Down is up

Good Morning. Donating blood can save lives, and those who do make the decision to donate are often rewarded with a pretzel stick or cookie for their efforts… but what about a custom gaming PC?

As part of their current Diablo 4 promotion, Blizzard is giving away a liquid-cooled PC “infused with real human blood” if their community donates 666 quarts of blood. The promo doesn’t mention how the blood is incorporated into the PC…

— Derek Neville, Jason Liu

MAIN QUEST: Xbox Revenues Surge Despite Waning Hardware Sales

In the first quarter of its 2024 fiscal year, Microsoft reported a record-breaking revenue of $3.9bn USD for Xbox gaming, a 9% year-on-year increase, despite seeing a 7% decrease in hardware sales. This surge in revenue was largely due to strong performances from first-party titles and the Game Pass, particularly highlighted by the successful launch of Bethesda's Starfield, which saw over 10 million players in its initial weeks and set a record for the most Game Pass subscriptions added in a single day.

Although Microsoft's recent $69B acquisition of Activision Blizzard wasn't included in the Q1 2024 earnings report, Microsoft expects an immediate impact of 35% lift to gaming revenue in the following quarter.

Step back: console hardware sales tend to be cyclical with the release of new generations. While both Xbox and Sony have had setbacks due to supply chain issues in the past few years, most users who want one have had their chance. We’ll have to see if there’s any truth to the FTC document leaks suggesting a mid-gen refresh for the Xbox.

Either way, Microsoft seems to be in the stronger competitive position vs. Sony as it has it has a more balanced exposure to both console and PC markets, particularly with Game Pass available for both. Sony really needs to start making some big moves.

HUD

• 🔍 Xbox is hosting a showcase today to show off third-party games coming to the Xbox, Windows, and Game Pass. The event starts at 1 p.m. ET and is being live-streamed on both YouTube and Twitch. While there isn’t an official list of games being presented, the showcase won’t include any updates on the recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

• 🤝 Western Digital and Kioxia are reportedly in talks for a merger, aiming to overtake Samsung as the world’s main SSD manufacturer. Samsung currently holds 31.1% of the market, while WD and Kioxia hold a 34.3% share of the market. The reported deal would land Western Digital shareholders 50.1% ownership of the new company.

• 🙅 ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, said in a statement that the reports it plans to gradually shut down its VR business Pico are untrue and that will continue to invest in virtual reality. Pico holds 58% of the VR headset market in China, with Meta’s Quest headsets not officially available in the country.

MAJOR W

• ☢️ Amazon Studios Fallout TV series will premiere on April 12th, 2024. The adaptation, which was first announced back in 2020, will star Walton Goggins (Justified) and Ella Purnell (Arcane). The show will be produced by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy (Westworld), as well as Todd Howard of Bethesda.

• 🐮 Diablo 4 players believe they are coming closer to unraveling the Secret Cow level, despite Blizzard’s claim that it doesn’t exist. One player found that killing 666 cows dropped an item for a quest that was removed from the game files by Blizzard back in July.

• 🚓 The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation announced a “major blow” to Ragnar Locker, the ransomware group behind a 2020 attack on Capcom that affected 400,000 user’s data. A key target was arrested in Paris and infrastructure was seized in multiple countries throughout Europe.

F IN THE CHAT

• 👃 Konami and Numskull are collaborating on a Metal Gear Solid cologne called Shadow Moses, based on the game’s Shadow Moses Island. Luckily, only 1,000 units of the fragrance boasting notes of “handpicked mushrooms and forest soil” will be available.

• 🚫 Players are reportedly being banned from Counter-Strike 2 for moving their mouse too quickly after increasing their mouse DPI. This comes a few days after Valve unbanned players who were auto-banned for using AMD’s anti-lag software.

• 🎸 Ubisoft has removed Rocksmith 2014 from all digital storefronts. This move comes just three days before the 10-year anniversary of the game aimed at teaching users to play guitar.

CAREER CORNER

• Payments Operations Manager — Epic Games (Cary, NC)

• Associate Level Designer, Skate — EA (US Remote/Hybrid)

• Player Support Lead — Netflix (Los Gatos, CA)

HIVE MIND

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