news business FIFA 22, miHoyo (Genshin Impact)… This week’s business news
Sales numbers, studio buyouts, financial statements, developer transfer windows, investments… if you’re interested in these topics, you’ve come to the right place. We offer you an update on last week’s economic news.
Summary
- War in Ukraine: The video game industry mobilizes
- Genshin Impact developers are investing in nuclear fusion
- In 2021, the video game market is doing well
- When Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve, talks about cryptocurrencies and acquisitions
- Tencent acquires 1C Entertainment
- Briefly in the business news of the week
War in Ukraine: The video game industry mobilizes
The Russian military operation, launched on February 24 on Ukrainian soil, had many consequences around the world. The video game has not been spared and many players in the video game industry have chosen to get involved, whether by supporting the local population and exiles or by breaking certain trade ties with Russia. in the Open letter shared on TwitterDeputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov committed Xbox and PlayStation to leave the Russian market. A post published on March 4 reads Microsoft announces that it will suspend sales of its products and its services in Russia. For its part, Sony decides to discreetly withdraw a specific Gran Turismo 7 from the Russian PlayStation Store from sale, without justifying such an action. Regarding Nintendo, the third giant states put the Russian version of his Nintendo eShop Under maintenance due”Suspension of ruble payments“, the Russian currency. An initiative of Electronic Arts: After announcing the withdrawal of Russian teams from FIFA 22, FIFA Mobile, FIFA Online and NHL 22, the publisher announces, “selling their products and content in Russia and Belarus during the conflict“. March 03 is CD Projekt Red who decides to suspend the sale of all its products in Russian and Belarusian terri tories: The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, but also all the games available on GoG.
And in addition to severing certain trade ties with Russia, the studios are also supporting Ukraine through donations to humanitarian organizations. Last week we mentioned the initiative of the Polish 11-bit studios: they donated all profits from This War of Mine to the Ukrainian Red Cross. A march followed by CD Projekt and Techland (Dying Light) that continues to mobilize other actors. Such is the case of Pokémon Companywho announce”Donate $200,000 immediately” to GlobalGiving, who are responsible for forwarding this donation to organizations helping families and children affected by this crisis. These are your turn two million dollars donated by Sony to various associations in Ukraine, while the group’s various subsidiaries collect donations from their employees. We can also consider the donation from IO Interactive ($100,000 to the Red Cross), Bungie ($120,000 to Voices of Children, Direct Relief and IRC) or even the unit engine ($623,000).
Genshin Impact developers are investing in nuclear fusion
Last Sunday, an analysis by NICO partner Daniel Ahmad discussed miHoyo’s latest investment. Along with other companies, the studio known for developing Genshin Impact has invested $65 million in Energy Singularity. The latter, based in Shanghai, specializes in technologies that enable nuclear fusion thanks to machines called tokamaks.. More or less, this technology could make it possible to produce more energy than it consumes and is a candidate of choice to replace nuclear power plants that use nuclear fission. Why such an investment from miHoyo? According to Daniel Ahmad, the studio wants to build its own machine by 2024. An initiative that makes sense when you know that miHoyo’s slogan “Tech otakus save the world“, Where from Tech enthusiasts save the world. In this regard, it is not the first time miHoyo has been involved in such a project. Last year, the studio set up a cooperation laboratory with Jiaotong Medical University in Shanghai. The collaborative project at the time aimed to explore the various possible applications for creating a brain-computer interface. As of February 2021, the work carried out focused on neural modulation therapy for curing diseases such as depression.
Be it medicine or nuclear research, miHoyo is therefore invested well beyond the world of video games. An ideology that is accompanied by action: last February, miHoyo launched “Hoyoverse”. An alternative reality universe that people immerse themselves in through avatars and whose immersion is made possible thanks to technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality:
With HoYoverse, we want to create an expansive virtual world that includes games, anime series, and other types of entertainment that offer players a high level of freedom and immersion. Hoyoverse.
In 2021, the video game market is doing well
On Twitter, Piers Harding-Rolls briefly addresses a study he conducted for the company Ampere Analysis. It is the video game market that is being studied. According to the study, it would have been worth $60 billion in 2021. That’s more than 2020 and its $56.6 billion and that despite the lack of components that made next-gen consoles unavailable
On the digital side, services are also on the rise. As seen recently, the number of Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus subscribers is only growing (25 million and 48 million respectively), leading to a greater importance of the services: In 2021, 19% of total revenue will be deducted from Xbox Live Gold, Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, PlayStation Plus, PlayStation Now and Nintendo Switch Online. Last year it was only 15%.
Console-based gaming services grow at 20% annually
>Subscription services spend growth was primarily driven by improved adoption of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, while Nintendo Switch Online and PS Plus also contributed
6/9 pic.twitter.com/5wtd5Ep7xu
— Piers Harding-Rolls (@PiersHR) March 1, 2022
When Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve, talks about cryptocurrencies and acquisitions
Gabe Newell spoke to Rock Paper Shotgun during the first Steam Deck, Valve’s console set to run across the flowerbeds of the Nintendo Switch. The Valve co-founder returned to the process of making the portable console, but also shared his thoughts on the various issues rocking the industry right now. Including large studio takeovers such as recently at Microsoft – Activision and Sony and Bungie. For him, these purchases must be made according to a single criterion :
Regardless of the type of acquisition or consolidation, it has to answer one question: Can it deliver more value to customers? Does it manage to make developers better developers? If consolidation or acquisition doesn’t answer those questions, it’s because it’s no good.
In addition, Gabe Newell also shares his thoughts on cryptocurrencies and NFTs. If Steam has banned all games using these technologies, Newell is not recalcitrant. He only explains that it’s the resulting product that he doesn’t like:
You must separate the underlying technology from its use yourself. For example, nitrocellulose makes many things possible, but it’s often used to make firearms. I don’t want to compare NFTs to gunfights, but the notions of digital ownership and shared universes are perfectly reasonable.
- Source : Rock Paper Shotgun
Tencent acquires 1C Entertainment
Tencent continues its redemption fever. After acquiring Inflexion Games (Nightingale) two weeks ago, Tencent recently announced an agreement with 1C Entertainment. It is the Warsaw subsidiary of 1C Company that is now raising the Chinese flag. Among the well-known titles in its catalogue, we mainly find game ports on PC: Devil May Cry, Dark Souls Remastered, Mortal Kombat 11 or even Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia. An acquisition that stakeholders are very excited about:
We are really very happy about this agreement. This is an exceptional opportunity for 1CE. Our ideology and passion is supported by a great player in the industry and I’m honored to be working with Tencent as well as the other creative minds that are part of this new ecosystem – Tomasz Nieszporski, 1C Entertainment.
We couldn’t be prouder to work with the talented team at 1C Entertainment to support them in this new phase of growth – Li Shen, global chief technology officer of Tencent Games.
Briefly in the business news of the week
- demise – To support the victims of the conflict in Ukraine, John Romero released a new level on Doom II. The game costs five dollars and all proceeds are donated to charity.
- Bandai Namco – The studio announced through a press release that it would increase employees’ salaries by 50,000 yen ($435) in order to stabilize employees’ incomes.
- Tokyo game show – The 2022 edition of the Tokyo Fair dedicated to video games will again open its doors to the public and professionals from September 15th to 18th.
- Previous 4 blood – The brainchild of Left 4 Dead has announced that it has counted ten million players. A DLC is planned for the month of April.
- Netflix – The SVOD platform on Wednesday expressed its desire to buy Finnish studio Next Games, developer of games like The Walking Dead and Stranger Things. A transaction estimated at 65 million dollars.
- elden ring – In the UK, the latest release from From Software is the third best-selling release of the year. It ranks behind Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Horizon: Forbidden West.
- SNJV – The Syndicat National du Jeu Vidéo joins forces with the EGDF (European Games Developers Federation) and proposes to come to the aid of the Ukrainian developers who are victims of the current conflict.
- NVIDIA – The manufacturer of processors and graphics cards was recently the victim of a cyber attack. The attack, formalized this week, would have allowed hackers to steal 1TB of data. They would require Nvidia to disable the mining limit present on the latest generation (30XX) graphics cards.
Through chatmhgWrite to igamesnews.com
MPTwitter
Table of Contents