Sony acquires Audiokinetic

January 8th, 2019, 20:42 Posted By: wraggster

Sony Interactive Entertainment is acquiring Audiokinetic, the company announced today. The two have struck a deal expected to close by the end of January that will see the Montreal-based maker of Wwise and other cross-platform audio middleware join the PlayStation family.
"A rich and all-encompassing audio experience is increasingly critical to the overall gameplay experience, further enhancing immersion and emotion for the player," SIE president and CEO John Kodera said. "Audiokinetic is a preeminent provider of audio solutions for the gaming industry, and we are confident that this acquisition will allow us to further grow the PlayStation platform and contribute to the broader gaming industry. It's our goal to support Audiokinetic's efforts to advance its audio technology while maintaining independence and platform neutrality."

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...s-audiokinetic

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FIFA 19 returns to No.1 in UK physical charts

January 7th, 2019, 16:53 Posted By: wraggster

As we await the arrival of the first combined digital/physical UK chart, UKIE/GfK has revealed that FIFA 19 was the top-selling physical game last week.
It's the first chart of the year and with no new games released physically, so therefore the Top Ten is almost exactly the same.
The most noticeable difference is at the top with FIFA 19 and Red Dead Redemption 2 swapping positions. Red Dead 2 sales fell 64 per cent week-on-week, while FIFA 19's sales fell 62 per cent. That's how close it is at the top.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 retains No.3 with a 71 per cent sales fall, while Super Smash Bros Ultimate is still at No.4 with a 56 per cent sales drop. Battlefield V rounds of the Top Five, just like it did last week.
The sales drops are all due to the end of the Christmas selling period. Overall boxed sales fell 59 per cent week-on-week, but they are broadly in-line with the sales generated during the first week of 2017 (slightly down in units and up in revenue).

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...hysical-charts

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Lego: The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit pulled from digital storefronts

January 4th, 2019, 21:24 Posted By: wraggster

• <article>
  Two more video games have been lost to the digital abyss of expired contracts. Warner Bros.' Lego: The Lord of the Rings and Lego: The Hobbit have both been delisted from their once available digital storefronts. According to the publisher, neither game is scheduled to be available in the future, so you'll have to get a hold of a physical copy on console, or already own the game digitally if you plan on playing it. Luckily, Lego: The Hobbit was given away for free through the Humble Store last month, allowing for many people to claim it before its delisting. Lego: The Lord of the Rings was developed by Traveller's Tales, and initially released in 2012, for PC. Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. There were also handheld versions of the game on mobile, DS, and 3DS. Both titles boast user reviews that are positive, with the first having an 82% on Metacritic, and the second having a 72% average score.
  
  Source
  </article>
  
  
  

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Star Control creators defend DMCA takedown notice against Stardock

January 4th, 2019, 14:46 Posted By: wraggster

Star Control creators Fred Ford and Paul Reiche have defended their decision to use a DMCA takedown notice against developer Stardock and its upcoming game, Star Control: Origins.
The notice was ultimately successful in blocking the game's release, a decision upheld by the Northern District Court of California.
Stardock CEO Brad Wardell objected to the use of DMCA take notice in this context.
"To my knowledge, never in the history of our industry has anyone attempted to use the DMCA system to take down a shipping game before," he said.
"For example, when PUBG sued Fortnite for copyright infringement, they didn't try to take Fortnite down with a DMCA notice."
In the statement, Wardell also noted that Stardock made several changes to "appease Reiche and Ford", adding: "To date, no specific demands have been made to us."
However, Ford and Reiche have now defended their decision, and clarified what Stardock actually acquired when it purchased the Star Control franchise following Atari's bankruptcy auction in 2013.
According to Ford and Reiche, Stardock's acquisition of the franchise included only the Star Control trademark, and the original parts of Star Control 3, and that anything not listed was excluded.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ainst-stardock

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"Not enough evidence" that screen time is harmful to children

January 4th, 2019, 12:56 Posted By: wraggster

A new report has contested the notion that time spent in front of screens inherently has a 'toxic' effect on young people.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has published the UK's first screen time guidance report to address concerns that too much time playing video games, using smart devices or engaged in other screen-based activities can be harmful.
The institution reports there is "not enough evidence to confirm that screen time is in itself harmful to child health at any age."
As a result, it is "impossible" to recommend age appropriate time limits, instead urging parents to "approach screen time based on the child's development age [and] individual need."
Families are encouraged to monitor whether screen time is displacing socialising, physical exercise and sleep -- and if so, to negotiate it between parent and child.
The report also reminds parents that: "Both video content and games have certification systems, designed to protect children from inappropriate content.
"It is important that parents are aware of these systems, and mindful of them, especially when older siblings may be playing violent or explicit games."
Two more specific recommendations worth noting include avoiding screen time for at least an hour before bed, and to control snacking while engaged in screen-based activities.
In the study on which the report is based, 88% of children said screen time had a negative impact on their sleep, with kids spending an average of 1.5 hours on screens before falling asleep.
Meanwhile, the RCPCH's officer for health promotion Dr Max Davie said watching screens can "distract children from feeling full" so parents need to monitor how much they are eating while in front of a screen.
The study was based on 109 children and young people between 11 and 24 years old, who said they spend an average of 2.5 hours on a computer, laptop or tablet, two hours on their phone, and two hours watching TV per day.
Davie continued: "Technology is an integral part of the lives of children and young people. They use it for communication, entertainment, and increasingly in education.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ul-to-children

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Super Smash Bros and PlayStation gift cards dominate Amazon 2018 chart

January 4th, 2019, 12:55 Posted By: wraggster

The US arm of Amazon has revealed that Super Smash Bros Ultimate was the best-selling game at the retailer last year.
The game, which sold three million copies in just 11 days in the US, beat competition from PlayStation Store gift cards and a screen protector for Nintendo Switch.


It was a strong showing for Switch throughout the chart, with the console itself coming in at No.6. The next highest charting console was the NES Classic at No.17 and then the SNES Classic at No.26.
The chart highlights how Amazon has proven to be a popular destination for Switch customers, and it also shows the role traditional retailers can play in the digital space.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...zon-2018-chart

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UK boxed software sales slip in 2018, but hardware is up

January 3rd, 2019, 17:04 Posted By: wraggster

Updated: £770 million was generated by UK boxed video game sales in 2018.
The latest data from GfK/UKIE shows that the revenue generated from physical video games declined 2.8 per cent.
The actual number of boxed games sold last year was 22 million, a bigger drop of 7.1 per cent.
The reason the revenue drop was smaller than the physical drop was due to the sale of more higher priced products, particularly Nintendo Switch games. Indeed, Nintendo Switch is the only platform which increased its software sales year-on-year (unsurprising for a console in its second year, and considering the machine was only on sale for ten months of 2017). Switch game sales increased 90.1 per cent over 2017 (and revenue increased 73.4 per cent).
It's a disappointing result for games retailers, who might have expected a small improvement in sales with the number of major titles released in the latter half of the year. However, key titles such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Fallout 76, FIFA 19 and Battlefield V sold fewer units than previous titles.
PS4 accounted for 42.2 per cent of all the games sold at retail last year, followed by Xbox One (30.5 per cent) and then Nintendo Switch (24 per cent). The rest was made up of 3DS (2.1 per cent), PC (0.7 per cent), Nintendo Wii (0.2 per cent) and Xbox 360 (0.2 per cent).
Compared to 2017, PS4 games sales dropped 9.7% and Xbox One game sales fell 12.7 per cent.
Note: This is just physical games, digital is not included.
The official hardware numbers have yet to come in, although GamesIndustry.biz understands that more consoles were sold in 2018 than 2017. PS4 remarkably saw an increase in console sales and shifted over one million units, while Nintendo Switch was the big growth area, with a sales increase of more than 20 per cent year-on-year. PS4 remained the No.1 console for the year. In total, just shy of 2.5 million games machines were sold last year in the UK.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ercent-in-2018

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Slightly Mad developing standalone, VR-supportive console

January 3rd, 2019, 17:02 Posted By: wraggster

Project CARS 2 studio Slightly Mad appears to be working on its own standalone home console system, currently called The Mad Box.
This morning, company CEO Ian Bell tweeted "The Mad Box is coming," followed by a handful of replies offering details as to the current plans for the machine.
"What is the Mad Box?" one tweet read. "It's the most powerful console ever built...It's literally 'Mad'...You want 4k, you want VR at 60FPS? You want a full engine for free to develop your games on it? You have it."
Other tweets from Bell said the console was planned to work with VR headsets and offer VR at 60 FPS "per eye" or 120 FPS for the console as a whole. He also said it would be compatible with existing PC peripherals including both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets, as well as unspecified racing wheels and fight sticks.
In a follow-up conversation with Variety, Bell said that the Mad Box was planned to ship in about three years, would be available worldwide, and would be its own, standalone console like the Xbox or PlayStation but would also be compatible with most VR headsets on the market. Cost will be "competitive with upcoming console prices," said Bell.
"It will support most major VR headsets and those upcoming and the specs will be equivalent to a very fast PC 2 years from now," he said. "We're in early talks with manufacturers of components so we can't say much more right now other than we have the designs specced out in detail."

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ortive-console

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Reselling game keys now illegal in Japan

January 3rd, 2019, 17:01 Posted By: wraggster

Japan has now outlawed the resale of digital game keys.
A revision of the nation's Unfair Competition Prevention Act introduced a series of amendments that affect the games industry, and in particular the modding scene.
The official information on the amendments is currently only available in Japanese, but various translations all indicated that three acts have now been banned:

1. Distributing tools and programs for altering save data
2. Reselling software product keys online without the creator's permission
3. Offering services that modify save data on the customer's behalf

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GTA V tops Europe's Christmas digital download chart

December 28th, 2018, 20:06 Posted By: wraggster

The best-selling game across EMEA regions in the week before Christmas was FIFA 19.
It's not especially surprisingly considering the sheer popularity of EA's football game across European markets. It beat off stiff competition from Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2, which had to settle for No.2 in the weekly EMEA charts (it did manage No.1 in the UK charts).
However, what was (slightly) surprising was the No.1 downloaded game over the same period - Grand Theft Auto V on PC.
It's all down to the Steam Winter Sale, where the game's price fell to under $15. It saw Rockstar's ageing action game rise up 475 spaces in the individual platform charts. Indeed, the power of Steam can be seen throughout the charts, with the Winter Sale causing spikes for the likes of Middle-Earth Shadow of War, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege and Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
However, the pre-Christmas week was dominated by physical game sales (as you would expect), and when combining digital and physical together, GTA V actually 'only' managed No.10.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate continues to perform well across Europe, dropping one place from No.2 to No.3. Nintendo is one of the few companies that doesn't contribute to the download figures for these charts, so Smash Bros downloads are not included.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...download-chart

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HMV faces administration in the UK

December 28th, 2018, 20:04 Posted By: wraggster

Entertainment retailer HMV faces administration for a second time.
The music, DVD and games specialist filed a notice last week that it intends to appoint administrators, amid failed talks with suppliers.
2,200 jobs are at risk.
HMV chairperson Paul McGowan said that the DVD sector had declined 30 per cent over the Christmas trading period, and that although HMV "performed considerably better than that, such a deterioration in a key sector of the market is unsustainable."
He added: "HMV has clearly not been insulated from the general malaise of the UK High Street and has suffered the same challenges with Business Rates and other government-centric policies which have led to increased fixed costs in the business.
"Business rates alone represent an annual cost to HMV in excess of £15m. Even an exceptionally well-run and much-loved business such as HMV cannot withstand the tsunami of challenges facing UK retailers over the last 12 months on top of such a dramatic change in consumer behaviour in the entertainment market.
HMV first entered into administration in January 2013 but was rescued by Hilco. The firm renegotiated deals with its suppliers to make it a more profitable business. It was the movie and music industries that proved the most accommodating to new terms, which saw HMV reduce its focus on video games.
However, HMV does still stock an array of video game goods and merchandise. If it does cease trading, it will be the third sizeable games retailer to close in the UK this year, after Toys R Us and Grainger Games. Other games stores to close in the UK this year included Scottish chain Games Centre and online retailer GameSeek.
Before entering administration in 2013, HMV was looking to change its business so that it focused on entertainment experiences over retailing. It invested in the Gamerbase concept (similar to GAME's Belong arenas), where people could play games. The retailer even had its own cinema and operated a number of music venues.
Unfortunately, these new business areas were not growing fast enough to counter the declines suffered in physical CDs and DVDs, and HMV ended up selling and closing these new ventures in an effort to free up capital.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...tion-in-the-uk

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Red Dead Redemption 2 claims UK Christmas No.1

December 24th, 2018, 21:54 Posted By: wraggster

Red Dead Redemption 2 holds No.1 in the UK boxed charts for a second consecutive week, which means the Rockstar game is officially the Christmas No.1.
It's Rockstar's second Christmas No.1 after Grand Theft Auto Vice City in 2002.
The game's physical sales increased 26 per cent to hold off competition from FIFA 19. EA's game holds No.2, but closed the gap on Red Dead with a 45 per cent sales increase. FIFA holds the joint record with Call of Duty as the game with the most Christmas No.1s (eight).
Although the football title misses out on Christmas No.1, it will still end the year as the UK's best-selling game (unless something truly remarkable happens between Christmas and New Year). However, the gap between the two is close, and it's worth noting that FIFA 19 launched a month earlier.
Note: All of this data is boxed physical UK data only.
No.3 is the game that will end the year as the third best-selling new release of 2018 - Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Activision's game rose 27 per cent week-on-week (and is one of three games that it has in the Top Ten). Black Ops 4 has been a big success in the US as that market's biggest seller. It's not quite been the case in the UK, although it has still shifted over a million units.
Battlefield V, slowly recovering from its weak launch, is at No.4. The game was discounted slightly, which saw its sales increase 55 per cent.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate was one of the only games to dip in boxed sales in the Top 20 this week, which is to be expected for a recently released game (it only arrived three weeks ago). The mascot fighting game dropped 24 per cent in sales and slips to No.5. However, its sales have now surpassed Splatoon 2 to become the UK's fifth most successful Switch game, and it's only be around three weeks.
The other Switch game in the Top Ten is Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, which falls two places to No.7 after an 11 per cent sales dip. Nintendo's game has benefited from some hardware bundling this Christmas. The game is the No.1 selling Switch game in the UK by a large margin, ahead of Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breathe of the Wild, Pokemon Let's Go and Smash Bros.
Nintendo exclusives may have been the highest performers this week, but Spider-Man from Sony continues to perform incredibly well. The PS4 game sits at No.8 and is the fourth best-selling new game released this year. Spider-Man's sales rose 62 per cent week-on-week.
Another big exclusives is Forza Horizon 4, which rose 35 per cent this week but actually fell from No.8 to No.10. Both Microsoft and Sony's big Christmas game has sold more copies than either Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Battlefield V or Fallout 76.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...christmas-no-1

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35C3: 35th Chaos Communication Congress

December 22nd, 2018, 21:06 Posted By: wraggster

A friendly reminder it is soon time for the 35th Chaos Communication Congress (35C3) which takes place at the Messe Leipzig / Congress Center Leipzig (CCL) in Germany on December 27th to 30th, 2018. The congress offers lectures and workshops on a multitude of topics and attracts a diverse audience of thousands of hackers, scientists, artists, and utopians from all around the world. For 35 years, the congress has been organized by the community and appreciates all kinds of participation.

via http://www.eurasia.nu/modules.php?na...ticle&sid=3724

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Superdata: Digital games spending flat last month

December 22nd, 2018, 20:55 Posted By: wraggster

November was a humdrum month in terms of digital games spending, despite normally being one to keep an eye on with holiday sales popping up. Superdata reports that digital spending was largely flat last month, bringing in $9.05 billion across all platforms, down one percent year-over-year.
On console, digital spending was strong. Games like Fortnite and Red Dead Redemption 2 helped drive a 13 percent year-over-year increase across combined major consoles, but this was offset by declines in premium PC and mobile spending (down five percent year-over-year). In addition, Battlefield V and Fallout 76 saw weaker-than-expected launches.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...lat-last-month

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NPD: Switch, PS4, Xbox One all sell over 1.3 million units in November

December 20th, 2018, 22:45 Posted By: wraggster

Black Friday weekend and its surrounding month in the United States proved an excellent time for hardware sales as usual in the United States, according to this month's NPD report, though software sales were lagging due to a release date shuffle in the year's biggest title.
Overall gaming sales for November were flat year-over-year at $2.7 billion, with software sales declines offsetting increases elsewhere. Year-to-date, spending was up 16 percent to $13.2 billion.
In hardware, November 2018 was a historical month. For the first time ever, three console platforms sold over one million units - the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One all sold over 1.3 million.
Overall, hardware spending was up 3% year-over-year to $3.9 billion, with the Nintendo Switch's sales growth helping offset declines on other platforms. The Switch led hardware dollar sales this past month, but the PS4 remains at the top in year-to-date sales.
Accessory and game card spending was up 35 percent year-over-year to $503 million, an all-time high.
Finally, software dollar sales were down last month by 15 percent year-over-year due to Call of Duty's moved release date from November to October. Year-to-date sales were in excess of $5.8 billion, making this the highest comparable year-to-date total in software since this time in 2011.
Now with over a month at retail, Red Dead Redemption 2 has secured the position of 2nd best-selling game year-to-date, behind Call of Duty, and the best-selling game of November. Its sales outstrip those of its predecessor by almost 40 percent. Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII, meanwhile, is the second-fastest selling game on PS4 and Xbox One in history, only behind Call of Duty: WWII.
Fallout 76 may have seen a rocky month in the press, but it is nonetheless the 4th best-selling game of November without taking into account digital sales (which Bethesda does not report). Behind it was Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee at #5 and #6 respectively, with Pikachu's launch month sales as the second-highest in franchise history behind Pokemon Stadium on the Nintendo 64. Digital sales are not included for Nintendo titles.
Finally, Spyro Reignited Trilogy earned a place in the top-10 at #9. Dollar sales for its launch month were 30 percent higher than the combined launch month sales of every other Spyro game in history, not including Skylanders.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ts-in-november

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Consumer advocates want FTC to investigate kids apps

December 20th, 2018, 22:44 Posted By: wraggster

On Wednesday, a group of consumer advocates filed a formal complaint against Google with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), asking it to investigate potential violations of the Children's Online Privacy Proection Act (COPPA) and violations of its own policies on children's apps in the Google Play store.
NBC News reports that the group, led by the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown University Law School, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and the Center for Digital Democracy comprises nearly two-dozen different consumer advocates. Together, they claim Google misled parents both by promoting apps that violated COPPA as child-appropriate apps, as well as apps not suitable for children in general.
Some of the apps cited as problematic in the group's 102-page complaint were concerning because they accessed the location of the device being used to run them, while others allegedly provided user profile information to advertising companies to allow them to create targeted ads. Both of these actions are prohibited in apps targeted at children under the age of 13.
Other apps included in the complaint are not in violation of COPPA specifically, but do appear to violate Google's own stated policies on what qualifies as a children's game. For example, "Dentist Game for Kids," includes giving a patient a shot in the back of the throat, and "Doctor X & the Urban Heroes," involves cutting clothing off of an injured person. Finally, several other apps were included due to a perceived overabundance of in-app purchases.
"The business model for the Play Store's Family section benefits advertisers, developers and Google at the expense of children and parents," said Josh Golin, executive director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. "Google puts its seal of approval on apps that break the law, manipulate kids into watching ads and making purchases."

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...gate-kids-apps

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11 bit studios raises over $500,000 for War Child

December 20th, 2018, 22:36 Posted By: wraggster

This War of Mine developer 11 bit studios has announced that its charity DLC for This War of Mine raised a total of $500,000 for War Child UK.
The charity DLC was created alongside the game when it launched four years ago to add war-related artworks made by famous artists to areas within the game. 100% of the proceeds from each sale of the DLC went toward War Child UK.
Over the course of those four years, War Child UK has used that money to help children affected by war in countries around the world. According to War Child, some of those initiatives included:

• Three Temporary Learning Spaces were established where 260 children were able to carry on with their education and exams to complete their school year
• Place 26 unaccompanied children with foster families in Bambari, Central African Republic
• In Iraq - provide summer schooling to 457 students
• In Afghanistan - Support 840 children aged four to six to access Early Childhood and Care Development in Kabul and Herat
• Expand our child helpline in Democratic Republic of Congo, which received 14,557 calls in 2017 and 2,215 children were referred to specialized child protection organizations
• Fund a new fundraising arm at War Child dedicated to working with gamers, which has raised over $2.5 million to date

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Atari H1 financials show continued growth driven by RollerCoaster Tycoon IP

December 20th, 2018, 22:35 Posted By: wraggster

Atari has published its H1 2018-2019 financial results, reporting "strong growth" in revenues driven by licensed products, IP sales to THQ Nordic, and the continued strength of RollerCoaster Tycoon.
The company reports that for the period ending September 30, 2018, it brought in €10.8 million ($12.4 million) in revenue in the first half of its fiscal year, an increase of 27 percent year-over-year. Its current operating income was up 87 percent year-over-year to €2.2 million ($2.5 million).

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ster-tycoon-ip

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Red Dead Redemption 2 reclaims No.1 in UK charts

December 17th, 2018, 17:10 Posted By: wraggster

Red Dead Redemption 2 has retaken the No.1 spot in the UK physical games charts four weeks after it last held the position.
There has been a spike in sales across many games in the charts - and particularly the Top Three. Red Dead Redemption 2 sales rose 19 per cent, taking it from No.2 to No.1. FIFA 19 saw a 30 per cent sales rise (going from No.3 to No.2), whereas Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 - boosted by a £10 price drop - rose four places to No.3 (sales up 175 per cent)
All three games have sold over one million boxed games in the UK, and combined account for over four million physical games sold.
It does mean last week's No.1 - Super Smash Bros Ultimate - has taken a tumble down to No.4. It seems like a heavy fall, but actually sales only dropped 52 per cent week-on-week, which is a decent result for a game in its second week on sale.
Nintendo Switch is clearly proving to be a popular console as we get nearer to Christmas, and a number of Switch games increased in sales week-on-week. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe holds No.5 in the charts (sales up 20 per cent), and there were sales increases for Pokémon Let's Go: Pikachu, Super Mario Party, Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Not that sales increases are confined to Nintendo games. Xbox One exclusive Forza Horizon 4 saw a 135 per cent sales bump (up from No.17 at No.8), after a £10 price cut. Whereas, PS4-only Spider-Man rose from No.11 to No.9 with a 68 per cent sales increase (again, some price activity drove this).
The rest of the Top Ten includes Spyro Reignited Trilogy at No.6 (up two places after a minor price cut), and Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy at No.10 (also up two places). The only other game in the Top Ten is Battlefield V, which drops to No.7 with a slight eight per cent drop in sales.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...1-in-uk-charts

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Capcom responds to complaints over Street Fighter's in-game ads

December 17th, 2018, 17:09 Posted By: wraggster

Capcom has been criticised for adding advertisements into Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, but seems to have no plans to remove it.
The publisher added 'Sponsored Content' to the game in an update last week, which introduces advertising to various stages, character models and loading screens.
Currently, this is being used to "remind [players] about costumes, bundles and the Capcom Pro Tour" but some Street Fighter fans are concerned these spaces could be offered to external brands.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...rs-in-game-ads

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