Kliuless? Gaming Industry Insights #50
Hi, my name is Kenny Liu, and each week I compile a gaming industry insights newsletter that I publish broadly. Opinions are mine.
See more or subscribe at: https://tinyletter.com/kliuless
Design
- Hideo Kojima Answers Our Questions About Death Stranding
- GDC Podcast: Choice Design With Zachtronics' Matthew Burns
- Inside the narrative design of Remedy's least linear game, Control
- How Hearthstone’s team made Tomb of Terrors a fun and distinct solo mode
- Battery icons shape perceptions of time and space and define user identities
Platforms
- Rockstar Games now has its own game launcher on PC
- Valve launches revamped Steam Library in open beta
- Related: Steam's latest discovery update tilts the algorithm away from popular games
- Twitch acquires gaming database site IGDB to improve its search and discovery features
- Discord cuts games from paid subscription plan after Nitro Games fails to take off
PC / Console
- Minecraft now has 112mm players every month
- League of Legends still has 8mm concurrent players daily
- Sea of Thieves adds microtransaction store in latest update
- Game Seer Venture Partners will invest $11.1mm in PC & console game projects
XR: AR / MR / VR
- Pico and ZeroLight demo Boundless XR, untethered VR streaming from PCs
- iOS 13 reveals iPhone-tethered Apple AR glasses with a controller
- Mixed reality is boosting the live sports experience
Asia
- Scopely Taps Former Disney Exec to Head New Japan Offices
- China’s internet regulator orders online AI algorithms to promote ‘mainstream values
- Visualization of 8 years of changes to the world's biggest internet population, China
Esports
- PlayVS raises $50 million more for high school esports platform
- Vivendi, Riot veterans announce gaming broadcast network, VENN
Tech / Entertainment
- a16z: Apple, services and moats
- Stratechery: Day Two to One Day [re: Amazon]
- HBR: The Strategy Behind TikTok’s Global Rise
- NBCUniversal will shut down its game publishing business
- NYT: How Apple’s Apps Topped Rivals in the App Store It Controls
Overtime
- Call of Duty: Mobile launches October 1
- Activision reveals details on first-ever crossplay for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- BetaDwarf raises $6.6m to develop new loneliness-busting genre
- FT: Will virtual reality and AI help us to find love or make us lonelier?
- Spaceships, spooks and shoot 'em ups: the best video games of the autumn
- Cryptokitties creator Dapper Labs raises $11 million and unveils Flow blockchain
- French Court Says Valve Must Allow Steam Users To Resell Games
See more or subscribe at: https://tinyletter.com/kliuless
LinkedIn: @kliuless