Elon's master plan

Good Morning. It’s pretty cool to see your predictions become a reality. iRacing just bought the rights to the official NASCAR license from 704Games, a subsidiary of the faltering Motorsport Games (called it!). Now, let’s hope that MG releases the rights to WEC and IndyCar as well.

We’ll be out on Monday for the holiday. You’ll hear from us next on Wednesday morning.

— Tim Rhyne, Jason Liu, Derek Neville

MAIN QUEST: X Joins the Streaming Battle

Earlier this week, Elon Musk ran a test of live streaming on X through a burner account featuring Diablo IV. While Musk declared it a “success”, onlookers will likely conclude that it will be a while before X becomes a serious contender against the likes of Twitch, YouTube, and Kick.

The live streaming feature will be available to Premium X subscribers and the feature can be used through OBS.

This seems to be just one step in making X into a “super app” as X will also be launching e-commerce functionality and will be partnering with Paris Hilton in a live streamed shopping stunt.

Step back: When Musk purchased X, many speculated that he was just looking for the largest social user base that was for sale. With this captive audience, he is trying to replicate the success of WeChat by launching a plethora of new capabilities.

HUD

• 🎥 CD Projekt Red announced that Cyberpunk will be getting a live-action production. The studio is partnering with production company Anonymous Content on the project. It has not been announced if the project will be a series or film.

• 👋 CD Projekt Red CEO Adam Kiciński will be leaving his current role at the end of the year, and ultimately transitioning into a supervisory role in 2025. Kiciński has been with the studio for 30 years.

• 💸 Epic Games is increasing its pricing for non-gaming developers using Unreal Engine, such as those in the film industry. While the exact pricing increases have not been announced, Epic will be implementing a per-seat model, similar to Photoshop. Epic is leading with transparency to avoid Unity-esque drama.

• ⚖️ Seven former Bioware employees are suing for ‘adequate severance’ following August’s layoffs. Meanwhile, a former Bungie HR manager is suing for wrongful termination after raising potential racial discrimination issues against someone who is “highly regarded.”

MAJOR W

• 🦝 Nintendo and Lego have partnered for an official Animal Crossing collaboration. Leaks suggest there will be 5 different kits available.

• 🩸 Diablo 4 is coming to Steam and delivers desired quality-of-life changes alongside its vampiric powers for Season of Blood.

• 🌊 Dredge announced they are releasing their first DLC next month for $6. The news comes a week after delaying a different planned expansion to 2024.

F IN THE CHAT

• 🤡 WWE superstar Randy Orton supposedly paid someone $1000 to level up his Elden Ring character.

• 🚓 Five former Ubisoft executives have been arrested in Paris following a year-long investigation into sexual harassment claims filed against the company.

• 👎 Nintendo is ending all online support for 3DS and Wii U in April 2024. The only exception is Pokémon Bank.

• 🕵️‍♀️ Sony confirms leak of 6,791 former and current employees’ personal information following the May 31st cyber attack.

CAREER CORNER

• Senior Insider Threat Engineer - EA (US/Canada)

• Senior QA Programmer - Epic Games (Vancouver, BC)

• Events Coordinator - Take-Two Interactive (New York City, NY)

HIVE MIND

WEEKLY CHECKPOINT

Have you been keeping up with this week’s headlines? Welcome to the weekly checkpoint, where we test your knowledge of the biggest gaming stories from the past week. Do you have what it takes to ace this quiz?

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