In this exclusive interview, TheGamingEconomy speaks to Yuheng Chen, COO of rct studio, to discuss the development of their AI-driven solutions and first-party titles, following a successful Series A funding round of USD$10m (£8.1m) led by Makers Fund. How will the recent funding round be used to support development of Morpheus Engine, and its constituent Motion Prediction Generation System & Chaos Box? What role are the investors taking on in supporting the company? We’ve already been busy putting the USD$10m (£8.1m) to [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Lightheart Entertainment raises €1.3m (£1.1m); Demiurge regains independence; and Tin Giant sues Atari. Lightheart Entertainment raises €1.3m (£1.1m) Lightheart Entertainment has raised seed funding of €1.3m (£1.1m) from Galaxy Interactive’s EOS VC fund. The investment will be used by the Helsinki-based studio to expand its debut mid-core title Mr. Autofire beyond its test launch in the United States, as well as developing further titles within the mobile sector. [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Twitch content at all-time high; Japan plans esports expansion; and controversy over Gearbox bonuses. Twitch content at all-time high Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet will report later today (2nd April 2020) in their Q1 2020 live streaming industry report that content consumption across the major streaming platforms, namely Twitch; Mixer; Facebook Gaming; and YouTube Gaming Live, has increased substantially during the quarter. Market-leader Twitch has surpassed its records for [...]

[LATEST UPDATE: 3rd April] As the COVID-19 novel coronavirus continues its spread and has hit pandemic level, there has been a growing impact on the game industry. The game sector’s problems, of course, are trivial compared to the millions impacted and the potential danger to millions more across the world.  However, the earlier Taipei Game Show and Mobile World Congress were previously cancelled amidst concerns around the virus, the potential arrival of the next-generation consoles may – or may not – [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Tencent and Huawei partner for cloud gaming; Colopl acquires Mages; and HQ Trivia returns. Tencent and Huawei partner for cloud gaming Tencent has partnered with Huawei to launch a co-innovation development lab which will power a new mobile cloud gaming platform, termed GameMatrix. The collaboration will leverage Huawei’s Kunpeng processor technology with the firms prioritising emerging areas within the gaming industry, namely artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), [...]

Fortnite outfit Epic Games has launched a new multi-platform publishing initiative that promises to be ‘developer-first’ in its make-up and delivery. A number of high-profile game studios are already on board with the Epic Games Publishing effort, with Playdead, Remedy Entertainment and gen DESIGN announced as early partners. “We’re building the publishing model we always wanted for ourselves when we worked with publishers,” said Tim Sweeney, Epic Games founder and CEO. “gen DESIGN, Remedy, and Playdead are among the most innovative and talented [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Microsoft bullish on Xbox supply chain; Tencent replaces DouYu and Huya directors; and Big Run Studios raises USD$1.4m (£1.2m) from Galaxy Interactive. Microsoft bullish on Xbox supply chain Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has responded to concerns over Xbox Series X hardware manufacturing due to the ongoing outbreak of the Covid-19 strain of coronavirus, telling CNBC’s Jon Fortt, “On the supply side we are getting back on rails.” However, [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Valve softens rhetoric against Steam competition; Bohemia Interactive grosses USD$68m (£58m); and Amuka Esports acquires Incendium Gaming. Valve softens rhetoric against Steam competition Valve CEO and co-founder Gabe Newell has softened the company’s rhetoric against competition for its Steam storefront. Writing in Edge Magazine, Newell stated that competition is “awesome for everybody” and helps stores release new features and constantly finesse their respective relationships with developers. Newell’s comments [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Scopely raises USD$200m (£173.1m) for M&A; The Sandbox secures USD$2.01m (£1.74m); Robin Games secures USD$7m (£6.05m) seed funding; and Mainframe Industries raises €7.6m (£7.1m). Scopely raises USD$200m (£173.1m) for M&A Los Angeles-based mobile publisher Scopely has secured USD$200m (£173.1m) in Series D funding, with investment primarily coming from media group Advance and consumer investment firm The Chernin Group. The latest haul, which takes Scopely’s total funding to USD$658.7m [...]

In this special exclusive contributed piece, Dimoso CEO Jacki Vause considers the fine art of publishing mobile games to China. Vause is a widely respected veteran of the tech, mobile and PR space, has been named one of PCR’s Top-30 Women in Mobile, and is an experienced entrepreneur and founder. — China should be considered by all mobile games developers who are looking to take their games global. Over the years I have represented many developers and publishers both from the East [...]