China's War on DAU

Good Evening. We hope all our readers have a restful break for the holidays! We’ll be back on Jan. 3rd.

—Derek Neville, Jason Liu, Tim Rhyne

MAIN QUEST: More Mega Consolidation in Entertainment

Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount are reportedly engaged in merger discussions, a move that could significantly expand one of Hollywood's largest entertainment conglomerates. According to Axios, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Paramount CEO Bob Bakish have met to explore a potential consolidation of their companies. This deal, if successful, would not only merge the Max and Paramount+ streaming services but also bring under one roof a multitude of major franchises, including the iconic Star Trek. This development was corroborated by IGN, and further details suggest that the meeting at Paramount's headquarters was extensive, focusing on strategies to compete with industry giants like Disney and Netflix.

This potential merger represents a significant shift in the entertainment industry, already reeling from major deals and transformations. Warner Bros. had previously merged with Discovery in a $43 billion deal in April 2022, leading to the amalgamation of Discovery Plus and HBO Max, along with other significant changes such as content cancellations and layoffs. Paramount, on its end, has faced challenges in the competitive streaming market despite holding valuable properties like Nickelodeon and broadcasting rights to Champions League soccer in the U.S.

Step back: It wasn’t so long ago that we witnessed mass consolidation in cable providers — seems like there’s nothing new under the sun as investment bankers can dust off the ol’ playbooks from 20 years ago.

HUD

• 📉 China announced new rules focused on video game spending and rewards. Games will be banned from rewarding players for daily logins, spending for the first time, and spending several times consecutively. Following the release of the draft rules, Tencent saw its shares tumble by as much as 16%, about a $43.5 billion dip in market value.

• 🏴‍☠️ Insomniac Games responded to the ransomware attack that saw over 1 million stolen files released, including spoilers for the upcoming Wolverine game. The developer’s statement confirmed Wolverine would continue as planned and that the game would likely evolve as it is still in early production.

• 🏥 The 18-year-old hacker responsible for the 2022 GTA 6 leaks, was sentenced to life in a hospital prison. Arion Kurtaj was deemed not mentally fit to stand trial and a mental health assessment determined he has “acute autism” and “intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible." Kurtaj will only be released from the hospital should doctors determine he is no longer a danger.

MAJOR W

• 📈 Embark Studios’ free-to-play FPS The Finals reached over 10 million players in its first 2 weeks. The game is currently available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.

• 🧻 South Park: Snow Day dropped a new trailer and announced its release date — March 26, 2024. A collectors edition was also announced for $219.99, which included a talking Cartman toilet paper holder.

F IN THE CHAT

• 💀 The Day Before servers are officially shutting down on January 22nd. A message from Mytona, the game’s investor, pointed towards the closure of developer Fntastic as the reason for the retirement of the game and server shutdown.

• 👎️ Indie publisher Versus Evil is shutting down after 10 years, with former employees posting on social media that parent company tinyBuild had decided to lay off the entire team. This comes a day after tinyBuild received a $2 million investment from Atari.

CAREER CORNER

• Sr. Director Brand Management, VALORANT — Riot Games (Los Angeles, US)

• Sr. Manager, PE Business Partner — EA (Multiple, US)

• Lead Game Producer — Digimancy Entertainment (Remote)

HIVE MIND

Was this email forwarded to you?

Subscribe to Loading Screen today and turn your gaming knowledge up to 11!