E3 leaves us for good, while Google loses to Epic Games and avoids Stunfest 2024… The business news of the week

news business E3 leaves us for good, while Google loses to Epic Games and avoids Stunfest 2024… The business news of the week

E3 is dead, long live E3

Interviewed for several years, canceled during Covid and restarted remotely in 2021, E3 will not feature 2024, 2025, or any subsequent years. The 2022 and 2023 editions were canceled despite the takeover by Reedpop. So the E3 had been in troubled waters for a long time, and we suspected that, barring a miracle, its days were numbered. On December 12, ESA put the final nail in the show’s coffin announces the end of E3. The event was created in 1995 to differentiate itself from the overly diverse CES and quickly established itself as a must-see event for the industry and the public. Publishers and studios came by to present their projects a series of conferences followed by presentations on their own stands.

From magazines to websites, everyone shared the information they had collected and their impressions of the games and consoles featured. But the publishers started Use the time to organize your own side events, broadcast on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. EA, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Ubisoft… They all made a habit of broadcasting their own conferences. As E3 slowed down, Geoff Keighley launched his Summer Game Fest and hosted the Gamescom show, gradually taking over a run-down show. Too expensive and impossible to reconnect with partners

And to encourage publishers to set up a stand again, E3 could only disappear.

After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, it’s time to say goodbye. Thank you for the memories (…)

For Stanley Pierre-Louis, Companies now have the means to carry out their communications. The formats presented by Geoff Keihley are just one of the factors, the most important being the changes in the way audiences are reached:

Video game companies have new and exciting ways to reach people. They can do this on a schedule that suits their business needs. This does not change the need to bring people together. We’ll think about how we can bring everyone together to tell a story about the industry. I don’t know what that will look like. We’re spending time thinking about this because it’s a good time for the industry to reshape the way the public thinks about games. But it is a start for thought.

In other words, ESA is not giving up on the idea of ​​a new event. After long years of torment, mass is the order of the day for E3. Meanwhile, Geoff Keighley has his hands freer than ever to bring players together around various announcements. From Summer Game Fest to Gamescom to the Game Awards, he has some of the most impressive events of the year under his belt.

Stunfest 2024 will not take place

Bad news for Stunfest fans, The 3 Hit Combo association announced that it would cancel next year’s edition, while promising to work on a new formula for 2025. Aside from the pandemic, this is the second time Stunfest has been canceled. The club is in deficit reduced the workforce from 7 to 2 employeesand cannot cover the costs of organizing the next edition. By skipping a year, 3 Hit Combo hopes to restore balance Continuation of its cultural mediation activitiese, to advertise the game “differently”. Inflation, sponsors, the need for professionalization, a decline in visitors, a ban on patronage, the reasons are varied.

We have always been transparent about our difficulties: economic, legal and human. The nature of Stunfest makes it a daring venture that is difficult to organize. Despite all the qualities of the club project and the festival, 3 Hit Combo is in a structural deficit. We did our best, but the activity of the association and the size of the festival do not allow us to find financial compensation.

We must add to the four employees who were laid off for economic reasons and their positions were not renewed all external service providers who make the festival possible and therefore who is affected. Until 2025 and the possible next edition of Stunfest, the association will be active with numerous structures: media libraries, schools, middle and high schools, cultural associations, neighborhood centers, social centers, health facilities, prisons and development studios.

© Archices Ouest France

Google loses to Epic Games after new test

A few months after its legal battle with Apple, Epic Games recently went to court to take on Google. GAFAM was is accused of exercising an illegal monopoly in the application market, and the jury wholeheartedly agreed with Epic Games. Three years after the first lawsuit was filed, Epic Games won the case. Fortnite’s publisher accused Google of foreclosing the market, and the court ruled that this was indeed the case: Google did it found guilty exercising a monopoly, engaging in anti-competitive behavior, causing harm to Epic Games, and signing improper agreements to ensure developers do not circumvent the Play Store.

Victory over Google! After four weeks of extensive testimony in court, the California jury ruled against Google Play’s monopoly on all counts. The court’s work on the appeals will begin in January. Thank you for everyone’s support and trust! Free Fortnite!

Google spent several hundred million dollars on its Hug project, which was aimed at countering Epic Games, which had released Fortnite outside of the Play Store. The giant defended itself against these allegations on the grounds that alternative markets were permitted, but this was not enough to convince the court. The company will of course appeal

of the decision. As reported From iGamesNewsGoogle believes that there can be no monopoly, as it faces Apple in the same market. For Epic, Google suppressed the competition and then allowed itself to get a 30% commission on every sale by exploiting its essential side.

Today’s ruling is a victory for all app developers and consumers around the world. It proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal and that the company is abusing its monopoly to extort exorbitant fees, stifle competition and stifle innovation. During the trial, we saw evidence that Google was willing to spend billions of dollars to suppress alternative app stores by paying developers to abandon their own store efforts and distribution plans. Directly and by offering very lucrative agreements with device manufacturers in exchange for exclusion from competing app stores, the official Epic Games website indicates.

So all that remains is to wait for the call to come and wait what changes justice imposes on Google to regulate his situation. It will also be necessary to convince users of the merits of alternative markets that require installing multiple applications and creating numerous accounts.

Coming soon to the business news of the week

• Netflix announced this More than 90 games are currently in development.
• Hasbro is leaving Remove additional 1100 in the coming months, and these layoffs are expected to impact Wizards of the Coasts. This would affect people who have confirmed the Baldur’s Gate III project.
• The Game Awards 2023 are 118 million live streams according to Geoff Keighleyan increase of 15% compared to the previous year.
• Have hackers attacked Insomniac Games. They would have content related to Wolverine, but there is also talk of a possible Spider-Man 3 and a game dedicated to the Spiderverse. They promise to disclose anything that does not meet their demands.
• Four days after its release, The Day Before was withdrawn from sale. Players will be refunded their money and the studio announced its closure and then changed its name to Eight Points (its previous name) on the platforms.
• Sur published the speech what he was doing at the Game Awards before he was interrupted.
• In the 48th week of the year, Super Mario Bros. is a miracle that has established itself in the sales rankings in terms of value and physicality of the SELL. It’s ahead of EA Sports FC 24, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.