GAMES
- Riot Games to pay $10 million in gender discrimination settlement
- Riot Games to Pay $10 Million to Settle Gender-Discrimination Lawsuit
- Riot Games offers female employees $10 million in settlement
- Riot Games to pay out $10m to former employees in gender discrimination settlement: Total will be spread across up to around 1,000 former women employees
- Ragnarok files legal complaint against Human Head Studios over Rune II assets
- Ex-Human Head devs sued by Rune II publisher: Ragnarok Game accuses defunct studio and its co-founders of fraud, holding game assets hostage
- Pausing the Game: Take-Two Seeks to Pause WWE Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
- EA removes Marco van Basten from FIFA 20 after Nazi comment: Former Netherlands striker was suspended from working at Fox Sports last month
- Are publishers doing enough with their brands? | Opinion: EA hasn’t produced much with the Star Wars brand, and it’s not alone among publishers in the west — it’s high time they took some lessons from Japan
- Quantic Dream on the hook for €7,000 for allowing vulgar images to circulate
- Quantic Dream to pay former employee €7,000 over offensive photoshopped image: Tribunal found the Detroit Become Human developer guilty of having breached the security obligation it has towards its employees
- Overcoming unconscious bias in the games industry: Diversity advocates Cinzia Musio and Leon Killin discuss the dangers of unconscious bias, and how to foster an inclusive studio
- Atari VCS enters final stages of pre-production following series of delays: “Atari will always prioritise delivering a high-quality product over a self-imposed deadline,” says Atari VCS COO
- Patrice Désilets: Ancestors fell foul of critics’ expectations – “People expected my studio of 35 people to ship a game that is close to Assassin’s Creed — and it’s just not possible”
- Campo Santo’s In the Valley of the Gods on hold as team shifts to Valve projects
- Firewatch developer’s next game “on hold” after Valve acquisition
- A group of senior Ubisoft devs have joined Google’s in-house Stadia studio
- Google hires senior Assassin’s Creed developers to build Stadia games: Three experienced Ubisoft staff join Jade Raymond’s Stadia Games and Entertainment studio
- Important Updates to Google Play Developer Policies
- Call of Duty Mobile is Google Play’s best game of 2019: Tencent and Activision collaboration won top award as well as users’ choice and best competitive
- Report: A cheaper Project Scarlett alternative remains in Xbox’s next gen plans
- The next Xbox is in the wild, connecting to current-gen Xbox One players
- Xbox One was the UK No.1 games console over Black Friday: It narrowly beat Switch, but Nintendo generated the most revenue from hardware sales
- Microsoft’s cheaper, discless next-gen Xbox reportedly still in the works: New report indicates Lockhart still planned as a logical fit with Game Pass, xCloud
- Valve Index Backordered Until After Christmas Due to “recent high demand” in Some Regions
- Half-Life Alyx changes the game for VR exclusives | Opinion: Never mind the hardware — Valve is dipping deep into its own playbook to become the default storefront for VR software
- Why Steam’s discoverability improvements may still mean your game won’t sell
- CD Projekt dismisses investor fears over Cyberpunk and Half-Life: Alyx release clash: “That niche is very, very, very — and I could add a few ‘verys’ here — small”
- CD Projekt Red will shut down Gwent on consoles: Players will be able to copy accounts to PC, mobile via GOG
- ‘Angry Birds Movie 2 VR’ Studio Raises $2M to Continue Development on AR/VR Games
- Microsoft Affirms VR Isn’t a Focus for Xbox Scarlett
- Phil Spencer: “Nobody’s asking for VR” on Xbox – Xbox boss cites concerns with VR’s form and popularity in strategy around Microsoft’s next console
- Xbox boss: We want to deliver a new first-party game ‘every three or four months’
- XR Games secures £1.5m investment: Virtual and augmented reality studio looks to grow team and portfolio
- The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: How unconscious bias is holding back the industry – This week the team discuss the dangers of unconscious bias, the benefits of diversity, and the slow progress of virtual reality
- Rocketwerkz CEO shares how and why the studio offers unlimited time off
- Dean Hall’s Rocketwerkz offers unlimited annual leave: Most experienced staff get unlimited sick days, and four weeks minimum annual leave with no cap
- Super Mario Maker 2 becomes Super Zelda Maker with playable Link
- Super Mario Maker 2’s first big update brings new mode, playable Link
- Nintendo Switch sees best US sales week ever: Thanksgiving week saw a total of 830k Nintendo Switch and Lite units sold
- The Switch sold over 830,000 units during Thanksgiving week alone
- Nintendo and Tencent have set a launch date for the Switch in China
- Tencent launching Nintendo Switch in China next week: Will cost 2,099 yuan (approx $300), comes with New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe demo and a one-year warranty
- Nintendo to launch Switch in China on Dec. 10 priced $300
- Nintendo Switch sees best ever week of sales in US as it prepares to enter China
- Football Manager 2020 releases at No. 1 in EMEAA charts: Football Manager beats out Q4 big-hitters, but otherwise charts remain steady as holiday season looms
- Sea of Thieves is No.4 as Black Friday transforms UK Charts: FIFA 20 is No.1 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare takes No.2
- Black Friday weekend digital game spending reached record $4.36b: In-game spending in free-to-play games up 13% YOY as digital interest continues to grow
- Shenmue III comes up short in the Japanese chart: Ys Net’s sequel failed to make waves in its home market, with less than 18k sales on PS4
- The truth about revenue sharing | Opinion: Revenue sharing has allowed great games to be made, says Unlock Audio’s Elliot Callighan, but it’s also used as a crutch by inexperienced teams
- An inside look at one indie dev-publisher relationship (with contract details!)
- What will the next UK gaming IPO look like? | Opinion: Liberum’s Andrew Bryant reflects on the flood of floatations in the last two years, and discusses why the next will need to be different
- Codemasters acquires Project Cars developer Slightly Mad Studios
- Codemasters acquires Project CARS developer Slightly Mad Studios: Racing studio grows to 700 people
- Codemasters buys Slightly Mad Studios for $30m: Project CARS studio will join the UK publisher in a deal that could rise by $67m based on three-year earnout clause
- Persona 5 has topped 3.2 million sales worldwide
- In the Valley of Gods “on hold” indefinitely: Former Campo Santo devs now at Valve have moved to other projects, including Half-Life: Alyx
- Pathfinder: Kingmaker dev Owlcat Games raises $1 million to fund new project
- Peripheral maker Logitech pledges to become carbon neutral by 2030
- YouTube no longer equates video game and real-world violence for age restrictions
- YouTube’s new gaming policy will allow creators to produce more violent footage: Advertising concerns are still high on creators’ agendas
- YouTube lightens restrictions on violent video game content: Policy update aims to better reflect difference between real-world and simulated violence
- YouTube Officially Separates Ad Policies For Video Game And Real-World Violence
- Dicebreaker launches news and reviews site to serve thriving tabletop community: Editor-in-chief Matt Jarvis discusses how the games industry can capitalise on the explosive growth of board games
- Streaming startup Genvid nets $27 million to expand ‘dev-grade’ broadcasting platform
- Twitch introduces new dashboard so more people can create livestreams
- ESL reportedly shuts down Spain, France branches, UK is “at risk”: Esports league tells GamesIndustry.biz no offices have closed, but are being restructured
- Counter-Strike World Champions Aim for First Esport Team IPO
- Astralis Group plans first ever IPO for an esports team: Danish Counter-Strike outfit seeks as much as €20 million from December 9 listing
- Esports Laws of the World
- Star Citizen hits $250m raised through crowdfunding: Almost 2.5m players have now funded the game, which is closing in on $300m in total investment
- Genvid closes $27m Series B round: Interactive streaming tech firm has also opened new offices in Berlin and California
- Area28 raises $2.15m for cloud-based development platform: Technology will add “significant value to the game development process” says Alibaba investor
- XR Games raises £1.5 million for new projects and staff
- Owlcat Games raises $1m for new Pathfinder video game: Gem Capital and My.Games investment arm lead funding for Moscow studio’s second foray into Pathfinder
- Persona 5 has sold 3.2m copies worldwide: Latest edition Persona 5 Royal has sold 400,000 copies in Japan, series’ lifestime sales now past 11 million
- Meet the young developer turning her severe anxiety into a games career
- “Winning and measuring engagement is no longer enough”: Midia’s Karol Severin warns entertainment firms should be measuring positive sentiment in this age of abundance
- Over 450 million PlayStation home consoles have been sold in 25 years
- PlayStations 1 to 4 have sold more than 450 million systems: Sony touts Guinness record for “best-selling home video game console brand ever”
- Don’t Miss: A brief history of PlayStation, from one-time frontman Phil Harrison
- The $0 marketing game guide
- Blog: Breaking down the Steam sales of Battle Royale Tycoon
- Blog: An introduction to wargame design – Part 1
- Blog: The perception of fairness in games
- Blog: Lessons learned from building a digital board game business
- Video: Breathing life into the machines of Horizon Zero Dawn
- Video: How Oddworld solved its narrative problems with mind control
- Video: A game dev’s guide to designing games with social impact
- Best of 2019: The ‘Door Problem’ of combat design
- Best of 2019: Downscaling, upscaling, same-scaling – Porting to Switch and under-powered consoles
- How “randomizers” are breathing new life into old games
- Video Games Without Borders wins UN Refugee Agency’s Innovation Award: Non-profit studio was selected from 259 entries for its mobile game promoting literacy and well-being among Syrian children
- Logitech commits to carbon neutrality by 2030: “We want to leave our mark on the future. We know that mark can be positive or negative, depending on the large and small decisions we make every day,” says CEO
- People of the Year 2019: Jeffrey Rosen and John Graham – We explore the legacy of Humble Bundle’s co-founders in the first of this year’s series on outstanding contributions to the industry
- People of the Year 2019: Remedy Entertainment: The Finnish studio’s bid for independence was about building a more stable future — Control proved it was also about creating the best possible games
- People of the Year 2019: SonicFox and Blitzchung – In a year where major industry figures were increasingly reluctant to take stances, two esports pros used their reach to demand change
- People of the Year 2019: Playing for the Planet Alliance – Unifying against climate change is the first of many steps the games industry must take
- The state of Xbox One in 2019.
- The state of the PlayStation 4 in 2019.
- The state of the Nintendo Switch in 2019.
- EA donating $500,000 to Team Trees: Donation, in the name of new Plants Vs Zombies game, will see half a million trees planted by January 1, 2020
- Apple has named the best iOS games of 2019
- Sky Children of the Light and Hyper Light Drifter among Apple’s Games of the Year: Meanwhile, Mario Kart Tour and Minecraft top most downloaded charts and The Gardens Between honoured in Apple Design Awards
- Google Play names Call of Duty: Mobile as best Android game of 2019
- Did “Fewer, Bigger, Better” actually work? – 10 Years Ago This Month: Major publishers have been narrowing their release slates for years, but has it produced the intended results?
- The Game Theorists’ Star-Studded Stream Raises $1.3 Million — And Counting — For St. Jude
- E3 media study shows declining media attendance, coverage: ESA says over 3,700 members of the media attended E3 in 2019
- U.S. Patent no. 10,258,880: Dynamic selection of voice quality over a wireless system
- U.S. Patent no. 10,258,882: Recording companion
DIGITAL
- China Uses DNA to Map Faces, With Help From the West: Beijing’s pursuit of control over a Muslim ethnic group pushes the rules of science and raises questions about consent.
- Ukraine condemns Apple for calling Crimea part of Russia in its apps
- Apple ‘looking at how it handles borders’ after Crimea map controversy
- Apple ‘taking a deeper look’ at map policies after calling Crimea part of Russia
- Apple ‘looking at how it handles borders’ after Crimea map controversy
- When politi-fact veers into politi-fiction, broadcast and internet advertising rules diverge sharply
- As Devin Nunes Threatens More SLAPP Suits, He May Have To Explain Why Cows Can Type In His First SLAPP Suit
- Devin Nunes Follows Through And Sues CNN In Laughably Dumb SLAPP Suit
- Tony Robbins Crosses The Atlantic For Some Libel Tourism In Ireland; Files SLAPP Suit Against Buzzfeed
- Human rights standards apply to online sellers on sites such as Kijiji, says N.L. Human Rights case
- Copyright Troll Threatens Criminal Charges In Germany Against Domain Registrar
- Warner Music and Sony Music win copyright case against internet music radio service TuneIn
- Capitol Records v ReDigi appeal decision
- TekSavvy Appeals Canada’s First Site-Blocking Order
- Canadian ISP Teksavvy Fights Back Against Overbroad Copyright ‘Blocking Order’ For GoldTV
- A Tale of Two Copyright Decisions: Canada’s Federal Court Issues First Site-Blocking Order & Denies Certification of Reverse Class Action Test Case
- Justices debate allowing state law to be “hidden behind a pay wall”
- Copyright Clash to Receive Supreme Treatment
- The US’s reaction to France’s DST
- Notifying Twitter of TOS Violations Isn’t Tortious Interference–Illoominate v. CAIR (Eric Goldman)
- Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: That Time Twitter Nazis Got A Reporter Barred From Twitter Over Some Jokes
- Online harmful content: the race to regulate
- Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Increase Internet Transparency and Consumer Control Over Content
- Microsoft shareholders reject call for gender pay gap report: Additional proposal to report on employee representation on board of directors also dismissed
- Twitter introduces a Privacy Center to keep users informed: Its new privacy policies go into effect January 1st.
- Intimidation or Free Speech: Are Trump’s Tweets Witness Tampering?
- Study Says Russian Trolls Didn’t Have Much Influence On Election; But It’s More Complicated Than That
- Assessing the Russian Internet Research Agency’s impact on the political attitudes and behaviors of American Twitter users in late 2017
- Facebook Now Altering Users’ Posts To Add Singapore Government’s ‘Fake News’ Warnings
- Facebook updates crisis response tools, adds WhatsApp integration
- UNC Gave Racists $2.5 Million To Settle A Lawsuit That Hadn’t Been Filed Yet, And The Racists Are Abusing The DMCA To Hide The Details
- Amazon Faces Widening U.S. Antitrust Scrutiny in Cloud Business
- Intellectual Property Alert: Amazon Creates a Cost-Effective and Efficient Patent Infringement Remedy for Infringing Products Sold on its Marketplace by Third Parties
- CreateSpace Isn’t Liable for Publishing Allegedly Infringing Uploaded Book–King v. Amazon (Eric Goldman)
- Copyright, State Sovereignty, and Pirates: Some Thoughts on Oral Argument in Allen v. Cooper
- This free tool maps propaganda and misinformation as it goes viral
- The Baby Yoda gif debacle exposes the messy world of meme law: Gifs from The Mandalorian went viral on social media. But then they disappeared
- Why Baby Yoda Unequivocally, Unfortunately Rules (Column): The breakout star of ‘The Mandalorian’ is impossibly cute for a reason.
- TikTok Moderators Were Told To Suppress Videos Made By Marginalized Users Because They Might Be Bullied
- TikTok Apologizes After Banning A Teen Whose Video About Muslims In China Went Viral
- TikTok’s parent company sued for collecting data on kids: Everything’s coming up COPPA
- CJEU: Courts may Order Host Providers to Take Down Illegal Content
- Instagram finally launches 13+ age checkups
- Quibi Picks Up Kendall Jenner-Produced Series Based On Parody Instagram Account
- Insta-Famous Lil Bub, A Special Needs Cat Known For Her Altruism, Has Passed Away At Age 8
- Insights: ‘Tis The Season For Instagram Sponsored Posts, But Perhaps ‘Tis Too Much?
- Sundar Pichai becomes CEO of Alphabet and Google, as Larry Page steps down
- Facebook’s new tool lets you transfer pictures to Google Photos: Available worldwide in first half of 2020
- Fired Google employees accuse company of union-busting: Group will take grievances to National Labor Relations Board “as a first step”
- Google workers fired amid organization efforts file retaliation complaint
- Certiorari Granted in Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc.
- Google attempts to protect users from sketchy stem cell clinics
- Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin step back from executive roles: Sundar Pichai to assume role as CEO of both Google and Alphabet, founders will remain on board
- YouTube says viewers are spending less time watching conspiracy videos. But many still do.
- YouTube Says Watch-Time On ‘Borderline’ Content By Non-Subscribers Has Dropped 70% This Year
- YouTube Has Removed At Least 300 Donald Trump Campaign Ads Since 2016
- YouTube Says Creators Could See Subscriptions Drop As It Purges Shuttered Accounts
- Olivia Jade Returns To YouTube Nine Months After College Admissions Scandal
- YouTubers Attempt Levitation In BBC Original ‘The Edge Of Science’
- Netflix And YouTube’s Share Of Daily Viewership To Drop As Field Grows (Study)
- How To Make A ‘Heist’: Markiplier’s Interactive Special Is A Whole New Kind Of Content For YouTube
- TYT Launches 24-Hour Channel On Xfinity X1, As Election Coverage Looms
- BBTV Signs Five Creators, Including Purposeful Prankster ThatWasEpic, Rapper-Skater Roy Purdy
- FTC Releases Disclosure Manual for Social Media Influencers
- Retailer Reminder: FTC Releases Guidance for Social Media Influencers
- Collab Asia, A Spin-Off Of The U.S.-Based Influencer Network, Raises $7.5 Million Series B
- Updated Advice and Practical Tips from the FTC for Social Media Influencers and the Companies that Hire Them
- Content Changes Challenge YouTube Creators; FTC to the Rescue
- The FTC Issues a New Disclosure Guide for Influencers
- Spotify offers half-price annual subscription in India
- Online shopping on Thanksgiving hit $4.2B, up 14.5% on 2018, 45% of sales via mobile
- Black Friday shoppers spent more in stores, broke records online over the weekend
- Never mind the naysayers: Emoji are a vital part of online communication
- ICANN report wipes the smile off emoji domains
- Blockchain Basics: Global Regulations
- Developer faces prison time for giving blockchain talk in North Korea
- Blockchain and the Financial Industry
- The Future of Stablecoins—Anything But Stable?
- Lawyer ‘monopoly’ hampers consumer access to legal tech, says former AG Chris Bentley
- The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 34: The Fight to Save the Dot-Org (Michael Geist)
- Honouring Ian Kerr’s Legacy: University of Ottawa Launches the Kerr Fellows Program (Michael Geist)
- Half an operating system: The triumph and tragedy of OS/2
- Geo-blocking or global take-down
- What You Should Know before Launching a Website or App
- Tech Regulation Series: The End of Permissionless Innovation?
- Ambush Marketing in the Digital Age
- Cross-Border Supplies of Intangible Services, Digital Content and Rights: Global VAT Guide – Fourth edition – November 2019
- Launch of .ευ
- Brexit from another angle: Domain names and donkeys
- Competition Law and the Digital Economy in Canada
A.I.
- Senators want answers about algorithms that provide black patients less healthcare
- To stop a tech apocalypse we need ethics and the arts
- How neural networks work—and why they’ve become a big business
- Life Under the Algorithm: How a relentless speedup is reshaping the working class
- Quantum computing’s also-rans and their fatal flaws
- The Rise of Artificial Intelligence Will Usher Changes to Patent Law
- Patents – When artificial intelligence authors the invention
- Designing strategically intelligent AI in Halo Wars 2
- AI Innovators Should Be Listening to Kids: Input from the next generation is crucial when it comes to navigating the challenges of new technologies. (Urs Gasser)
- Robots Are Taking Over (the Rental Screening Process): Landlords are using artificial intelligence to vet prospective renters
- What should newsrooms do about deepfakes? These three things, for starters: Researchers argue the dangers of deepfakes are overblown, but require journalists to give thought to how they handle unconfirmed information.
COMMUNICATIONS
- Canada’s New Internet Code
- Huawei funds $56M in academic research in Canada. That has some experts concerned
- Huawei is now shipping smartphones with zero US components
- Current “Whole of Government” Approach to Perceived National Security Risks from Chinese Technology Reflected in the FCC’s Latest Universal Service Fund Order
- The True Impact of the Chinese Telecom Ban on Government Contractors
- FCC Seeks Comment on All-Digital AM and Radio Non-Duplication NPRM
- DOJ Wimps Out On Wireless Sector eSIM Antitrust Investigation
- Mobile industry has stifled eSIM—and the DOJ is demanding change
- Prison Telecom Monopolies Bring Their ‘Innovation’ To Prison Ebooks
- Priority Filing Deadline Set for Tribes’ Access to Spectrum
- 5G on the horizon: Here’s what it is and what’s coming
- T-Mobile’s ‘Nationwide’ 5G Isn’t Nationwide, Only Slightly Faster Than 4G
- T-Mobile touts “nationwide 5G” that fails to cover 130 million Americans
- FCC tries to bury finding that Verizon and T-Mobile exaggerated 4G coverage
- FCC to Propose National Crisis Hotline, Tackle Mid-Band Spectrum Items at December Meeting
- FCC Suspends the Processing of Renewal Applications for the 470-512 MHz Spectrum Band (T-Band)
- Vulnerability in fully patched Android phones under active attack by bank thieves
- Librem 5 backers have begun receiving their Linux phones
- What is a Prerecorded Call for TCPA Purposes?: The Czar and the Baron Speak with the FCC to Push for Clarity on this Critical Issue
- IoT Update: FCC Proposes New Spectrum Plan for Vehicle Safety and Unlicensed Uses
- Today’s Hot Topic: News Simulatio
- AMFM Act Introduced in Congress to Impose Sound Recording Performance Royalty on Broadcast Stations
- Telecoms Law Update – The Right to Survey Clarified by the Court of Appeal
- Court of Appeal confirms that telecoms operators can obtain Code rights to carry out site visits
- AT&T says TV losses have peaked after latest loss of 1.3 million customers
PRIVACY
- Cell Phone Searches at the Border: What you need to know
- Egyptian Government Plans To Track The Movement Of 10 Million Vehicles With Low-Cost RFID Stickers
- New Iranian wiper discovered in attacks on Middle Eastern companies
- Cops Are Running Ring Camera Footage Through Their Own Facial Recognition Software Because Who’s Going To Stop Them
- Draft Code of Practice: securing the Internet of Things for consumers
- IoT patent owners still hold the future in their own hands – but the clock is ticking
- HackerOne breach lets outside hacker read customers’ private bug reports
- Code Blue: Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities for Medical Device Makers Require Urgent Care
- Ring Coyness About Adding Facial Recognition Tech To Its Cameras Doesn’t Extend To Its Marketing Materials
- Wireless ISP Starry Says It Will Apply California’s Privacy Requirements Nationwide
- Payment card-skimming malware targeting 4 sites found on Heroku cloud platform
- The (Extra) Territorial Scope of the GDPR: The Right to Be Forgotten
- Revised Guidelines on the Territorial Scope of the GDPR and Local Representatives
- The Right to be Forgotten Shoots the Shark
- Privacy & Cybersecurity Update: November 2019
- EU Cookie Compliance: Getting Ready for 2020
- The Digitization of Vehicles: Privacy Concerns
- New crypto-cracking record reached, with less help than usual from Moore’s Law
CREATIVITY
- Federal Court rejects controversial copyright litigation strategy
- Right of publicity in Canada
- Artist wins court battle to stop luxury watchmakers from cutting up his painting
- Intellectual Property Update – Is there protection in an idea?
- Copyright licenses are as easy as a quick few words
- New Balance v Liverpool FC
- Want To See Pete Davidson Do Standup? There’s An NDA You Have To Sign First…
- Musk takes the stand in first day of “pedo guy” trial
- Proving bad faith at registration time could be a good ‘Techtrend’
- Tenuous Common-Law Trademark Rights Inadequate to Sustain UDRP Complaint
- Exhaustion of trademark rights: Barcelona Court of Appeal rules in Schweppes case
- Cambridge University repatriate bronze cockerel to Nigeria
- Eco-friendly or falsely advertised? Sustainable fashion advertising in Europe: do’s and don’ts
- State’s Rejection Of Driver’s ‘IMGOD’ Vanity Plate Unconstitutional, Federal Court Rules
- Author Tries To Trademark The Word ‘Dark’ For All Of Literary Fiction
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