The Verge reports: “On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it is fining Google $170 million following the agency’s investigation into YouTube over alleged violations of a children’s privacy law.”
VentureBeat reports: “MWM Immersive, the interactive entertainment division of media and entertainment company MWM, is moving into video game publishing and rebranding itself as MWM Interactive. The division will publish Creature in the Well (a blend of hack-‘n’-slash games and pinball) from Flight School Studios.”
VentureBeat reports: “BoomTV has acquired the American Video Game League in a move to expand collegiate esports. The AVGL is one of the largest producers of collegiate esports events, content, and community initiatives. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.”
Billboard reports: “DBTH Capital Ventures, a new firm focused on investments in music rights technology, has raised €35 million ($38.6 million) in an initial funding round.”
Hollywood Reporter reports: “The head coach of 2019 Call of Duty World League champion team eUnited has opened a new agency focused on e-sports talent. Brice Faccento, who became eUnited’s head coach in April, announced the creation of Bad Moon Talent via Twitter on Monday. Faccento co-founded the company with former MLG and Activision alum Andrew Drake. The move comes one day after eUnited announced Faccento’s departure from the team.”
Hollywood Reporter reports: “Movie studios, talent agencies and even PR firms are being forced to scale up in order to survive, and the war of attrition may further divide showbiz into very large and very small companies: ‘The ones in the middle are getting squeezed.'”
Forbes reports: “First, Instagram now the mothership. Facebook has confirmed that the company is thinking about maybe, possibly, sort of removing Like counts from the platform to “…prevent users from destructively comparing themselves to others and possibly feeling inadequate if their posts don’t get as many Likes.” Fantastically late but welcome.”
TechCrunch reports: “In an update today, YouTube is claiming to have made significant progress in removing harmful video on its platform following a June update to its content policy which prohibited supremacist and other hateful content. The company says it has this quarter removed over 100,000 videos and terminated over 17,000 channels for hate speech — a 5x increase over Q1.”
Hollywood Reporter reports: “Viacom and CBS Corp. have set up an Integration Management Office to ensure the merged ViacomCBS can hit the ground running once the recombination closes. The companies unveiled their mega-deal last month.”
VentureBeat reports: “Ubisoft announced that its Uplay+ video game subscription service is now available for Windows PCs for $15 a month. The service has a free trial lasting from September 3 to September 30, giving players unlimited access to download more than 100 games, including new releases, the latest games, back catalog, premium editions, and additional content packs.”
