video gaming
Niantic reveals its vision for a ‘real-world metaverse,’ releases Lightship AR Developer Kit
AR technology company Niantic, best known for Pokémon GO, announced today that it will launch Lightship, an AR Developer Kit (ARDK) that will make building augmented reality experiences more accessible.…
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, Niantic’s follow-up to Pokémon GO, is shutting down
Niantic’s augmented reality game about the boy who lived is about to die. The company that brought us Pokémon GO debuted Harry Potter: Wizards Unite two years ago, following a…
Roblox is back online after three days of Halloween outage
Roblox, the gaming platform that is immensely popular amongst young players, said on Twitter Sunday evening that it is back online worldwide. Roblox is back online everywhere! Thank you for…
Pikmin Bloom, an AR mobile game, is Niantic’s next collaboration with Nintendo
Niantic announced yesterday that its next augmented reality mobile game will be Pikmin Bloom, a collaboration with Nintendo. The free game was first released for iOS and Android in Singapore…
Unity launches Unity Gaming Services to simplify development of cross-platform, multiplayer games
Unity, the platform that enables creators to develop 2D and 3D content for mobile phones, tablets, PCs, consoles and augmented and virtual reality devices, launched a beta version of Unity…
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Core might be the Vegas of the metaverse
A self-described “endless arcade,” Core feels like a 90s cyberpunk fever dream come to life. Half playable game library, half no-code game creator, all neon lights, the new platform is a surprisingly well-realized vision of this metaverse thing everyone sure seems to be talking about lately. Billing itself as your “portal to the multiverse,” Core…
Roblox pushes toward avatar realism, plans to add NFT-like limited-edition items
At its annual developer conference Thursday, Roblox painted a picture of what’s next for the fast-growing online multiplayer portal that’s like catnip for kids and teens. In his keynote, Roblox…
Stephanie Zhan walks through the Rec Room pitch deck that won Sequoia’s investment
Sequoia partner Stephanie Zhan and Nick Fajt, founder and CEO of social gaming platform Rec Room, explained what the venture capital firm looks for in consumer-facing startups.
Sora is the final ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’ fighter
At the Nintendo Direct livestream a few weeks back, fans speculated that they might learn who the last remaining character in the extensive “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” lineup would be.…
Russian authorities arrest cybersecurity giant Group-IB’s CEO on treason charges
Russian authorities have arrested and detained Ilya Sachkov, the co-founder and chief executive of Group-IB — one of the biggest cybersecurity companies in the country — on charges of treason.…
London’s Dice raises $122M at a $400M valuation for its intelligent event discovery and booking platform
COVID-19 really put the kibosh on live events in the last 18 months, but in the world of tech, it also meant that live event startups that found a way…
Activision Blizzard confirms SEC investigation, loses chief legal officer
The consequences are mounting for gaming giant Activision Blizzard after the company became the subject of a landmark state investigation into discriminatory workplace practices and sexual harassment this summer. Now,…
Epic Games to shut down Houseparty in October, including the video chat ‘Fortnite Mode’ feature
Houseparty, the social video chat app acquired by Fortnite maker Epic Games for a reported $35 million back in 2019, is shutting down. The company says Houseparty will be discontinued…
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Voice chat is coming to Roblox
As one of the frontrunners in the race to build the metaverse, Roblox is thinking ahead to what virtual worlds really need. And while the platform has had no shortage of growth on its current path — as of July, it boasted 47 million daily active users — it’s looking to chart a course toward…
Infinite Canvas raises $2.8M for a metaverse creator group modeled after esports teams
With the promise of an interconnected virtual world coming into focus and user-crafted gaming content exploding, Infinite Canvas is looking to apply lessons learned from the esports boom to the…
Fortnite adds a new mode that’s basically Among Us
Fortnite now boasts its own version of one of the pandemic’s hottest games. Fortnite-maker Epic just introduced into the game a new limited-time mode called Impostors; it follows the hit…
Roblox is using M&A to bulk up its social infrastructure, announcing Monday morning that they had acquired the team at Guilded that has been building a chat platform for competitive…
Fortnite’s mystery ‘superstar’ virtual music tour kicks off next week
Epic Games is teasing the biggest in-game event since Travis Scott psychedelically stomped through Fortnite’s virtual meadows. The mysterious new event, which Fortnite-maker Epic is calling the “Rift Tour,” will…
Activision Blizzard workers will stage a walkout after ‘abhorrent’ response to harassment suit
One of the world’s biggest video game companies is reeling after a state discrimination and sexual harassment suit kicked off a firestorm of controversy within the company. California’s Department of…
Electronic Arts buys mobile game studio Playdemic for $1.4 billion
Video game giant Electronic Arts is continuing to make M&A moves as it looks to bulk up its presence in the mobile gaming world. Fresh off the $2.4 billion acquisition…
Facebook has been making plenty of one-off virtual reality studio acquisitions lately, but today the company announced that they’re buying something with wider ambitions — a Roblox-like game creation platform.…
Twitch introduces Animated Emotes for their 10th anniversary
Twitch announced today that it will release major updates to its Emotes this month to celebrate its 10th anniversary. These new features will include Animated Emotes, Follower Emotes and a…
Gucci brings digital items and experiences to Roblox in new partnership
As gaming platforms capitalize on pandemic-fueled traffic to their digital worlds, brands that drive culture in the physical world are fighting to ensure they don’t miss any new opportunities. A…
The gaming industry needs more than just coders
If you never considered a career in the gaming industry — or thought that your skill set wouldn’t translate — know that this expanding job market needs employees from all types…
TiMi Studios, one of the world’s most lucrative game makers and part of Tencent’s gargantuan digital entertainment empire, said Thursday that it has struck a strategic partnership with Xbox. The…
Snowman, the studio behind Alto’s Adventure and others, launches a kids app company, Pok Pok
Snowman, the small studio behind award-winning iOS games Alto’s Adventure, Alto’s Odyssey, Skate City and others, is spinning out a new company, Pok Pok, that will focus on educational children’s…
Turkey’s Ace Games raises $7M to develop casual and ‘hyper casual’ games
Ace Games, a Turkish mobile gaming company founded by a former Peak Games co-founder, has raised a $7 million seed funding round led by Actera Group. Co-investment has come from…
Supercell likes Metacore’s games so much it just gave it another $180M credit line
Metacore, a Finnish mobile games company, seems to have an amazing “relationship” with Supercell, another (quite successful) Finnish mobile games company. Back in September 2020, Metacore raised $17.7 million in…
Manticore Games raises $100 million to build a ‘creator multiverse’
The gaming sector has never been hotter or had higher expectations from investors who are dumping billions into upstarts that can adjust to shifting tides faster that the existing giants…
Rec Room raises at $1.25B valuation from Sequoia and Index as VCs push to find another Roblox
Investor FOMO following Roblox’s blockbuster public debut is pushing venture capitalists who missed out on that gaming giant to invest in competing platforms. Today, Rec Room announced it has raised…
