In The News
Global game revenue is set to hit “$68.5 billion in 2019,” Newzoo reports via VentureBeat’s Mike Minotti. “48.9% of that revenue will come from games on iOS devices, while 35.8% will come from Android (reminder that free-to-play dominates this market). In the first half of the year, role-playing games made the most money. They accounted for 35.5% of the market. In total, all games on iOS and Android earned 19.4 billion downloads in the first half of 2019.”
Twitch:
Seems to be confusing folks with its recent crack down on “sexually suggestive” content, Kotaku’s Nathan Grayson reports. “In addition to Quqco, several other notable streamers have received suspensions or warnings from Twitch about sexually suggestive content in the past few days … The weekend also saw Twitch take aim at Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom streamer Shift’s emote of Spongebob ripping his pants.”
Twitch acquired The Internet Gaming Database, GI.biz’s Haydn Taylor reports. “IGDB aims to build a comprehensive catalogue of video games — similar to the unrelated IMDb — including details like genre, plot synopsis, reviews, game length, release dates, game modes, and characters.”
Studios:
Starform is a new “Seattle-based game studio … [that] raised $1.25 million and announced plans to make online games across various platforms,” VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi writes. “Starform says it’s built a platform that enables rapid prototyping of online features, to shorten the time from idea to test.”
Summerfall Studios is David Gaider’s latest project, PC Gamer’s David Hollingsworth reports. “The new studio will have its official launch at PAX Australia, alongside the launch of a Kickstarter to fund its first game. Details are pretty sparse on the ground at the moment, but Summerfall Studios’ website promises ‘an illustrated character-driven adventure.’”
Apple Arcade did a soft launch earlier than expected.
Rockstar Games Launcher is live.
Extra Esports News:
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment will be “building its own esports front office to manage the Los Angeles Gladiators and one of the two future Los Angeles-based Call of Duty teams after mutually parting ways with Sentinels,” ESPN’s Jacob Wolf reports. “Both teams will be managed by a front office that is expected to be built by KSE executive Josh Kroenke and Michael Neary, a Denver-based real estate investor who attended college with Kroenke in Missouri.”
Esports Integrity Coalition rebranded to Esports Integrity Commission, ESI’s Adam Fitch writes. ‘The not-for-profit association has changed its identity to “more meaningfully target the integrity needs of the esports industry.’”
Partnerships & Sponsorships:
2K Games and ESL are partnering for the NBA 2K20 Global Championship. It will feature a $145,000 prize pool, TEO’s Andrew Hayward writes.
Pinnacle and GRID are partnering, Fitch reports. “The deal sees GRID provide rights to its esports data so Pinnacle can implement it into its esports offering.”
Huawei is sponsoring the Vodafone 5G ESL Mobile Open Finals, TEO’s H.B. Duran reports.
Happy birthdays Jun “TY” Tae Yang and Tymoteusz “ArT” Makaran!