Gaming - Page 328

2022 wasn't the best year for video games earnings, a new report from analyst firm Newzoo suggests.

From 2020-2021, pandemic spending sparked record-breaking earnings across gaming's Big 3 (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) and various publishers like Activision-Blizzard, Take-Two Interactive, and Electronic Arts. Now in 2022 the video games market is stabilizing itself.

The global games market is expected to make $184.4 billion in 2022, down a significant 4.3% from 2021. A quick bit of math shows that 2022 brought in nearly $8.3 billion less than the previous year. Newzoo's latest annual games market report notes that this is the first year-over-year decline in worldwide games earnings since the company started tracking data.

When will the Microsoft-Activision merger finally be over? Possibly not until 2024.

The $68.7 billion Microsoft-Activision merger has become everyday news. The proceedings just keep developing and there's always something to report on, whether it's interesting info and claims in regulatory documents or announcements from the companies themselves. We've done our diligence to keep up to date on merger reports with our ever-growing merger coverage which can be found here.

Regulators around the world are currently scrutinizing the merger in an effort to determine if it's anti-competitive. So far there have been four jurisdictions that have approved the merger, namely those that are not meaningful contributors to any of the Big 3's earnings (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) nor Activision Blizzard King's earnings. The four regions that have approved the Microsoft-Activision merger include Chile, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia.

Microsoft has removed a controversial counterclaim defenses against the Federal Trade Commission's decision to block the Activision merger.

The FTC is challenging Microsoft's proposed $68.7 billion buyout of Activision-Blizzard. U.S. regulators are pushing the merger into Phase 3 administrative proceedings, and depending on what happens during this phase, the merger could be litigated in court on an administrative or federal level. Microsoft is prepared to fight for the merger in all courts as well as offer any concessions or remedies required.

As part of the proceedings, Microsoft recently published a 37-page document that defends the merger against the FTC's allegations. The initial document had some interesting defenses. Microsoft had argued that the FTC's block would violate its constitutional Fifth Amendment rights, namely those of Equal Protection. Microsoft had claimed that the FTC's proceedings are not valid because the agency "wields significant executive power" and potentially violates Article II of the U.S. Constitution, and that the FTC's procedures "arbitrarily subject Microsoft to administrative proceedings rather than to proceedings before an Article III judge," thus violating Microsoft's right to procedural process under the Fifth Amendment.

Skybox Labs, a third-party support studio who has helped co-develop some of gaming's most popular shooters and strategy games, has been acquired by NetEase Games.

Following a spree of studio startups and buyouts across Japan, the United States, and Canada, Chinese games titan NetEase is expanding even more. The latest acquisition is Skybox Labs, a dev that's worked on games like Halo 5, Halo Infinite, Age of Empires, and even Grandia II. This is actually the second team of Halo developers that NetEase now has in its ranks, with the first team forming their own studio called Jar of Sparks.

Skybox Labs will remain independently operated under NetEase and the studio's three co-founders Shyang Kong, Derek MacNeil and Steven Silvester leading the teams. Skybox will also continue its current path in helping other studios bring their games to life as a support studio.

CES 2023 - ASUS' Republic of Gamers lineup has revealed the Raikiri Pro enthusiast controller with interesting new features.

The ROG Raikiri Pro is yet another premium enthusiast-grade controller coming to the market in Q1 2023. What makes the Raikiri Pro stand out from other gamepads is the small built-in OLED panel strip that can add extra flair.

Users can display custom images on the strip, but it's pretty small at 1.3 inches, offers 128x40 resolution, and is limited to just grey. The strip will show various things like battery life and which profile is currently set--gamers can switch between multiple custom profiles--and can even display animated GIFs.

UK regulators at the Competition for Markets Authority have delayed their final decision on the Microsoft-Activision merger by eight weeks in an effort to better understand the complexity of the games market. Depending on the CMA's current angle, this delay could help or hinder Microsoft's chances in passing the merger.

Although the Microsoft-Activision merger has been approved in four jurisdictions, the billion-dollar games companies are facing opposition from three key worldwide markets: the United States (FTC), United Kingdom (CMA), and Europe (EC). All three of these regulatory bodies have delivered initial remarks and issue statements that criticize the deal, and the FTC has moved to a Phase 3 administrative proceeding in which it is prepared to bring the merger in front of an internal judge for a ruling. Microsoft, however, is prepared to defy the FTC and attempt to close the deal and defend itself in a federal trial.

While neither the CMA or the European Commission have tried to block the merger as the FTC has, both are scrutinizing the deal for any potential anticompetitive effects. The process is lengthy and requires examination, interpretation, and compilation of thousands of internal documents that include various data metrics and information sheets, alongside executive testimony and consultation from industry experts. That's why the CMA has delayed its final report deadline by 8 weeks and now expects to have something ready no later than April 26, 2023.

The United Kingdom's Competition for Markets Authority (CMA) has delayed the deadline for its final report on the Microsoft-Activision merger.

UK antitrust regulator CMA has published a new administrative timetable for its decision-making deadlines on the Microsoft-Activision merger. The CMA now expects to make a final decision on whether or not the merger should go through in late April.

The CMA's statutory period--which is when everything should be wrapped up--is now set for April 26, 2023. The regulators had originally expected to deliver a final report on March 1, 2023. This means the CMA will make its decision on the merger on that date.

CES 2023 - Sony has officially announced the PlayStation 5's new accessibility controller platform.

PlayStation's studios are widely praised for a wide breadth accessibility options in their games, but Sony has yet to make its own version of the excellent Xbox Adaptive Controller. Until now, that is.

On stage at CES, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan revealed Project Leonardo, a new accessibility platform that's extremely customizable, adaptive, and versatile for disabled gamers. Sony is working directly with gamers and organizations to ensure Project Leonardo meets all the needs of players everywhere.

CES 2023 - Sony has announced new console sales figures and confirms that Holiday 2022 was the best period for PlayStation 5 console sales yet.

The PlayStation 5 console has now sold-through over 30 million consoles to date, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan announced on stage at CES 2023. These numbers are significant for two reasons: Sony rarely gives out sell-through data, which is actual sales to consumers and not shipments to retailers, and the figure implies that PS5 shipments have surpassed previous numbers.

As of September 30, 2022, Sony confirmed the PlayStation 5 has sold-in, or shipped, 25 million units globally. The resulting jump from 25 million to 30 million confirms that Q3 2022 was the best period for PS5 sales. Depending on demand and availability, shipments are typically higher than sell-through numbers. Sony's Jim Ryan addressed this by saying December 2022 was the best period of all time for PS5 console sales.

The Last of Us franchise has now become Sony's third best-selling modern first-party PlayStation franchise of all time, beating Spider-Man game sales.

Naughty Dog's violent opus The Last of Us has amassed 37 million sales, the developer today announced in a special update post. The series is poised to celebrate its 10 year anniversary in 2023 and Sony is prepared to mark the occasion with a info blowout on the upcoming Last of Us live game.

"We are so proud to share that the entire The Last of Us franchise has sold through more than 37 million copies globally as of December 2022, and is continuing to reach new and old players every day. To know that Joel, Ellie, and our whole cast of characters have been experienced and loved by so many of you drives the entire studio forward," the developer wrote in the post.

Microsoft is prepared to fight the FTC tooth and nail should its $68.7 billion Activision merger proposal be approved by overseas regulators.

Yesterday the FTC's Chief Administrative Law Judge Michael Chappell held a pretrial scheduling conference with lawyers from the FTC, Microsoft, and Activision. While the call was routine and procedural, Microsoft's counsel Beth Wilkinson revealed the company will attempt to close the merger with Activision if the deal is approved by the United Kingdom's Competition for Markets Authority (CMA) and the European Commission's antitrust regulators.

Why is this significant? Microsoft is willing to go to federal court to defend the merger and is also willing to play hardball with the Federal Trade Commission. The trillion-dollar tech giant has high confidence that the deal is not in violation of antitrust or anticompetition law. If Microsoft tries to close the deal, the FTC will need to file an injunction and challenge the merger in a federal court.

Despite recent negative trends, Square Enix reiterates plans to aggressively invest in blockchain gaming in the hopes of capturing the nascent Web 3.0 market.

In the span of a year, NFTs, blockchain, and cryptocurrency went from a hot topic among video game publishers to practically falling off the planet entirely. There's a good reason for that: the market is extremely volatile and speculative. Crypto is embroiled in controversy, especially with the recent developments with FTX. Previous attempts to further the market have failed: Konami and Ubisoft both cashed in on the NFT trend to muted success, damaging their reputations among gamers in exchange for paltry sums of crypto.

Despite the obvious significant risks, Square Enix still wants in on this new market and the publisher is spending big on adapting its core franchises into blockchain games. In a recent New Year's Letter, Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda makes optimistic comments about blockchain.

Square Enix aspires to release and publish its games simultaneously across the globe, however PlayStation exclusivity deals are holding back the Japanese video games company.

Square Enix and Sony have a decades-long relationship that's as old as the PlayStation platform. The Final Fantasy maker has signed multiple lucrative exclusivity deals with PlayStation in an effort to secure upfront royalties and to continue Sony's so-called virtuous cycle where success brings more success over time. Now after many years of such deals, PlayStation has become the dominant platform that publishers like Square Enix simply can't afford to ignore, which gives Sony significant power when negotiating deals with third-party partners like Square Enix.

Meanwhile, faced with a rapidly diminishing yen and record-breaking game development spending, the Japanese publisher wants to expand its horizons onto the global video games market. In a recent New Year's Letter, Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda outlines an interesting plan to unify the company's publishing units across all geographies.

Payday 3 is officially on for a 2023 release, developer OVERKILL has re-confirmed.

After nearly 10 years of heisting, the Payday franchise is set to return to the shooter market with a fully-fledged sequel. Payday 3 will launch in 2023 on consoles and PC with distinct FPS chaos set in a modern day high-tech world, complete with advancements like crypto hacking and more.

To mark the game's incoming release, OVERKILL Software has released a short but sweet teaser that shows the four original clown-faced robbers and promises a "new criminal dawn." The game also has a Steam page that reveals a few quick tidbits about Payday 3's features.

Nightdive's new System Shock remake is schedule to release in early 2023, but we've been here before. Now it looks like the release schedule is locked in.

After nearly 7 years of development, the System Shock remake is almost here. The remake was originally announced in 2016 with a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign that raised over $1.35 million in just 30 days, however the developers at Nightdive had significantly overestimated their delivery capabilities and had originally expected to launch the System Shock remake in 2017.

Now with years of extra development time and a fully-fledged publisher with Plaion's Prime Matter label, the end is in sight.

Billion-dollar games titan Embracer Group isn't just buying up tons of game developers--it's also collecting old classics in a major effort in video games preservation.

A bit ago, the Swedish Embracer Group started its Games Archive initiative. The goal is simple: Embracer wants to amass as many retro consoles, games, arcade cabinets, and other rare industry collectibles as possible. Embracer is mostly known for acquiring dozens of game developers and publishers across all segments and industries--from mobile to board games--but the Archive is entirely a passion project.

In a Yahoo Finance article, Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors reveals that the company has spent over $2 million acquiring a treasure trove of irreplaceable video games, consoles, promo banners, and even demo machines from all generations. Embracer's reports frequently mention the Archive and feature photos of various systems and old-school retro titles.

CES 2023 - Dell's Alienware brand reveals another Concept Nyx peripheral, this time a rather strange gamepad that Valve helped pioneer.

Last year Alienware revealed its Concept Nyx lineup including a console-like box for local streaming of high-def games and those experimental UFO controllers from CES 2020. Now at CES 2023, Alienware has revealed its own personal take on Valve's failed Steam Controller from 2015.

The new Concept Nyx PC controller is a stylish gamepad that's futuristic, novel, and familiar all at once. The gamepad features two analog sticks in DualShock-style parallel orientation complemented by a touchpad dial where the D-pad usually is.

The Federal Trade Commission today held its first pretrial hearing in the administrative complaint against the Microsoft-Activision merger.

As previously announced, the FTC has started its pretrial hearings in the Microsoft-Activision merger with a public scheduling conference. The FTC has sued to block the $68.7 billion merger on the grounds of antitrust and anticompetition concerns, however the regulators are bringing the matter to an internal administrative law judge instead of federal court.

During the brief telephone conference, Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell, who is overseeing the case, noted that the call was "strictly procedural and not evidentiary." Chappell is referring to the evidentiary period where all parties--Microsoft, Activision, and the FTC--offer evidence, testimony, and expert opinions. The purpose of this meeting was to establish a schedule for future hearings, including a decision date. That schedule has yet to be published.

The FTC has set the first pretrial conference for its administrative lawsuit against the Microsoft-Activision merger.

The United States Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it opposes the Microsoft-Activision merger, and has filed an official administrative complaint against the proposed $68.7 billion buyout. The regulators pose that the merger would give Microsoft an unfair advantage over its competitors, namely Sony, which is named as Microsoft's single competitor in the newly-created "high-performance console" market. Microsoft has formally opposed the FTC's complaint and is prepared to go to court to defend itself against regulators.

Rather than challenging the deal in federal court, the FTC will bring the merger to an internal administrative judge in what could end up being a long trial. The judge in the case, Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell, has now ordered a prehearing scheduling conference to lay out the timings of the trial itself. The prehearing scheduling conference will be held tomorrow, January 3 at 3PM EST and is open to the public (see information below).

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Mobile has made an incredible multi-billion jackpot in microtransaction and battle pass revenues across all worldwide markets since launching in 2018.

Mega-popular F2P hit PUBG Mobile has become one of the best-earning on-the-go games on the market today with over $9 billion lifetime earnings to date. The data comes from number-crunching analyst firm Sensor Tower, who also noted that Genshin Impact made a whopping $4.1 billion in earnings since launching in 2020.

Putting these numbers into perspective reveals surprising results. PUBG Mobile has generated more revenues than the Grand Theft Auto franchise since GTA V's release; according to numbers provided by Take-Two Interactive, the GTA series has made $7.68 billion in net revenues earnings since Grand Theft Auto V released in 2013.