The PlayStation 5 is a hit in Europe, Nintendo gets it right and a Halo veteran joins Netflix… This week’s business news

news business The PlayStation 5 is a hit in Europe, Nintendo gets it right and a Halo veteran joins Netflix… This week’s business news

The PS5 breaks all records in Europe, the Xbox series and the Nintendo Switch lag behind

Analysis and statistics company GSD has just published its latest report on the European video game market. After exploding PS2 numbers in the old continent The PS5 continues on its way and we have a feeling the bottlenecks are behind the mark as advertised. According to GSD, total console sales rose 41% compared to the first quarter of 2022, with 1.5 million machines sold, but not everyone is in the same boat.

If we take a closer look, we notice that The PS5 saw an extraordinary jump in sales of 369% while Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch sales fell 10% and 18%, respectively. There are several ways to explain these figures. The first is that historically Europe is PlayStation territory and Microsoft’s consoles have almost always lagged behind Sony. Then there were some Xbox Series Xs and lots of Series S’s during the shortages, suggesting the early adopters are already kitted out and giving way to those waiting to find a PS5 on store shelves.

Whenever it comes to Xbox, one can imagine that the company’s angle of attack, centered around the Game Pass, had an impact, as did the lack of major releases. Things are more natural at Nintendo, with a huge installed base and a console that is slowly but surely nearing the end of its career. However, it remains to be seen what impact the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will have on Nintendo console sales.

Joseph Staten (Halo) joins Netflix Games

Several names come to mind when we talk about it the Halo franchiseAnd the one from Joseph state Is there. He was responsible for cutscenes and the scenario until Halo 3: ODST, and then joined the ranks of Microsoft before being called upon to reinforce Halo Infinite to restore order to the business. Not long ago we learned that he was leaving 343 Industries sail to new horizons. We now know about his new job since he announced this week his arrival at Netflix Games as creative director.

In my professional life, there is nothing I love more than collaborating with others to create worlds filled with iconic characters, deep secrets, and endless adventures. That’s why I’m excited to announce today that I’ve joined Netflix Games as Creative Director for a brand new AAA cross-platform game with original IP. Let’s go !

Yes you’ve read correctly: Netflix will develop and release a big-budget game for home consoles and PCs by creating a new license. Until then, the SVOD giant had cautiously entered the gaming market, gradually adding games to its catalog and offering to the studios Night school studio (Oxenfree II: Lost Signals), Boss Fight Entertainment and Next Games in building their own teams. The company announced this last month with 55 games released as of late 2021 and more than 70 titles on the schedule 40 of them only for the year 2023.

Double victory for Nintendo in court

As we know, Nintendo is very keen when it comes to defending its intellectual property. This week we’re going to focus on two major cases that had enlivened the legal counterpart News about video games. The first concerns the famous Gary Bowser (oui oui), who with his group had developed, distributed and marketed hacking solutions for the Switch and the 3DS. There Team Xecuterknown in the industry since 2013, also composed of French Max Louar, who has so far escaped extradition to the United States. It was targeted and then dismantled by the courts and Gary Bowser was arrested.

Convicted in February 2022, he was sentenced to 40 months in prison after admitting the facts and admitting he would have won more than $320,000. We are a little over a year after the verdict and Gary Bowser was released thanks to him on various penalties and on counting the months of imprisonment preventive. But the latter is not at the end of his sentence, since he owes Nintendo $10 million, despite knowing that he could only repay $175 thanks to his work in prison. In his opinion and in the perspective that he will manage to find a job, Nintendo could take 25 to 30% his gross income. Gary Bowser, 52, will have a hard time paying off his debts.

The other case concerns the shared hosting site 1fichier.com, or rather the company that manages the site, DSTORAGE. In 2021, Nintendo asked the website to remove illegal copies of the company’s games from its platform before filing a complaint. In the first instance, the French judiciary ruled in favor of Nintendo, but DSTORAGE appealed. In mid-April, the Paris Court of Appeal announced its verdict, largely confirming what had previously been said. DSTORAGE was therefore judged civilly liable for failure to remove the filesand now I have to pay 443,750 dollars to Nintendo for damages and reimbursement of 25,000 dollars in legal costs.

Justice has also confirmed that Nintendo did not have to produce a court order to request removal pirated files. Now DSTORAGE can either accept the verdict on appeal or appeal it cassation. If the company decides to do so, it can only overturn the judgment if a procedural violation is found or the law has not been correctly applied. In other words, The Court of Cassation does not judge the facts, it judges the law.

Briefly in the business news of the week

• Focus Entertainment released a record annual tax balance of 194.1 million dollars Revenue based in part on A Plague Tale: Requiem, Atomic Heart, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, and Evil West. The publisher also acquired Dovetail Games (Train Sim World).
• EA proudly announced that The Sims 4 was published by more than 70 million players. Remember that the base game became free to play last October.
• More than 53 000 play dates, the small yellow hand crank console, have found a buyer. This is the double goal that Panic had set itself.
• God of War: Ragnarok (PS5) dominated the physical retail market in France for the 14th week of the year. It predates Hogwarts Legacy: Hogwarts Legacy (PS5), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Resident Evil 4 (2023) (PS5) and FIFA 23 (PS5).
• Epic Games recently acquired the Aquiris studio (Horizon Chase Turbo), which becomes Epic Games Brasil.
• The South African regulator has has unconditionally approved the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King from microsoft.
• CyberConnect2 Montreal lived. Five years after its opening, the studio, whose activity was focused on the technical part of the productions, will close its doors next July without anyone really knowing why.
• 17 years after co-founding the studio Creative Director Mark Healey announced his departure from Media Molecule. Remember that from the 1st the creative game Dreams will no longer be updated in favor of new projects.

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