In The News
Additional E3 attendee information was leaked from the 2004 and 2006 shows, Game Informer’s Joe Juba reports. “ESA explains that the issue was discovered while looking into the initial leak: ‘In the course of our investigation, we learned that media contact lists from E3 2004 and 2006 were cached on a third-party internet archive site. These were not files hosted on ESA’s servers or on the current website. We took immediate steps to have those files removed, and we received confirmation today that all files have either been taken down or are in the process of being removed from the third-party site.’”
Mobile ad networks see the most value from advertising on Facebook, “Soomla said in a new report” according to VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi. “The top seven ad networks are all competitive vendors, but according to the parameters analyzed, the Facebook Audience Network seems to be the network with the best value for publishers.”
Financials:
Take-Two reported “its profit jumped 39 percent year-over-year in the spring quarter to a hefty $540.5 million, and the in-game purchases for Rockstar’s titles played a large role,” Engadget’s Jon Fingas writes.
Square Enix sales are up but profits are down, Gamasutra’s Chris Kerr reports. “The Final Fantasy maker saw net sales increase by 19.1 percent year-on-year to 53.3 billion yen (500.9 million), while profits dipped by 26.3 percent to 4.12 billion yen ($38.7 million).”
Nexon America is dealing with layoffs as it closes two U.S. offices, Gamasutra’s Alissa McAloon reports. “Both Nexon M and Nexon’s Division Partners Office are being closed. A post on LinkedIn from one of the people affected notes that some Division Partners Office staff have been relocated to other positions.”
Some 59% of AR/VR developers are “working on video games. Non-game entertainment projects had the second-largest share of projects, with 38%,” GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine writes. “29% of developers said they were working on projects for the Oculus Rift, 24% for the Quest, and 24% for the HTC Vive.”
Interviews: Red Kite Games’ Simon Iwaniszak (GI.biz).
Extra Esports News:
EVO is in trouble after “using Solid Snake in its promotions without authorisation,” GI.biz’s James Batchelor reports. “The apology prompted a response from David Hayter, the voice of Solid Snake, revealing even more rights were infringed. ‘You also failed to consult me or Konami,’ he tweeted. ‘Please do not use my voice to promote other games. Ever.’”
Matcherino pulled in a $1.5 million investment from Wells Fargo and Galaxy Digital, TEO’s Andrew Hayward reports. “It’s the latest addition to Matcherino’s Series A-1 funding round, which has raised more than $4.1M to date including investments from aXiomatic Gaming and Seven Peaks Ventures.”