1、Google may be sued for false publicity of Stadia
Recently, a lawsuit originally filed in New York in October 2020 was exposed to public shortly after it was moved to New York Federal Court. The case said Google “greatly exaggerated the quality of streaming media and display resolution” in order to increase the number of subscriptions before the launch of Stadia. When launched the platform, Google made it clear that all games would run in 4K 60 frame mode. But Google later clarified that some games would run at a lower resolution.
Although Google’s statement is indeed misleading, the problem is ultimately caused by poor communication and management. In fact, the hardware of Stadia is more powerful than PS4 and XBox One, and supports 4K mode. Destiny 2’s problem of lack of 4K mode on Stadia is partly with the developers of the game who give priority to the number of frames and chose to reduce the resolution. At the same time, many other games on Stadia are compatible with 4k 30 frame. However, Google did not provide information such as the resolution of the game when users bought the game.
As alleged in the lawsuit, despite of more and more complaints from players, Google had neither taken any measures to correct the false information about the resolution of the game on Stadia, nor disclose the actual resolution of the game to consumers in the Stadia store. Due to the above omission, hundreds or even thousands of articles and reports in the United States and around the world still contain misleading statements.
2、CDPR internal system suffered data stolen
On February 9, CDPR officially announced that some unidentified hackers had invaded the internal system of CDPR, stolen some data of CD Projekt, and left a blackmail letter for ransom. CDPR said it would not give in to the unreasonable demands of hackers or negotiate with them, and this decision is likely to lead to data breach on the Internet. So they are taking the necessary measures to mitigate the consequences of data breach.
At present, CDPR is still investigating the hacking incident, but they have confirmed that the stolen data does not include any personal data of players or users using CDPR service. At present, they have called the police and will cooperate with relevant departments and its experts to investigate the incident comprehensively.
According to the information left by hackers, they have stolen relevant data from CDPR’s internal system, such as Cyberpunk 2077, Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Gwent: The Witcher Card Game and Witcher 3 (possibly the next generation version) as well as data related to CD Projekt’s daily operation. Hackers claim that CDPR has 48 hours to contact them. If no agreement is reached, they will send these to the game press, and the content disclosed will make CDPR a worse image and even make investors lose trust in it.
3、Saudi Crown Prince holds 3 billion US dollars more shares in three US game Giants: EA、Activision、T2
Mohammad bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s controversial Crown Prince, has pushed his country to acquire stakes in three major video game publishers. Recent SEC fillings spotted by Bloomberg show that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which bin Salman chairs, purchased more than $3.3 billion worth of shares in Activision-Blizzard, EA and Take-Two. That’s the same fund that bought a massive $3.5 billion stake in Uber back in 2016.
In all, it purchased 14.9 million shares in Activision, 7.4 million shares in EA and 3.9 million shares in Take-Two near the end of last year. Those investments give the Public Investment Fund, or PIF, $1.4 billion, $1.1 billion and $826 million stakes in those companies as tries to lessen Saudi Arabia’s reliance on oil.
4、A company in Nanjing was punished for illegally operating a game without version number
Recently, according to the administrative penalty decision of the Nanjing Culture and Tourism Bureau [NING] Wen Zong Fa Zi [2020] No. 62, Nanjing Moxie Network Technology Co., Ltd. engages in online publishing services without approval, or publishes online games (including online games authorized by overseas copyright owners) without authorization.
As showed in public information, the mobile game Mirror Flower, without any approval or a version number, uploaded to the Apple App Store with a personal account in mid-2018, is operated by Nanjing Moxie Network Technology Co., Ltd.. The total revenue of this game in the Apple App Store from October 2018 to October 2020 is 7,437 yuan, and the server cost related to the game is 3,000 yuan.
In accordance with Article 61 of the Regulations on Publication Administration and Article 19 of the Administrative Measures on Internet Information Services, the local administrative department of publication and Market Supervision and Administration banned the operation. Furthermore, the local provincial-level Administration of Telecommunication, by anotice from the above authorities, has ordered the website to close down and given other punishments in accordance with the provisions of Article 19 of the Administrative Measures on Internet Information Services.
The penalty content column of the penalty decision shows the punishments also include the confiscation of illegal income of RMB 4,437 and a fine of RMB 10,000.
5、Tencent invests in the developers of DayZ and Arma and introduce sandbox game Ylands
In the middle of last year, overseas media reported that Tencent planned to acquire a 70%-80% stake in a Czechic game developer Bohemia Interactive with US $260 million. But then Bohemia's CEO denied the rumors, saying that Bohemia is still an independent studio.
However, today Bohemia confirmed Tencent's shareholding. Bohemia posted that Tencent has acquired a minority stake in the company and the studio will continue to remain independent. At present, Tencent has introduced the sandbox game Ylands developed by Bohemia, but the game has not been officially launched.
In addition to investing money in game developers in China this year, Tencent has also taken multiple actions overseas. It has acquired a majority stake in Don't Starve developer Klei and invested €30 million in Life is Strange developer Dontnod Entertainment. Overseas media also disclosed that Tencent is considering issuing US dollar bonds for the acquisition of large overseas game developers.
6、Monthly revenue exceeds 114 million US dollars, Genshin Impact is the first in the export games for 4 consecutive months
Recently, Sensor Tower released the TOP 30 ranking of revenue and downloads of Chinese mobile game products in overseas market in January 2021. Among them, miHoYo’s ACGN open world game Genshin Impact has ranked first in the export mobile games revenue list for four consecutive months.
In January, miHoYo’s Genshin Impact overseas revenue of mobile terminal reached 114 million US dollars. After the release of version 1.3 on February 3, the revenue of Genshin Impact once again ushered in a cyclical peak, and is expected to set a new overseas revenue record in February.
Genshin Impact’s strength is incredible. Since its launch in September last year, every time a new version of Genshin Impact is launched, it can fully stimulate consumption while taking into account the game preferences of domestic and overseas players. Many new characters, such as Klee, Zhongli, and Ganyu, have also gained a lot of popularity, and occupy the top of pixiv for a period of time.
