In The News
China blocked Twitch. “Twitch’s website was no longer accessible inside mainland China. Its app also quietly disappeared from Apple’s App Store in the country, suggesting that it’s not a glitch or accident but a deliberate move,” Abacus News’s Josh Ye reports. “It comes just a month after its app skyrocketed in popularity.”
I will play you. Spider-Man has sold “a record 3.3 million copies in the first three days of its release this month,” USA Today’s Eli Blumenthal reports. “While Sony did not provide an official number, with a retail price of $59.99 for the game the 3.3 million copies translates to roughly $198 million.”
Nintendo News:
Mini-64 incoming? “A European trademark filing from Nintendo indicates that a ‘Classic Edition’ of the original [Nintendo 64] is in the works,” Business Insider’s Ben Gilbert writes.
This is just depressing. A teacher in Massachusetts sent his young daughter crawling into a toy machine to steal Nintendo consoles. “The man was identified as Anthony Helinski after a video of the theft went viral late last week” and he has since turned himself in, IGN’s Michael Koczwara writes.
PlayStation announced “you will be able to stream as well as download PlayStation Now games to your PS4 system” in a blog post yesterday. “You can play both locally and offline, all with a single subscription.”
DreamTeam raised $5 million “in funding by Mangrove Capital Partners. This is the second investment from Mangrove, with the first round held in April of this year,” Esports Insider’s Lydia Mitrevski reports.
Esports: Engaging Education, a study by Ukie, “has highlighted the potential for esports to spark UK students’ interest” in gaming, GI.biz’s Matthew Handrahan writes. Ninety-four “per cent said that the tournament had made them more interested in “computers/computing subjects,” while 88 per cent said that it had made them more interested in pursuing a career in video games.”
Partnerships:
Disruptor Beam and Tilting Point are partnering “to bring its mobile game Star Trek: Timelines to more audiences” and Tilting Point will “spend $29 million to promote [it],” VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reports.
Apptutti and INCA Internet are partnering “to begin working with South Korean developers,” GI.biz’s Rebekah Valentine reports.
GamesAid “has raised £213,120 for nine different charities,” GI.biz’s Christopher Dring writes. “Accuro, Access Sport Trust, Autistica, The Clock Tower Sanctuary, Lifelites, Everyone Can, My AFK, Solving Kids’ Cancer and Special Effect all received cheques for £23,680 during a special ceremony at EGX in Birmingham.”
Interviews: Team17 CEO Debbie Bestwick (GI.biz) and Code Liberation Foundation’s Phoenix Perry (GI.biz).
Extra Esports News:
G2 Esports introduced a game to take you through their history yesterday called G2 Esports Samurai Arena. “Relive the G2 Esports journey in our brand new browser game, Samurai Arena! Defeat waves of enemies as you raise the G2 Army and become the G2 Samurai,” the announcement page reads. A gameplay trailer can be found here.
Partnerships:
ESL and Salim Group are partnering “to host the ESL Indonesia National Championships,” TEO’s Trent Murray reports.
Red Reserve and GT Omega Racing are partnering, according to a tweet.
Other:
FACEIT came in 1st for esports channel hours watched on Twitch last week at 10.6 million, TEO reports. Starladder5 came in 2nd at 2.7 million, Riot Games in 3rd at 2.5 million and PlayOverwatch in 4th at 869.26k.
Corsair DreamLeague is the first Dota 2 Minor for 2019, Dot Esports’ Nicole Carpenter reports. “The tournament is in partnership with DreamHack, Corsair, H4X, and Monster Energy.”
Happy birthday Carlo “Kuku” Palad!