Category Archives: Gaming

GameStop Shares Fall As It Terminates CEO

Gaming

GameStop shares plunged Wednesday after it terminated Chief Executive Matt Furlong and elevated Ryan Cohen to executive chairman, the latest shake-up at the videogame retailer, which has been struggling to find new ways to juice sales, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Cohen first joined the board as director in 2021 and rose to chairman that June as part of a restructuring of GameStop’s board. The company then overhauled its executive team, hiring Furlong from Amazon for the CEO job. 

GameStop shares fell 19% in after-hours trading.

Furlong was one of dozens of e-commerce veterans who joined GameStop in 2021 and 2022 to help turn the company’s business around by expanding online sales and launching a marketplace for non fungible tokens, or NFTs. Many of those executives left last year, including the chief growth officer, vice presidents of fulfillment and supply chain systems and the senior vice president of customer service. 

Also last year, GameStop began pulling back on its e-commerce efforts and returned its focus to getting stores to be more efficient.

CNBC reported that shares of GameStop dropped more than 20% in extended trading after the video game retailer announced the termination of Matthew Furlong. It released the news on the same day it reported its revenue dropped and its loss narrowed in its fiscal quarter compared to the year-ago period.

The company didn’t provide a reason for the firing, but noted the change in its quarterly securities filing. 

“We believe the combination of these efforts to stabilize and optimize our core business and achieve sustained profitability while also focusing on capital allocation under Mr. Cohen’s leadership will further unlock long-term value creation for our stockholders,” the filing states.

Cohen took a stake in GameStop in 2020, and in January 2021 he and two other former Chewy executives were named to the retailer’s board as part of an agreement with the company’s management. His investment firm, RC Ventures, currently has an 11.9% stake in GameStop, according to filings. 

Kotaku reported the Chewy founder who sold his home delivery pet food business for billions is a hero among meme stock investors on subreddits like WallStreetBets and SuperStonk. The most die-hard fans treat him more like a prophet than a rich guy who sold his one good idea, hanging onto his every social media post and business hoping to discover clues to the master plan that will make their GameStop stock even more ridiculously overpriced. 

At the same time, Kotaku reported, GameStop workers in the stores themselves continue to suffer. Cost cutting measures and ramped-up sales goals have increased the pressure on store managers and hourly employees, leading to high turnover and entire teams at some locations randomly deciding to quit on the spot.

Personally, I have worked in less-than-adequate retail stores, and I sympathize with the GameStop workers who have clearly had a horrible time at work. The company has swapped out Furlong for Cohen, but that won’t make much of a difference if GameStop continues to put increased pressure on its in-store workers. 

Twitch Walks Back Controversial Ad Rules

Gaming

Twitch is reversing it newly announced rules concerning the way streamers could display ads on the platform after swift backlash from streamers and content creators, The Verge reported.

On Tuesday, Twitch released new rules concerning the way streamers could display ads on the platform. The rules prohibited “burned in” video, display, and audio ads – the first two of which were popular and common formats used throughout Twitch. Twitch apparently did not discuss the new rules with ambassadors or streamers beforehand, and many were furious about the new policies.

Twitch apologized for the rollout, explaining that it would rewrite the rules for greater clarity. Now it seems that rewrite has turned into a full rescinding of the rules totally. From the company’s Twitter thread:

“Yesterday, we released new Branded Content Guidelines that impacted your ability to work with sponsors to increase your income from streaming. These guidelines are bad for you and bad for Twitch, and we are removing them immediately. Sponsorships are critical to streamers; growth and ability to earn income. We will not prevent your ability to enter into direct relationships with sponsors – you will continue to own and control your sponsorship business. We want to work with our community to create the best experience on Twitch, and to do that we need to be clear about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. We appreciate your feedback and help in making this change.”

TechCrunch reported that many creators viewed Twitch’s sudden changes to the branded content guidelines as a way for the company, which is owned by Amazon, to further insert itself between streamers and their sponsors.

Twitch takes a 50 percent cut of creator earnings, through its standard revenue sharing agreement, but it isn’t able to get a piece of the lucrative deals that streamers negotiate with sponsors and advertisers. Because the economics of streaming aren’t actually that favorable to creators, most serious streamers rely on ads and sponsors to fill that monetization gap.

Streamers regularly display “burned in” ads – advertising displayed directly onto streams, whether through display banners, video commercials, or audio. The changes Twitch announced Tuesday would have prohibited all of those ads, with the exception of relatively tiny display ads that take up less than three percent of the screen.

Ars Technica reported that individual streamers aren’t the only ones set to be affected by this move, either. Events like The Streamer Awards, and major esports tournaments often prominently feature sponsor logos or banner ads as a way to earn money without interrupting the broadcast. Charity streams like Games Done Quick also use prominently branded ad overlays to help pay for the high costs of putting on the event,

According to Ars Technica, competing platforms have gotten in on the backlash, too, with upstart Kick.com offering to pay the $24 minimum “maintenance fee” that Twitch has long charged official affiliates and partners who terminate their agreements with Twitch.

Overall, I think that Twitch really made a huge mistake when they changed their ad rules. Twitch did attempt to roll that back after it became very clear that they had made a bad decision. I cannot help but wonder how many big streamers got fed up and left Twitch in favor of a platform that won’t screw them over.

EU Approves Microsoft’s $75 Billion Activision Blizzard Deal

Gaming, ,

The European Union’s antitrust watchdog approved Microsoft’s planned $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, giving the two companies a win after the deal hit a regulatory roadblock the U.K., The Wall Street Journal reported.

The European Commission, the bloc’s competition enforcer, said it cleared the deal based on commitments by Microsoft to make Activision’s games, including those from its popular Call of Duty franchise, available on rival cloud-streaming platforms.

The companies still need approval from other major competition authorities to close the transaction, legal experts say.

The commission’s decision comes weeks after the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority rejected the merger, saying it would crimp competition in the country’s games market. Microsoft has said it would appeal that decision, Monday’s approval in Brussels won’t have any direct legal bearing on that process, and antitrust lawyers say Microsoft faces long odds in overturning the British decision.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has sued Microsoft to block the deal and scheduled a hearing for the case in its administrative court for August. Still, the EU’s decision means Microsoft has cleared at least one of the three biggest regulatory hurdles that it had faced in pursuing the deal, The Wall Street Journal reported.

TechCrunch reported that Microsoft’s proposed remedies, which include the promise to allow all consumers in the European Economic Area (EEA) to stream all current and future Activision games via any cloud-based game streaming service for the next 10 year.

According to TechCrunch, the EC’s decision follows a couple of months after Japan approved the deal, though Europe has made it clear that it intends to implement checks on how Microsoft’s actions impact rival gaming companies in the future. It said that an “independent trustee” will be in charge of monitoring Microsoft’s implementation of its commitments.

TechCrunch also reported that the U.K.’s competition regulars was always going to be in the spotlight if the EC’s decision differed to greatly from its own. Shortly after the outcome was revealed, the CMA took to Twitter to confirm that it would be standing by its own decision, stating that the EC had effectively allowed Microsoft to call all the shots in the cloud gaming market for the next decade.

CNBC reported that the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said that Microsoft offered remedies in the nascent area of cloud gaming that have staved off antitrust concerns. These remedies centered on allowing users to stream Activision games they purchase on any cloud streaming platform.

According to CNBC, regulators globally have been probing whether Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision could distort competition in the console and cloud gaming market. One area regulators questioned is whether Microsoft might take Activision games and keep them excessively on the U.S.giant’s own platforms.

Despite the EU approval, CNBC reported, Microsoft faces a tough task of convincing rivals such as Sony and other regulators, including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, that the Activision takeover will not harm competition.

Personally, I want the Microsoft acquisition of Activision to go through. Based on everything I’ve read, the acquisition would be good for gamers because it will enable them to play Activision Blizzard games though their PCs and consoles. The more access to games, the better for the gaming community!

The Frustration of Parental Controls on PlayStation 5

Gaming, Information, Sony,

Parents….if you are thinking about buying a PS5 and setting it up with a child account for your under-18, then I’ve some advice for you. Don’t. It’s a total nightmare that I bitterly regret because of the endless disappointment, wasted time and Sony’s poor information. If you want a child-friendly gaming console, buy a Nintendo Switch.

Last Christmas, Santa Claus brought my son a PlayStation 5 – he’s a lucky boy. As a good parent, I set up the PS5 in my name and added him as a family member. What a mistake! Sony makes parental controls an exercise in frustration. The main problem is that when you come up against a problem, you simply don’t know whether you are doing something wrong or whether it’s a parental control that you can (or can’t) tweak.

The basic parental controls on the PS5 are pretty straightforward. If my son wants to play a game within his age rating, he can go ahead and play the game straightaway. If the age rating is above his age, he can ask for approval to play. That request comes to me and I can accept or reject it.  Most of the time that works but it’s not frictionless – there’s too much mucking about with logging in or using the PlayStation app with 2FA.

On top of that, some game manufacturers seem to put on their own age limit, and prevent anyone from playing under their age guidance and there’s no option to request parental permission. But you don’t know that when you buy the game and it’s not made clear even in-game when you come up against the problem. Is it a setting that I have to tweak or is it a hard limit? Sony’s instructions suggest that he should be able ask for permission but Crew 2 doesn’t offer an option, even though he’s in their suggested age window. I currently have a call logged with Ubisoft for this one.

The biggest issue over the past while has been with in-game voice chat in Fortnite – every time you tried to enable the feature it gave an error, but there was no indication whether this was a technical fault or conflict with PS5 parental controls. It turns out it was a technical issue that Epic has finally fixed.

But here’s another example with Fortnite. On the Nintendo Switch, if my son wants to buy V-bucks in Fortnite, all I need to do is use my credit or debit card details to get the V-bucks. Once that’s done, the V-bucks are in his account and he can spend them as he likes. Compare this with the PS5, where we see this super helpful message on the V-bucks purchasing page.

The way around it for the PlayStation 5 is for me to buy V-bucks in Fortnite, then purchase the in-game items he wants and gift them to him but it’s a total waste of my time. You have to go through the same process if he gets a V-bucks card as a gift. Surely a V-bucks gift card is the ideal way to control a child’s spending?

Next in the bad books was Spotify. We have a family subscription and there are profiles for everyone. The PS5 had a new native app, replacing the PS4 version. I downloaded the app, logged in as myself and played my tunes – everything was working. When my son tried to start the app, an error appeared saying that Spotify couldn’t start while he was logged in. And that’s it. No explanation as to what parental control was preventing the app from running, no opportunity for him to request access. It’s a complete joke. Eventually, it was fixed without explanation.

And Sony is almost impossible to get hold of for any queries. The Playstation Support pages are about as useful as a chocolate teapot, although there’s an online assistant that will connect you with community experts. TBH, they’re not much use. Any time I’ve used them, it’s “I think you can’t do that” or “Have you checked the online help?”

There is nothing worse that the disappointment of your child when he rushes home with a new game only to find it doesn’t work and Dad has to spend hours on-line trying to sort it out. Santa won’t be buying a PS6.

CMA Narrows Scope Of Concerns In Microsoft – Activision Review

Gaming, ,

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued updated provision. From the review:

“In February, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published provisional findings setting out that the deal raises competition concerns in relation to both console gaming and cloud gaming services in the UK. The publication of the provisional findings initiated a period of consultation in which the CMA invited responses to those findings from interested parties and continued to gather further information.

“The CMA has received a significant amount of new evidence in response to its original provisional findings. Having considered this new evidence carefully, together with the wide range of information gathered before those provisional findings were issued, the CMA inquiry group has updated its provisional findings and reached the provisional conclusion that, overall, the transaction will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in relation to console gaming in the UK.

“The most significant new evidence provided to the CMA relates to Microsoft’s financial incentives to make Activision’s games, including Call of Duty (CoD), exclusive to its own consoles. While the CMA’s original analysis indicated that this strategy would be profitable under most scenarios, new data (which provides better insight into the actual purchasing behavior of CoD gamers) indicates that the strategy would be significantly loss-making under any plausible scenario. On this basis, the updated analysis now shows that it would not be commercially beneficial to Microsoft to make CoD exclusive to Xbox following the deal, but that Microsoft will instead have the incentive to continue to make the game available on PlayStation.

The CMA’s addendum to its provisional findings today relates only to competition in the supply of consoles and not to competition in the supply of cloud gaming services, where the CMA is continuing to carefully consider the responses in relation to the original provisional findings. The CMA’s merger investigation continues, and it remains due to issue its final report by 26 April 2023…

GameSpot reported that a key regulator has said it provisionally no longer believes Microsoft’s proposed deal to buy Activision Blizzard would result in a lessening of competition in the console space, paving the way for the purchase to go through.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority said on Friday that it has narrowed the scope of its concerns about the deal. Importantly, though, the deal is not complete, and the CMA still has concerns about Microsoft’s bid to buy Activision Blizzard in the are of cloud gaming.

A spokesperson for Activision shared a statement with GameSpot about the CMA decision:

“The CMA’s updated provisional findings show an improved understanding of the console gaming market and demonstrate a commitment to supporting players and competition. Sony’s campaign to protect its dominance by blocking our merger can’t overcome the facts, and Microsoft has already presented effective and enforceable remedies to address each the CMA’s remaining concerns. We know this deal will benefit competition, innovation, and consumers in the UK.”

TechCrunch reported that a Microsoft spokesperson sent this statement:

“We appreciate the CMA’s rigorous and thorough evaluation of the evidence and welcomes updated provisional findings. This deal will provide more players with more choice in how they play Call of Duty and their favorite games. We look forward to working with the CMA to resolve any outstanding concerns.”

TechCrunch also reported that Microsoft sent an updated statement – attributed to Brad Smith, it’s vice char and president:

“We appreciate the CMA’s additional detailed and objective analysis. Its update underscores a growing consensus by those with access to the most current data that this deal will create more competition in the console market, not less.”

Personally, I feel like this situation is dragging on and on, and would like to see it resolved. There are plenty of gamers who want to see Microsoft acquire Activision Blizzard.

Phil Spencer Talked About Xbox Mobile Store

Gaming,

Microsoft’s mobile games store could launch as early as next year, the company’s head of gaming Phil Spencer has said. Thanks to the new Digital Markets Act — legislation that forces Apple and Google to allow users on its platforms to access apps from sources other than the App Store and Google Play Store — Spencer believes this will create a “huge opportunity” for Xbox, GameSpot reported.

“The Digital Markets Act that’s coming – those are the kinds of things we are planning for,” Spencer said in an interview with The Financial Times. “I think it’s a huge opportunity. We want to be in a position to offer Xbox and content from both us and our third-party partner across any screen where somebody would want to play. Today, we can’t do that on mobile devices but we want to build towards a world that we think will be coming where those devices are opened up.”

Signed into law back in September 2022 by the European Market, the Digital Markets Act will officially become applicable on May 2, according to GameSpot. Microsoft has made a big push into the mobile scene with its cloud gaming efforts recently, and the company’s plan to acquire Activision Blizzard is fueled primarily by it’s goal increase its foothold in the mobile market.

If the deal is approved, Microsoft will own Candy Crush developer King, as well as Call of Duty Mobile, lucrative properties in a market that is estimated to have 238.7 million “active” users in the US alone.

The Verge reported that Microsoft first hinted at a “next-generation store” early last year, just a month after the company announced its proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition. The Xbox mobile store is designed to rival Apple and Google’s mobile gaming store dominance, and will rely on content from Activision Blizzard like Call of Duty: Mobile and Candy Crush Saga – two hugely popular mobile games published by Activision and King, respectively.

According to the Verge, while Microsoft is building an Xbox mobile store, it will need regulators to take action against Apple and Google to ensure such a store can thrive on Android and iOS devices. Apple doesn’t allow alternative store on its iPhone and iPad devices, and even rival payment methods aren’t available in most countries.

Engadget reported that Microsoft first revealed it was working on an Xbox store for mobile devices in regulatory documents the company filed with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last year. At the time, the tech giant didn’t provide a timeline for the plan, noting only its proposed merger with Activision Blizzard would play a critical role.

According to Engadget, Spence was more direct on Monday. “The Digital Markets Act that’s coming – those are the kinds of things that we are planning for,” he said. “I think its a huge opportunity.”

In my opinion, the more places where people can play mobile games – the better! I personally find it rather frustrating when a game I really want to play (on mobile or on desktop) is not available for those who use Apple products.

Microsoft Announces Partnership With Cloud Gaming Provider Boosteroid

Gaming, ,

Microsoft posted news in its News Center titled: “Microsoft announces partnership with cloud gaming provider Boosteroid to bring more games to more players around the world”. From the News Center post:

Microsoft Corp. and Boosteroid on Tuesday announced a 10-year agreement to bring Xbox PC games to Boosteroid’s cloud gaming platform. Boosteroid, which has its software development team in Ukraine, recently surpassed 4 million users globally and has become the largest independent cloud gaming provider in the world. The agreement will also enable Activision Blizzard PC titles to be streamed by Boosteroid customers after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard closes.

When combined with other partnerships recently announced by Microsoft, this means popular franchises such as “Call of Duty” will surpass more than 150 million additional players, and make games built by Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard playable on multiple cloud gaming services and subscriptions.

“We believe in the power of games to bring people together. That’s why Xbox is committed to give everyone more ways to play their favorite games, across devices,” said Phil Spencer, CEO of Gaming, Microsoft. “Bringing Xbox PC games to Boosteroid members, including Activision Blizzard titles such as ‘Call of Duty’ once the deal closes, is yet another step in realizing that vision.”

“Boosteroid shares Microsoft’s vision of bringing games to as many people, places and platforms as possible. It has long been our goal to provide gamers with an opportunity to enjoy their favorite titles on and device that is close at hand,” said Ivan Shviachenko, Boosteroid CEO. “Today’s announcement is yet another step in this direction. Also, with our development team based in Ukraine, we appreciate Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to Ukraine, and we will be working together on an initiative supporting our local game development community to invest further in the economic recovery of the country.”

In addition to Ukraine itself, Boosteroid now serves gamers in the United States, United Kingdom, and countries across the European Union. It operates through data center operations located in six U.S. states, including Microsoft’s home state of Washington, as well as in the U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine, and Serbia.

The gaming community is a vibrant part of Ukraine’s software ecosystem. Microsoft recently added support for the Ukrainian language for the Xbox console dashboard, PC and mobile apps. In spring 2023, Microsoft will launch PC Game Pass in Ukraine.

“This partnership builds on the $430 million in technology and financial assistance we have provided Ukraine since Russia’s unlawful invasion, and it exemplifies the steps we will continue to take to support Ukraine’s 160,000 software developers,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft Vice Chair and President. “It also adds to our recent agreements with Nintendo and NVIDIA, making it even more clear to regulators that our acquisition of Activision Blizzard will make ‘Call of Duty’ available on far more devices than before.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that Brad Smith said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the company wants to show through the distribution agreements that its plan to buy Activision will improve users’ access to “Call of Duty.”

Competition authorities in the EU, the U.S., and the U.K., which are examining the acquisition, have said they are concerned it could allow Microsoft to control how consumers access Activision games, potentially reducing competition in the videogame market.

“If the only argument is that Microsoft is going to withhold ‘Call of Duty’ from other platforms, and we’ve now entered into contracts that are going to bring this to many more devices and many more platforms, that is a pretty hard case to make to a court,” Mr. Smith said. He said any decision on the deal would be subject to final judicial review.

Personally, I think Microsoft is making smart choices by providing ‘Call of Duty’ to various other platforms, including Boosteriod, Nintendo, and NIVIDIA. The contracts involved will go into effect if the regulators decide to let Microsoft buy Activision Blizzard.