Games Industry Biz reports: “Krafton has acquired a controlling stake in Indian gaming studio Nautilus Mobile for $14 million. The all-cash deal was confirmed at the close of last week, with TechCrunch reporting Krafton’s “north of 75% stake” in the studio best known for its Real Cricket IP. It follows an earlier $5.4m investment Krafton made in Nautilius in 2022.”
The Verge reports: “Roblox is launching a new type of ad that, if watched, will give players things like in-game currency and power-ups, according to an announcement from the company. The full-screen video ads, called “Rewarded Video ads,” can be up to 30 seconds long. The ads will be available to buy programmatically “via Google’s advertising solutions and direct buying (Direct IO) in the coming weeks,” Roblox says.”
TVBEUROPE reports: “Netflix has developed a Media Production Suite to unlock innovation at a global scale. Intending to capitalise on the opportunities provided by cloud-based technologies and ongoing innovation across the industry, the Netflix Media Production Suite has been designed to unlock global talent pools for the company’s productions, said the company.”
TechCrunch reports: “OpenAI’s new image generator, powered by its GPT-4o model, is now available to all users, CEO Sam Altman said in a post on X. The feature was until now available only to paying users of ChatGPT. While it is not clear how many images users on the free tier can generate, Altman last week had mentioned a limit of three images per day.”
The Hollywood Reporter reports: “By now everyone in Hollywood knows YouTube is a dominant player in the video ecosystem, but a prominent Wall Street analyst argues that YouTube still has a long period of growth ahead of it. MoffettNathanson’s Michael Nathanson writes in a March 31 note that YouTube should be officially crowned the “new king of all media,” with engagement topping all other media companies in February’s Nielsen Gauge report, and with 2024 revenue of $54.2 billion, second only to Disney.”
Game Developer reports: “Astra: Knights of Veda and Dungeon Stalkers publisher HYBE IM has raised $21 million to accelerate its business by leveraging K-pop artist IPs. The company said interest in its upcoming MMORPGs Architect: Land of Exile and Arkheron also drove interest in the deal. HYBE IM is a subsidiary of Korean entertainment company HYBE, a record label, talent agency, and music production company perhaps best known for managing immensely popular boyband BTS through its Big Hit label.”
Yahoo! Finance reports: “Roblox on Tuesday launched a new format of video advertising on its gaming platform and announced a partnership with Google to help boost the growth of its nascent ad business. Gamers can choose to watch video advertisement, up to 30 seconds long, in exchange for boosts, lifelines or resources in a particular game through rewarded videos.”
Games Industry Biz reports: “Venture capital firm Kameha Ventures has launched a €25 million ($27m) investment fund to support game development in Europe. Backed by industry veterans, Kameha Ventures is focused primarily on backing AI, spatial computing, high-fidelity 3D, evolving monetization engines, and cloud gaming projects.”
Media Play News reports: “Nokia March 31 announced a patent agreement with Amazon covering the use of Nokia’s video technologies in Amazon’s Prime Video streaming services and devices. The agreement ends all patent litigation between the parties, in all jurisdictions. The terms – including the financial terms – of the agreement were not disclosed.”
Cord Cutters News reports: “Users of the renowned media streaming platform, Plex, will notice a reimagined app experience. Whether you’re a long-time Plex user or a newcomer thinking about making the switch, this fresh design allows you to elevate your media consumption to new heights with a levy of accessible features.”
