Scope out a few of the game industry news stories from the last week below, hand-picked from across the world of games. This week, check out news about Blizzard’s online community extravaganza in 2021, how to decide which next-gen console to buy, news about new Mass Effect in development, and more!
Index:
- Updates About BlizzCon 2021 Via Fireside Chat
- Next-Gen Consoles: Buy an Xbox Series X or PS5?
- BioWare: Remastered Mass Effect Trilogy and New Series Title Announced
- Video Games Business Tops $160B in Value
- K-pop Finds Growth in Esports
Updates About BlizzCon 2021 Via Fireside Chat
Source: NME
Blizzard announced their online-only BlizzConl.ine in September, and new details have been disclosed about what to expect in this February 2021 event. Take a look at the NME post to learn more or check out the video from Blizzard HQ:
“Blizzard Entertainment has announced that the online-only BlizzCon 2021 convention will be free for all viewers.
The annual event was originally scheduled for earlier this year, but was later cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The company has since announced that the convention would return in February next year as an online-only event titled BlizzConline.
It has now been confirmed that the digital event will run from February 19-20, 2021, and will be free-to-watch online for all everyone, as announced in a recent Fireside Chat video with company president, J. Allen Brack.
Next-Gen Consoles: Buy an Xbox Series X or PS5?
Source: TechRadar
The gaming media is starting to deliver their hands-on perspectives about the next-gen Xbox and PlayStation systems, which will be officially launching next week. Here’s TechRadar’s perspective on the shiny new hardware:
“We’ve finally delivered our verdicts on both Sony and Microsoft’s shiny next-gen consoles in our PS5 and Xbox Series X reviews, and both systems have left us suitably impressed. But which console should you buy?
It can be difficult to know the strengths and weaknesses of each next-gen system, and you can only glean so much from the technical specs after all. There’s a lot to discuss, then, and it’s important to know exactly what you’re getting for $499 / £449.99 / AU$749.”
BioWare: Remastered Mass Effect Trilogy and New Series Title Announced
Source: BioWare blog post
Casey Hudson, VP, Studio General Manager of BioWare announced on the developer’s official blog page news about a remastered Mass Effect trilogy, a distant future-based space opera series with a dedicated following even years after the last title was released. Read up for details about the remastered title — and news about the early stage development of a new chapter in the series.
Video Games Business Tops $160B in Value
Source: Advanced Television
There have been plenty of reports and data points throughout 2020 to demonstrate how steadily and surely the game industry is continuing to grow. Here’s one of the latest report summaries, in this case comparing 2019 to 2020, as shared on Advanced Television.
“A study from recruitment brand TechNET has highlighted changes to the global gaming sector throughout 2020.
Estimates indicate that as of 2020 the video games market is now worth over $163.1 billion (€137.2bn) worldwide, up from $152 billion in 2019, with scope to change significantly with the imminent release of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles.”
K-pop Finds Growth in Esports
Source: TalkEsport
Ready to RUN?#T1xRUNBTS with @bts_bighit pic.twitter.com/HPM6IQmqim
— T1 LoL (@T1LoL) November 2, 2020
K-pop music and musicians are finding collaboration and partnerships within the fast-growing world of esports. TalkEsport shares one of the latest collaborations:
“Korean Esports organization, T1, just announced partnership with pop band BTS, on their Twitter. Just as it was announced, Twitter the hashtag #T1xRUNBTS started trending, the organization revealed the association in a short teaser that closes with a glitch into a T1 RUN BTS.
Associations between Kpop and esports have been increasingly lately, particularly in the League of Legends scene with Riot Games’ K/DA gathering, delivering their first single POP/STARS in 2018, and delivering a whole collection this year.”
Do you have interesting news to share, or something coming up that would also fit into this regular feature? Let us know!
