to Sony about the issue,” Eurogamer’s Robert Purchese writes.
Paradox Interactive profits declined in Q2 “even as it posted record Q2 revenues,” GI.biz’s Matthew Handrahan reports. It “earned SEK 298.8 million, down 3 per cent over the previous year.”
China reacted to South Korea’s installation of the Terminal High Altitude Defence by halting, among other things, licensing of Korean games in China. “A report from Korean app analysis company IGAWorks titled ‘2017 Performance report of Chinese mobile games in Korea’ found that the Korean games industry is suffering as a result, while Chinese devs push aggressively into the reigion,” GI.biz’s Haydn Taylor reports.
Partnership & Sponsorship News:
Advocate and Soylent are partnering, according to a press release. Advocate is delivering “Soylent to our partnered streamers across the U.S.”
Team Secret and Secretlab are partnering, Esports Insider’s Adam Fitch writes. “As part of this newly-announced deal, the two parties have collaborated on branded gaming chairs which are based off of Secretlab’s OMEGA 2018 and TITAN models.”
Tempo Storm and Kickass Beef Jerky are partnering, Fitch reports. “As part of this deal, Kickass Beef Jerky is offering a 10% discount off of purchases made when ‘TEMPO’ is used at checkout.”
Douyu is sponsoring PSG.LGD, TEO’s Trent Murray reports. “Douyu has signed a one-year deal with Paris Saint-Germain as a jersey sponsor of its Dota 2 team.”
Sales News:
EA “has now sold more than 130 million copies of Madden games since the franchise debuted back in 1988” after Madden NFL 19’s “strong” opening weekened, GameSpot’s Eddie Makuch reports.
Nintendo pushed past selling “700 million hardware units, console and handheld, since it began with the NES/Famicom in 1983,” GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine reports. The Switch sits at 19.67 million units sold.
Crystal Dynamics opened a studio in Bellevue, Wash.
Sekai Project “has laid off an unspecified number of staff,” Handrahan reports.
Midnight Hub shut its doors, according to CEO Sara Casen‘s tweet.
Ninja News:
Ninja released a formal statement in regard to his Polygon interview about his decision not to stream with women. Here’s a snippet: “I want to make clear the issue I’m addressing is online harassment.”
He also topped the charts for hours watched on Twitch last week at 4.6 million, TEO reports. Shroud came in 2nd at 1.7 million, tfue in 3rd at 1.5 million and sodapoppin in 4th at 1.5 million.
In addition, he prompted FaZe Clan speculation with this answer while streaming, Dexerto’s Calum Patterson writes: “‘I’m on Luminosity right now, obviously, and you know, when the time comes, it is 100% in my best interest to, you know…”
Extra Esports News:
VPEsports kindly requests fans stop pinching players’ nipples — or generally touching them without permission in a piece titled “Some Esports Fans Blurring Lines Between Fandom and Friendship.”
Valve instructed Dota 2 teams before The International 2018 “to stop accepting sponsorship from any gambling website,” VPEsports’ Div reports. “The contracts issue was raised by one of the team managers.”
The International 2018 groups are here.
2018 Asian Games LoL and StarCraft II draw results are here.
FIFA 18’s eWorld Cup Grand Final estimated peak viewership at “322,000 people watching across 12 digital platforms, in addition to the 19 broadcasters covering the event over 60 territories,” Dot Esports’ Adam Newell writes.