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DCEmu.Com is a site that brings you the very latest in Gaming news that isnt console specific and the latest Current Gen news from around the world, Part of the
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August 14th, 2019, 18:37 Posted By: wraggster
The United States is pushing back plans to impose additional tariffs on video game consoles coming from China. The Office of the US Trade Representative today announced that certain types of electronics and toys would not see a 10% tariff imposed on them until December 15.
Previously, that tariff would have gone into effect September 1. A wide array of products coming from China (everything from cameras and clothes to food and construction materials) are still scheduled to see a 10% tariff imposed on that date. Arcade games and their replacement parts are among the items still on that list.
In remarks to the press today, President Donald Trump explained the delay was taken to minimize impact on the holiday shopping season.
"We're doing this for Christmas season, just in case some of the tariffs would have an impact on U.S. customers, which, so far, they've had virtually none," Trump said. "The only impact has been that we've collected almost $60 billion from China - compliments of China. But just in case they might have an impact on people, what we've done is we've delayed it so that they won't be relevant for the Christmas shopping season."
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-game-consoles
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August 12th, 2019, 21:32 Posted By: wraggster
Over half of Chinese consumers prefer free-to-play or ad-funded games over premium titles.
That's according to research commissioned by Mintegral, an AI-driven, programmatic ad platform, which surveyed 1,007 people and found that 61% prefer non-premium titles.
Additionally, 85% reported that they spend on mobile games, with 3% spending more than $50 (¥330) a month.
The average spending was much lower, however, at $5.80 (¥40) per month. Players aged between 26 and 30 had the highest average spending, at $10 (¥70).
Conducted in partnership with market intelligence firm Newzoo, the research also reveals a high level of brand loyalty among the demographic; 92% of respondents stick with a game for more than a week, with 87% playing fewer than five different games in the previous month.
One of the many challenges facing western developers entering the Chinese market the fragmented storefronts. The research found the App Store is the single most-popular storefront with 30% of the market, followed closely by Tencent's MyApp with 29%, and the Huawei app store, with 26%.
Membership and subscriptions are also popular in China as a means of addressing strict in-app purchase regulations, with 72% of respondents opting-in to such services.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...s-over-premium
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August 12th, 2019, 21:20 Posted By: wraggster
HM Revenue & Customs have released new statistics that show the impact of Video Games Tax Relief since they were first introduced half a decade again.
A total of £234 million been paid out to 1,110 claims across 1,075 since 2014. According to HMRC's report, this accounts for £2.6 billion of UK expenditure, and £3.7 billion expenditure in total.
The number of claims has been increasing as the years have passed. 345 of the total claims were made in 2018-19, representing 535 games (claims can be made to cover several games).
The past year's claims have paid out £103 million to 170 UK games firms, since multiple claims can also be made for the same game project.
The 2018-19 represent £492 million in UK expenditure, and the HMRC expects this to increase. It notes the large increase this year is "due to a small number of very high budget games."
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-in-five-years
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August 12th, 2019, 21:16 Posted By: wraggster
New figures show that UK consumers spent almost £1.6 billion on video games in the first six months of the year.
The Entertainment Retail Association has released its market report for H1 2019, which shows games remains the highest-grossing sector of the entertainment market.
In total, UK consumers spent £3.3 billion on games, music and video from January to June -- meaning the £1.56 billion taken by games accounts for 47% of all money spent.
Games showed the least growth, with spend only rising by 1%, but remains the entertainment powerhouse.
Digital sales were the biggest driver, with revenues up 2.4% year-on-year to £1.38 billion. That's more than the £1.07 billion spent on both physical and digital video combined.
Physical games revenue, however, slipped by 8.5%, down to £184.9 million. However, this was the least dramatic decline across all entertainment sectors, with music downloads dropping the most, down 26.1%.
Boxed games sales are also still above music's £138.8 million (down 13.8% year-on-year), but fell behind video's £215.8 million (down 23.3%).
Looking again at the overall entertainment market, digital has well and truly over, accounting for £2.76 billion spent (up 9.8%). This includes the £485.9 million from music streaming services. Physical retail, meanwhile, is down 16.3% to £539.5 million.
While games leads the way in revenue, it still falls a little behind in unit sales. Even the top-selling game of H1 2019 -- unsurprisingly, Grand Theft Auto with 361,312 units sold -- doesn't match the best-selling album.
The Greatest Showman soundtrack sold 380,929 units in the same period, although the next biggest seller -- Lewis Capaldi's Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent -- only sold 229,340 units, which is less than the top five best-selling games.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...t-half-of-2019
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August 12th, 2019, 21:15 Posted By: wraggster
New Super Mario Bro. U Deluxe and FIFA 19 are the best-selling physical games in Europe so far this year, according to GfK Entertainment.
That's based on a new cross-platform report from the official charts and market research data supplier.
FIFA 19 performed better in the Benelux countries of Denmark, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the UK, while Mario proved more popular in Austria, France, Germany, and Switzerland.
Grand Theft Auto V continues to be a dominant force in the market six years after release, ranking in the top three in five countries.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...rope-this-year
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August 12th, 2019, 21:14 Posted By: wraggster
Walmart employees are reportedly being instructed to remove signage, demos, and displays for entertainment products (including video games) that include violence or aggressive imagery in the wake of a shooting this weekend that occurred at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
Waypoint Vice reports that a number of employees have taken to social media to share a notice given to them this week instructing them to remove "any signing or displays that contain violent images or aggressive behavior."
One example shared on Twitter specifically mentions "video game display consoles that show a demo of violent games, specifically PlayStation and Xbox units." They are also told to cancel events promoting combat or third-person shooter games, avoid showing violent movies or hunting season videos, and remove any product referencing combat or third-person shooters.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...demos-displays
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August 12th, 2019, 21:13 Posted By: wraggster
The developers behind this year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare have denied the shooter is political in any way.
In an interview with , two directors from the studio artfully dodged the question by turning it into a debate as to what it would take for a game to qualify as political.
"The question 'Is this a political game?' doesn't actually mean anything," said campaign gameplay director Jacob Minkoff. "Because what does the word 'political' mean to you?
"Do we touch topics that bear a resemblance to the geopolitics of the world we live in today? Hell yeah, because that is the subject matter of Modern Warfare. Are we telling a story that has anything to do with the specific governments of any countries that we're portraying? No. So if you're asking is Trump in the video game? No, he isn't."
Studio narrative director Taylor Kurosaki added: "These are the type of questions that have been asked for the last 50 years. We do talk about concepts like colonialism, occupation, independence and freedom. We don't maybe say those words specifically, but that's the realm we're in. You could have a game set in revolutionary America talk about those exact same things."
Minkoff added you could set this year's Modern Warfare in 1980s Afghanistan and still have the same story. He argued that, for a game to be political, it would need to talk about "the exact administrations and governments and events in our world today", whereas Modern Warfare is talking about "thematic things."
He also added that such a title would be told from a specific point of view.
Historically, Call Duty's stories have been told from the same point of view, primarily putting players in the role of US and British forces. Activision has yet to announce campaign details for Modern Warfare -- although Kurosaki recently tweeted that this is "coming soon" -- but has detailed US and British characters that are likely playable and/or allies.
There is also a section in which players take on the role of a child soldier in a war-torn country, already likened to Modern Warfare 2's controversial No Russian level. Comments from the two directors hint that there will be more playable perspectives throughout the campaign.
"In a world where no one is purely good and no one is purely evil, in that big meaty grey area in between, the conflicts that arise out of people wanting to get their way and achieve what they consider victory, the conflicts that result from that -- that's the meat of the conflicts we want to examine," said Kurosaki.
Minkoff added: "We want to present the different perspectives. We don't want to say that one of them is correct.... What we want you to come away with at the end is an understanding of why all these different groups fight, or groups like them, and to have empathy for all of them and what puts them in this situation."
AAA publishers have been actively distancing themselves from any political stance for well over a year now. Ubisoft in particular has been frequently questioned following Far Cry 5's setting of a radicalised US state -- complete with a subtle reference to President Trump -- while its Tom Clancy titles have also come under scrutiny.
The debate has flared up around The Division 2, released earlier this year, although developer Massive's COO Alf Condelius stressed that "we cannot be openly political in our games" back in October.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-ever-could-be
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August 12th, 2019, 21:11 Posted By: wraggster
The latest EMEAA Charts are in, and there's little change among the ten best-selling games.
The only new entry this week is EA's Madden 20, which has to settle for No.10 as various evergreen sellers dominate the combined physical and digital charts.
As an indication of how much downloads now drive AAA games, the annual sports outing debuted at No.5 in the digital rankings but as low as No.26 at retail.
It will come as absolutely no surprise that Grand Theft Auto is No.1 in both the combined and digital charts, and No.4 in the physical charts.
PlayStation exclusive Marvel's Spider-Man is No.2 in both combined and digital, although as low as No.29 in the retail rankings -- again, indicating the downloads were the biggest driver for this title.
Last week's big new release Fire Emblem: Three Houses continues to hold its own at No.3 in the combined physical and digital charts -- although this is purely based on retail sales, since Nintendo's digital data is unavailable.
The game was top of the physical charts, and actually top of the combined rankings in terms of value rather than units sold.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-charts-top-10
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August 12th, 2019, 21:10 Posted By: wraggster
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled sputtered into the top spot in the UK retail chart, despite its sales actually falling 14% over last week.
The general stagnation of the AAA summer release slump was clearly displayed by Crash Team Racing, which managed to climb from third to first despite declining overall.
There were no new entries in the top ten -- indeed, there were no new entries in the entire top 40 -- and only two of the games were outside of the top ten last week: F1 2019 climbed from 11th to sixth, and Red Dead Redemption 2 ascended from 15th to eighth.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...f-the-uk-chart
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August 12th, 2019, 21:07 Posted By: wraggster
Everything old is new again, at least for a while. Right-wing politicians are blaming games for real-life violence, the industry and its fans are rallying to defend the medium, and I had to check the mirror to see if the white hairs are all still there before I could be certain we hadn't all been time-skipped back to the early 2000s. Games are being scapegoated for awful, senseless and tragic acts of violence, and hey look, we're getting the band back together.
It's an uncharitable thought -- albeit far from the least charitable thought I've had about the ESA in recent years -- but Donald Trump's half-cocked attempt to shovel responsibility for the recent mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton onto video game violence couldn't have come at a better time for the embattled organization if they'd slipped round the back of the West Wing to personally slip him a cheeky $50. The ESA had a dramatically awful week, having managed to leak the personal details of thousands of games media people in an act of blinding and potentially immensely damaging incompetence -- which feels for all the world like a punctuation mark at the end of a pretty awful decade or so, really.
Then lo and behold, Donald Trump is at the podium and all of a sudden the ESA gets a chance to wheel out its Greatest Hits, Volume 1, 2 and 3. The battle against censorship and scapegoating, really the only thing it has ever actually been good at, roared back to life for a comeback tour."Trump's attempted scapegoating harks back to a time when the industry may have felt embattled, but at least it felt somewhat united"
It's not just the ESA, either. It feels like every time a political leader trying to deflect responsibility or a newspaper desperate for a silly-season headline drags out the old Violent Video Games trope, the whole industry almost heaves a collective sigh of relief. Solid ground, at last! Here's an opponent we can all rally against, an external foe launching an ill-informed and ill-advised broadside against the medium we all love. Here's an argument that lets us roll out talking points that unite the industry, the media and game fans themselves behind one banner.
It's just like the mistily-recalled Good Old Days when it was game creators and gamers against a rogue's gallery of fuddy-duddy, pearl-clutching old politicians, fame-hungry lawyers of immensely dubious character, and sniffy newspaper editorials that often couldn't even get the names of the games they were criticising right.
It is understandable why that's appealing. Leaving aside the tragic and sickening nature of the events that set this whole affair in motion, Trump's attempted drive-by scapegoating -- and eager adoption of his talking points by the shameless chorus line of American right-wing media, who must have left their full-throated defences of free speech and expression in the pocket of their other trousers this week -- really does hark back to a time when the industry may have felt embattled, but at least it felt somewhat united.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...talgic-opinion
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July 31st, 2019, 21:02 Posted By: wraggster
Electronic Arts has posted its financial results for Q1 of 2020, and while its results and investor call touched on a number of aspects of EA's business, one major element only got the barest of nods: cloud gaming.
While EA's been pushing subscription services for some time now (and EA Access just came to PlayStation 4 this month), the company has been generally quiet on streaming since October of last year when it first revealed its own cloud endeavor, Project Atlas. It is purportedly planning to bring something to Google Stadia, but details of that have yet to be announced.
Though there were no in-depth discussion during the call as to what EA might be planning, CEO Andrew Wilson did touch on cloud streaming in conjunction with subscription services during his prepared remarks, saying the following:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...iers-to-gaming
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July 30th, 2019, 21:15 Posted By: wraggster
Rockstar North has pad no corproation tax over the past ten years, according to a report from investigative think tank, TaxWatch UK.
While the company has paid tax in some years, overall it has received more money back than it is paid out. According to Rockstar North's account filings on Companies House, in 2018 it recieved over £26.9 million in tax credit, up from £13.1 million the year prior.
Released over the weekend, the TaxWatch report also states the game giant has issued claims for £42 million in Video Game Tax Relief between 2015 and 2017; the figure accounts for 19% of all tax credits granted to the British games industry since the relief was introduced in 2014.
Video Game Tax Relief is available for games that pass a British "cultural test" which considers content, cultural contribution, development hubs, and personnel.
While published by US-based Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto V was developed by Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Since launching in 2013, Grand Theft Auto V has become the most profitable entertainment product of all time.
Between 2013 and 2018, TaxWatch estimates total sales of the game at $6 billion, with the developer's estimated operating profit reaching $5 billion, and total bonus pool of $3.4 billion available for top managers for the period.
The also report found that the seven UK-based Take-Two and Rockstar companies declared a total pre-tax profit of just £47.3 million between 2013 and 2018.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ive-think-tank
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July 29th, 2019, 21:22 Posted By: wraggster
Kyle Giersdorf won the solo tournament at the Fortnite World Cup, taking home the $3 million prize.
The duos tournament was won by Emil "Nyhrox" Bergquist Pedersen and David "aqua" Wang, who won $1.5 million each. Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf, who is 16 years-old, was the single biggest winner at the Fortnite World Cup.
The Fortnite World Cup's $3 million solo prize is just above the amount awarded to the winner of the men's competition at Wimbledon.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ook-home-USD3m
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July 26th, 2019, 16:15 Posted By: wraggster
Grand Theft Auto V remained the best-selling game across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Australia last week, in terms of combined physical and digital sales.
Nintendo's Super Mario Maker 2 was the biggest game at retail, but the strength of Rockstar's evergreen blockbuster in the digital chart was enough to ensure that it stayed at the top overall.
As the drought on major releases continued, the summit of the combined GSD EMEAA chart remained relatively static -- the top three games all stayed in the same position as the previous week.
The only new entry was Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, a Switch exclusive developed by Team Ninja, which entered the combined chart in fourth place, and the digital chart in third.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and Red Dead Redemption 2 all re-entered the combined top ten, with Assassin's Creed climbing 31 places in the digital chart to end the week in third.
Square Enix' Dragon Quest Builders 2 showed a steep decline in the combined chart, falling to 18th place after debuting in fifth last week.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...e-emeaa-charts
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July 24th, 2019, 16:17 Posted By: wraggster
Nintendo's reign at the summit of the UK physical retail charts has come to an end, with Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled reclaiming the top spot.
Super Mario Maker 2 actually slips to No.3 as another Nintendo game, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, debuts at No.2. The franchise was previously operated by Activision and the previous game (released back in September 2009) did sell a third more units than this new game. However, that title was released across all formats (Ultimate Alliance 3 is a Switch exclusive), and in an age when digital wasn't as prominent as it is today.
Just 500 units separate No.3 from No.1.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-boosts-market
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July 22nd, 2019, 17:27 Posted By: wraggster
Grand Theft Auto V was once again the best-selling game across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Australia, both as a download and a physical release.
Having loitered around the top ten fairly consistently since launching in 2013, Grand Theft Auto V often ensures most games don't remain in the top spot for very long.
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fuelled, which was released on June 21, spent just two weeks at No. 1 before Grand Theft Auto V pushed it into second place where it has remained since.
Overall, the top ten remained fairly stagnant this week, populated by many familiar titles and franchises.
Despite Nintendo still not providing digital data, Super Mario Maker 2 held on to No. 3 in the combined charts, and was the best-selling physical game; it was followed in the combined charts by F1 2019.
Meanwhile, Dragon Quest Builders 2 was the only new release to appear in the charts this week, coming in at No. 4.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege continues to have a notable presence in the charts nearly four years after its release, coming in at No. 6.
FIFA 19 appears at No. 7, followed by Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, and Borderlands: The Pre Sequel.
Finally, EA Sports UFC 3 broke into the top ten this week, up from No. 19.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...n-emeaa-charts
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July 19th, 2019, 16:13 Posted By: wraggster
In a trend that seems poised to continue for the foreseeable future until a new console generation hits, the Nintendo Switch continued to be both the best-selling hardware platform for June as well as for the first half of the year as PS4 and Xbox One hardware sales continue to decline.
Overall games spending in the US for June was down 13% year-over-year to $959 million according to The NPD Group, with every category (hardware, software, accessories and game cards) declining. Year-to-date spending is also down 4%.
Hardware spending specifically was down 33% year-over-year to $235 million as every platform declined but the Nintendo Switch. Accesssories and game cards were down 7% to $338 million, which NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said on Twitter was an indication of the battle royale boom being more short-term than long-term. "Hardware and Accessories really getting hit hard by the [comparison] to last summer when Fortnite was causing both to jump in sales," he tweeted.
Nintendo also came out ahead in software sales in June, with Super Mario Maker 2 topping the sales charts for the month despite digital sales not being included. It's also the best-selling Mario Maker game to-date. Mortal Kombat 11 is still the best-selling game of the year so far, and it hung in at No.3 for the month.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-june-us-sales
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July 18th, 2019, 16:10 Posted By: wraggster
Disney's video games strategy (or perceived lack of one) has been a hot topic of discussion in recent weeks.
It kicked off when an investor suggested it could acquire Activision Blizzard -- a publisher that, coincidentally, said investor had a hefty stake in -- to get back into the traditional games space after withdrawing in 2016.
Our own Rob Fahey speculated as to how else this might be achieved, and why its vast library of world famous IP -- from Mickey Mouse to Star Wars to Marvel -- is so under-served by video games. Interestingly, Disney has just hired a former PlayStation exec to bolster its licensing efforts.
But for now, Disney's contribution to the games industry is just that: licensing. While EA holds the rights to Star Wars and Square Enix is working on an Avengers title independent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the company's interest appears to primarily lie in mobile.
Just look at its major summer release, Toy Story 4; no opportunity for console or PC owners to fall with style as Buzz Lightyear, but mobile players can enjoy yet another match-three puzzler in Toy Story Drop.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-exploiting-it
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July 17th, 2019, 16:16 Posted By: wraggster
Last weekend, remaining showings of Detective Pikachu pushed the film to $436 million at the box office, a new record for video game-based films.
Yahoo News reports that the movie is only showing in five territories at the moment: Norway, New Zealand, Slovenia, Portugual, and Colombia. This last weekend, showings in those five areas brought in nearly $7 million.
The previous record was set by the Warcraft movie, which brought in $433 million and was widely considered a critical flop.
Detective Pikachu was already regarded as one of the best-received video game films by critics, and earned $161 million globally in its opening weekend, which was also the best US opening weekend for a video game film. A sequel is reportedly in the works.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...deo-game-movie
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