News Mash-Up - Week # 40

Top News Items

• • The acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft that is currently undergoing investigation by the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) in the UK has been given a new deadline for approval. The deadline set for the CMA’s publication of the report of this second investigation is set at March 1, 2023, and the parties involved have until February to respond to the investigation.
    
    
  • Fandom, the entertainment platform, recently acquired multiple gaming brands from the enterprise Red Ventures, including Metacritic, Giant Bomb, and GameSpot, among other platforms and plans to incorporate these new acquisitions into their main platform to expand the content available to gaming and entertainment fans.
     
  • Gruby Entertainment, an independent Polish game developer established in 2020, has recently announced that Tencent is their newest minority shareholder. Tencent plans to help the company expand their growth.
     
  • Marcin Iwiński, co-founder and CEO of CD Projekt, has publicly announced his decision to step down as co-CEO of the company after nearly 30 years. Iwiński will remain within the company, taking up the position of chairman of the company’s supervisory board and still remaining a major shareholder.
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  • CD Projekt announced that it will be opening a new studio in Boston. Along with the current studio in Vancouver, the two will be known together as “CD Projekt Red North America.” On the same day, the developer announced its plans for a new trilogy of Witcher games, to be released over six years, as well as two Witcher spin-off games, a full sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 (along with the upcoming expansion), and finally a new original project with the codename “Hadar.”

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  • The remake of Dead Space, a video game released by EA, has recently been listed for the equivalent of £70 on Xbox Series X/S and PS5, while the Steam price sits at £50. Many players have expressed dismay at the significantly higher price of the console game when compared to that of the PC game, while others have justified the price by pointing out that the remake includes new side quests, characters, voice acting, and more.
    
    
  •  The Swedish company Starbreeze, best known for developing the Payday series, will return to publishing after signing an agreement with the developer Walking Tree Games to publish its next game known as The Tribe Must Survive. This comes after the company’s collapse in 2019 following a failed launch of Overkill’s the Walking Dead in 2018.
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  • The membership program PlayStation Stars has launched in both North and South America. However, after signing up, some players have been notified that they can expect to be on the “waitlist” for the program for approximately two months. Sony said that members will be accepted into the platform on a “rolling basis” but some will “randomly” join the waitlist.
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  • Sony has set a goal to manufacture two million PSVR2 headsets by March 2023. The plan rests on the expectations that difficulties within the supply station will be somewhat mitigated.

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  • The EU Parliament has voted to use one single cable for charging tablets, phones, laptops, and portable games consoles. Manufacturers of technology in the region will be required to use USB-C ports in their tablets and smartphones starting in 2024, and in their laptops starting in 2026. Apple, who has argued against the implementation of this rule in the past saying that it stunts innovation, will be forced to change their charger to follow suit.

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  • RAM and SSD prices will most likely soon be on the rise. Micron, one of three major computer memory suppliers responsible for 95% of our RAM chips, stated that it will be reducing production due to weaker demand than expected. Other companies will most likely follow, leading to a jump in prices.

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Week commencing Monday 02 October 2022