Players

• SkyWeaver dev Horizon Blockchain Games secures USD$3.74m (£2.97m) seed round

  4 weeks ago News

  

  Canadian game dev and blockchain infrastructure outfit Horizon Blockchain Games has completed a USD$3.75m (£2.97m) seed round. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture fund Initialized Capital led the round, which was also supported by Golden Ventures, Polychain, Coinbase, Digital Currency Group and Inovia Capital. The seed round is likely to be a significant boon to bringing Horizon’s game SkyWeaver to market, and to the further development of the company’s blockchain video game network Arcadeum, which is pitched as a ‘crypto arcade’. Backing by [...]

• As Pixion secures USD$2m in seed funding, has there been a better time to be in mobile esports?

  1 month ago News

  

  London-based studio Pixion Games has revealed that it has secured USD$2m (£1.6m) in seed funding to further its efforts developing mobile titles specifically geared towards esports. Private investment firm Eldridge Industries led the round, with contributions from Jabre Capital Family Office and three angel investors. As well as being used to develop the studio’s games, the funds will also be used to scale the team, which presently boasts talent formerly serving at King, Curve, Hutch and Konami. So far that reads like [...]

---

• Stripping back the Switch: Is simplification contrary to innovation?

  1 month ago News

  

  Nintendo has developed a reputation for doing things differently when it comes to developing new gaming hardware. When the original Wii was revealed to come with a wand-shaped motion sensitive control, Nintendo reaffirmed itself as unafraid to forge its own path. Few industry observers around at the time will forget how it felt to see a Wii Remote for the first time. It was surprising, enthusing and invigorating. The DS handheld, meanwhile, introduced two screens at a time when convention dictated that [...]

• Facebook reportedly pursuing high-profile IP exclusives and acquisitions to bolster Oculus VR gaming

  1 month ago News

  

  Facebook is reportedly pursuing acquisitions and exclusivity deals in an effort to supply its VR hardware with big name, triple-A productions. That is according to The Information, which cites two insider sources with knowledge on the matter. One of those sources reported that deals have already been signed around Ubisoft game series like Assassin’s Creed and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. The idea appears to be to bolster the fortunes and longevity of Facebook’s Oculus VR hardware range through high-profile titles. Meanwhile, the [...]

• ironSource debuts new cross-platform mobile cross-promotion solution

  2 months ago News

  

  Mobile monetisation and marketing outfit ironSource has launched a new cross-platform solution that enables mobile developers to manage cross promotion campaigns while utilising a suite of ad network capabilities. Available to those that use the ironSource mediation platform – which TheGamingEconomy has previously covered – the new solution promises to maximise the value of all existing users by driving the adoption of games from across a given developer’s catalogue of titles. According to a statement to the press, the new ironSource technology [...]

• Snap Games details real-time multiplayer focus for hyper causal Snapchat games

  2 months ago News

  

  As one of the dominant social platforms for teenage and young adult users, Snapchat is an obvious home for hyper casual instant games. That’s something the platform’s team are keenly aware of, it would seem, as a number of games have recently become available for Snapchat, each playable directly within the messaging service. Yesterday, for example, the internal Snapchat games division Snap Games released its seventh titlefor the platform, Bitmoji Tennis. The launch coincided neatly with Wimbledon, and continues the platform’s Bitmoji [...]

• NBA 2K19 and the 'unskippable' ads fiasco

  2 months ago News

  

  2K’s long-standing and wildly popular basketball game NBA 2K19 has in recent days been the subject of a flood of frustration from players unhappy with the premium title’s apparent ramping up of ‘unskippable’ ads. It appears some of that frustration may be partially unfounded; the ads may not be unskippable, and they have always been part of the game. But the momentum that has built in recent days has seen a lashing out against 2K’s use of ads – and that [...]

• Commons committee grills EA and Epic reps at ongoing 'Immersive and addictive technologies inquiry'

  2 months ago News

  

  In the UK the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has been speaking to representatives from Electronic Arts and Epic Games, as it’s ‘Immersive and addictive technologies inquiry’ continues. The enquiry – which is not just focused on games – is looking at the ongoing emergence of technology in contemporary UK society, with a particular focus on notions of technology addiction and negative impact. “The inquiry will examine the development of immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, and the [...]

• Developers can now build Synative playable game demos in Google Play for free

  2 months ago News

  

  Game ad tech specialist Synative has moved to make its Playable Studio platform free for devs looking to build playable ‘Try Now’ demos for Google Play. In essence Synative offers in Playable Studio an accessible platform for building playable ads, all without the need to write a single line of code. Using that platform game developers – or their marketing or PR colleagues with little-to-no dev experience – can build demos of their games that exist as a playable ad. Those [...]

• Against Gravity secures USD$24m investment in VR social gaming space Rec Room

  2 months ago News

  

  Seattle start-up Against Gravity has raised USD$24m (£18.9m) of VC funding. The money will help bolster Rec Room, the studio’s blend of social space, game compilation and user content generation platform. As reported by TechCrunch, Against Gravity raised the investment over two rounds of funding. The first Series A funding round was led by Sequoia, while Index Ventures spearheaded the second, Series B, which concluded recently. Investors in Against Gravity include Acequia Capital, Anorak Ventures, Betaworks, DAG Ventures, First Round Capital [...]