Forbes reports: “Epic Games is acquiring Psyonix which is both a long-term partner as well as the creator of Rocket League, a very popular e-sports game with 50m players. Psyonix adds weight to Fornite’s already mighty presence in the world of digital gaming meaning that Microsoft, Sony, Valve and Google should take notice.”
Forbes reports: “Snapchat was the first social media app to introduce the concept of Stories and is now leading the augmented reality (AR) revolution.”
Hypebot reports: “ASCAP has announced that total revenues for 2018 topped $1.227 billion, an increase of 7% over the previous year. That’s the second year in a row that ASCAP distributions crossed the $1 billion mark.”
Hollywood Reporter reports: “The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has expanded its Academy Software Foundation (ASWF) to include two new projects — Open EXR and OpenCue — as well as several new member companies. NVIDIA has joined as a premier member, and tech developers ftrack and Red Hat have joined as general members.”
Variety reports: “Hulu kicked off 2019 by rapidly packing on subscribers — driven by price cuts and promos — with the streamer announcing that its total customer base has swelled to over 28 million. And the money-losing company, now majority-owned by Disney, is investing in more original content in a bid to sustain that momentum.”
gamesindustry.biz reports: “Sega Sammy will be reducing the number of digital games it develops after the segment fell below expectations in the last financial year. While sales were up across its game business, grossing $1.86 billion for the year, operating income was down 33.7% to $88 million.”
VentureBeat reports: “Global esports organization Immortals has raised $30 million and acquired Brazil’s game matchmaking platform Gamers Club. It is rebranding itself as Immortals Gaming Club.”
Variety reports: “Altice USA announced a deal to buy millennial-news streaming startup Cheddar for $200 million. Altice USA was among the investors in Cheddar, which had raised $54 million in funding. Other investors included Amazon, AT&T, Comcast Ventures, Raine Ventures, Liberty Global, Goldman Sachs, the New York Stock Exchange, Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.”
The Verge reports: “Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller started out as two hackathon projects at the company after an idea from a veteran with limited mobility. Designed for gamers with disabilities, the controller has two large programmable buttons and 19 jacks that can be connected to various accessories to make Xbox and PC gaming far more accessible for a number of players.”
TechCrunch reports: “Twitch has an account hacking problem. After the breach of popular browser game Town of Salem in January, some 7.8 million stolen passwords quickly became the weakest link not only for the game but gamers’ other accounts. The passwords were stored using a long-deprecated scrambling algorithm, making them easily cracked.”
