Multiplayer
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Epic Removes Problematic Player-Created Content from Fortnite
Gaming giant Epic has removed a player-created scene from the Fortnite gameplay map after the game’s fans reported that it depicted seriously problematic content. TheGamingEconomy will offer a brief warning here; this article will necessarily make very occasional and passing references to suicide. Back in 2018, Epic revealed that an area of the Fortnite map would be given over to a region called The Block. The idea is that Epic uses The Block to showcase some of the best player-made Fortnite environments, rotating [...]
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GDC Day Four Roundup: Microsoft's Stadia Response, Steam Store Redesign & Overwatch's Well-Behaved Players
As the Game Developers Conference 2019 nears its end, the news continues to flow. The most interesting story related to the show in this roundup doesn’t come from the GDC floor itself, though. Instead, it’s from within a reported internal Microsoft email. Specifically, in an email handed to tech site Thurrott (thanks GamesIndustry.biz), Microsoft’s head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, apparently contacted colleagues to assure them that the reveal of Google’s game-streaming platform Stadia validated Microsoft’s efforts in the same space. The Google [...]
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GDC Day Three Roundup: Epic's USD$100m 'MegaGrants', Oculus' New VR Headset & Keyword's €100m Acquisitions Pot
As GDC continues to thunder forward, Fortnite and Unreal outfit Engine Epic has revealed a USD$100m (£76.6m) fund for developers that use its tech. The MegaGrants initiative has been launched alongside a new suite of online multiplayer dev tools; but the funding pot isn’t reserved purely for games makers. As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, studios can apply for grants that range from USD$5,000-to-USD$500,000 (£3,800-to-£383,000) – and here ‘studios’ refers to game makers, TV and film production firms, enterprise developers, education specialists, and even [...]
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GDC Day Two Roundup: Google Enters Gaming Market with Stadia
Google has made its move on gaming with the announcement of streaming platform Stadia. The news came on the second day of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco; and it surely stands as one of the most significant gaming reveals in the industry’s history. Such a major player moving in with such an ambitious platform could radically impact the broad ecosystem of the industry, the makeup of audiences playing games, and the way the medium is consumed and designed. However, Stadia’s [...]
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GDC Day One Roundup: Unity Partners with Tencent, Call of Duty Goes Mobile & How to Catch that Google Keynote
With the first day of the huge Game Developers Conference 2019 behind us, it’s a chance to reflect on key news from the show. Here we’ll bring you quick spotlights on key stories; something TheGamingEconomy will do every day of the show. The sheer volume of stories can make it hard to keep up, and separating the wheat from the chaff is a time-consuming business. That’s why we’re here with quick reads that bring you the stories that matter. So [...]
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What Does House of Lords Proposed 'Digital Authority' Mean for Games?
A new report from the House of Lords has proposed the formation of a new ‘Digital Authority’ to monitor and even regulate technology companies, and make sure that UK law evolves in tandem with technology. As reported by the BBC, the document looks at tech firms’ management of data and privacy breaches, and their handling of problematic social behaviour over online platforms. The reports’ authors have branded responses to such issues as ‘inadequate’, and stress a belief that self-regulation on some [...]
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Honor of Kings: One Game banks USD$1bn in One Month
The mobile game Honor of Kings has generated USD$1bn (£757.5m) through the month of February. By now, stories of free-to-play mobile games making extravagant amounts of money are relatively familiar, but the ramping success of TenCent’s ‘multiplayer online battle arena’ game (more commonly a ‘MOBA’) is particularly fascinating. The Chinese-made Honor of Kings is also known as Arena of Valor in various international markets. The figures come from Japanese investment outfit Nomura, as reported by cifnews (via PocketGamer.biz). Honor of Kings has long been [...]
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Humanity, Breadth & Institutional Sponsorship: Mike Murphy O'Reilly on the Evolving Brand Opportunities in Esports
For all its snowballing success, esports arguably has a perception problem. Say ‘esports’ to those both inside and beyond the worlds of games, brands, and marketing, and they will perhaps imagine something like a vast arena with sweeping spotlights passing over 20,000 cheering fans, as pro players in heavily branded athletics jerseys do battle in a game like League of Legends. Perhaps a commentator will be unleashing flurries of jargon as a team manager nervously paces back and forth near the [...]
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The End Isn't Nigh? A Look at the Triple-A Gaming Shares Slump
Over the past days and weeks, a number of the global games industry’s major triple-A publishers have seen share prices drop as finical results have come in. Electronic Arts (EA), which this week saw its Fortnite challenger Apex Legends enjoy a stellar launch, saw its share price fall by a peak of 19%, with Bloomberg identifying disappointing sales of the first-person shooter Battlefield V. As highlighted by Bloomberg, EA’s adjusted revenue is expected to come in at USD$1.17bn (£902m) for the quarter [...]
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Analysis: Launching Apex Legends. Fortnite's greatest contender yet?
A lot of businesses in the global game industry would like a slice of the ‘battle royale’ pie. And it’s no surprise. Fortnite is a battle royale game – sometimes called a ‘BR’ title – and we all know how well it has done. The shooter hit 200 million players in November last year. According to a source speaking to Tech Crunch, its creator Epic banked USD$3bn (£2.3bn) in revenue through 2018. But, more than all of that, the free-to-play competitive online [...]
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