In The News
James “PhantomL0rd” Varga’s lawsuit against Twitch has its day in court. “Having filed his lawsuit on February 14 2018, after he had been banned from the Twitch platform for almost 600 days, PhantomL0rd’s legal team claimed that Twitch had violated its contract with him by never issuing a satisfactory explanation for why they terminated his account,” Dexerto’s Richard Lewis writes. “After two days full days in court with a brief session on the third, the court stated that closing briefs, a final summary of arguments and findings, will be due for submission on September 13.”
That’s not ideal. Microsoft contractors reportedly “listened to audio of Xbox users speaking in their homes in order to improve the console’s voice command features,” VICE’s Joseph Cox reports. “The audio was supposed to be captured following a voice command like ‘Xbox’ or ‘Hey Cortana,’ but contractors said that recordings were sometimes triggered and recorded by mistake.”
Apple delayed rollout of rules “for children’s apps on the App Store that block developers in the category from using third-party ads and analytics tools,” Gamasutra’s Alissa McAloon writes. “Apple is holding off on the changes for now to help developers understand and be compliant with the changes.”
Game Informer Editor-in-Chief Andy McNamara posted about recent layoffs that hit the company.
OUT: Oculus VR’s Max Cohen left the company.
Extra Esports News:
Some 71% of esports fans only follow one game, according to Newzoo. Additionally, “Newzoo also identifies a large chunk of the esports audience that watch competition for games that they don’t even play,” VentureBeat’s Mike Minotti reports.
Global Esports closed a “seed funding round, raising an undisclosed amount which is said to be a multi-million dollar deal. The round was funded by Venture Catalysts, a seed and angel investing firm based in India that describes itself as a ‘top incubator for startups,’” ESI’s Adam Fitch reports.
Astralis launched “a new brand called Future FC. Future FC, one of three brands that’s housed under the group, will focus solely on FIFA,” Fitch reports.
Sponsorships:
ENCE and Red Bull expanded their sponsorship and “will see Red Bull assume the role of jersey sponsor for the organisation, starting with the StarLadder Berlin Major,” Fitch writes.
LG Australia renewed its sponsorship of Dire Wolves, Fitch reports.