Level 45: Delays, Delays, Delays
This week we cover the most recent COVID-19 news in gaming, as well as a few leaks that have to do with a certain mustached plumber
đ This Weekâs Most Important News
Continued Coverage of COVID-19 Impact on the Gaming Industry
In the last few weeks weâve covered specific facets of the ongoing global pandemic, including its impact on gaming events and employment. As news continues to come daily, we want to do our best to share the most relevant content as it relates to COVID-19 and the gaming industry. Here are a few of this weekâs most notable bits worth reading:
An Expert Weighs In: One of our favorite writers, Matthew Ball, recently wrote an essay explaining his thoughts on how COVID has impacted the gaming industry. At a high level, Ball notes that self-isolation has been overwhelming positive for a variety of Pre-COVID gaming trends, some of the specifics include:
Increased hours of people playing and watching video games
An uptick in socialization through primarily digital hangouts (like Roblox or Animal Crossing)
A big boost in digital games sales vs. physical copies
A jump in subscription numbers for services like Xbox Games Pass and Apple Arcade
The continued growth of esports as an industry and spectator sport
The rising importance and success of cross-platform play
Perhaps these are obvious trends given the narrative of the industry this past year, but its recent acceleration has had profound implications. Link
Indefinite Delays: Sony announced this week that the much anticipated PS4 title, The Last of Us II, is delayed indefinitely. Insider reports say that the game is ready to ship, but Sony is worried the shelter-in-place orders across the US will result in poor retail sales. The franchise has been one of the cornerstones of the Playstation-exclusive library, so weâre not surprised to see Sony be so risk averse. Link
Some Data & Numbers Worth Noting
Round Hill Investmentâs high-level overview of COVIDâs impact on macro trends in the industry. Link
An analysis of game and console sales since COVID. Link
đĄ Industry Content
Epic Games (now with more games): Â Epic Games announced their own publishing label last week, bringing on the developers behind hit games like Limbo and Control. CEO Tim Sweeneyâs mantra of âdevelopers firstâ is at the forefront of the move: Epic is offering creators full retention of their intellectual property, paying for 100% of development costs, and splitting revenue 50/50 with the developers. The publishing arm is starting by signing on three studios, but we wouldn't be surprised to see many more follow suit as Epic continues to try and create its own library of hit titles to compete with Valve and its games marketplace. Link
The Promise of Mobile Esports: In Latin America & Asia, mobile esports are quickly rising to become the go-to medium for gaming. The numbers donât lie: PUBG mobile is the most popular game in the world by DAUs and MAUs, and the 6th most viewed game on Youtube. Arena of Valor (Fawziâs current game of choice) has seen 2.5x growth YoY. Jeff Chau is our go-to guy on Twitter for everything having to do with mobile esports and recently gave a talk explaining why mobile esports are seeing so much traction. Link
đź Fun & Games
Mario is Old, and Thatâs Good: In what might be the most exciting industry leak weâve covered, it was announced last week that Nintendo is planning to go big for Marioâs 35th anniversary this year by releasing an absolute ton of Mario games. If rumors are to be believed, we can look forward to the following announcements later this year:
A Remaster of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy...on one disk
A new mainline Paper Mario RPG Game
A Deluxe Edition of 2013âs Super Mario 3D World
More news on the Mario Theme Park inside of Universal Studios
With E3 2020 cancelled, itâs not quite clear when these announcements are going to take place. Particularly with Nintendo dropping an unannounced Nintendo Direct last week, things are clearly in flux. But if the above is to be believed, we are in for a nostalgia bomb this year.Â
The New York Times are Officially Nerds: With all the COVID-related content happening with the recent Animal Crossing title, itâs not surprising to see more major news publications dip their toes into the proverbial video game water. They recently put together a piece on what makes Animal Crossing such a good title to play during quarantine. Link
Further, they wrote about Amazon Studioâs first video game release, Crucible. More of the bigger tech companies are getting into the industry through their own IP. Link
đ Other Cool Stuff
Kickstarting Dreams: Kickstarter has been home to many incredible indie titles (most famously, Shovel Knight). As a result, we love to browse for the occasional diamond in the rough. This week, we found Sea of Stars, a promising title that has already surpassed its funding goals with more than two weeks to go. Link
Cheaters Never Prosper: Weâve covered the rise of Call of Duty: Warzone, the seriesâ most recent battle royale mode. In addition to being the fastest growing game in history, it also seems that Warzone has a problem: cheaters. Content Creators and Pros are starting to take notice â check out this clip from 100 Thievesâ Nadeshot as he watches an obvious cheater mow through unsuspecting players. Link
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