United Kingdom regulators were effectively the last hurdle stopping Microsoft from purchasing Activision Blizzard, in the biggest merger the video game industry has ever seen. That hurdle was cleared this morning as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority relented to adjusted terms. With the nearly $70 billion purchase now officially complete, Microsoft unveiled a victory blog post, complete with an extended showcase of its now-combined intellectual property with Activision, Blizzard, and King. The CMA’s sticking points included Microsoft’s prospective dominance in the unfolding game streaming market, and Microsoft’s concessions were deep. When it initially blocked the merger early this year, regulators said that the combined publishing giant could effectively monopolize games streamed to consumers without the need for local PCs or consoles, as is already the case with Xbox Game Stream and the all-you-can-eat Game Pass subscription. Microsoft’s concessions to the UK include a block on exclusivity for cloud streaming for all existing Activision games, crucially including the massive Call of Duty shooter franchise. The block will continue for 15 years, with streaming rights sold (or surrendered, depending on your point of view) to French mega-publisher Ubisoft. Significantly, this will allow Call of Duty to be streamed to players on the PlayStation for the foreseeable future. With the UK and EU obstacles out of the way, the United States Federal... Continue reading at 'PC World'
[ PC World | 2023-10-13 14:10:14 UTC ]
Have you ever bought an app or game from a digital storefront, only for it to suddenly disappear and become inaccessible without warning? It’s both confusing and frustrating, which is why some governments are stepping in and hoping to make things clearer for consumers. Gavin Newsom,... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2024-10-11 19:19:30 UTC ]
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Steam appears to have started posting a notice in its shopping cart that purchases on its storefront are only for a license and not a game, according to a notice spotted by Engadget. It looks like an attempt by the company to get ahead of a new California law coming next year that forces... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-10-11 08:51:06 UTC ]
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Shani Gonzales of Warner Chappell says that although people are ‘having fun’ with creating AI songs, ‘what happens when someone tries to sell it?’Arriving in London in the teeth of the pandemic to take a top music industry job, Shani Gonzales had few opportunities to immerse herself in British... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-06-25 13:00:26 UTC ]
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Japanese manga comic creator Akira Toriyama, best known for his Dragon Ball series that spawned widely popular films, video games and TV shows, died on March 1 from a blood clot in his brain, his production studio said on Friday. He was 68. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2024-03-08 11:56:02 UTC ]
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Bless me, Gaben, for I have sinned. In a moment of weakness I turned off the adult content filters in my Steam search, and now my game library has been tainted by the shame of tender, undulating flesh rendered in Unreal Engine. But fear not, fellow naughty gamers: Steam will soon let you... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-12-21 15:29:02 UTC ]
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Absurd Ventures, the new creative studio from Rockstar Games co-founder and ex-creative director Dan Houser, has announced its first projects. As it happens, neither of them are video games, at least not yet. The first of these two new universes is called American Caper, which will debut as a... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-11-29 21:02:58 UTC ]
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Absurd Ventures, the new creative studio from Rockstar Games co-founder and ex-creative director Dan Houser, has announced its first projects. As it happens, neither of them are video games, at least not yet. The first of these two new universes is called American Caper,... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-11-29 21:02:58 UTC ]
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Just as video games are a visual art form, so are comics! Check out these manga and graphic novels like TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROWw. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-11-09 11:35:00 UTC ]
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From Oct. 11-14, more than 200,000 people made the pilgrimage to Manhattan's Javits Center for New York Comic Con, the annual gathering of fans across movies, television, comic books, anime and video games. The massive convention floor was filled with activations of all sizes from some of the... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2023-10-20 08:00:00 UTC ]
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The tech industry is reeling from the combination of a rough economy, the COVID-19 pandemic and some obvious business missteps. And while that led to job cuts in 2022, the headcount reductions have unfortunately ramped up in 2023. It can be tough to keep track of these... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-10-16 15:52:41 UTC ]
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United Kingdom regulators were effectively the last hurdle stopping Microsoft from purchasing Activision Blizzard, in the biggest merger the video game industry has ever seen. That hurdle was cleared this morning as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority relented to adjusted terms.... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-10-13 14:10:14 UTC ]
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Xbox Game Pass’s streaming powers are remarkable, but so far they’ve been limited to titles that have been released on Xbox consoles. Game Pass includes a ton of PC games (and plenty that are available on both), but in order to play them, you have to download the files locally and play... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-09-18 14:49:58 UTC ]
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The tech industry is reeling from the combination of a rough economy, the COVID-19 pandemic and some obvious business missteps. And while that led to job cuts in 2022, the headcount reductions have unfortunately ramped up in 2023. It can be tough to keep track of these moves, so we’ve compiled... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-06-29 15:28:56 UTC ]
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Gannett, a news publisher accused of monopolistic behavior, is suing Google for monopolistic behavior. It’s the latest in a string of lawsuits against the search giant, and it repeats many of the arguments made by the Department of Justice in its second lawsuit against Google, filed earlier this... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-06-20 16:46:02 UTC ]
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Last year, Nintendo put its eShop in "maintenance mode" in Russia, which prevented access to the eShop for customers in the country. Now, the company is making it official: Nintendo is halting all sales in Russia.Nintendo of Europe announced that as of May 31st, 2023, the company will halt all... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-06-01 20:45:48 UTC ]
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The prehistoric age has been stuck in a cultural rut since Jurassic Park. As a palaeontologist, I’m glad to see this era is overThe utterly extraordinary Prehistoric Planet has returned this week for a second season and, as a palaeontologist, I remain utterly enthralled by the whole thing. You... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-26 11:08:56 UTC ]
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Entire board resigns over actions of academic publisher whose profit margins outstrip even Google and AmazonMore than 40 leading scientists have resigned en masse from the editorial board of a top science journal in protest at what they describe as the “greed” of publishing giant Elsevier.The... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-07 07:00:16 UTC ]
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Writers B.J. Best, Andrew Ervin, and Brittney Morris join co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell live from the Unbound Book Festival in Columbia, Missouri to discuss the narrative realms of video games and the evolving space they inhabit. The group reminisces about their first... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-04 08:53:59 UTC ]
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The certified B Corporation aims to reach an audience of 50 million girls by 2025 as it continues to publish new books and expand into new media and storytelling formats. On Monday the girl-centered media brand Rebel Girls announced an $8 million Series A funding round led by publishing giant... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2023-03-06 09:30:00 UTC ]
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Staff from newspaper that rails against ‘militant trade unions’ will join sister outlets in striking on FridayThe Daily Express has repeatedly warned its readers that “militant trade unions” are bringing Britain to its knees – but this week many of the newspaper’s own staff will go on strike in... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-08-21 16:41:06 UTC ]
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