Category: News

EA Stock Capsizes After Early Year Recovery


Electronic Arts closed on February 6, 2019 at the price of $80.21 USD following news that the publisher’s third quarter fiscal results did not perform to its expectations. The continued price drop threatens to wipe out the progress that EA had made in the first month of the year to begin recovery after its stock dropped to a low of $74.72 on December 24, 2018 following ten years of sustained growth that saw its stock peak at nearly $150 in July 2017 before steadily shedding much of that value over the following six months.

Since last December the stock price has been slowly inching its way back up, breaking $90 by January 10 and holding steadily for the past month. With the announcement that EA would miss its estimated revenue by approximately $140 million, at $1.61 billion for the quarter versus $1.75 billion, shares immediately dropped from $92.52 on February 5 to $79.26 on February 6.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson stated acknowledged that EA did not perform as he hoped, owing partially to the underperformance of Battlefield V.

“Q3 was a difficult quarter for Electronic Arts and we did not perform to our expectations. We are now applying the strengths of our company to sharpen our execution and focus on delivering great new games and long-term live services for our players. We’re very excited about Apex Legends, the upcoming launch of Anthem, and a deep line-up of new experiences that we’ll bring to our global communities next fiscal year.”

 

[Video] Mad World MMO Releases Latest Trailer


Developer Jandisoft has unveiled brand new footage of their upcoming title; Mad World. The trailer highlights a number of core features from PvE/PvP battles, resource gathering, skill progression, boss raiding, and more. Mad World is a 2D isometric MMORPG set in a post apocalyptic world with humans struggling to survive against the threat of extinction.

Built on HTML 5, Mad World will be playable on the majority of browsers which will allow for cross-play between PC, mobile, and compatible devices. The mobile nature of the MMO also aims to support easier accessibility among gamers of all stripes.

Mad World is expected to hit digital store shelves in 2019.

Source: Mad World

Hi-Rez Community Specialist Among 21 Arrested In Child Sex Sting


The Super Bowl brought may have disappointed the internet with its lack of Spongebob memes, but officers with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation have reason to celebrate as they announced more than twenty arrests in an undercover sting ending on Sunday. The investigation, dubbed Operation Interception, identified a number of suspects attempting to solicit a minor for sexual purposes. Among them; Hi-Rez Community Specialist Thomas Cheung.

Any chances of a misidentification have been dashed, as the GBI website identified the figure as “Thomas Cheung, A/M, Alpharetta, GA, 32, gaming studio employee.”

“During the operation, Brookhaven PD utilized license plate reader (LPR) technology to more quickly locate previously identified predators as they entered the city limits. Through a partnership with Georgia Power and Vigilant Solutions technologies, Brookhaven PD has nearly 50 LPR cameras located throughout the city. “Using this technology, our officers were alerted the moment an already identified target entered the city, assisting with their ultimate apprehension,” said Brookhaven Police Chief Gary Yandura.”

VPesports dug a bit deeper and found that Cheung is facing charges ranging from misdemeanor to felony depending on the age of the intended victim.

Master of Eternity Drops Temple Boss Update


Nexon this week dropped the latest update for Master of Eternity (MOE) introducing a new boss raid, new suit, and temple guardian. Fans of grid-based and combat and pixie commanders can take part in a host of new events, including:

  • Unique New Chapter & Temple – The highly-anticipated Chapter 13 Part Two delivers an all-new story for players to face, packed with a never-before-seen Temple Guardian;
  • New Boss Raid and Mobility Production Center – Players can now participate in Boss Raids and earn rewards to build exclusive Mecha suits;
  • Powerful Rare Suits – Enlist in galactic battle with 17 new Mecha suits for the Assault, Support, Bombardier and Sniper classes, including the coveted Kali’s Child Suit;
  • Special In-game Events – Veteran and new players can participate in several events until Wednesday, Feb. 6 to earn rewards, including:
    • Chapter 7 Part Clear: 300,000 Credits and S3 Crux x5
    • Chapter 9 Part Clear: 500,000 Credits and S3 Crux x10
    • Chapter 10 Part Clear: 700,000 Credits and S3 Guaranteed Ticket x5

Master of Eternity is available on iOS and Android.

[NM] Tower of Time Releases Massive Content Drop


cRPG Tower of Time has released a major content drop this past week with the introduction of two new game modes adding 60+ hours to the currently available experience. Developed by the small 10-man team over at Event Horizon, Tower of Time introduces a new mode RPGlite, that immediately opens all seven playable characters and challenges players to see how far they can get before all champions perish to the growing mob of monsters. The second mode, Permadeath, is exactly what it sounds like. Players earn points from each battle that can be compared on the game’s leaderboards, but once a champion dies they are gone forever.

You’ll need to finish Tower of Time in order to try these modes out. MMO Fallout checked out Tower of Time in early access and found it to be an enjoyable RPG.

Source: Tower of Time

Black Desert Final Open Beta Date Revealed


Pearl Abyss has announced the final beta for Black Desert, the open-world fantasy action MMORPG coming to Xbox One. The final open beta will run from February 14 to February 17, offering the last chance for players to take in the environments, quests, and action combat before the game launches on March 4. On Xbox.

Those who hit level 30 during the beta will be rewarded with a Calpheon chubby dog for launch. Everyone else can pass the time by watching the trailer below.

IPE (Minor) Update: Trion Worlds Lawsuit As Of January 30, 2019


I’ve been holding off on the Trion Worlds lawsuit coverage for the simple fact that not a whole lot has been happening over the past couple of months, at least nothing of major significance. Right now the case is getting to the end of discovery, this is the portion of the lawsuit where the parties finish up requesting and handing over documents that will be used in the coming trial. To spare you the reader from boredom, I have kindly summarized the last few case management conferences into one sentence: “Information was requested, other information may be requested, we will let you know at the next conference, and class action status is still pending.”

You’re welcome. Now on with the meat of the latest filings:

The Asset Transfer, Or, A New Defendant

If you’ve been keeping up with the ongoing story of Trion Worlds, you’ll know that the company is virtually nonexistent at this point. Last October, Trion transferred its assets and property to Trion Worlds LLC, which subsequently sold said assets to Gamigo. Trion Worlds LLC was issued a subpoena to produce information regarding the transaction and has since turned over an Asset Purchase Agreement and related documents.

The documents have shined light on another entity that may currently possess Trion assets: Golden Gate Games Inc. The plaintiffs not only intend to serve Golden Gate Games with documents and deposition subpoenas, but also have noted their intent to investigate whether individual officers/owners of Trion may be liable to plaintiffs and the proposed class action lawsuit as part of the asset transfer. The document also notes that plaintiffs have been unable to serve Gamigo with subpoenas.

As far as Trion Worlds is concerned, all non-privileged responsive documents have been produced. Trion has not sought any discovery information from the Plaintiffs according to court filings.

What Are We Waiting For?

For the moment, we are waiting to see whether the plaintiffs in the case will be adding an additional party or parties to the defense which will be known within the next two months. The next case management conference is not set until March 15, during which the parties will discuss the ongoing motion to certify the lawsuit for class action status. A request to compel documents pertaining to ArcheAge’s financial information has been deferred for the time being as unnecessary for class certification, however there is the possibility that we will be made privy to the details of Trion’s asset sale to Gamigo at some point in this lawsuit.

Again, there hasn’t been much development over the past two months, and there won’t be for another couple of months to come.

As always, the documents related to the case have been made available on the MMO Fallout Google Drive folder for your use.

Deep Silver Latest To Snub Valve For the Epic Store


Another day, another publisher picked up by the lure of more money. Deep Silver is the latest publisher to become ensnared in the growing Epic Games Store, with Steam players being notified that Metro Exodus, which has been up for pre-order on Steam, will no longer be on sale as of today. Metro does not release until February 15, and Deep Silver has assured Valve that those who pre-ordered will still be able to access the game and future updates.

Notice: Later today, sales of Metro Exodus will be discontinued on Steam due to a publisher decision to make the game exclusive to another PC store.

The developer and publisher have assured us that all prior sales of the game on Steam will be fulfilled on Steam, and Steam owners will be able to access the game and any future updates or DLC through Steam.

We think the decision to remove the game is unfair to Steam customers, especially after a long pre-sale period. We apologize to Steam customers that were expecting it to be available for sale through the February 15th release date, but we were only recently informed of the decision and given limited time to let everyone know.

The initial reaction by the Metro community has not been positive, with the announcement being very quickly deleted following a wave of negative feedback. Negative reactions have already begun flooding the Steam forums with players assuring developer 4A Games and publisher Deep Silver that the store shift has convinced them to not purchase the game period. We will most likely know in a few months time whether the exclusivity deal was as lucrative as 4A Games hopes.

Source: Steam

Shanghai Fukong International Plans To Sell Its Stake In Jagex


Reuters is reporting that Shanghai Fukong International plans to sell its partial or full stock in RuneScape developer Jagex at some time presumably in the near future. Shanghai Fukong International was formed in 2016 and is a venture capital firm that bought all investments from Jagex’s previous investors for a 100% stake in the developer to the tune of $300 million USD.

Previous Jagex investors include Insight Venture Partners, The Raine Group, and Spectrum Equity Investors (source).

App Annie Reports Top Mobile Spending For 2018


App Annie, a company that provides analytical data for mobile apps, released a list this week of the top companies of 2018 by worldwide consumer spending. The top members of the list might not be all that surprising, with game companies including Tencent, Activision Blizzard, and Netmarble topping the charts.

  1. Tencent
  2. NetEase
  3. Activision Blizzard
  4. Bandai Namco
  5. Netmarble
  6. Sony
  7. Supercell
  8. Mixi
  9. Playrix
  10. Giant Network

App Annie did not include specific data on how much each company brought in in revenue, but considering the market surpassed $92 billion last year, it’s bound to be a truckload.