TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Focus Home Interactive acquires Deck13; Keywords purchases Coconut Lizard; and Koch Media launches Americas publishing unit. Focus Home Interactive acquires Deck13 Paris-based publisher Focus Home Interactive has acquired German developer Deck13 for a total consideration of €7.1m (£6.4m), which itself consists €6.5m (£5.9m) in cash and €0.6m (£0.5m) in treasury-held shares. The acquired firm generated €5.5m (£5.0m) in revenue in 2019, and is best known for its Lords [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Apple faces European antitrust investigation; FirstMark raises USD$650m (£515m) fund duo; and Eidos-Montréal to open Eidos-Sherbrooke. Apple faces European antitrust investigation Apple is facing a formal antitrust investigation by the European Commission over claims the California-based tech giant is stifling competition by taking a high rate of commission on payments to third-party developers through the mandatory use of its App Store in-app payment system, whilst simultaneously promoting its [...]

On Monday (1st June 2020), Zynga announced that it would acquire Istanbul-based Peak for a total consideration of USD$1.8bn (£1.4bn), marking its largest acquisition, and the largest exit by Turkish start-up, to-date. With the deal expected to close within the next quarter, TheGamingEconomy examines the implications of the deal for the San Francisco gaming giant, and how it will shape its future growth. Doubling down on match-three Ostensibly, the acquisition is in line with Zynga’s overriding business strategy in mobile gaming since [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Keywords raises £100m acquisition fund; Ubisoft sues Apple and Google; and Tencent to establish North American AAA studio. Keywords raises £100m acquisition fund Keywords Studios has raised approximately £100m through the issuance of 6.9 million new ordinary shares at a placing price of £14.50, with the financing to be used to support the acquisition of video game service companies struggling as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Any [...]

[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: 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 [...]

As part of the recent UK budget, the government confirmed that it is pressing ahead with its somewhat controversial Digital Services Tax. As reported by the Financial times, the UK plans to raise £500m a year by applying the tax primarily to large US tech companies. It is being seen as a means to secure money in relation to allegations that many large tech outfits are not paying enough tax in the areas in which they operate, instead using low tax [...]

The classic video game arcade has almost become a trope for nostalgia. They appear across contemporary fiction as shorthand for a fondly remembered version of the 1970s and 1980s. The arcade’s ‘passing’ is often lamented in tandem with warm, fuzzy memories of growing up in those decades; even if that lamenting started while arcades were still active. Indeed, arcades are still active. Here in the UK there may be very little of any ‘arcade industry’ remaining, and that is true at many [...]

PlayStation is skipping on attending E3 this year, just a few months before it plans to launch the PS5. A decade or so ago, that would have seemed like a very peculiar move. E3 has long been the place to announce and launch the biggest games and gaming platforms. It is famed as a media frenzy, where the world’s press amass to collect and share all the key gaming news. Indeed, it was the very first E3 in 1995 that saw one [...]

TheGamingEconomy Daily Digest brings you the trending business stories in gaming. In today’s edition: Team17 picks up Yippee Entertainment; Worldwide Christmas spend on apps tops USD$277m (£209.6m); and Nexon sells off mobile development subsidiary for JPN¥1 (£0.007). Team17 picks up Yippee Entertainment Long-standing UK developer and publisher Team17 has acquired Yippee Entertainment for close to £1.4m. Founded in 2011, Yippee develops own IP alongside end-to-end creation of games on a third-party basis. The company has also served as a digital publisher. Now wholly owned [...]