Gaming's $188B rebound

Good Morning. A few major earnings calls dropped lately, so we asked ChaptGPT to write us a joke:

Why did the gaming company’s accountant bring a controller to the earnings call? Because it’s the season to “level up” the numbers!

Did AI just tell us to cook the numbers?! 👩‍🍳📈

— Jason Liu, Derek Neville, Tim Rhyne

HEADLINES

Gaming market bounces back. Newzoo’s latest report paints a rosy picture for gaming’s future. Key insights:

• Global games market is now a $188B industry (+2.6% YoY)

• 3.4B players — about 40% of the world population!

• 1.5B players are payers — implying $128 per player per year

• Growth trend to continue at 2.0% CAGR, with an expectation of $212B by 2026.

• Notable trends include: (1) growth of live-service vs. full-price premium, (2) growth of UGC and influencer-led studios, and (3) early days in generative AI.

Activision announces a first for the Call of Duty franchise. Activision announced that a large amount of content will “carry forward” from Modern Warfare 2 into Modern Warfare 3. The majority of weapons players have unlocked and leveled in MW2 and Warzone will be available to play in MW3 at release. Attachments, operators, camos, and blueprints will carry forward as well. Following the first MW3 trailer, this seems like a play to keep the user base engaged in MW2 until the MW3’s November 10th release.

Riot Games announces $456K TFT Championship. 32 of the best Teamfight Tactics players from around the world will compete in the TFT Runeterra Reforged Championship for a prize pool of over $450k — with the winner taking home a Golden Spatula and $150K. The event will take place November 3-5, 2023.

Sony getting hard carried by PlayStation. Sony released earnings yesterday and despite a 31% drop in operating profit, the conglomerate is raising revenue guidance, mainly on growth expectations from its PlayStation division.

HUD

• 💔 A recent Reddit post that’s picked up steam (41K upvotes) rallies gamers around Battle Passes being the “worst thing that has happened to gaming”.

• 🙅 Pro team penalized with loss of time out at Valorant Champions for player’s use of chewing tobacco.

• 🍔 McDonald’s and Marvel are teaming up with specially branded “Loki” Sweet ‘N Sour sauce as part of McDonald’s As Featured In meal. McDonald’s will also play a part in the upcoming second season of Loki on Disney+.

THIS DAY IN GAMING HISTORY

• 🗺 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game released for PS3 — check out this old GameInformer review (2010). Scott’s hideout is now for sale.

• 🐉 “Hold on to your butts” as Jurassic Park was released by Sega of America (1993).

PATCH NOTES

• 🍆 Baldur’s Gate 3 fixes wardrobe malfunction bug. Note from the developer: “Penises C and D no longer clip through some githyanki clothing.”

• 🏎️ NVIDIA releases driver optimization update given popularity of Baldur’s Gate 3.

• 😇 Halo Infinite’s August Update is now live, including a new multiplayer map “Dredge”.

INDIE CORNER

• Highly anticipated Sea of Stars will be available on PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for launch (Aug. 29th) at no additional cost for Extra and Premium members.

HIVE MIND

Relevant

🥇 Check out the complete Metacritic list of 2023 games. Any surprises?

MAJOR W

• 🍕 Josh Stein expresses Microsoft’s openness to continue experimenting following the release of TMNT Pizza Scented Controllers.

• 😈 Diablo 4 players craft new Butcher spawn theory related to audio cues.

• 🤝 Larian zigs while everyone else zags. Studio confirms no in-game purchases available for Baldurs Gate 3.

• 🎭 CoD MW3 devs all but confirm return of the beloved slide cancel mechanic and Verdansk may be playable, at least in the campaign.

• 🎯 Respawn targeting Apex Legends data miners in a subtle recruitment effort.

F IN THE CHAT

• 🔫 Take-Two CEO defends Red Dead Redemption ‘port’ pricing to upset fans, claiming $50 is “commercially accurate”.

• 🎴 $300,000 of Magic: The Gathering cards were stolen from Gen Con over the weekend. Luckily they were not Disney Lorcana cards.

• 😡 Gamers debate which fan base hates their “favorite” game the most.

• 📴 EA is shutting down online servers for 12 older titles. Guess their servers can’t afford to run Crysis anymore.

DEAL FINDER

• ♻️ Valve is selling refurbished Steam Decks at 25% off.

• ✏️ Save up to 60% on select PS5 games and accessories with GameStop’s back to school sale. 

• ➕ GameStop has B1G1 on dozens of games and the deal is available for everyone.

CREATOR SPOTLIGHT

MylesTheGreat — Clearing every line on the Matrix

Looking to level up your Tetris knowledge? Is there anything more electric than a last second recovery? Is your job Beach? Sand Tetris has you covered.

Fresh off a 3rd place finish at the Lone Star Championship 2023, Myles is a professional Tetris player who posts daily on TikTok, with videos featuring competitive play, stream highlights, and tips and tricks.

Check out MylesTheGreat on TikTok for daily videos and live streams.

— Derek

Was this email forwarded to you?

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