GAMES
- Nintendo sues Switch hack resellers in ongoing fight against Team Xecutor: Platform holder continues to crack down on groups enabling pirated games to run on its console
- With new Switch-hacking tech looming, Nintendo targets retailers
- Nintendo notes COVID-19 is delaying Switch production, might hit game development
- Ubisoft suing Google and Apple for selling Rainbow Six: Siege ‘carbon copy’
- G2A and Wube Software settle $40,000 chargeback dispute: Factorio developer “satisfied with the results” after marketplace operators conduct internal audit
- Disney clamps down on Club Penguin clones following abuse allegations
- Disney: If We Can’t Run Club Penguin, No One Can Run Club Penguin
- Top mobile trends (and some surprises) during COVID-19 lockdown: GameAnalytics CEO Ioana Hreninciuc explores the effect of the pandemic on player behaviour around the world
- Blizzard Takes New Stance on Custom Game IP
- Children and online harms
- What the Age Appropriate Design Code means for video games: The ICO’s Statutory Code regarding children’s personal data has implications for video games — Baker McKenzie’s Ben Slinn advises to start preparing now
- Swiss Game Developer Settles FTC Allegations Over COPPA Safe Harbor Claims
- Madden NFL’s technical problems were on full display in ESPN championship
- Gambling revenue around esports set to double in 2020
- More Than A Game: The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Turned Esports Into An Economy Of Its Own
- Esports: a new market for travel businesses after COVID-19?
- Video: How to consider player skill growth in esports-friendly games
- Rooster Teeth Forges Multi-Faceted Pact With U.K. Digital Gaming Brand ‘The Yogscast’
- Twitch unveils new Safety Advisory Council: Group of online safety experts and Twitch partners to advise on policies, products, and trends
- Doom Eternal reverses course, will remove kernel-level Denuvo anti-cheat
- Valve launches Play Next feature to help Steam users choose their next game
- Valve Releases ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Steam Workshop Tools for Making & Downloading Mods
- King has opened up and relinquished control of the Defold game engine
- King makes Defold engine open source: Candy Crush firm sets up Defold Foundation to handle the tech’s development going forward
- Unreal Engine is Now Royalty-free for the First $1 Million in Revenue
- How Epic got such amazing Unreal Engine 5 results on next-gen consoles
- Epic rolls easier refunds, keyless third-party sales into its Epic Games Store
- Epic Games store integrates keyless purchasing with third-party platforms: Green Man Gaming, Fanatical, and Genba Digital join Humble in offering automatic purchases without key entry
- Epic denies disguising load times in Unreal Engine 5 demo: Spokesperson says the goal was to demonstrate the level of detail in the scene
- Controller pros are dominating PC Fortnite thanks to “overpowered” aim assist
- Epic Games confirms Fortnite as launch title for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X: Battle royale will be “optimised” for next-gen consoles, migration to Unreal Engine 5 due in 2021
- Free Grand Theft Auto 5 crashes Epic Games Store: Fortnite creator reports “most users” should now be able to access digital games marketplace
- Hey, Epic, If you’re Going To Boldly Give Away A Historically Popular Game For Free, Make Sure You Can Handle The Demand
- Fortnite surpasses $1b in lifetime spending on App Store alone: Epic’s battle royale sees mobile spending rise with Google Play launch
- Crucible, Amazon’s new online shooter: Alexa, does this game have a chance?
- Amazon throws itself into the Crucible of AAA at last: Lou Castle explains how Amazon’s hero shooter has evolved to be competitive, streamable, and standout in a crowded field
- UK Charts: Animal Crossing holds No.1 in another quiet week – No new releases in the retail charts this week
- Nintendo’s first rumored Mario game for 2020 has come true: Paper Mario in July
- Half of all New Horizons sales in the U.S., Japan, and Europe were digital
- Nintendo confirms 50% digital sales for Animal Crossing: New Horizons: New Horizons has already reached its lifetime sales target, according to Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa
- Nintendo warns of potential software delays due to remote working: “Since there are indeed big limitations on what can be done from home, we do think this will have a large impact”
- PlayStation Now has reached 2.2 million subscribers
- PlayStation Now reaches 2.2m subscribers: Sony’s service has doubled its reach in a single year, but still lags behind Xbox Game Pass
- PlayStation Plus reaches 41.5m subscribers: Subscriptions rose by 2.7 million in the first three months of 2020 alone
- Sony’s PS5 reveal will be all about the software | Opinion: The slow drip of PS5 information belies how much technical detail we already know — the real “unveiling” will likely be of a software slate
- Former Xbox exec J Allard is now Intellivision’s global managing director
- Xbox co-founder J Allard heads up Intellivision: Former Microsoft exec will oversee launch of upcoming Intellivision Amico console this October
- Take-Two plans to release 93 full titles in the next five years: Of those, 47 are expected to come from existing franchises, while 46 are new IP
- NBA 2K, GTA, and more push Take-Two’s net revenue over $3B for 2019-20 year
- Take-Two sets net bookings records as Q4 digital sales jump: Publisher looks ahead to a “light year” for new releases, but remains confident in success of back catalog, digital growth
- Game spending in the US reached a record quarterly high in Q1 2020: The NPD Group: Consumers spent nearly $10.9 billion on video games from January through March of this year
- Respawn opens Vancouver studio to focus on Apex Legends development
- Respawn marks its ten-year anniversary with a new Vancouver studio: Dusty Welch, Chad Grenier, Henry Lee, and Steven Ferreira discuss the new studio’s philosophy and goals for the longevity of Apex Legends
- Mobile battle royale game Free Fire has more than 80 million daily users
- The Dark Souls franchise has topped 27 million lifetime sales
- Ubisoft sales dropped by nearly 14% in fiscal year 2019
- Ubisoft beats Q4 forecasts, thanks in no small part to player recurring investment
- Ubisoft prepares for rebound with five AAA titles planned this fiscal year: Publisher reports full-year financials with expected lower revenues after multiple game delays
- Ubisoft offers Assassin’s Creed: Discovery Tour modes for free for one week – Educational explorations of ancient Greece and Egypt made available to encourage learning from home
- Humble’s indie game publishing biz is now Humble Games
- UK Games Fund selects 38 studios for next round of investment: COVID-19 pandemic caused the programme to be revised so more developers could benefit from funding
- Rewriting the playbook: The independent studios making sports work: We explore how developers are carving their own niches in the face of dominating franchises like FIFA and NBA 2K
- 2K and Hangar 13 get in on the classic game remake trend with Mafia: Definitive Edition
- NetEase revenues rise to $2.4bn: Fantasy Westward Journey publisher grows games business overseas with increased playerbase in Japan
- Keywords to raise £100m for acquisition of pandemic-hit companies: Share sale will allow the services firm to buy companies “less able to weather the disruption”
- Sumo Group acquires UK work-for-hire studio Lab42
- Sumo Digital acquires Lab42: Work-for-hire studio to will still operate independently as part of the Sumo group
- Game of War developer Machine Zone acquired by AppLovin: AppLovin will move its headquarters to studio’s Palo Alto office
- AppLovin acquires Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire dev Machine Zone
- Embracer Group sees record shift toward digital due to COVID-19
- Embracer Group’s games business grew by 31% last year
- Embracer Group’s full-year games revenue rose 31%: But the “first AAA games releases since Metro Exodus” won’t arrive until the year ending March 2022
- Mobile battle royale title Free Fire just hit 80 million daily active users
- Minecraft developer Mojang rebrands as Mojang Studios
- Mojang returns to its indie roots with Minecraft Dungeons: The 25-person team on turning one of the world’s biggest games into a dungeon crawler for everyone
- Minecraft has sold 200 million copies in 11 years
- Minecraft has sold over 200m copies to date: Mojang rebrands as Mojang Studios upon game’s 11th anniversary
- Planet Zoo has surpassed 1 million sales in under six months
- South Korean PC gaming cafes take a hit during COVID-19 peak: But the industry appears on the cusp of a rebound as restrictions lift
- Arcades vs COVID-19: How communities can save small businesses – Arcade owners across the world closed to protect their communities — now those regulars are the best hope for their survival
- Net sales down at Square Enix due to lack of major HD game releases
- Tencent is now working on OtherSide’s System Shock game
- Tencent expects revenues to “normalise” after strong Q1: Online and mobile game revenues soared during the COVID-19 pandemic
- 10 games, including Moss and Pistol Whip, have surpassed $2M revenue on Oculus Quest
- More than $100m has been spent on Oculus Quest content: Ten games have earned more than $2m in revenue, including PolyArc’s Moss and Cloudhead Games’ Pistol Whip
- SuperHot VR sells over 2m copies: Sales of all versions of the game passed two million last year
- Connecting through The Legend of Dragoon | Why I Love: Miriam Karina Melgoza on how the classic RPG forged a bond between father and daughter, and the power of games to bring families together
- War Stories: Alan Wake’s transformation emerged from a two-month “sauna”
- How a rejected My Little Pony game helped save a historic tournament
- Breath of the samurai: Sony’s Ghost of Tsushima finally looks like a video game
- Four better ways to talk about immersion in video games
- Game devs hold virtual meeting from hell in Mythic Quest: Quarantine teaser
- The sprawling, must-read history of Maxis’ former “serious games” division
- Q&A: Surviving failed Kickstarters and publishing woes to launch Song of Horror
- Q&A: Making XCOM tighter and more focused with Chimera Squad
- Don’t Miss: A look back at the creation and launch of Alan Wake’s American Nightmare
- Don’t Miss: A Postmortem of Double Fine’s seminal classic Psychonauts
- Don’t Miss: Composing the music of Red Dead Redemption
- Don’t Miss: Mafia 3 and the value of putting game developers in a box
- Don’t Miss: A classic interview with Castlevania composer Michiru Yamane
- Video: How Ubisoft handled NPC voice design for The Division 2
- Video: Democratizing real-time filmmaking techniques for indie devs
- Blog: Creating sequels as an indie developer
- Blog: How the Game & Watch impacted Nintendo’s handheld vision
- Blog: Beginning again at Spilt Milk Studios
- Blog: How Niantic’s response to COVID-19 has protected Pokemon GO
- Blog: Steam’s wishlist-to-sales %: thoughts & a call for data!
- Blog: Cultivating curation – A LudoNarraCon 2020 recap
- Blog: Adding life to worlds with dialogue barks
- Blog: Composing the interactive music of SPYDER – Part 2
- Blog: Developing multi-tile creatures in roguelikes
- Blog: The hidden Switch demo upside & more discoverability tricks
- Safe in Our World launches Level Up Mental Health campaign: Games companies unite to commit to supporting better mental health practices
- AccessJam announced to support Global Accessibility Awareness Day: Disabled game developers organisation Accessibility Unlocked kicking off month-long event on May 21
- U.S. Patent no. 10,315,113: System and method for simulating gameplay of nonplayer characters distributed across networked end user devices
DIGITAL
- Facebook to pay $9 million penalty to Competition Bureau
- Misleading Privacy Claims Results in $9 Million Dollar Penalty for Facebook
- High School Can’t Expel Student for Sharing Memes in Private Snapchat Conversation–JS v. Manheim Township School District (Eric Goldman)
- Covid-19 Just Triggered The Worst Quarter Ever For Cable TV ‘Cord Cutting’
- One Of The Few Government Officials Who Actually Can ‘Police Speech’ Whines Ridiculously About Facebook’s Oversight Board
- TikTok accused of breaching US child privacy regulations
- TikTok Broke Privacy Promises, Children’s Groups Say: Twenty consumer groups said the video app had failed to make some changes it agreed to carry out last year to settle federal charges.
- The Architect Behind Disney+, Kevin Mayer, Has Been Named CEO Of TikTok
- Court Tosses Lawsuit From Man Claiming Twitter Discriminated Against Him For Being A Heterosexual Christian
- The Associated Press Has Some Explaining To Do About Its ‘Tweeted Contract’ To Reuse Viral Content
- Failure to delete hate speech could cost Facebook, Google billions in France
- French Government Passes Hate Speech Law, Will Allow Law Enforcement To Run The Internet
- Google pledges not to make custom software for oil and gas extraction
- The COVID-19 misinformation crisis is just beginning, but there is hope
- Think Tank’s Posting of Substantially Cropped Photo of Heartthrob Governor Constitutes Fair Use
- Facebook Acquires GIF Database GIPHY In Reported $400 Million Deal
- Facebook is buying Giphy and integrating it with Instagram: Plans to integrate with Instagram and other apps
- All your reaction GIFs now belong to Facebook, as it buys Giphy for $400M
- Facebook takes on Amazon with online shopping venture
- Luxury and online marketplaces – the next chapter (Coty v Amazon)
- Man shoots down drone, gets hit with felony charges in Minnesota
- Doctors Are Tweeting About Coronavirus to Make Facts Go Viral: As dubious Covid-19 claims circulate online, UCSF’s Dr. Bob Wachter and others are taking to Twitter
- Twitch Reveals 8-Member ‘Safety Advisory Council’ Stocked With Streamers, Cyberbullying Experts
- How the ‘Plandemic’ Movie and Its Falsehoods Spread Widely Online
- Big Tech searches for a way back into healthcare: Despite past failures, Google and other tech giants see great promise in the sector
- Quarantine is a weirdly good time for animation: Going remote is giving animators lots of opportunities to shine.
- Nvidia ditches Intel, cozies up to AMD with its new DGX A100
- Huawei’s Google app loophole: Just keep re-releasing old devices
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai defends Pixel team, says “hardware is hard”
- Google-Fitbit Merger: Competition concerns and harms to consumers
- No, CDA 230 Isn’t The Only Thing Keeping Conservatives Off YouTube
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 5/18/2020
- Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 5/18/2020
- John Krasinski Tearfully Takes Hit YouTube Series ‘Some Good News’ On Hiatus
- YouTube Introduces New Grey ‘Clock’ Monetization Icon So Creators See Less Flip-Flopping
- YouTube’s First Virtual Brandcast Will Focus On Surging TV Viewership
- YouTube’s New Screen Time Management Feature Wants You To Go To Bed
- ‘YouTube Select’ Replaces Google Preferred Ad Program, With New Curated Content Lineups
- YouTube’s Virtual Graduation Ceremony Adds Beyoncé, Mark Rober, Emma Chamberlain To Lineup
- YouTube Music Names Latest Class Of Artists To Join Its Exclusive ‘Foundry’ Program
- Children’s Video Goliath ‘CoComelon’ Pacts With Roku In First Off-YouTube Distribution Deal
- James Charles’ YouTube Original Isn’t Just A Hit. It’s Catapulting The Channels Of Contestants.
- The Ad Council Taps Meghan Trainor, Addison Rae, Molly Burke For Mental Health Awareness Month
- $100 Million Deal Sees Joe Rogan’s Podcast Become A Spotify Exclusive—In Both Video And Audio Form
- Charli D’Amelio Accidentally Deleted — Then Quickly Reclaimed — Her Massive Instagram Account
- Houseparty Throws 3-Day Livestreaming Event Featuring Katy Perry, Snoop Dogg, Addison Rae
- After Years Of Fan Efforts, Zack Snyder’s ‘Justice League’ Cut Is Coming To HBO Max
- Apple TV+ Breaks From Originals-Only Plan To Acquire Legacy Films, TV Series (Report)
- Leaker claims to have seen “Apple Glass” AR glasses, details how they’ll work
- Rumor: Apple AR Glasses Leak Points to Name, Price & Possible Launch Window
- Apple confirms it bought virtual reality event startup NextVR
- Apple Confirms Acquisition of VR Live Streaming Company NextVR
- Apple acquired NextVR, suggesting it still harbors VR ambitions
- Apple reopens some US stores amid COVID-19, but they’ll work differently
- Samsung is Terminating Its VR Video Apps on All Devices
- Zoomism and Discipline for Productive Immobility
- Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: Google Removes Podcast Addict From Play Store Because It Has COVID-19 Related Podcasts
- Rethinking Digital Platforms for the Post-COVID-19 Era: As COVID-19 is a concern, aspects of daily life will be mediated by platforms that see human interactions as content to be moderated, and data to be monetized
- Emergency Room Doctor: Getting Best COVID-19 Treatment Ideas Via WhatsApp
- Is ICANN retiring some top-level domains?
- International online education programs: A global regulatory perspective
- The challenges ahead for online courts
- Digital sources and digital archives: historical evidence in the digital age (Trevor Owens, Thomas Padilla)
- I’m a doctor with quadriplegia—thanks to tech, I’m back at work
- From iOS to SQL: The world’s most incorrectly pronounced tech terms
A.I.
- When audio deepfakes put words in Jay-Z’s mouth, did he have a legal case?
- People who know more about self-driving technology trust it more
- Our AI Future – Sexbots, Toilet Drones, and Robocops?
- Reboot Required: Artificial Intelligence System Cannot Be Named As An Inventor Under U.S. Patent Law, USPTO Says
- USPTO Refuses to Recognize AI Inventorship, but Policy Questions Still Linger
- Using AI to invent therapeutics: should artificial intelligence be recognised for inventive activity?
- OK Computer: the creation and integration of AI in Europe (Bernardo Buarquea, Ronald Davies, Ryan Hynes, Dieter Koglera)
- Artificial Intelligence | How much attention should you pay to legal risks and data governance?
- Blog: Open-world enemy AI in Mafia III
COMMUNICATIONS
- Canadian Wireless Carriers Making A Killing During COVID-19, Won’t Remove Caps ‘For Safety’
- Beware Of Op/Eds Falsely Claiming The US Internet Only Works During A Pandemic Because Lobbyists Neutered The FCC
- Cell-tower attacks by idiots who claim 5G spreads COVID-19 reportedly hit US
- Idiots Begin Attacking US 5G Cell Towers Because, Idiots
- FCC Forced To Fine Sinclair $48 Million For Bullshitting Regulators
- Ajit Pai doubts Elon Musk’s SpaceX broadband-latency claims
- Bill Would Ban Broadband Shutoffs Until COVID-19 Pandemic Eases
- US and Chinese cloud companies vie for dominance in south-east Asia: Google, Amazon and Microsoft challenge Alibaba and Huawei in fastest-growing cloud market
- K-League 1 strikes record broadcasting rights deals following league restart
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- A welcome and timely boost for trade secret protection in Canada
- Fashion House Sued for Lively Snaps
- The makeup of protection of a makeup store layout: a missed chance to apply the Cofemel decision?
- Quaran-streaming: Music licensing and your online business
- Copyright Making Sure That MTV Remains An Irrelevant Relic, Rather Than A Cultural Icon
- What’s the Deal with Comedians?: Too Late for Copyright Claim against Seinfeld
- Victory for Michael Jordan After 8-Year Chinese Trademark Battle
- Google v Oracle: The Copyright Case of the Decade
- IP update: recent development in EU copyright law: stim & sami v fleetmanager Sweden ab & nordisk biluthyrning ab (c-753/18)
- Copyright As Censorship: WSJ Identifies Hundreds Of Bogus News Takedowns; People Blame Google Rather Than Copyright
- Libraries Have Never Needed Permission To Lend Books, And The Move To Change That Is A Big Problem
- Canadian Federal Court of Appeal applies new standard of review in appeal of registrar
- New Nice Classification requirements – do classes matter in Canada?
- Sussex Royal – if at first you don’t succeed…
- What businesses need to consider before a brand (re)launch: lessons from SUSSEX ROYAL
- Federal Circuit Holds Packaging Color Combinations Can Be Inherently Distinctive
- The Parameters of Generic Marks: Booking.com before the Supreme Court
- Don’t SULKA: Trademark Plaintiff Must Demonstrate Intent, Ability to Use Mark
- No Luck Needed for Lucky Brand at the Supreme Court
- Supreme Court Rules Lucky Brand’s Defense Not Barred Under Defense Preclusion
- Get Lucky: U.S. Supreme Court Sides With Lucky Brand in Overturning “Defense Preclusion” Ruling
- The Supreme Court Declines to Revamp Preclusion Law in Lucky v. Marcel Trademark Dispute
- A Lucky Day for Lucky Brand: U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Second Circuit’s Defense Preclusion Test
- Defense in Trademark Action Not Precluded by Failure to Raise Same Defense in Earlier Action
- Romag Fasteners: SCOTUS Holds That Plaintiffs in Trademark Suits Need Not Show “Willful Intent” of Infringement to Recover Damages for Lost Profits
- IP Insight: DC Comics Prevail in Trade Mark Opposition against Magic Box
- HT Media and Hindustan Media Venture c. Brainlink International on hindustan.com: the chess game is underway
- Gömböc: CJEU provides clarity on the protectability of 3D trade marks
- How to bring an intermediary to justice in a domain name dispute
- WIPO data reveals rise in international trademark applications originating from Africa
- Focusing on Functionality, Software Claims Found Patent Eligible
- The “Plotting” Thickens: Claims that Solve Known Problem with Known Methods Are Obvious
- First decision under amended PMNOC Regulations: Federal Court finds Amgen’s filgrastim patent obvious
- G 3/19 – Tomatoes and Broccoli Now Overturned
- EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal Decision G 3/19 and the patentability of plant and animal products in Europe
- European Patent Office denies patentability of plants and animals obtained by essentially biological processes (G 3/19 “Pepper”)
- “Delivery Failed”: Shopping Notification Patent Lost Under § 101
- Managing Your VR/AR IP Portfolio During Covid-19
- Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Patent Prosecution Update: 2020 Q1 Prosecution Statistics
- Thinking ahead: The impact of insolvency on IP rights
PRIVACY
- Cookies: A Bite in Cybernauts’ Privacy? A Canadian-European Overview
- It’s Impossible To Opt Out Of Android’s Ad Tracking; Max Schrems Aims To Change That
- Court Sends Google Assistant Privacy Lawsuit Back for a Redo
- A Spectacularly Bad Washington Post Story on Apple and Google’s Exposure Notification Project
- Now The Washington Post Misleadingly Complains About Google & Apple Protecting Your Privacy Too Much
- As Some Are Requiring People To Give Up Their Info To Dine, Stories Of Creeps Abusing That Info Come Out
- COVID-19 contact tracing hits Apple devices with iOS and iPadOS 13.5
- Privacy commissioners urge respect for privacy rights in using contact-tracing apps
- Everyone Agrees That Contact Tracing Apps Are Key To Bringing COVID-19 Under Control; Iceland Has Tried Them, And Isn’t So Sure
- The Case For Contact Tracing Apps Built On Apple And Google’s Exposure Notification System
- CSIS says proposed federal privacy reforms could hinder spy operations: Spy agency laid out argument in a 14-page submission to the Justice Department
- FBI Holds Press Conference To Claim Apple Prevented It From [Checks Notes] Verifying Attribution In The Pensacola Air Base Shooting
- iPhone crypto hid al-Qaida link to naval base shooting, AG fumes
- Uh Oh: FBI Serves Search Warrant On Senator Richard Burr, Seizes His Phone
- Senate passes spying bill without search and browsing history protections [Updated]
- Senate Passes Surveillance Reauthorization Bill 80-16 — One Stripped Of Almost All Of Its Reforms
- Can a company charge a fee for responding to a right to be forgotten request?
- Connected Vehicles and GDPR – A Status Update after the Public Consultation
- India was already a surveillance state. Its Covid-19 app goes even further
- Fever-Detecting Drones Don’t Work
- London’s Facial Recognition Rollout Trips Over The Pandemic As Facemasks Render The System Even More Useless
CREATIVITY
- Top Things To Know Before Running a Contest in Canada
- Judge Tells Devin Nunes’ Dad (And Lawyer Stephen Biss) To Put Up Or Shut Up In Defamation Lawsuit Over Esquire Article
- European Film Bonds A/S & other v Lotus Holdings LLC & others [2020]: High Court judgment in favour of film completion guarantors who have successfully avoided a potential liability of over €18 million.
- Seventh Circuit Rejects Court Intervention In Light Beer Ad Wars: Is A New Trend Brewing In False Advertising Law?
Jon