NetEase to impose restrictions on young gamers in China

January 25th, 2019, 17:47 Posted By: wraggster

NetEase has implemented a variety of measures to protect young gamers in China, including implementing an 11-hour curfew.
The Chinese publisher announced its plans on Wednesday, as reported by China Daily, which amount to a broad attempt to settle fears around addiction to video games in China.
NetEase will implement a curfew on gameplay between 9:30 pm and 8:30 am, during which users age 12 and under will not be able to log in. Those users will also be limited to playing for one hour a day between Monday and Friday, and two hours a day on the weekend.
Users between the ages of 13 and 18 will be treated with more leniency, with two hours play-time per day during the week, and three hours a day on Saturday and Sunday.
Changes to the "NetEase Parenting Care" service will also allow parents to request that their children be banned from playing the publisher's games.

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Talking up the positives about gaming

January 25th, 2019, 17:44 Posted By: wraggster

After an exhausting few years, it's nice to be reminded that while the games industry and the communities that have sprung up around it may harbour their fair share of assholes (pardon my French), they don't actually ,emph>belong to assholes.
All the howling, empty fury that greets every minor progressive step in the industry grants an outsized importance to a very small and relatively recent constituency of thoroughly awful people. It has always been the case that the vast, vast majority of people you meet through gaming -- be they industry people, fans or just casual consumers -- are decent, kind people whose hobbies distinctly do not include shrieking at women or minorities on the Internet.
As such, I feel genuine gratitude to Henry "Hbomberguy" Brewis; not just for doing an objectively wonderful thing with his Twitch live-streaming marathon for charity over the past weekend, but for serving up a timely and welcome reminder that the misdirected anger, trolling and harassment that make headlines with such depressing regularity aren't truly representative of gaming -- or, more broadly, gamers.

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Analyst predicts first video games revenue decline since 1995

January 24th, 2019, 19:18 Posted By: wraggster

A notable analyst has predicted the video games industry will see its revenues decline in 2019 -- something that hasn't happened in almost 25 years.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Pelham Smithers -- owner of London-based research firm Pelham Smithers Associates -- expects sales will dip by 1% to $136.5 billion this year. While that may seem a minuscule decline, it will mark the first time the video games industry has not grown year-on-year since 1995.
Smithers attributes this expected drop to various factors, including the ongoing aftereffects of China's nine-month freeze on new game approvals and growing fatigue among Fortnite fans.
Stricter regulations on approvals and monetisation in the world's largest games market significantly impacted some of the world's biggest companies, including Tencent and NetEase. And while approvals have now resumed, the pace is slow and both firms have been excluded from this process thus far.
This has contributed to declines in mobile games revenue, according to Smithers, predicting this sector -- accounting for almost half the industry's total revenues -- will drop by 10% this year. He adds that the US and Japanese mobile markets are plateauing, limiting their ability to counter the Chinese decline.
Meanwhile, the worldwide phenomenon that is Fortnite -- plus PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and similar titles -- have seen the number of active users decline year-on-year as some players grow tired of the format. Smithers expects this to trigger a slump in PC gaming revenues.
Finally, Smithers posits that the console sector will be unable to improve on the record year it enjoyed in 2018. Last year saw the release of major blockbusters like Red Dead Redemption 2, Marvel's Spider-Man and God of War -- but it's currently unclear whether anything in the 2019 line-up can achieve the same success.
Factor in the current console generation nearing the end of its lifecycle, and growth opportunities are limited -- with Smithers observing that if the PlayStation 5 doesn't launch until the end of 2020, the console sector will suffer its absence until 2021.
The analyst warns that this decline could continue into 2020, and cites sharp declines in the stock of leading firms such as Tencent and Electronic Arts as evidence in favour of his prediction.

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SuperData: Worldwide digital spending down 2% last month

January 24th, 2019, 19:17 Posted By: wraggster

Worldwide digital spending declined 2% in December to $9 billion, driven primarily by a 21% fall in the premium PC market according to SuperData.
The market intelligence firm also reported a "single-digit" drop off in mobile which was offset by a 12% rise in console spending.
Fortnite continued as a dominant force in console for the period, driving a 209% increase in the free-to-play segment.
There were no real surprises in the top-grossing games across PC, mobile, or console with League of Legends, Fortnite, and Honor of Kings topping the respective charts for worldwide revenue in December.
Fortnite saw its highest-grossing month to date while PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds sold 2.75 million units across console and PC.
Super Smash. Bros Ultimate was the best-selling console game for the month -- with an estimated 2.49 million digital units sold, it's also the best digital launch on the Switch to date.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is finding solid success since going free-to-play and introducing a battle royale mode, with MAU hitting a high point. SuperData estimates the free version generated roughly $49 million for Valve between November and December.
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NPD: US video games sales reached $43.4 billion last year

January 23rd, 2019, 17:25 Posted By: wraggster

The US gaming industry broke records in 2018 as it reached an estimated $43.4 billion in sales, according to The NPD Group. That's up 18% year-over-year.
Hardware revenue, including peripherals, reached $7.5 billion, up 15% year-over-year, and software revenue was up 18% year-over-year to $35.8 billion. This number, as well as the total sales figure mentioned above, are estimates of total spend across all channels and categories. The numbers in NPD's full analysis, reported on below, are based on full physical data and partial digital data from participating retailers.
Per NPD's data, annual spending on hardware, software, accessories, and game cards was up 13% year-over-year to $16.7 billion. For the month of December, overall spending reached $3.4 billion, up 2% year-over-year.
In hardware for 2018, NPD's data shows hardware spending up 8% year-over-year to $5.1 billion with gains across all three major consoles and plug-and-play devices such as the SNES Classic. The Nintendo Switch took the throne as 2018's best-selling console both for units and dollars.
Accessory and game card spending for 2018 was up 33% year-over-year to $4.5 billion, an all-time high. Also an all-time high, December spending for the same category was up 29% year-over-year for the month of December to $1 billion. The Nintendo Switch Pro Controller was the best-selling accessory by dollar sales for the month.
Finally, in software, annual sales grew 7% year-over-year to %7.1 billion, and Red Dead Redemption 2 was the best-selling game of 2018. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 was in second place.
For the month of December, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was the best-selling title, bringing it up to the fifth best-selling game of the year despite only being out for less than a month of the full year and despite digital sales not being tracked by The NPD Group. The game set a new launch month sales record for a platform exclusive, surpassing the dollar sales of previous record-holder, Halo: Reach.
Nintendo was the highest software revenue generating publisher of 2018.

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Capcom expands Street Fighter esports efforts to US

January 23rd, 2019, 17:24 Posted By: wraggster

Japanese publisher Capcom is ramping up its esports plans in the US with the announcement of a new Street Fighter Pro League.
Season one of this new tournament will run from April to June with a second season already planned for a later date, and will centre around matches in Street Fighter V Arcade Edition.
The publisher hopes the league will "discover potential pro players as well as new growth opportunities within the rapidly growing global esports market."

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UK Charts: Ace Combat 7 breaks franchise records, but Mario holds No.1

January 21st, 2019, 18:38 Posted By: wraggster

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown just posted its biggest UK launch.
The Bandai Namco flight game debuts at No.2 in the UK physical charts. It's the first game in the series since 2014's Ace Combat Infinity. The franchise debuted in 1995.
The game was most popular on PS4, with 76 per cent of sales coming on Sony's platform. The PS4 version features an added VR mode.
Despite its impressive start, the title couldn't topple New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe from No.1. The Nintendo Switch game retains its top position despite a 43 per cent drop in sales week-on-week.
Ace Combat aside, it's a typical quiet January week for UK games retail. FIFA 19 tumbles to No.4 with a 33 per cent sales drop, Red Dead Redemption 2 holds No.3 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is still No 4.
Last weeks new release Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition drops from No.9 to No.32 after a 71 per cent sales fall.

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FIFA 19 trumped Red Dead and COD as Europe's highest selling game in 2018

January 18th, 2019, 17:55 Posted By: wraggster

FIFA 19 was the best selling game in Europe in 2018, according to data from Gfk Entertainment
The data was gathered by Gfk from 15 European countries, and EA Sports' popular football franchise was the highest seller despite only launching on September 28, 2018.


The second best selling game was Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2, which earned $725 million in revenue following its October 28 launch. After little more than a week, global shipments of the Take-Two published title had reached 17 million units.
Europe was evidently a key market for Red Dead Redemption 2, enough to leave Rockstar's game one place ahead of Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII (which launch on October 12) at the end of the year.
The 15 countries used to gather Gfk Entertainment's data were Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and the United Kingdom.

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Fast Travel Games sold more on PSVR than Steam, Oculus and Viveport combined

January 18th, 2019, 17:53 Posted By: wraggster

The prominent VR studio Fast Travel Games is selling more units on PlayStation VR than on all PC storefronts combined.
Fast Travel Games CEO Oskar Burman released proportional sales figures for the studio's ambitious VR game Apex Construct on Twitter this week.
Overall, Sony's VR platform has contributed 58% of the game's sales to date, more than Steam (23%) and the Oculus Store (19%) combined. According to Burman, Viveport represented "less than 1%" of Apex Construct's total sales.
"Playstation has taken an even bigger share since last time I shared numbers," Burman added, "which is what to expect considering indications of strong PSVR sales in 2018."
However, Burman noted that, based on Fast Travel's sales, the entire VR market appears to be growing. In fact, December 2018 was the best month for Apex Construct sales since it first launched.

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PEGI announces new content descriptor for in-game purchases on physical products

January 16th, 2019, 17:42 Posted By: wraggster

Content rating system PEGI today announced it will label physical releases that include in-game spending.
A content descriptor for in-game spending in digital-only games is already in use, but this is the first time the new icon will appear on packaging of physical products.
Simon Little, managing director of PEGI said that making parents aware of optional in-game purchases was an "important first step" in helping them make informed purchasing decisions.
"While we know that parents use different methods to control spending, parental control tools are a very helpful next step in making sure that the overall online experience of the child is safe, including the possibility to control spending," he added.
"Entering into a dialogue with the child about the games they enjoy is certainly a must for all parents. It will provide them with the necessary context to create a gaming environment both the children and the parents are comfortable with."
The new in-game purchases descriptor will begin appearing on physical retail releases towards the end of this year, and will be applied to all titles that feature in-game spending.

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Frontier's Jurassic World Evolution and Planet Coaster both cross 2m sales milestone

January 15th, 2019, 18:19 Posted By: wraggster

Frontier Developments has hit new sales milestones with its three self-published titles.
Planet Coaster has hit two million sales, as has Jurassic World Evolution. The latter game was released just seven months ago, making it the most successful game launch for Frontier to-date.
Meanwhile the long-serving Elite Dangerous has now exceeded three million unit sales.

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Media Create: Nintendo begins 2019 strong in Japan

January 14th, 2019, 16:04 Posted By: wraggster

Nintendo's comfortable spot on Japan's sales charts wasn't going to be threatened by anything anytime soon, much less coming off a strong holiday for the company and a major release like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
That's reflected in the latest Media Create sales charts, where Super Smash Bros quite handily smashes every other software release and. Alongside its fellow first-party Nintendo brethren as well as Pokemon and Dragon Quest Builders 2, the title and its bundles helped net Nintendo nearly 200,000 unit sales of Switch hardware.
Aside from the absolute Nintendo dominance at the top of the chart, it's worth taking a look at GO VACATION, which launched in the country on December 27 and seems to be doing well enough as an effective remake of a 2011 Wii game.
In addition, it's interesting to see Dragon Quest Builders 2 garnering nearly as much popularity on the PS4 as it has on the Switch. Combined sales on both platforms would put Dragon Quest Builders 2 above Pokemon Let's Go! on the charts, though not quite at the level of Super Mario Party.
Finally, we see Sega's Yakuza spin-off Judgement, which launched in Japan on the 13th and is still sitting steadily at #10 on PS4.
The top 10 software sellers for the week of December 31, 2018 - January 6, 2019 are shown below, along with hardware sales. The remainder of the chart can be viewed through Media Create.

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Verizon reportedly also testing cloud game streaming service

January 14th, 2019, 16:04 Posted By: wraggster

Following Microsoft, Google, and now apparently Amazon, Verizon may be the latest to jump on the recent trend of experiments in cloud game streaming technology.
According to a report from The Verge, Verizon is currently in the alpha testing phase of Verizon Gaming, a cloud gaming service that will allow players to stream gameplay directly to their devices without the need for large downloads. Verizon Gaming is apparently already functional via the Nvidia Shield set-top box, and will also be usable on Android phones in the near future. In both cases, games would be playable with and Xbox One controller.

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UK Charts: New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe takes No.1 in quiet week

January 14th, 2019, 16:03 Posted By: wraggster

Nintendo's latest Switch release took the (super) crown in the UK Charts this week, with New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe debuting at No.1.
The game -- a port of both the Wii U launch title and it's Luigi-centric expansion -- is only the fourth Switch title to top the charts, following Super Smash Bros Ultimate just before Christmas, Mario Tennis Aces last summer and a two-week stint at No.1 for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe back in April 2017.
NSMBU Deluxe far outperformed its original release, shifting 24.8% more copies than the Wii U version did at launch -- and, as always, that's excluding digital.
Mario's return, plus a 52% sales drop week-on-week, knocks last week's No.1 -- FIFA 19 -- down to No.2. Red Dead Redemption 2 also suffered a similar drop in sales, down 53%, slipping to No.3.
Beyond that, there is little movement in the Top 10. Nintendo holds three positions, with Smash Bros and Mario Kart at No.5 and No.6 respectively.
There is one re-entry this week: Grand Theft Auto V returns to the Top 10, up eight places to No.8.
Naturally, the early weeks of January are often quiet in terms of chart moment due to a lack of new release. The slate of upcoming titles begins to fill out in the second half of the month, with Ace Combat 7 releasing this Friday.

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Amazon reportedly developing its own game streaming service

January 11th, 2019, 16:10 Posted By: wraggster

Amazon may have joined Google and Microsoft in development of a game streaming service that would purportedly allow users to ditch physical discs and downloads and simply play games by streaming them over the internet, according to a recent report.
Two people in the know spoke to The Information about Amazon's ambitions to begin its own service for streaming gameplay online, which reportedly wouldn't be available until 2020 at the earliest. However, Amazon is already apparently in talks with publishers about possible titles that would be distributed as a part of the service.

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God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man lead nominations for 22nd annual DICE Awards

January 11th, 2019, 16:09 Posted By: wraggster

With 12 nominations, God of War has overwhelmingly dominated the roster of honorees at the 22nd annual DICE Awards ahead of the show in February.
God of War is closely followed by Marvel's Spider-Man with 11 nominations, while Red Dead Redemption 2 and Return of the Obra Dinn also saw several mentions at eight and six, respectively. Other games that saw four nominations total include Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Detroit: Become Human, Florence, and Into the Breach.
The winners will be awarded on February 13, 2019 at the 2019 DICE Summit, with the ceremony co-hosted by Kinda Funny's Greg Miller and Nerdist News' Jessica Chobot. Microsoft Corporate VP Bonnie Ross and head of 343 Industries Bonnie Ross will also be honored at this time as this year's Hall of Fame recipient.
The full list of nominations are as follows:
Game of the Year

• God of War
• Into the Breach
• Marvel's Spider-Man
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Return of the Obra Dinn

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The UK Games Industry in 2018: Winners and Losers

January 11th, 2019, 16:08 Posted By: wraggster

Last year was a mixed 12 months for the UK boxed games market.
Revenue from boxed software fell 2.8 per cent year-on-year, which is a modest fall and primarily driven by underperforming AAA games. The actual number of physical games dropped 7.1 per cent.
However, console sales rose slightly, and there were three games released that sold over one million units in physical form.
Now with all the data to hand, courtesy of GfK and UKIE, we can take a closer look at how 2018 was for individual businesses operating in the UK.
PLAYSTATION DOMINATES AS NINTENDO GROWS
This was another year of dominance for Sony. 48% of all boxed games sold last year in the UK were for PS4 (slightly down over 2017), and PS4 console sales topped over 1m (GI sources). The number of consoles sold is on par with 2017, which means PS4 in the UK outperformed the rest of the world, as global PS4 sales dipped slightly year-on-year.
It was also a good year for PlayStation as a publisher. The success of God of War and (in particular) Spider-Man, saw Sony claim 9.6% of the market as a games publisher - 1.7 per cent higher than in 2017. Spider-Man alone sold 676,621, making it the fourth best-selling physical game of the year, while God of War was at No.8 with 399,395 copies sold.
Another big winner of the year was Nintendo. The second year of Switch continued where the first left off, and 16.8% of all games sold last year were for Nintendo's latest console - that's more than double 2017's market share.
Nintendo's was the UK's second biggest games publisher last year as 14.1 per cent of all games sold were published by the company. It meant Nintendo was No.2 in the publisher rankings, just 0.6 per cent behind EA.
Mario Kart 8: Deluxe was the No.1 Nintendo game of the year, with 458,675 units sold. Meanwhile, Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu/Eevee sold over 338,270 copies, Super Smash Bros Ultimate shifted 284,155 copies, and Super Mario Odyssey managed 240,710 sales.

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World Health Organization and ESA meet to discuss gaming disorder diagnosis

January 11th, 2019, 16:07 Posted By: wraggster

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the World Health Organziation (WHO) have revealed today that the two groups came together back in December of last year to discuss the WHO's inclusion last year of "gaming disorder" as an official addictive disorder.
The WHO made this official last June in its section of addictive disorders in the 11th International Classification of Diseases. The inclusion was met with criticism from across the gaming industry, with the ESA at the time saying it "recklessly trivializes real mental health issues like depression and social anxiety disorder."
According to Reuters, the two groups met in Geneva last month to discuss the issue, exchange information, and share views on upcoming WHO activities related the industry and how gaming will play a role in those.
The ESA called "more conversation and education" before WHO classifications were finalized and took effect.
"It's our hope that through continued dialogue we can help the WHO avoid rushed action and mistakes that could take years to correct," said ESA CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis. "The billions of video game players around the world who will be affected by an ICD-11 classification error deserve action based on meticulous research.
"As an industry we are committed to collaborating with stakeholders, researchers, policymakers, and parents to ensure best-in-class ratings, parental controls, and other tools help video game players and parents understand and manage healthy video game play."
The WHO has said another future meeting with the ESA was tentatively in the works.
UPDATE: British trade body UKIE has issued its own statement to GamesIndustry.biz about the industry dialogue it attended with the World Health Organisation back in December.
The group said: "In the UK, over 30 million people play games; with over 2 billion people worldwide enjoying games safely and sensibly. Leading mental health experts have cautioned repeatedly that classifying 'Gaming Disorder' creates a risk of misdiagnosis for those who most need help and any decision about including gaming disorder must therefore be based on robust and unequivocal evidence.
"We hope that through continued dialogue, with us and the wider scientific community, the WHO will reconsider the mounting evidence put before them before the final version of ICD-11 is endorsed next year. We also hope that they can demonstrate a transparent and due process as this decision will have implications on national health systems across the world.

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Exhibition on LGBTQ gaming history opens in Berlin

January 10th, 2019, 20:17 Posted By: wraggster

The Schwules Museum in Berlin has opened a new exhibition exploring the game industry's queer history.
Co-curated by museum curator Jan Schnorrenberg, German game journalist Sarah Rudolph, and Dr Adrienne Shaw from Temple University, the Rainbow Arcade is the first exhibition of its kind and shows a wide range of exhibits from the last 30 years.
The exhibition includes art, merchandise, video interviews with developers, and playable games such as Caper in Castro - one of the first openly queer games.
It is also accompanied by a supporting program from international developers, artists, and scientists.
With the Rainbow Arcade, the Schwules Museum intends to highlight the industry's extensive, but overlooked, LGBTIQ history.
"The thread of the exhibition is the remarkable fact that video games have become a natural part of our contemporary culture, but any new title that does not negatively represent LGBTIQ and its realities in life is quickly celebrated as groundbreaking or defamed as ideological politicisation," said the musuem in a statement.
"And this despite the fact that sensitive coming-out storylines and open marriages can already be found in mainstream titles of the 1990s.

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Chinese government approves another 84 games for release

January 10th, 2019, 20:15 Posted By: wraggster

The Chinese government has approved another wave of new games, taking the total approved since last year's freeze to 164.
A list released by China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television showed 84 new approvals for video games. However, according to Reuters, both Tencent and NetEase were absent from the group.

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