News of the Week; May 2, 2018

By Jon Festinger on May 22, 2018

GAMES

  1. Chinese police arrest 15 ‘major’ Battlegrounds cheat suspects
  2. Daybreak Games denies reported links to sanctioned Russian oligarch
  3. Epic Games continues pursuing lawsuit against 14-year-old Fortnite player: Parent’s move to dismiss the case met with resistance from Fortnite developer
  4. Epic Decides To Double Down On Copyright For Cheating Lawsuit Against 14 Year Old By Taking On Mom
  5. Fortnite earned $223 million in March – Superdata: Research firm calls Epic Games survival shooter “the largest free-to-play console game of all time” in revenue generated and monthly users
  6. Mobile gaming cements its dominance, takes majority of worldwide sales
  7. Nintendo reports jump in profits as Switch tops 15M sales
  8. Lifetime Switch sales have surpassed 17M units
  9. Switch is selling well, but Nintendo thinks it can sell even better
  10. Nintendo hasn’t achieved ‘satisfactory profit’ on mobile
  11. Nintendo credits its mobile push for rise in Switch sales in Asia, Middle East
  12. Nintendo’s new president wants to turn mobile into $900M business
  13. With new leadership incoming, Nintendo aims to keep collaboration front and center
  14. As Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze comes to Switch, it disappears from Wii U eShop
  15. Nintendo under investigation for patent infringement over Switch design
  16. Nintendo Switch targeted by Gamevice patent lawsuit (again): Wikipad manufacturer attempting to block console sales in the US over detachable controller dispute
  17. U.S. agency to probe Nintendo systems after rival’s complaint
  18. US will consider blocking imports of Nintendo Switch: The International Trade Commission is investigating Nintendo.
  19. Nintendo Switch drives staggering 500 percent profit jump
  20. Nintendo profits spike as Switch approaches 18m sales: Mario Odyssey breaks 10m sales barrier
  21. Nintendo still has plans for the 3DS through ‘2019 and beyond’
  22. Nintendo bringing new IP exclusively to mobile: Platform holder acquires five per cent stake in development partner Cygames
  23. Nintendo yet to achieve “satisfactory” profit on mobile says company president: Games continue to perform well, but still fall below Nintendo’s expectations
  24. Nintendo partners with Japanese dev Cygames on new mobile title
  25. Breath of the Wild is now the best-selling Zelda game to date
  26. Nintendo shifting away from individual leadership: Incoming president Shuntaro Furukawa to continue a trend moving away from the style of long-time leader Hiroshi Yamauchi
  27. Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft among those warned by FTC – Report: Federal Trade Commission gave console makers, HTC, ASUS, and Hyundai 30 days to correct illegal warranty practices
  28. Norwegian customer watchdog calls out Nintendo, Sony, EA and Valve
  29. Nintendo, Valve, Sony, and EA reported in Norway for breaching European consumer law: Digital games “do not exist in a lawless vacuum” says Norwegian Consumer Council director of digital services
  30. PS4 software fueling growth at Sony as hardware stalls
  31. With the PlayStation 4 at 73M sold, Sony braces for sales to slow
  32. Sony brings PS2 titles to PS Now streaming service
  33. PUBG Corp. says 15 hackers arrested, fined $5.1 million: Some PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds cheat programs were said to contain viruses to scan users’ PCs, steal information
  34. Lohan Loses (Yet Another) Publicity Rights Suit
  35. Self-regulate loot box mechanisms – while you still can: As European states begin ruling against loot boxes, this is the industry’s last chance to prove it can be trusted to regulate itself
  36. Self-regulating loot boxes is harder than it sounds: Supposing publishers even want to rein in the monetization scheme driving their bottom lines, how are they supposed to go about doing that?
  37. USA: New Loot Box Bill Introduced…Again
  38. Loot Box Saga Continues 
  39. Despite backlash, loot boxes could be essential to gaming’s future: Analysis sees loot box spending ballooning 62 percent, to $47 billion, by 2022.
  40. Loot boxes expected to drive games market to $160 billion by 2022: Juniper Research also predicts Switch-driven console revival, with revenues to reach $33.2 in four years
  41. Tencent to publish Freejam’s Robocraft in China: Deal announced one week after UK studio pledged to remove all loot boxes from the game
  42. WarpPortal blocks access to game catalogue in Europe: Ragnarok Online and more will be restricted from May 25 – the date that GDPR takes effect
  43. Blizzard now selling community-made maps for StarCraft II: Revenue spilt “favours content creators” says StarCraft II production director
  44. Global games market to hit $137.9 billion this year – Newzoo: Market intelligence firm expects industry revenues to be just over 50% mobile, 25% console, 24% PC
  45. What separates China and the West in mobile?: GameRefinery compares the traits of the top 100 grossing mobile games in China and America, including one feature found in 29% of top Chinese games completely absent in the US
  46. PlayStation 4 sales pass 75m in another strong year for Sony: Software sales and PS Plus subs were both up, but Sony is preparing for hardware decline in the coming year
  47. Xbox earnings on the rise thanks to third-party games and services
  48. Third-party sales boosted Microsoft Gaming revenue in Q3: Gaming revenue was up 18%, Xbox Live users up 13% to 59 million
  49. Starting in June, Xbox live rewards will transition to Microsoft rewards
  50. Microsoft shuts down popular Halo mod ElDewrito: Streamers attract tech giant’s ire as multiple DMCA takedowns issued
  51. Bungie will finally release Destiny companion album Music of the Spheres
  52. “If anybody is going to pick a fight with Steam or create an alternative, the time is now”: At Reboot Develop, Rami Ismail and Robin Hunicke argued that existing digital platforms are not doing enough to represent the diversity and artistry of developers
  53. SteamSpy creator develops new algorithm to keep service alive: “It’s still possible that Valve will make another move to shutdown the service, but until that happens, SteamSpy will continue to operate,” says Galyonkin
  54. Steam Spy isn’t dead, but it’s not back at 100% yet either
  55. An era of “triple-I” development is almost here: Ninja Theory, Frostkeep Studios and Private Division discuss a coming wave of games that combine indie creativity with triple-A production values
  56. Frostpunk has surpassed 250K sales in 66 hours
  57. PC Building Simulator sells 100,000 copies in a month: The Irregular Corporation’s latest release had a strong opening month in Early Access
  58. Sumo Digital transformed £52.2m debt into £12.4m cash balance in 2017: Crackdown 3 developer buoyant in first financial results following last year’s IPO
  59. Techland picks up Call of Juarez publishing rights from Ubisoft
  60. Call of Juarez publishing rights return to Techland following Ubisoft partnership – Critically acclaimed Call of Juarez: Gunslinger reappears on Steam after being delisted last month
  61. How to stop big publishers breaking your business: During this year’s Reboot Develop, Ninja Theory’s Nina Kristensen detailed the rights studios should fight for
  62. The anti-Brexit game turning controversy into opportunity
  63. Snapchat launches “Snappables” series of AR games: Snap Inc commits to releasing new mini-games on a weekly basis
  64. FC Bayern Munich Joins Esports World With NBA 2K Team
  65. The Highs And Lows From Day One Of The NBA 2K League
  66. Your One-Stop Interactive Guide To The NBA 2K League
  67. How Esports Leagues Model Traditional Sports To Build Stability, Thwart Competition
  68. The Growth Of Esports Minor Leagues
  69. Imagine Dragons invest in esports agency RektGlobal and Team Rogue: Members from award-winning band joined by music producer Steve Aoki in ownership of esports team
  70. Don’t Miss: How Blizzard designed StarCraft II with esports in mind
  71. The Doomy Gloomy Revival Of Old-School First-Person Shooters
  72. Super Monday Night Combat shutting down due to new data protection regs
  73. GDPR prompts Super Monday Night Combat shutdown: Developer Uber Entertainment says cost of rewriting back-end too high to warrant compliance
  74. Implementing The Eu General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): An Overview For Digital Entertainment Businesses
  75. The ESA hits a low point – 10 Years Ago This Month: Self-regulation helps fend off threatened legislation, but mismanagement of E3 has members jumping ship
  76. In-app purchases now available on Facebook’s instant games platform
  77. Facebook rolls out in-app purchases to Instant Games platform: IAP currently available on Android and Facebook.com
  78. Facebook Needs To Stop Bad VR Apps Before They Start
  79. Oculus Reveals 140 Degree VR Headset Prototype with Varifocal Displays
  80. Oculus Go standalone headset launches at $199: Oculus VR promises “the best optics of any VR system we’ve built” from new standalone hardware
  81. Analyst: How education, age, and even degree levels can affect video game spending
  82. The Heartbeat Symposium: Exploring love, sex, and intimacy in games
  83. Life in (virtual) pit lane: The war stories of video game car design
  84. Blog: Developing games in non-developed territories – Part 1
  85. Flashpoint is archiving Flash games before they disappear forever
  86. Blog: Looking back at the trailblazing Atari RPG,Dragonstomper
  87. Blog: Why Atari’s infamous E.T. tie-in isn’t half bad

DIGITAL

  1. Equustek again: BC Supreme Court upholds injuction despite US refusal to enforce
  2. Google worldwide injunction will not change
  3. Foreign Broadcaster Infringed US Copyright Through Online Streaming
  4. Man Fined $60,000 For Streaming Live Sports Illegally
  5. Another Court Says Competitive Keyword Advertising Doesn’t Cause Confusion
  6. Iranian activist awarded defamation damages after anonymous web harassment
  7. Iran blocks Telegram, pushes replacement with “Death to America” emoji
  8. FOSTA/SESTA Was Passed Based On Made Up Stats About Sex Trafficking
  9. Germany’s Supreme Court Confirms That Adblocking Is Legal, In Sixth Consecutive Defeat For Publishers
  10. Firefox will show sponsored content that’s personalized but private: Sponsored content will use technology from Pocket, which Mozilla acquired last year.
  11. Pornography Dispute Sheds Light on DMCA Safe Harbor Defense
  12. Recapping a Year’s Worth of Section 230 Cases That Got Stuck in My Blogging Queue
  13. Federal Circuit overturns fair use ruling in Oracle v Google
  14. Insights: Alert Google’s Use of Oracle’s APIs Not Fair Use Under U.S. Copyright Law
  15. FTC Obtains Court Order Banning Marketer from Negative-Option Sales
  16. France seizes France.com from man who’s had it since ‘94, so he sues
  17. Facebook begins asking if every post you see is hate speech
  18. Mark Zuckerberg Says It Will Take 3 Years To Fix Facebook
  19. Mark Zuckerberg announces Facebook Dating
  20. After data “clash” report, WhatsApp founder says he’s leaving Facebook
  21. Hollywood Front Groups Decide To Kick Facebook While It’s Down, Advocate For More Internet Regulations
  22. Facebook building a “simple way to clear your cookies and history”
  23. Cambridge Analytica shuts down after Facebook user data scandal
  24. Cambridge Analytica shutting down, says it’s been ‘vilified’ in Facebook scandal: Investigations continue into firm at centre of Facebook privacy scandal
  25. Facebook Launches A New Ad Campaign With An Old Message
  26. Facebook’s New ‘Dating’ Feature Could Crush Apps Like Tinder
  27. Private Facebook Posts Could Be Fair Game For Discovery
  28. Facebook And Google Finally Take First Steps On Road To Transparency About Content Moderation
  29. Facebook Ranking News Sources By Trust Is A Bad Idea… But No One At Facebook Will Read Our Untrustworthy Analysis
  30. Health Secretary calls for social media giants to stop “turning a blind eye”
  31. New York Enhances Disclosure of Online Political Ads and Requires Online Platforms to Create Archives
  32. CGI ‘Influencers’ Like Lil Miquela Are About To Flood Your Feeds
  33. Could Artificial Intelligence Predict The Next Avengers: Infinity War?
  34. Discrimination through artificial intelligence banned
  35. USPTO Suggests That AI Algorithms Are Patentable, Leading To A Whole Host Of IP And Ethics Questions 
  36. Don’t Be Surprised if the iPhone X Goes Away
  37. Apple exits Wi-Fi game, AirPort routers discontinued after stock sells out 
  38. Why Snap Needs Its Spectacles 
  39. Snap Launches Second Edition Of Spectacles With New Colors, Water-Resistance, Quicker App Transfer
  40. Snapchat To Follow YouTube With Unskippable, Six-Second Ads
  41. YouTube May Bring An Abbreviated Version Of Its Content ID Copyright Tool To The Masses
  42. YouTube Is Becoming One Of Fox News’ Favorite Talking Points
  43. Logan Paul Ceases Daily Vlog To “Exercise His Creativity In Different Ways”
  44. YouTube Invites Advertisers To Target TV Viewers, Will Add YouTube TV To Google Preferred Lineup
  45. YouTube Exec Says Three-Month-Old Brand Safety Measures Have Been “99% Effective”
  46. Pandora Learns The Cost Of Ads, And Of Subscriptions
  47. Twitter is promoting more news links in your timeline 
  48. Twitter’s Niche Moves Into Non-Branded Content With Josh Peck, Miel Bredouw, More
  49. Twitter To Double Video Output In 2018, Including Pacts With NBCUniversal, Disney, Viacom 
  50. Actress-Influencer Bella Thorne Gets $65,000 Per Instagram Post, Says Social Media Paid For Her House
  51. Comedy Central’s New Web Series Is “A ‘Daily Show’ For The Internet”
  52. Amazon blocks domain fronting, threatens to shut down Signal’s account 
  53. After Strong First Quarter, Amazon Raises Price Of Prime By $20 Per Year
  54. Amazon will raise the price of Prime by $20 in a few weeks
  55. Amazon to open new Vancouver office, create 3,000 jobs
  56. NFL Renews Thursday Night Football Streaming On Amazon Prime Video
  57. 11 NFL Games Will Stream Live On Twitch This Fall
  58. Hulu passes 20 million US subscribers, says offline downloads are coming
  59. Conde Nast Entertainment Is Launching Individual OTT Channels For Brands Like Wired
  60. Creators For Good: Ricky Dillon Asks Teens To #BeMore In Building A Kind, Inclusive World
  61. Companies Are Cashing In On Reality TV For Tots
  62. A Short History Of Blaming ‘Hackers’ For Pretty Much Everything
  63. New court ruling could force Uber, Lyft to convert drivers to employees: California Supreme Court: It’ll be tougher for firms to not have bona fide employees.
  64. Disney’s New Food Video Brand Partners With The Tastemade Network To Get Cooking
  65. How Microsoft Convinced Clueless Judges To Send A Man To Jail For Copying Software It Gives Out For Free 
  66. Why the man who tried to sell Windows recovery discs will go to prison: Eric Lundgren paid a company in China to print thousands of Dell-branded recovery CDs.
  67. Microsoft Defends Putting A Computer Recycler In Jail With Misleading Statement
  68. iTunes is finally in the Microsoft Store
  69. Even Windows revenue is up in Microsoft’s $26.8 billion 3Q18 
  70. IPO’s consultation on domestic enforcement of the EU Portability Regulation
  71. Understanding the Regulatory Concerns of Cryptocurrency Exchange Registration 
  72. Is Bitcoin a Security? Definitely Maybe
  73. Section 17(b) of the Securities Act in Crowdfunding and Token Sales
  74. I Spent a Weekend With Cyborgs, and Now I Have an RFID Implant I Have No Idea What to Do With
  75. Canadian Government Provides Details of First Ever National IP Strategy
  76. Canadian Government’s IP Strategy Seeks to Boost Innovation, Increase IP Literacy, and Rein-in Patent Trolls 
  77. Supreme Court Says Of Course The Patent Office Can Admit It Made A Mistake And Dump Bad Patents
  78. Swedish Pirate Party Declares War On Copyright Trolls
  79. Emojis in the Workplace – A Cautionary Tale
  80. Declining Majority Of Online Adults Say The Internet Has Been Good For Society
  81. A Magna Carta for the digital age
  82. Thousands Of Academics Pledge To Boycott Springer’s New Machine Learning Title In Support Of Long-Established Open Access Journal 

CREATIVITY 

  1.  House of Representatives Passes Music Modernization Act – Looking for Clarity on Mechanical Royalties, Pre-1972 Sound Recordings and Other Music Rights Issues  
  2. House Unanimously Passes Music Modernization Act – Paves the Way for Major Updates to Digital Music Royalty Ecosystem
  3. SCOTUS Released Same-Day Oral Argument Audio. Guess What Happened Next?: There is no reason not to release same-day audio for all oral arguments at the Supreme Court.
  4. Blurred Lines Songwriters Have Got to Give It Up for the Gaye Family
  5. Fox News v. TVEyes Shows Fair-Use Defense Remains Risky Business
  6. Copyright Is No Monkey Business, Rules the Ninth Circuit
  7. Monkeys Lack Standing to Sue for Copyright Infringement 
  8. Nicassio v. Viacom International, Inc.
  9. Gayle v. Home Box Office, Inc.
  10. Westworld Has to Acknowledge the Racist Appeal of Shōgun World
  11. The New York Times Is Turning Its Hit Podcast, ‘The Daily’, Into A TV Show 
  12. Tackling IP Misuse: Canada Takes the Lead in Combating the Dark Side of Intellectual Property Protection (Michael Geist)
  13. Canadian Music Industry Seeks New Fees, Content Blocking, and Right to Renegotiate Deals Despite Generating Record Digital Revenues (Michael Geist)
  14. Theater Accidentally Plays Horror Movie Trailer Before Peter Rabbit, Families Run Out Screaming
  15. Kardashian Gets Political to Highlight Lack of Regulations over Cosmetics Industry
  16. Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah embroiled in ‘serious issue’ over Egypt image rights
  17. Lessons From Picasso’s Copyrights: Pleading, Proving and Arguing Foreign Law in U.S. Courts 
  18. The Royal Wedding: What’s the IP etiquette?
  19. Tackling IP Misuse: Canada Takes the Lead in Combating the Dark Side of Intellectual Property Protection (Michael Geist) 
  20. Canadian Music Industry Seeks New Fees, Content Blocking, and Right to Renegotiate Deals Despite Generating Record Digital Revenues (Michael Geist)
  21. Less Than 1%: Canadian Publisher Data Points to Tiny Impact of Access Copyright Royalty Decline (Michael Geist) 

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Customer takes Bell to court and wins, as judge agrees telecom giant can’t promise a price, then change it: Contract law expert says Ontario case could be grounds for class-action lawsuit
  2. FCC Republican gets official warning after pushing for Trump’s re-election: O’Rielly broke government ethics law; could be punished if he does it again.
  3. Small ISPs Like Sonic Join The Legal Battle To Preserve Net Neutrality
  4. Marsha Blackburn Wants ISPs To Sell ‘Fast Lanes’ Like ‘TSA Pre-Check’
  5. AT&T’s least favorite net neutrality bill takes another step forward: California’s tough net neutrality bill clears second Senate committee in a week.
  6. California net neutrality bill that AT&T hates is coming to New York, too: Bill is moving through Calif. Senate and will be submitted in NY legislature.
  7. The Sprint/T-Mobile Merger Is Huge – But A Lot Of Questions Remain
  8. Sprint, T-Mobile Try To Sell The Public On A Job-Killing, Competition Eroding Megamerger
  9. T-Mobile and Sprint don’t need to merge for 5G – they said so two months ago: AT&T made the same claims – about 4G – when it tried to buy T-Mobile in 2011. 
  10. While Facebook Gets All The Hate, Verizon Continues To Show It’s No Better, And Potentially Much Worse For Privacy
  11. Verizon Signs Deal to Place the Saddest, Most Pathetic Bloatware on Samsung Devices  
  12. Some Comcast Customers Won’t Get The Latest Broadband Upgrades Without Buying Cable TV
  13. FCC Approves 100% Mexican Ownership of Radio Stations in California and Arizona – Further Showing Foreign Ownership Limitations Less Significant in Today’s Broadcast World 
  14. At Least One Japanese ISP Gets A Jump Start On The Government’s Unconstitutional Site-Blocking Plans
  15. Japanese Lawyer Sues NTT For Voluntarily Blocking ‘Pirate Sites’ 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. High Court Says UK Government Can No Longer Collect Internet Data In Bulk
  2. Another Federal Court Says Compelled Decryption Doesn’t Raise Fifth Amendment Issues
  3. Phone maker settles charges it let partner collect customers’ text messages
  4. Are Google And Facebook Undermining Europe’s Privacy Rules?
  5. International Standards Body Rejects Weakened IOT Encryption Methods Pushed By The NSA
  6. Cops Follow Up Officer-Involved Shooting By Heading To Funeral Home To Apply Dead Man’s Fingers To His Locked Phone
  7. Device Detects Drug Use Through Fingerprints, Raising A Host Of Constitutional Questions
  8. Alabama Rolls with Tide as Last State to Adopt Breach Notification Law 
  9. EU Government Looking To Expand, Standardize Whistleblower Protections
  10. As two Koreas shake hands, Hidden Cobra hackers wage espionage campaign

Jon

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