This week, we amplify news about a locked-in online event about the gaming growth and the metaverse coming up later this month and a set of events with details yet to come. We also share out news from esports, business deals being cut early in 2021, and board games. Read on for plenty of details.
Index:
- GamesBeat: Preview of Their January Metaverse Event
- Save the Date: the Future Games Shows in 2021
- Shanghai Builds $900M Esports Hub
- Warner Music Invests Over $500M in Roblox
- Epic Games Acquires RAD Tools
- How 2020 Changed the World of Board Games for 2021
GamesBeat: Preview of Their January Metaverse Event
Source:Â VentureBeat
GamesBeat previews their slate of speakers and topics for their upcoming back-to-back online events in late January, which they recently extended from January 27 to January 28, given game industry interest. The Gaming and Audience Network divisions of Facebook will be the hosting event partners. The “content and networking surrounding the hottest topics, from how IDFA will affect the industry to the imminent arrival of the metaverse,” as described on the event’s Eventbrite page, are the focuses.
“Good news: the Future Games Show will return in 2021, with shows at E3, GamesCom, and a new event pencilled in for Spring 2021. We look forward to sharing more details soon, but for now, we’d like to offer you the opportunity to feature your game in one – or more – of the three Future Games Show events scheduled in 2021.”
GamesRadar+ takes a look at their events Future hosted from 2020 as well as passing along info how to participate in the 2021 calendar of events. Times, venues (most likely online), and other details will be coming up as Future is able to share them out.
Shanghai Builds $900M Esports Hub
Source:Â Japan Today
“China has begun building a $900 million facility it hopes will be the envy of eSports and seal its push to make Shanghai the global capital of the fast-growing professional gaming industry.
The Shanghai International New Cultural and Creative E-sports Center is scheduled for completion in 2023 and will cost at least 5.8 billion yuan, Chinese authorities and media said.
Japan Today’s story goes further and explains how Shanghai (and this venue in particular) aims to be a major hub for esports competition in the world.
Warner Music Invests Over $500M in Roblox
Source:Â MBW
“Warner Music Group has invested in kids’ gaming phenomenon Roblox, as the platform’s owner, Roblox Corporation, plans to float on the stock exchange via a Spotify-style direct listing.
Warner has joined a $520m Series H investment round in Roblox Corporation at a purchase price of $45.00 per share. The round was led by Altimeter Capital and Dragoneer Investment Group, and gives Roblox a $29.5bn valuation.
Warner is understood to have invested an eight-figure sum in Roblox, which would result in WMG owning a fraction of a single percentage of the firm at said valuation.”
The MusicBusiness Worldwide story goes on to explain how in-world events, like concerts, are a big piece of what makes Roblox attractive, especially as an already popular platform.
Epic Games Acquires RAD Tools
Source:Â GeekWire
“Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite and the Unreal Engine, has acquired the game development toolset creator RAD Game Tools, headquartered in Kirkland, Wash.
RAD is one of those companies that runs under the radar, but has quietly influenced much of the modern games industry. If you’ve played any video game that was made in the last 21 years or so, there’s a good chance the game was using RAD’s Bink tool to encode its video files. Bink, a specialized codec, has been used in more than 25,000 games on 14 different platforms, dating back to the end of the 1990s. RAD launched a follow-up codec, Bink 2, in 2013.”
GeekWire’s story continues on to explain how RAD Tools might be a particularly useful addition to Epic Games’ arsenal in 2021, with the next-gen consoles freshly launched and Unreal Engine 5 set to launch later in he year,
How 2020 Changed the World of Board Games for 2021
Source:Â Polygon
“One of the reasons that tabletop games have become so popular over the last two decades is that they bring people together. The ongoing pandemic made in-person gatherings nearly impossible throughout 2020, and this time apart from our friends and neighbors will have repercussions for the board game and role-playing game industries for years to come.
But the coronavirus wasn’t the only hurdle that the industry encountered last year. Labor issues and the Black Lives Matter movement forced many to confront the racism and inequities in a hobby they love. The resulting cultural reckoning put some of the industry’s biggest names in the hot seat.
To round out the year, Polygon reached out to voices from throughout the tabletop industry to talk about their experience.”
Polygon’s feature story draws upon the experience of many leaders within tabletop games, to share perspectives about independent retailers, international market concerns and pivots, taking tabletop digital, crowdfunding, addressing labor issues, issues big brands have been facing, and more.
Do you have interesting news to share, or something coming up that would also fit into this regular feature? Let us know!
