News Mash-Up - Week # 27

Top News Items

• Investing in video games is gaining traction. Acquisitions, IPOs and Series Funding reached $60 billion in the first six months of 2021. According to Drake Star Partners (a global investment banking firm serving the technology, media and communications sectors), that is more than twice the level of investment in games compared to the whole of 2020.

• On Tuesday Nintendo released a 3-minute video announcing the Switch OLED. The new SKU from Nintendo will be released worldwide on the 8th October 2021, priced at $350 USD. The Switch OLED will have a wider 7-inch OLED screen than the current 6.2-inch LCD, and as a consequence it will be marginally heavier. Resolution will remain at 720p in handheld mode and 1080p docked. The internal memory will be doubled to 64 GB and will also have a wider kick stand akin to a Microsoft Surface computer. The new docking station will now support a LAN port, for wired gamingNintendo has updated the Switch firmware so that any patches for a game will delete any unnecessary code to save on memory.

• PlayStation released its latest State of Play and Nacon released a 30-minute promotional video. The State of Play highlighted 11 third-party games, with the main focus being on Bethesda’s PlayStation Exclusive, Deathloop. Eight of the games shown are set for a 2021 release. Of the games shown, six games are new Ips. Deathloop received  the most coverage with a third of the total airtime with an 11 minute gameplay demo. Nacon’s video featured 15 games and 5 peripherals. 3 of the 15 games will be released this year.

• CD Project Red released its Q1’21 results. Revenue increased by +3% YoY to $54 million. Operating income declined by -56% to $12 million due to the heavier costs committed in fixing Cyberpunk 2077. The Witcher TV series on Netflix will start its new season 2 this Christmas

• Game development house EA DICE LA has rebranded itself as Ripple Effects Studio. They are currently working on Battlefield 2042 slated for release in October. 

• The next iteration of Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft appears to have leaked. Releasing no sooner than 2024, Assassin’s Creed Infinite will feature a “live service” model of monetisation, akin to what is seen in the hugely popular Fortnite franchise. 

• China's antitrust agency is planning to block Tencent in merging the country's top two video game streaming sites, Huya and DouYu. Both firms are listed in the United States, and worth a combined market value of $5 billion. The merger would strengthen Tencent's dominance in this market, given Tencent already has over 40% market share in the online games market.
  
  
  
• Roblox and Sony Music have signed a deal to allow for Sony music artists to host virtual concerts on the. Roblox signed a similar music deal with Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) last month. Roblox is also facing a lawsuit from The National Music Publishers' Association for copyright infringement by its platform user creators who have used songs in their games without consent.

New games

Week commencing Monday 12 July 2021