Games Industry Biz reports: “Sony has announced a new beta program for PlayStation players. In a blog post, the firm described it as an “easier, more consolidated” way for players to sign up for future beta tests. The program requires a single registration, after which participants will be able to express interest to test games that fit their preferences.”
The Verge reports: “All Elite Wrestling and Amazon’s Prime Video today announced a multi-year deal that will see the streaming service carry AEW’s pay-per-view events in the US, Canada, and the UK. Their partnership will start this coming weekend with AEW Revolution, which airs Sunday night.”
VGC reports: “The French court has decided in favour of Nintendo in a case involving a file storage site and its handling of pirated Nintendo games. The decision had previously been made by the Paris Court of Appeals back in April 2023, with the court finding that Dstorage SAS was responsible for failing to remove or block access to pirated copies of Nintendo games distributed via its website 1fichier.com.”
Music Ally reports: “One of the prominent companies specialising in influencer-marketing campaigns for music clients is up for sale. The company is VoxFeed, whose lead investor Agave Lab Ventures is seeking buyers for the company by the end of this year. Why? The investment firm’s current fund reaches its 10-year deadline later this year, which means all of its holdings must be sold or closed – VoxFeed included.”
Deadline reports: “TelevisaUnivision and DirecTV have reached a multi-year carriage renewal, expanding their distribution agreement to encompass new pay-TV packages. The deal provides the roughly 11 million customers of DirecTV with networks from the Hispanic media giant, including Univision, UniMás, TUDN and Galavisión, as well as owned and operated local stations.”
PYMNTS reports: “After launching a new version of Alexa dubbed Alexa+ last week, Amazon is reportedly preparing to release a “constellation” of devices powered by artificial intelligence (AI). “You can imagine … a constellation of devices that has to come together to make it a better experience,” Panos Panay, head of Amazon’s devices and services business, told CNN in an interview posted Thursday (Feb. 27).”
Variety reports: “YouTube, the world’s biggest video platform, touted a new milestone: It now has more than 125 million subscribers worldwide for YouTube Music and Premium, up from 100 million just a year ago. In addition, YouTube announced the expansion of its Premium Lite pilot to users in the U.S., priced at $7.99 per month (versus $13.99/month for YouTube Premium and $10.99/month for YouTube Music).”
Games Industry Biz reports: “90s games publisher Acclaim has been revived, supported by a team of industry veterans looking to support indie titles and “reignite classic franchises.” Led by CEO Alex Josef, former founder and CEO of Graffiti Games, the firm aims to provide resources including funding, marketing, and PR support to independent studios.”
Media Play News reports: “Warner Bros. Discovery’s subscription streaming video service Max will officially launch in Turkey on April 15. The rollout includes the combination of WBD-owned Turkish streaming service BluTV, leveraging the platform’s local content portfolio with Max’s richer lineup of content.”
VentureBeat reports: “Anthropic closed a $3.5 billion series E funding round, valuing the AI company at $61.5 billion post-money, the firm announced today. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round with a $1 billion contribution, cementing Anthropic’s status as one of the world’s most valuable private companies and demonstrating investors’ unwavering appetite for leading AI developers despite already astronomical valuations.”
