Kliuless? Gaming Industry ICYMI #29
Hi, my name is Kenny Liu, and I work in Revenue Strategy at Riot Games. Each week I compile a gaming industry insights newsletter that I share broadly within Riot. This edition is the public version that I publish broadly every week as well. Opinions are mine.
See more or subscribe at: https://tinyletter.com/kliuless
Business & Revenue Strategy
- Stratechery: Apple's Services Event
- Related: Apple unveils Apple Arcade subscription gaming service
- EA lays off 350 staff in marketing, publishing, and operations
- Related: Game Industry Layoffs Driven by Past Mistakes, Uncertain Future
- Twitch Prime users are being gifted a free year of Nintendo Switch Online
- Bethesda reveals "buddy pass" for Wolfenstein: Youngblood, allowing owner to share game with friends for co-op play
- ​Related: Risk of Rain 2 is running a buy-one-get-one free launch promo
- Dota 2 Now Lets You Bet In-Game Currency On Pro Tournaments
- Heroes of the Storm will remove the ability to buy loot boxes with real money
Design
- Minh ‘Gooseman’ Le shares how to get the guns right in shooters
- Flexiscope, the play-time aware dungeon generator in Book of Demons
- Knocking down design pillars was key to making Destiny 2's Gambit mode really shine
PC/Console
- Twitch debuts Squad Stream to put four streamers in one screen
- Sweeney commits to human moderators & quality filters for Epic's Games Store
- WSJ: Nintendo to Launch Two New Switch Models
- Sony is pulling digital PS4 games from sale at GameStop, other retailers
- Path of Exile launches on PlayStation 4
Mobile
- App Annie: Gaming Spotlight 2018 Report
- Facebook the top network for app-installs, Google and Apple follow
- 4 Alternatives to Boost ASO in your Mobile Games on Google Play Store
- Referral marketing for mobile games: How to grow your game with referrals
- Google Play: Why the first ten minutes are crucial if you want to keep players coming back
- CD Projekt Red reveals Witcher card game Gwent will come to mobile
XR: AR/MR/VR
- Valve psychologist explores controlling games directly with your brain
- Oculus founder Luckey: Rift S lenses won’t fit 30% of users
- HTC teams up with Qualcomm for Vive XR mobile devices
- HTC will sell Vive Focus Plus standalone VR headset for $800 starting April 15
Asia
- Tencent opens cloud gaming platform START for public testing
- Steven Ma interview — How Tencent is more than just a big game investor
- Epic’s war with Steam means gamers in China can’t play Epic's exclusives
- China smartphone maker Xiaomi beats profit view, sees more global expansion
- India's Muslim gamers boycott PUBG Mobile for insulting holy site
- Netflix is testing a $3.64 mobile plan in India
Tech
- Intel hopes to clean up toxic speech in game chat with AI and machine learning
- 9 Reasons Why Disney+ Will Succeed (And Why 4 Criticisms are Overhyped)
- Q&A: Instagram’s New Head of Product, Vishal Shah
Overtime
- The Animation of Samus
- 10 Best Games of GDC 2019
- How YouTube is changing toys
- Rolling Bones: Games of the Mongolian Steppe
- NYT: Depressed and Anxious? These Video Games Want to Help
- 'Dwarf Fortress' Is Abandoning Its Text-Based Graphics, but Not Its Soul
- New Yorker: The Unexpected Philosophical Depths of the Clicker Game Universal Paperclips
- "Last week, CCP and London-based tech startup Hadean hosted a battle with 10,000 spaceships taking part. [...] The event showcased the power of Hadean’s Aether Engine, a distributed simulation engine powered by Microsoft Azure"
- Comcast to spend $50 million in South Philly to create the nation’s first video gaming arena
- Related: GameStop sponsors Complexity Gaming’s esports training center
- U.S. Army is building a giant VR battlefield to train soldiers virtually
- Artificial intelligence: the art world’s weird and wonderful new medium
- In China, paying others to play games for you is big business
See more or subscribe at: https://tinyletter.com/kliuless
Twitter: @kliuless
LinkedIn: @kliuless