Game industry business news

Riot Games and Australian Hoyts team up for cinema viewing parties

Hoyts Cinemas have joined as an official sponsor of the Oceanic Pro League in Oceania and will act as the official viewing party partner for all major League of Legends esports events during 2016. Damian Keogh, HOYTS Group CEO said, HOYTS are excited to partner with League of Legends esports …

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The rise and fall of StarCraft II as an eSport

When the history books of esports are written, they will refer with reverence to the Roman Empire of gaming that was StarCraft. Released in 1998, the original StarCraft developed an unprecedented following in South Korea, where, for over a decade, complex leagues with ever-burgeoning prize pools increased the game’s profile …

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Blizzard investigating allegations of win-trading in China’s Hearthstone scene

Blizzard is investigating accusations of large-scale cheating in China’sHearthstonecommunity, both on the in-game ladder and in offline tournaments. The allegations, brought to light by senior members of the ChineseHearthstonecommunity and published last week byGosuGamers, claimed that over a dozen top Chinese players were involved, including TongFu’s "FengFengFeng" and five members …

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Casters boycott LoL tournament until Riot increases freelance pay rates

Multiple freelance League of Legends casters have signed an open letter announcing their boycotting of the Mid-Season International over pay rates. Christopher MonteCristo” Mykles, Erik "DoA" Lonnquist, and Chris PapaSmithy” Smith were invited by Riot to cast the event, to take place in Shanghai this May, but turned down the …

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EA promotes Laura Miele to EVP of global publishing

FIFA publisher EA has announced that Laura Miele is joining its executive leadership team next month. The firm’s CEO Andrew Wilson announced Miele’s promotion in a blog post on its website, saying that her new role would be effective start Q1 2017 (April 1st). This is also when Peter Moore …

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SuperData: Digital games generated $6.2bn worldwide in February

Digital game sales were up ten per cent year-on-year this February, reaching a total value of $6.2b (4.4bn). That’s according to research firm SuperData, which reports that digital console games saw the largest growth – 34 per cent year-on-year. Console also saw a 27 per cent growth in audience. New …

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15 year-old MMO is making $100m a month for Shanda Games

Chinese mobile games publisher Shanda Games is enjoying remarkable success from an unlikely source. The Legend of Mir Mobile is a port of 15 year-old Korean MMO The Legend of Mir 2. Tech In Asia reports that vice chair Zhu Xiaojing has said that the game is earning currently between …

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EXCLUSIVE: Would the games industry rather fight 1 horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?

As readers of MCV magazine will know, last month saw the introduction of a brand new section in which we ask THE burning question at the heart of the games industry. That question is this: Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses? We didn’t want you …

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Sony kicks off new PlayStation smartphone push

PlayStation Mobile may be dead, but Sony has used its demise as a platform to kick off a brand new push to release content onto smartphones. The news follows hot on the heels of the release of Nintendo’s first smartphone title, Miitomo, last week. Sony has formed a new company …

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Legal dispute could see Ark: Survival Evolved pulled from sale

An argument has erupted between two developers that could jeopardise successful Early Access title Ark: Survival Evolved. As detailed by Kotaku, Dungeon Defenders developer Trendy Entertainment has alleged that one of its former employees, Jeremy Stieglitz, breached his non-compete clause by secretly working for Studio Wildcard on the development of …

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