The Latest from Eric Peckham
Bear and bull cases for Unity’s IPO
Key data points from its S-1 filing help explain Unity's ability to stay ahead of the curve.
Unity IPO aims to fuel growth across gaming and beyond
Unity is currently in a powerful position as the key platform for developing VR/AR content and distributing it across different operating systems and devices.
Are virtual concerts here to stay?
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the music industry to experiment seriously with virtual concerts. Historically, musicians and their managers have been careful about challenging the traditional concert mo
Starz CEO Jeffrey Hirsch on programming in a digital world
In the war between subscription video on-demand (SVOD) services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, Starz has been growing on the sidelines and fighting to be the preferred add-on for consumers on to
Newzoo forecasts 2020 global games industry will reach $159 billion
Games and esports analytics firm Newzoo released its highly cited annual report on the size and state of the video gaming industry yesterday. The firm is predicting 2020 global game industry revenue f
Where to open a game studio
With the game industry booming, more entrepreneurs are evaluating where to base their new startup or open a new office for their existing company. The U.S. government’s block on H1-B and L-1 vis
What went wrong with Quibi?
Two months after Quibi’s high-profile launch as a short-form mobile-native TV app led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, it is evident the startup is greatly underperforming relative to the hund
Confronting racial bias in video games
Protests across the U.S. over police violence and systemic racism against Black Americans have sparked gaming companies like Electronic Arts, Epic Games and Sony Interactive Entertainment/PlayStation
With stadiums closed, TV networks turn to live esports broadcasts
Two years from now, people will look back at 2020's COVID-19 lockdown as a pivot point in esports’ development.
CRV’s Saar Gur wants to invest in a new wave of games built for VR, Twitch and Zoom
Saar Gur is adept at identifying the next big consumer trends earlier than most: The San Francisco-based general partner at CRV has led investments into leading consumer internet companies like Nianti
VCs see opportunities for gaming infrastructure startups and incumbents
As the infrastructure for developing games becomes more advanced, studios have turned to buying best-in-class technology from others instead of building everything from scratch (often with inferior qu
7 VCs talk about today’s esports opportunities
Even before the COVID-19 shutdown, venture funding rounds and total deal volume of VC funding for esports were down noticeably from the year prior. The space received a lot of attention in 2017 and 20
5 top gaming investors explain how the pandemic is reshaping MMOs and social games
Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions into isolation, video games are seeing a surge in usage as people seek entertainment and social interaction. When we surveyed gaming-focused VCs in O
Recap: Roblox, SuperAwesome and Fingerprint execs discuss kids’ media
Consumption of all types of kids-focused digital media has soared with a large portion of the world’s children home from school right now. At all times of day, children are playing games, watching s
TechCrunch Live: Join execs tomorrow from Roblox, SuperAwesome, and Fingerprint to discuss kids media
With large majorities of all children (70% in the U.S. and U.K.) staying home from school during the COVID-19 crisis, use of digital media properties popular with kids has soared. Screen time among ki
Despite pandemic, gaming is well-positioned to withstand recession
Efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 have led to a global economic downturn, but the gaming industry is booming. With hundreds of millions of people sequestered in their homes, game usage has spiked
Survey shows growth in podcasts and voice assistants, little change in streaming
A new annual survey taken before the current COVID-19 crisis led to restrictions of movement in much of the U.S. suggests good news for Amazon, Facebook’s dominance unthreatened and continued gr
With kids and adults staying at home, are virtual worlds ready for primetime?
We’ve been diligently following the development of virtual worlds, also known as the “metaverse,” on TechCrunch. Hanging out within the virtual worlds of games has become more popular in
In retrospect, Disney’s CEO switch was a decisive act of crisis management
Disney surprised the media industry on February 25 when it announced that longtime CEO Bob Iger had replaced himself with executive Bob Chapek. The abruptness of the news and the choice of successor,
The companies that will shape the upcoming multiverse era of social media
Throughout this series on the rise of multiverse virtual worlds, I have outlined the collision of gaming and social media into a new multiverse era of social media within virtual worlds due to technol