TheGamingEconomy Daily Digest brings you the trending business stories in gaming. In today’s edition: NHS calls for loot box ban; Ubisoft to restructure editorial team; and NetEase Tom and Jerry title reaches 100m users. NHS calls for loot box ban NHS mental health director Claire Murdoch has issued a statement calling for a ban on loot boxes and limitations to in-game spending, in efforts to combat persistent gambling and compulsive behaviours in children. The health body is also supporting the UK parliamentary [...]

TheGamingEconomy Daily Digest brings you the trending business stories in gaming. In today’s edition: Facebook Gaming increases audience share; China regulators launch mental health initiative targeting gaming; Pokemon GO generated USD$894m (£684m) in 2019; and Hamburg launches €2.08m (£1.77m) developer fund. Facebook Gaming increases audience share Facebook Gaming increased its audience share of its streaming market by 210% year-on-year during 2019, reaching 102 million total hours watched in December alone, according to figures released in the Q4 State of Streaming report by [...]

In this special contributed piece, Erick Fang, CEO of AI-driven ad platform Mintegral, considers the need for the programmatic sector to make the case for its responsibility, or risk imprecise regulation becoming the dominant governing force.   From time to time, I hear about a revolution in the online advertising business. Occasionally, I’ll listen in to conversations talking about how programmatic is up-ending the industry – changing ad buying habits, how consumers interact with adverts and transforming the industry with it. I do, [...]

If you’ve browsed the mainstream press recently – and read beyond the news of the new UK Prime Minister – you may have noticed a story ripe with controversy. The perennially popular Grand Theft Auto Online has recently enabled the ability to spend real money in a fictional casino. Grand Theft Auto, of course, has always courted controversy. Many will even tell you it does so deliberately. Gambling, rightly so, is a pastime that is closely regulated. And through recent scandals [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the trending stories in gaming. In today’s news: Harry Potter Wizards Unite due to gross USD£10m (£7.85m) in first month; Nintendo opens second retail store; and US government blocks League of Legends in Iran and Syria. Harry Potter Wizards Unite due to gross USD£10m in first month Mobile AR title Harry Potter Wizards Unite is due to take in USD$10m (£7.85m) in its first month, according to data from analytics body Sensor Tower. The title shifted 400,000 [...]

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 [...]

That figure – and Niko’s other findings – point to rapid growth in China’s games market, despite state involvement stifling game releases in the country through 2018 and into this year. Niko’s in-depth report points to the fact that China presently accounts for 25% of the world’s mobile games market. As home to 18.4% of the world’s population, China is clearly punching above its significant weight when it comes to mobile. China is currently home to 1.4 billion people. Niko’s figures [...]

Two current game business stories together highlight the stark dichotomy at the heart of China’s games market. As revealed in a new report from business insight specialist IHS Markit, Chinese tech giants Tencent and NetEase saw extraordinary profit growth for their international mobile game releases through 2018. Simply put, combined mobile game net revenue gained in territories outside of China by Tencent and NetEase increased 500% in 2018 to USD$472m (£360m). Again, that figure relates to sales of games outside Tencent and [...]

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 [...]

If you’re caught offering ‘boosting’ services to video game players in South Korea, you may now face a USD$17,800 (£14,000) fine, or two-years jail time. Boosting sees less-experienced users of a given game grant accomplished players access to their account for that title. The high-level player then ‘boosts’ the accessed account, deploying their skills to rapidly progress a player-character through a game. ‘Levelling up’ the player account typically opens access to higher levels of game competition, increased powers, and new weapons [...]