CMA drops concerns over Microsoft takeover of Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard… for now March 24, 2023 The UK competition watchdog has provisionally dropped concerns that Microsoft’s proposed takeover of Call Of Duty developer Activision Blizzard would damage the UK console gaming market. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last month warned the 68.7 billion dollar (£56.7 billion) deal could result in higher prices, fewer choices or less innovation for UK gamers. [...]
Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Call of Duty: The perfect storm that drove UK broadband traffic to record levels February 22, 2023 The top-of-the-table Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester City pushed UK broadband traffic to record levels last week, City A.M can reveal. The eagerly anticipated fixture, which was only available to stream, helped traffic on the country’s biggest broadband network to reach a new peak of 29.1 terabits per second (Tb/s). BT and EE [...]
Nintendo vows to ‘energise’ its Switch console offering following £200m cut to full-year forecast February 7, 2023 Nintendo has cut its full year forecast blaming a drop off in demand for its Switch console. The Japanese company has dimmed its full-year forecasts to a net profit of 370bn yen (£2.3bn) for the year ending 31 March, down from 400bn yen (£2.5bn) predicted last November. In the trading update, the video games manufacturer [...]
Gambling firm In Touch fined over £6m for failing to protect vulnerable customers and money laundering breaches January 25, 2023 In Touch Games has been fined £6.1m for social responsibility and money laundering failings by the Gambling Commission. The gambling firm, which operates 11 websites including bonusboss.co.uk, cashmo.co.uk, drslot.co.uk, jammymonkey.com and slotfactory.com, was charged over not having appropriate policies, procedures and controls in place and not sufficiently considering or implementing the regulator’s money laundering and [...]
Fortnite fined over £420m as video game makers face regulation December 20, 2022 Makers of videogame Fortnite have been fined a record $520m (£428m) by the US’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The fine is a two part penalty for Epic Games, the video game company behind Fortnite. The company was fined for tricking players into making in-game purchases and for storing children’s data without parental consent. The penalty [...]
Miniclip CEO: ‘We’ve always followed where the players go, and the players are going to mobile’ November 1, 2022 Miniclip, the platform behind 8 Ball Pool, has shuttered its website as gamers once knew it, as the company follows consumers off desktops and into pockets. Speaking to City A.M., CEO Saad Choudri explained that the rise of mobile gaming left it a no-brainer for the company to step away from browser-based entertainment despite its [...]
Mobile games to dominate a £400bn gaming industry by 2030 September 15, 2022 Mobile games will make up half of gaming industry revenues in 2030, as tech firms continue to pump money into the sector. According to a fresh report from GlobalData, games played on smartphones and tablets will make up over 50 per cent by 2030. It also predicts that the market will swell to $470bn (£409bn) [...]
Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal faces deeper competition probe September 15, 2022 The competition regulator has referred Microsoft’s $68.7bn snap up of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard for an in-depth investigation, spelling danger for the gaming sector's monster deal.
Game on: Why Big Tech is betting big on gaming September 14, 2022 When Bill Gates said “content is king” back in 1996, he opened a can of worms that has become increasingly hard to contain. This content obsession has evolved in different ways in the last two decades, with the latest bet from Big Tech being on gaming. While the evolution of video games has been progressing [...]
Sony faces £5bn lawsuit over claims it ‘ripped off’ millions through PlayStation store August 22, 2022 Sony is set to face a £5bn class-action lawsuit, brought forward on behalf of 8.9m people, over claims it breached competition law by overcharging for digital PlayStation games and in-game purchases. The Japanese video game console maker is being sued by consumer rights campaigner Alex Neill, on behalf of millions of gamers, over its practice [...]