Squid gamers

Good Morning. The Microsoft-Activision deal is literally changing the landscape of gaming. Want to see where your favorite studios land when it comes to their affiliations?

Check out this infographic to see if you’re particular to a Microsoft or a Sony shop.

— Jason Liu, Derek Neville, Tim Rhyne

MAIN QUEST: Netflix Flexes IP with US Gaming Entry

We previously reported that Netflix was entering gaming with controlled tests in smaller markets. As of Monday, Netflix conducted a partial release of a few gaming titles in the US.

To use a cliché term, there are a lot of synergies with this strategy, where Netflix can extract additional value from the strength of their TV and Movie content through gaming adaptations. What kind of advantages could Netflix deploy? Well, for starters:

• Leveraging their recommendation engine to serve high converting titles

• Examining user viewing behavior to construct curated gaming experiences

• Significantly de-risking new AAA development with proven, non-gaming IP

Adaptations for Squid Game, Black Mirror, Extraction, and Wednesday are being planned as well as discussions with Take-Two on licensing GTA-related content.

Step back: Microsoft purchased Activision for $69B, primarily driven by the value of the latter’s IP. Sony also rents IP from studios to maintain user interest — the new Spider Man 2 is a prime example of IP licensing. Will Netflix be able to convert their content creation machine into a sustained competitive advantage in gaming?

HUD

• 🎧 Rapper Post Malone is coming to Apex Legends for two weeks of Mayhem starting November 7th, according to a video posted to his X account. The post did not go into more detail about what the collaboration would entail.

• 🔪 Call of Duty's annual Halloween event kicked off yesterday, with this year’s Haunting featuring an Activision Blizzard crossover in the form of The Butcher from the Diablo franchise. Players who link their Battle.net account to their Activision account and slay The Butcher in Warzone will unlock the Butcher’s Meat Hook in Diablo 4.

• 🥣 Wheaties Boxes will feature Peter Parker and Miles Morales as part of a promotion for Spider-Man 2. The collaboration marks the first time a video game character has appeared on the box of the iconic cereal.

MAJOR W

• 🕸️ With Spider-Man 2 upcoming launch getting most of the superhero hype this week, Sony and Netflix have set a premiere date of October 31st for the release of the hit Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse on the streaming platform.

• 🚀 Dead Space is coming to Xbox Game Pass on October 26th. The 2023 remake of the 2008 horror game has been a critical success, currently holding a score of 89 on Metacritic.

• 🎤 Riot Games is set to release another music group next week. This time it is a single from the boy band Heartsteel. Their 3 other music groups collectively have over 3.9 million monthly active listeners just on Spotify alone.

• 🔥 Pokémon Go releases Party Play to reward socializing between players in the same location with Party Power raid bonuses and Party Challenges. No remote options here.

F IN THE CHAT

• 🦂 In a recent interview with Edge Magazine, Halo: Combat Evolved lead programmer Chris Butcher revealed that the iconic Scorpion Tank was almost removed from the game just 4 weeks prior to launch.

• 👿 Diablo IV Season of Blood experienced multiple launch issues from premium battle passes being given out for free to having to disable cross-platform play.

• 🧛 Despite a major update that included 60 FPS for consoles as well as numerous bug fixes, Redfall continues to have low player counts, with a low of 36 players and a 24-hour peak of 42 players on Steam.

THIS DAY IN GAMING HISTORY

Nintendo tested the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System in New York City back in 1985. 50,000 units sold by Christmas at a price of $125, which included the Zapper light gun. Perhaps more astonishing, 17 games were available at launch, which was the same as PlayStation’s original American release 10 years later.

CAREER CORNER

• Business Support Coordinator — Sony (Paramus, NJ)

• Accessibility Researcher — PlayStation Global (London, UK)

• Manager, Influencer Marketing — Nintendo of America (Redmond, WA)

HIVE MIND

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