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☆ Roblox shares drop nearly 30% as company cuts annual bookings forecast on muted player spending
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Roblox cut its annual bookings forecast on Thursday, in a sign that people were dialing back on spending within its video-gaming platform amid an uncertain economic outlook and elevated levels of inflation. Electronic Arts also gave a weak revenue forecast earlier this week. Roblox now expects full-year bookings to be between $4 billion and $4.10 billion, down from its earlier forecast of $4.14 billion to $4.28 billion. Its second-quarter bookings forecast of $870 million to $900 million was also below estimates. Roblox will build the infrastructure for the ad platform in 2024 and start providing forecast for ad revenue in 2025, Guthrie added.

Persons: Roblox, Michael Guthrie, Guthrie Organizations: Electronic Arts, Walmart, Warner Bros Discovery

☆ Esports made their 'tense and exciting' debut at this year's Asian Games
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-15 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Esports, or professional video gaming, were an official sport at the Asian Games for the first time. AdvertisementAdvertisementEsports, or competitive video gaming, debuted as an official event at this year's Asian Games in Hangzhou, China that concluded earlier this month. Due to the event's popularity, esports tickets were sold on a lottery basis, with more than five million entering the ballot, according to Hangzhou Asian Games data. We're excited to see the landscape of esports events around the world expand," said John Robinson, president of US esport organization 100 Thieves. The Olympic Esports Series is "a global virtual and simulated sports competition created by the IOC, and in collaboration with International Federations and game publishers."

Persons: —, esports, Chris Liu, Liu, Esports, JADE GAO, John Robinson, Kim Gwanwoo, WANG ZHAO, Matt Woods, AFK, Grant Rousseau, " Rousseau Organizations: Asian Games, of, EA Sports FC Online, Singapore, Service, Professional, EA Sports FC, South Korea, Team Malaysia, China, Xinhua News Agency, South, Associated Press, Fighter, Getty, Olympic, IOC, International Federations, Guardian, Team Falcons Locations: Hangzhou, China, Thailand, Wuxi, esports, Asia, Pacific, US, South Korea, AFP, Los Angeles

REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Microsoft’s (MSFT.O) gaming master plan is slowly coming together. But Microsoft’s gaming revenue was still around 8% of group sales, or $15 billion, for the year ended June 2022. Given these risks, it makes sense for Nadella to grow his exposure to those parts of the gaming market which are less likely to be upended by cloud gaming. It remains possible that cloud gaming is a dog that doesn’t bark – or at least not for some time. As a result of the Activision deal, Nadella has a hedge of sorts against cloud gaming happening too fast.

Persons: Kevork, Satya Nadella’s, Ampere, ”, GamesIndustry.biz, Nadella, George Hay, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: Activision, REUTERS, Reuters, Bethesda, Microsoft, Satya Nadella’s Activision, Ampere, Sony, Nintendo, Reuters Graphics, Netflix, Gamers, Xbox, PlayStation, Big Tech, Apple, HK, reckons, Competition, Markets Authority, CMA, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Ubisoft Entertainment, Ubisoft, Thomson Locations: Los Angeles , California, United States, U.S

[1/2] SAG-AFTRA actors and Writers Guild of America (WGA) writers walk the picket line during their ongoing strike outside Warner Bros. The SAG-AFTRA agreement covering video game performers expired last November and has been extended on a monthly basis as the union negotiated with major video game companies. As earnings climbed, video game company staff beyond the performers covered by SAG-AFTRA have been unionizing for the first time this year. In July, Sega workers formed the largest multi-department video game union in the United States, after Microsoft's video game testers formed their first U.S. labor union in January. For video game performers, the union is also calling for more safety measures for motion capture performers, who wear markers or sensors on the skin or a body suit to help game makers create characters' movements.

Persons: Mario Anzuoni, Cissy Jones, Jones, Delilah, AFTRA, Audrey Cooling, Ashly Burch, Danielle Broadway, Donna Bryson Organizations: Writers Guild of America, Warner Bros ., REUTERS, Campo Santo, SAG, Hollywood, Guild of America, PlayStation, Sony, Sega, Disney, Activision, EA, Epic Games, Thomson Locations: Burbank , California, U.S, United States

Noodle maker Nissin says it has the answer: caffeinated Cup Noodles. “To meet this demand, Nissin Foods is launching a new ‘gamer-friendly’ product for the first time in its history from its flagship brands Cup Noodles and Nissin Curry Meshi.”The caffeinated noodles will come in two flavors: garlic and black pepper yakisoba — which contains shrimp, pork, egg and cabbage — and curry, which uses a base of pork and vegetables. “Without the contributions of Japan, we wouldn’t have a video game industry,” Blake J Harris, a video game expert and author of “Console Wars,” told CNN in 2017. And while Japan’s cultural clout waned in the early 2000s, its gaming market is still growing, generating revenues of $22.1 billion in 2021, according to Newzoo. Japan currently sits third globally in video game revenues, behind the United States and China.

Persons: Red Bull, Nissin, “, Nissin Curry, Mario, ” Blake J Harris, ” Organizations: Tokyo CNN, Sega, CNN Locations: Asia, Japan, Tokyo, Newzoo, United States, China

☆ Video-gaming revenue to grow 2.6% in 2023 on console sales strength - report
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Akshita Toshniwal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A worker holds a Playstation 5 at a Best Buy store during Black Friday sales in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., November 25, 2022. REUTERS/Jim VondruskaAug 8 (Reuters) - Global video-games market would return to growth in 2023 on the back of strong sales of consoles such as Sony's Playstation 5, according to gaming market research firm Newzoo. Newzoo said it expects industry revenue to rise 2.6% to $187.7 billion in 2023, driven by a 7.4% rise in console sales in the year. Market research firm Circana said U.S. consumer spending on video-game hardware was up by 23% in the first half of 2023. Reporting by Akshita Toshniwal and Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi MajumdarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Jim Vondruska, Newzoo, Tom Wijman, Circana, Akshita Toshniwal, Chavi Mehta, Shilpi Majumdar Organizations: Black, REUTERS, Gaming, PlayStation, Sony, Activision, Electronic Arts, EA Sports FC, Newzoo, Apple, Google, Thomson Locations: Chicago , Illinois, U.S, Bengaluru

☆ Africa's gaming market is expected to top $1 billion in 2024 — in the face of a global slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Africa's video game market has been doing well. Africa's video game market is having a moment. Sub-Saharan Africa's gaming industry is expected to generate over $1 billion for the first time in 2024, according to data shared exclusively with CNBC. Despite that, Africa's video game market has been doing well. The global games market generated $182.9 billion of revenue in 2022, down 5.1% from 2021, according to Newzoo.

Persons: Covid lockdowns, Cordel, Coker, Covid Organizations: CNBC, World Bank Locations: Africa, Cape Town, Saharan Africa

☆ Singapore kicks off the world's first Olympic Esports Week
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Audrey Wan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

An athlete warms up before the cycling finals on the second day of Olympic Esports Week in Singapore. Yong Teck Lim | Getty ImagesSINGAPORE — Singapore is hosting the inaugural Olympic Esports Week where over 100 athletes from around the world are competing across 10 virtual sports. It builds on the success of the Olympic Virtual Series staged before the Tokyo Summer Games in 2021, which attracted 250,000 participants, the IOC added. Singapore is no stranger to esports competitions, launching the Singapore Games Association to develop the country's esports ecosystem. The Singapore Tourism Board said the country has the potential to become a "top-of-mind destination for esports fans globally," CNA reported.

Persons: Yong Teck Lim, Alvin Tan, Tan, Halimah Yacob, Newzoo Organizations: Getty, SINGAPORE —, Olympic, International Olympic, Olympic Games, Straits Times, International Olympic Committee, Tokyo Summer Games, IOC, Singapore Games Association, Singapore Tourism Board, CNA Locations: Singapore, SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore, Suntec City, Esports, Asia Southeast Asia, Statista

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (TTWO.O) on Wednesday rounded off a strong March quarter for the sector that saw its three major players post net bookings growth of between 11% and 66%. The company said "NBA 2K23", "Grand Theft Auto V" and "Grand Theft Auto Online" were some of the top contributors to its net bookings growth in the reported quarter. The company forecast net bookings of more than $8 billion for next year, which was above analysts' estimates. "It (the GTA VI release) would be a watershed moment for the category of open-world games," said MoffettNathanson analyst Clay Griffin. "Tens and tens of millions of units would be sold immediately, and a new or completely refreshed GTA: Online would redefine what a modern 'metaverse' really looks like."

☆ Finnish daily uses shooter videogame to dodge Russia's press restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Anne Kauranen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat Editor-in-Chief Antero Mukka presents a secret room within Counter-Strike video game, where his paper has hidden news about Russia?s war in Ukraine in Russian, in Helsinki, Finland May 2, 2023. REUTERS/Anne KauranenHELSINKI, May 3 (Reuters) - Finland's largest daily Helsingin Sanomat on Wednesday took its struggle against Russian media restrictions to a popular online videogame to mark world press freedom day. In response to Moscow's laws restricting press freedom in Russia, Helsingin Sanomat began publishing some of its Ukraine and Russia related news in Russian last year, only to see access from Russia to its content quickly restricted. The map conceals a secret room where the paper hid images and texts detailing the cruelties witnessed by its reporters and photographers in Ukraine during the war. Reporting by Anne Kauranen, editing by Ed OsmondOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ “Angry Birds” may finally have found right nest
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The winning trick of “Angry Birds” is to fire your slingshot at just the right angle to knock out the squadrons of enemy green pigs attempting to steal the birds’ eggs. Japanese gaming company Sega Sammy (6460.T) may have found that position. On Monday, Sega agreed to pay about 700 million euros in cash for Rovio Entertainment (ROVIO.HE), the maker of the “Angry Birds” franchise. The 9.25 offer price is a 63% premium to the closing price of Jan. 19, when rival suitor Playtika (8II.F)made a previous approach. Half the investors have preliminarily accepted the deal, and Rovio shares are near the offer price.

☆ Assassin's Creed maker Ubisoft reports Q3 net bookings in line with forecast
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 16 (Reuters) - French video game producer Ubisoft (UBIP.PA) reported on Thursday net bookings of 726.9 million euros ($776.2 million) in its third quarter to the end of December, in line with its forecast. That was a drop of 2.6% year-on-year, however, with Ubisoft citing the impact of the macro-economic environment on the video game market and the company's performance. The gaming market is set to fall 4.3% in 2022, according to estimates from gaming market research firm Newzoo. The company stuck to January's guidance for an operating loss of around 500 million euros in its 2022-23 year. Ubisoft said its line-up for the next fiscal year would include Skull & Bones - first revealed in 2017 - Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

☆ Ubisoft vows to get back to operating margin above 20% in medium term
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Enrico Sciacovelli | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 16 (Reuters) - French video game producer Ubisoft (UBIP.PA) said it would reach operating margin above 20% in the medium term, as it aims to shift its focus to major franchises and "long-lasting" live service games. "We anticipate that in the coming years, behind a very rich lineup, we progressively get back to above 20% operating margin in the medium term," Chief Financial Officer Frederick Duguet said in a call with analysts. Last year Ubisoft achieved an operating margin of 19.1%, compared to a 21.1% in 2020-21, as the pandemic kept people home and boosted sales. The company stuck to January's forecast for an operating loss of around 500 million euros in its 2022-23 year. That was a drop of 2.6% year-on-year, however, with Ubisoft citing the impact of the macro-economic environment on the video game market and the company's performance.

☆ Buy this Chinese tech giant to play a $284 billion video gaming opportunity: Goldman Sachs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Zavier Ong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

U.S. giants Activision Blizzard and Roblox have long been investor favorites for exposure to the video gaming sector, but Goldman Sachs has an alternative pick to play the sector. Alternative pick Against this backdrop, Goldman is betting on tech giant Tencent to play the sector's rapid growth in China – the world's largest online game market. Tencent is expected to grow its game revenue by 9% annually into 2024, according to Goldman, with international gaming revenue making up about 30% of Tencent's total revenue by 2030. While a number of factors have undermined global games revenue growth in 2022, Goldman expects the market to rebound by 5% and 7% in 2023 and 2024, respectively. As such, the bank said the industry is set for exponential growth into 2026 and has forecast global online game revenue to expand at a compounded rate of 4.4% annually to $284 billion in 2026.

The video game industry also flourished during the COVID-19 pandemic as people increasingly turned to digital entertainment during lockdowns. However, video game music has not always hit all the right notes to be specifically recognized at the Grammys. But game music is breaking ground through technological innovation and new avenues for consumers to experience it. This includes live immersive video game concerts, video game scores across platforms like YouTube,Twitch, TikTok and Fortnite, remixes and collaborations, augmented and virtual reality and even eye-tracking technology. Collaborating with game developers and audio teams informs his ability to write music that can be smoothly integrated into a video game.

Jan 31 (Reuters) - Electronic Arts Inc (EA.O) lowered its annual bookings forecast on Tuesday, as the videogame publisher delayed the release of a title based on the "Star Wars" franchise and consumers dialed back spending in a sagging economy. EA on Tuesday pushed out the launch of "Star Wars Jedi: Survivor" by six weeks to April 28, which would fall into its next fiscal year. The game is a sequel to its 2019 "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order" title that has drawn over 20 million players. It had forecast $7.65 billion to $7.85 billion previously. "Weak, but not a disaster," Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said of the results, adding the "Star Wars" title delay led to a "huge shift of earnings" into next year.

☆ Activision acquisition would be good for Microsoft and the overall stock market
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

That implies that the other 35% of the market is made up of firms with equal to or less than about a 2% market share. For simplicity's sake, let's say an additional 17 firms have a 2% market share each to bring us to 100% of the market. That means the HHI, calculated by the market share number squared and then added together for all 27 companies, would be under 650. If the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal goes through, and you combine the market share concentration of the two companies, the HII would be just over 700. The other issue is how one measures the gaming market.

☆ How Dexerto became 'the TMZ of esports,' with $10 million in revenue last year and 30 million monthly visitors
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

On the homepage of Dexerto, a seven-year-old gaming-news website, staid posts about competitive esports commingle with screaming headlines about online gossip. Dexerto — pronounced "desert-o," "as if the x was an s," the cofounder and CEO, Joshua Nino, said — was founded on "sport-style esports coverage." Today, dexerto.com attracts 30 million monthly visitors, it said — a formidable sum, though less than 30-year-old stalwarts like IGN and GameSpot, which clocked 98 million and 69 million monthly visits in September, according to the web-analytics firm Similarweb. Direct-ad sales account for about half of revenue, with programmatic ads (30%) and social monetization (20%) making up the rest. Nino said Dexerto had been mostly bootstrapped — aside from about £257,000 in seed funding — and had been profitable since 2016.

☆ EA lowers bookings expectation on strong dollar, gaming slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 1 (Reuters) - Electronic Arts Inc (EA.O) lowered its annual bookings forecast on Tuesday as the publisher of "FIFA" and "Apex Legends" struggles with this year's surge in the U.S. dollar and a gaming industry slowdown from pandemic heights. The company now expects annual bookings - an indicator of future revenue - between $7.65 billion and $7.85 billion, compared with $7.90 billion to $8.10 billion earlier. A near 17% rise in the U.S. dollar this year has also stifled growth, with EA forecasting a roughly $200 million hit to annual bookings. EA booked second-quarter adjusted sales of $1.75 billion, missing the $1.80 billion expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv data. Net income rose to $299 million, or $1.07 per share, from $294 million, or $1.02 per share, a year earlier.

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