News of the Week; August 7, 2019

COMMUNICATIONS

1. CRTC tells wireless companies to stop offering 3-year contracts again
2. CRTC ups the CASL liability ante for directors and officers
3. Cable Programming Blackouts Continue To Rise As Cord-Cutting Continues
4. FCC finally orders ISPs to say exactly where they offer broadband
5. ISP Frontier is failing so badly it won’t take questions from investors
6. Pai’s FCC orders cities and towns to stop regulating cable broadband
7. FCC Seeks to Close the Digital Divide with Its Proposed $20.4 Billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund
8. Virgil Quick Come See: FCC Drives Down Local Government Regulation of Cable Operators 
9. FCC Adopts Rules Banning Spoofing of Texts and Foreign Calls
10. FCC adopts rules to ban malicious spoofing of texts and international calls 
11. FCC Releases Order Removing Unbundling, Resale Requirements for Price Cap ILECs
12. FCC finally gets around to denying net neutrality complaint against Verizon
13. The FCC Finally Starts Taking America’s Broadband Maps More Seriously
14. Verizon’s New ‘Unlimited’ Data Plans Still Have Very Real, Problematic Limits
15. AT&T Scores $1 Billion Contract To Rebuild DOJ Systems
16. AT&T workers took $1 million in bribes to unlock 2 million phones, DOJ says
17. AT&T Hopes A Confusing Rebranding Will Help Its Muddled Video Plans Make Sense
18. Comcast’s “unlimited” mobile plan now costs $20 extra for HD video
19. FCC adopts rules addressing spoofed texts and international robocalls 
20. After Missing Cord Cutting Trend, Nielsen Falls Apart

DIGITAL

1. European Court Of Justice Rules On Three Big Copyright Cases
2. Have You Heard? If You Spread ‘Hurtful’ Rumors In China, You’ll Be Thrown Off The Internet For Years
3. The ‘cesspool of hate’ message board 8chan was taken offline after being linked to 3 mass shootings this year
4. Online providers knock 8chan offline after mass shooting
5. 8chan resurfaces, along with The Daily Stormer and another Nazi site
6. The Lawless Way to Disable 8chan: The decision to disable an infamous message board fell to Matthew Prince, an internet executive who is deeply uncomfortable with his own power.
7. Trump Calls On Social Media Companies To Become Pre-Crime Agents
8. From Trump to Fox News to 8chan – the web of white supremacist rhetoric is wide: Trump is a politician perfectly fitted for an ecosystem that amplifies extreme emotion and allows the loud to drown out the calm
9. ‘Free Speech Defender’ Devin Nunes Sues More Critics, Promises More Such Lawsuits Are Coming
10. Microsoft catches Russian state hackers using IoT devices to breach networks
11. Image, ownership and an app made in St Petersburg
12. Four questions about online hate speech
13. Why Is Our First Reaction To Mass Shootings To Talk About Censorship?
14. Using Restorative Justice To Deal With Internet Trolls And Jackasses
15. Twitter users are escaping online hate by switching profiles to Germany, where Nazism is illegal
16. Twitter to Remove Third-Party Data From Ad-Buying System: The change follows a similar move by Facebook and comes as privacy concerns grow
17. Judge Not Impressed With DOJ’s Attempt To Claim Presidential Tweets And Orders Don’t Mean Anything
18. iOS 13 privacy feature will force total overhaul for Facebook apps
19. UK Lobbyist’s Long-Running Astroturf Efforts Shows Facebook Will Never Be Able To Stop Fake News, Ban All Conservatives
20. Enough With The Myth That Big Tech Is ‘Censoring’ Conservatives AND That The Law Requires Them To Be Neutral
21. New legislation is putting social networks in the crosshairs: Republicans and Democrats have ideas for regulating big tech platforms – and their bills are now moving through Congress
22. A new bill aims to protect US voters from the next Cambridge Analytica
23. FBI says “extremists” motivated by Pizzagate, QAnon are threats
24. Cloudflare has had enough, cutting off 8chan
25. Dumped by Cloudflare, 8chan gets back online—then gets kicked off again
26. 8chan is all the way down—“It’s DNS. It’s always DNS.”
27. Competition law scrutiny on tech giants spills over to the other side of the Atlantic (and the rest of the globe?)
28. Once More With Feeling: Nearly All General Interest News Paywalls Will Fail
29. UK’s Online Harms Regime Must be “Proportionate”, According to the ICO and Ofcom 
30. North Korea took $2 billion in cyberattacks to fund weapons program: U.N. report
31. What Happens When The US Government Tries To Take On The Open Source Community?
32. Philippines Lawmaker Introduces ‘Fake News’ Bill That Would Allow The National Police To Literally Police Speech
33. Finland is winning the war on fake news. What it’s learned may be crucial to Western democracy
34. Apple and Google temporarily stop listening to Siri and OK Google queries
35. Apple suspends Siri response grading in response to privacy concerns
36. Apple’s AirDrop and password sharing features can leak iPhone numbers
37. Apple hones its focus on services with new TV deals for AirPlay 2, HomeKit
38. The FTC is looking into the Amazon and Apple deal that crushed small resellers: Experts say the deal raises serious antitrust concerns
39. Apple’s innovative virtual credit card is now available—but only to some people
40. Apple isn’t the most cash-rich company in the world anymore, but it doesn’t matter
41. FedEx Ends Ground-Delivery Deal With Amazon
42. FedEx leaves Amazon on the doorstep as the store becomes a competitor
43. Another Day, Another Company Leaving Sensitive User Data Exposed Publicly On The Amazon Cloud
44. Google has a problem with pregnant workers, employee memo alleges
45. Google will charge search providers to be the Android default in Europe: The top-three bidders will join Google on the choice screen
46. Google Is Testing a $4.99 App Subscription Bundle
47. Google launches new shopping service in the US
48. Google publishes sustainability plan for hardware, but its impact is uncertain
49. Big Four Broadcasters Sue Streaming Video Provider Locast, Claim It’s ‘Aereo 2.0’
50. Bumble stumbles: State policy interests override dating app’s contractual forum 
51. Domino’s takes its case for non-accessible design to the Supreme Court: The ADA is almost 30 years old, but the company says websites don’t count.
52. Facebook penalised $US5 billion by the FTC – A digital privacy reckoning
53. Facebook open-sources algorithms for detecting child exploitation and terrorism imagery: Crowdsourcing a better solution to disturbing photos and videos
54. No Immunity For Cops Who Arrested A Man For Creating A Facebook Page Mocking The Police Department
55. What Facebook’s New Policy Means for Alcohol, Tobacco, and E-Cigarette Content and Sales
56. Facebook’s settlements with the Federal Government—Key takeaways for all companies to consider
57. Facebook just fine following eye-watering privacy penalty?
58. Facebook briefly removes Area 51 event ‘by accident’
59. Area 51 raid event ‘to see them aliens’ removed by Facebook: The event creator is planning a real-life festival to replace the tongue-in-cheek Area 51 raid.
60. Tastemade Taps Ian Hecox, Meghan Rienks, Arden Rose For Facebook Watch Slate
61. Facebook Wants to Integrate Instagram Direct Messages With Messenger
62. What’s FaceApp and Facebook Got to Do with Competition Compliance in Canada?
63. The Tax Man Taps the Brakes on Digital Currency Expansion
64. Anime gets its #MeToo moment in clash between Dallas-area voice actors
65. Netflix Is Asking Android Users For Permission To Track Their Physical Movements
66. Utah Tax Commission Doesn’t Want a Piece of Your Video Streaming 
67. The Streaming Video-on-Demand War Is Going to Get Bloody: Media behemoths want to conquer a realm now dominated by the likes of Netflix.
68. The Worst May Be Yet to Come for Netflix: There’s a long road ahead for the streaming giant as new competitors, including your phone company, step up
69. Disney’s new streaming bundle priced to compete with “standard” Netflix plan
70. Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu will be bundled for $12.99. Netflix should be worried.: Disney is aggressively crafting the service to be an end-all, be-all for streaming subscribers.
71. Insights: How Netflix Is Building Its Global Reach One Acquisition At A Time
72. HBO Launches ‘Recommended by Humans’ Streaming Site in Dig at Netflix
73. HBO Max secures exclusive US streaming rights for Doctor Who, other BBC series
74. Malaysia Looks To Prosecute Homeowners Where Accused Streaming Piracy Occurs
75. YouTube is the world’s top-grossing video app with $138M in user spending
76. YouTube’s recent algorithm change explains why your feed is full of children’s videos: Including nursery rhymes and cartoons
77. YouTube Tweaked Its Algorithm To Promote “Quality Family Content.” That Change Decimated Kid-Friendly Creators’ View Counts.
78. Gizmodo: Why Can’t YouTube Do ‘Good’ Content Moderation? Answer: Because It’s Impossible
79. YouTubers ‘The Ingham Family’ Are Selling $340 Dolls Of Their Newborn Son
80. Michelle Obama To Launch College Advice Series On ‘YouTube Learning’ Hub
81. Susan Wojcicki Discusses New Creator-On-Creator Harassment Policy In Sitdown With Alfie Deyes
82. Claim Over Takedown Notice Triggers Anti-SLAPP Law & a Fee Shift–Complex v. X17 (Eric Goldman)
83. Some Much-Needed Pushback on the Anti-Section 230 Craziness (Linkwrap) (Eric Goldman)
84. Correcting the Record on Section 230’s Legislative History
85. NY Times Joins Lots Of Other Media Sites In Totally And Completely Misrepresenting Section 230
86. The scary trend of internet shutdowns
87. Wake-up call: ways of working with influencers
88. When Influencers Fail to Influence 
89. By Winning Motion to Dismiss, Supermodel Loses Chance to Clarify Whether She Can Lawfully Post Photos of Herself to Social Media 
90. Are you an influencer? Then you may well need to be a follower …
91. Actor Wil Wheaton Sues Geek & Sundry For Shorting Him On Web Series Payment
92. Bernie, Biden, And Warren Get Post-Democratic Debate Social Video Bump
93. Snapchat Parent Company to Raise $1 Billion in Debt Financing, Citing Potential Acquisitions
94. Snapchat To Raise $1 Billion In Debt Financing, In Part To Fund Acquisitions
95. Snapchat Launches New, Streamlined Ad Creation Process
96. Snapchat Launches Latest Batch Of ‘Creator Shows’ With The Kaplan Twins, Matt Steffanina, Teala Dunn
97. Snapchat Takes Implicit Dig At Instagram In New Ad Campaign — On Instagram
98. Following Platform-Wide Purge, Instagram Hires First Exec To Interface With Meme Accounts
99. Tencent in Talks to Buy 10% of Universal Music Group
100. Warner Posts Solid Third Quarter Results, Digital Revenue up 12.5%
101. New EU and UK guidance on online terms and conditions and privacy policies
102. Electronic credit contracts and signatures under Quebec Consumer Law
103. Rocky Mountain States Make Headway in Blockchain-Related Legislation
104. Building better legal blockchains: More law firms are testing the use of blockchain technology in their legal business, as organizations grapple with standards
105. I tried to pay with bitcoin at a Mexico City bar—it didn’t go well
106. Crypto Exchange and Payment Solutions Expand, New UK Guidance Issued, US Enforcement Actions Continue 
107. Online Platforms: “Walking” the line between legal and financial services compliance
108. Paddling to surfing: the rise of Online Dispute Resolution
109. Work Ruined Email: It’s not too late to fix it.
110. MSDN Magazine will publish its last issue, ending a Microsoft developer era
111. Now even funerals are livestreamed—and families are grateful
112. Don’t Let This Get Lost In The Shuffle: The Data Transfer Project Is Expanding, And Could Help Create Real Competition Online
113. Don’t worry – It’s publicly available on the internet!: Due diligence considerations with respect to licensing data and acquiring data-dependent businesses.
114. From Apps On Your Phone To Satellites In The Sky, A New Program Looks Into The Ethics Of Mapping

A.I.

1. California now has a new Bot disclosure law – will other states follow suit? 
2. Roll over, Beethoven: Decoding the maestro’s musical style with statistics
3. People don’t want to see workers replaced by a robot—themselves excepted
4. Everyone Hates Customer Service. This Is Why.: Technology lets companies see how badly they can treat consumers, right up until the moment they bolt
5. ‘We cannot have technology and sales take over safety’: Tesla is being sued again for a deadly Autopilot crash
6. Feds told Tesla to stop making “misleading statements” on Model 3 safety
7. Whitney Cummings—and her sex robot—take on modern womanhood
8. Robotic tails for humans are here
9. The Next Frontier: A.I. and the Efficiently Resourced Legal Department
10. Computer Science Could Learn A Lot From Library And Information Science
11. Artificial Intelligence: What we have seen so far in 2019 and what is to come… 
12. We Took a Ride on NYC’s First Self-Driving Shuttle
13. Are Your AI Selection Tools Validated? OFCCP Provides Guidance for Validation of AI-Based Algorithms 

PRIVACY

1. Oversight Report Shows The NSA Did Not Delete All The Inadvertently-Collected Phone Records It Claimed It Had Deleted
2. Cisco pays $8.6 million for selling surveillance system it knew was vulnerable
3. Cisco Shells Out $8.6 Million For Selling The Government Easily Hackable Tech
4. Amazon Has Already Roped 200 Police Departments Into Its Ring Doorbell Surveillance/Promotional Scheme
5. Police can get your Ring doorbell footage without a warrant, report says
6. Louisiana Governor Declares Statewide Emergency After Cyber-Attacks Against School Systems 
7. The FTC’s Settlement With Equifax Is Such A Joke, The FTC Is Now Begging You Not To Ask For A Cash Settlement
8. Class Action Against Yahoo!: A Data Breach is Not Always Evidence of Compensable Loss
9. Ransomware, “wiper” malware attacks have more than doubled, IBM team says
10. Microsoft Nabs Russian Hackers Exploiting Flimsy IOT Security
11. Skype, Slack, other Electron-based apps can be easily backdoored
12. Hong Kong protesters are using lasers to distract and confuse
13. Pentagon testing mass surveillance balloons across the US
14. Brace for controversy: Edward Snowden has written a memoir
15. Barr says the US needs encryption backdoors to prevent “going dark.” Um, what?: “The FBI says they’re ‘going dark.’ Well yeah, because they’ve been staring at the sun.”
16. WIPO Says Websites In Its Pirate Database Don’t Deserve Due Process Because ‘They Know What They’re Doing’
17. New advanced malware, possibly nation sponsored, is targeting US utilities
18. Google starts selling its Titan security key in Canada, Japan, the UK, and France: The rest of the world may follow
19. Hush — They’re Listening to Us 
20. Facial Recognition Is Suddenly Everywhere. Should You Worry?
21. GDPR Privacy FAQs: Do cookie banners that disclose the use of analytics or behavioral advertising cookies, and state that continued use of a website is deemed acceptance of those cookies, satisfy European privacy laws?
22. Privacy and Cybersecurity State Law Tracker: Maine Consumer Privacy Law 
23. What all the stuff in email headers means—and how to sniff out spoofing

CREATIVITY

1. Jury awards Joyful Noise $2.8M in copyright infringement damages for Katy Perry’s Dark Horse
2. Who Wrote ‘Stairway to Heaven’? Music Industry Braces for Copyright Suits: A $2.8 million judgment against Katy Perry has record business worried about an onslaught of infringement cases
3. Bat Out of Court: Meat Loaf Settles Copyright Lawsuit Over “I’d Do Anything For Love”
4. A Decision of Interest to the Entertainment Industry: Is an event organizer responsible for an artist’s late appearance? Court dismisses class action  regarding Travis Scott’s late appearance at Osheaga Festival.
5. IP monitor – Confusion: more than just the sum of its parts
6. Canadian Copyright Mass Litigation – Reasonable Reimbursement for Norwich Order Compliance
7. Sex tech companies protest for the right to advertise—online or in the subway
8. A History Of Women In Quentin Tarantino Movies: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has reignited discussion about how Tarantino depicts women.
9. SLAPP Suit In Virginia Tries To Silence Historian Highlighting Ancestry Of Guy Suing To Keep Confederate Statues In Charlottesville
10. Yes, That Banana Costume Is Copyrightable
11. Court of a-peel: nasty split over banana costume leads to legal monkey business – Judge found a full-body banana costume sold by Arizona company may be too similar to one originally sold by a New Jersey costumer
12. Copyright Protection for Banana Costumes Is, Uh, Bananas–Silvertop v. Kangaroo (Eric Goldman)
13. Another Competitive Keyword Advertising Lawsuit Fails–Dr. Greenberg v. Perfect Body Image (Eric Goldman)
14. Scotch Jedi: American Whiskey Isn’t Going Down Smooth
15. 100% Natural Case 100% Dismissed: You Can’t Have a False Advertising Case Without Advertising
16. Competition law considerations for licensing agreements in Canada
17. 10 most urgent press freedom cases in August: One Free Press Coalition
18. Brexit and… copyright – an update

GAMES

1. Parties agree to settle in Damion Perrine v. Sega of America 
2. TaxWatch: Activision Blizzard has dodged taxes on billions – UK think tank details how Call of Duty company’s corporate structure, IP royalty scheme minimizes money owed
3. Republican politicians say videogames partly to blame for mass shootings: GOP House minority leader Kevin McCarthy says videogames ‘dehumanize individuals’.
4. Another mass shooting, another wave of politicians pointing at video games
5. In Wake Of Mass Shootings, Top Trade Org Refutes Trump’s Claim That Gaming Is To Blame
6. ESA defends against Trump’s proposed video game crackdown: Meanwhile, publisher share prices fall in wake of US president’s address
7. IGDA, IGDAF issue statement on weekend shootings in the US: Advocacy organizations defend industry following President Trump’s accusations against “gruesome and grisly video games”
8. Biden says violent games are “not healthy” but not the cause of “carnage”
9. DayZ has been refused classification by the Australian ratings board
10. Psyonix is removing paid, randomized loot boxes fromRocket League this year
11. After Epic purchase, Psyonix removes random loot boxes from Rocket League: Move follows similar removal in Epic’s Fortnite: Save the World.
12. What did the FTC hear in its loot box workshop?: ESA defends virtual currency and dynamic drop rates as concerns are raised about consumer protection and similarities to gambling
13. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo team up to force loot box odds disclosures: Major publishers will also increase transparency in 2020 as FTC looks at loot boxes.
14. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony to launch platform-wide rules on loot box disclosures
15. Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony to require loot box odds disclosure: Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Wizards of the Coast, and other publishers will also comply
16. Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft to require loot box odds disclosure: ESA says platform holders will roll out new policy that would apply to new games and updates that add loot box features
17. Consumer advocates to ESRB, FTC: Loot box odds disclosure is not enough – Consumer Reports’ Anna Laitin – “A kid is not going to make a better decision with odds disclosure”
18. Blog: The glorious, profitable, inescapable art of addiction
19. The flawed Kinder Egg defence: The University of Adelaide’s Dr Daniel King on what his “Unfair Play” academic study reveals about the industry’s monetisation practices
20. Psyonix removes paid, randomized crates from Rocket League: Replacement system will show exact items being purchased, similar to Fortnite
21. 18% of all physical ESRB-rated games have received an ‘in-game purchases’ label
22. FaZe Clan Countersues Tfue, Claims He Cost The Company “Many Millions” In Lost Income
23. FaZe Clan Claims ‘Fortnite’ Star Tfue Is Using Its Secrets to Launch a Competitor
24. Faze Clan countersues its Fortnite pro Tfue: Team responds to claims of illegal contract by saying player violated confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses
25. Super Mario Mischief 
26. Ion Maiden — new video game alleged to infringe heavy metal band’s trade mark
27. An in-game casino gave GTA Online its biggest player surge since launch  
28. Fig to pay lump sum to Wasteland 3 investors as Microsoft buys publishing rights
29. Wasteland 3 investors will receive lump payout following studio acquisition: Microsoft’s acquisition of inXile will get Fig investors higher-than-promised dividend rate
30. Fig plans payouts for Psychonauts 2 investors after Double Fine joins Microsoft
31. Microsoft’s Double Fine acquisition results in early Psychonauts 2 investor payout: Rate is higher than original promise, but eliminates chance to earn more on greater success
32. E3 data breach that exposed 2,000 journalists’ private data puts ESA in legal crosshairs
33. E3 accidentally leaks personal details of journalists, YouTubers and analysts: Over 2,000 names on the list
34. ESA has previously leaked media’s personal details for E3: Files have now been taken down from web archive, ESA “still investigating the matter”
35. ESA also leaked E3 2018’s media attendee list: Data has now been removed but was still live earlier this year, despite show organisers being alerted last September
36. UK’s Video Games Tax Relief has paid out £324m in five years: Over 1,000 claims have been made by developers and publishers since incentive launched in 2014
37. German games market’s headcount declines, but small companies on the rise: More than 11,000 people and 600 companies in Germany develop and distribute games
38. What to do when Bolivia hates you: Lewis Manalo used his life experiences to write on Ghost Recon – Wildlands, and was met with the wrath of both the critics and the entire country of Bolivia
39. Real people starring in porn games is a surreal new frontier: We talked to model and YouTuber LetyDoesStuff about starring in the sex game House Party.
40. It’s A New Dawn For ‘Minecraft’ Content On YouTube. Here’s What Sparked The Renaissance.
41. Ninja, one of Twitch’s top streamers, has left the platform for Mixer
42. Ninja ditches Twitch for exclusive streaming deal with Mixer
43. Ninja Ditches Twitch, Will Exclusively Stream On Microsoft’s Mixer
44. Ninja’ed: Microsoft swipes top game-streamer from Amazon’s Twitch
45. Ninja departure is “unlikely to diminish” Twitch: But it marks a “turning point” for Mixer, says analyst
46. Ninja off to strong start on Mixer: Racks up one million free subscriptions since announcing deal last week
47. Ninja Nabs 350,000 Mixer Followers Overnight, Catapults App To Top Of Charts
48. Ninja Accumulates 1 Million Mixer Subscribers In 6 Days, Thanks In Part To Free Offer
49. Mixer criticised for “breast-focused” streamer clothing guidelines: Twitch partner says rules deem female body “inherently inappropriate”, Microsoft will “evaluate if changes are needed”
50. Blog: 7 questions to answer before marketing on Twitch
51. Ooblets devs reveal threats of violence and racist abuse following Epic Store announcement: Despite the appalling backlash, the developers say that going with the Epic Games Store was the right call.
52. Ooblets dev received thousands of “hateful, threatening messages” over Epic exclusivity: Glumberland on being the target of online hate: “I had no idea it was this bad”
53. Ooblets devs break down their Epic Games Store exclusivity decision
54. Regarding what’s been happening
55. Ooblets dev stands by comments about toxic, entitled gamers: Wave of anti-Semitic, homophobic, racist abuse over Epic Games store exclusivity fails to convince Glumberland dev to recant statements
56. Epic Games denounces “disturbing trend” of harassment toward its partners: Following Ooblets exclusivity deal, Epic professes commitment to supporting its partners
57. Epic exclusivity deal covered Ooblets’ sales forecast across all stores: Glumberland offers insight into how important exclusivity can be for a smaller team
58. Don’t Miss: Building an audience early with visuals-first development in Ooblets
59. Steam’s Interactive Recommender landed 10,000 new games on wishlists
60. Severe local 0-Day escalation exploit found in Steam Client Services
61. Dapper Labs Partners With NBA To Launch Digital Collectibles Game
62. Revenue and bookings up at Zynga, despite slowing active users on mobile
63. After Japanese, Korean success, Zynga turns to China: COO Matt Bromberg: “We’re trying to take a measured approach”
64. Russian dev My.Games and Chinese publisher iDreamSky partner for global expansion
65. Creative Assembly and NetEase partner up to bring Total War to China
66. Koch Media opens Polish publishing office to boost presence in Europe
67. Ubisoft acquires mobile publisher Green Panda Games: 70% stake in Paris-based studio could raise to 100% over four years
68. Borderlands 2 has sold 22 million units to date: Franchise overall has reached 48 million units, buoyed by lead-in to Borderlands 3 launch
69. Final Fantasy and Romancing SaGa boost sales at Square Enix despite profit downturn
70. Square Enix kicks off financial year with Q1 sales of $501m: Sales up 19%, income rises 86% – driven in part by Final Fantasy XIV and remasters
71. UK Charts: Fire Emblem Three Houses scores second week at No.1: Madden arrives at No.5
72. Modern Pick Entertainment to acquire “substantial” stake in Slightly Mad Studios: European publisher says dev “fits perfectly” with non-violent esports mission
73. Obsidian “is not a crunch studio”: “We’d rather cut something than try and get people to not have a life outside the industry”
74. Glu Mobile sees record quarterly bookings in Q2 2019: Mobile publisher lowers full-year guidance to “reflect the timing of new launches”
75. At Schell Games, culture is the antidote to crunch and conflict: CEO Jesse Schell and four of the studio’s original executives discuss the importance of stability, team-building, and open communication
76. Yuke’s splits from WWE 2K franchise: Japanese studio will continue to support the game engine, but isn’t directly involved in WWE games for the first time in two decades
77. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick ‘feels good’ about Google Stadia’s release
78. Strauss Zelnick: Take-Two is “open-minded” on streaming, subscriptions – Despite caution on subscriptions, CEO says the company will “be where the consumer is”
79. Digital net revenue up to $427.8 million for the quarter at Take-Two Interactive
80. Take-Two Interactive ups full-year guidance following strong recurrent returns: Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold 25m units; NBA 2K19 has sold nearly 12m; Civilization VI over 5.5m
81. Automaton Games enters administration: Improbable offers to match former employees with open positions at SpatialOS developer
82. Studio71 Launches ‘The Binding Of Isaac’ Card Game At Target: Studio71 launches strategy card game based on indie video game.
83. Blog: Preparing for the changes to Google Play’s ratings system
84. Google is developing a game and app subscription service called Play Pass
85. Tencent launches its cloud services on WeGame in China:
86. Moonlight Blade, Chinese Parents, Blood of Steel, others can be played instantly on the service without download
87. Tencent aiding with localization, online services for the Switch’s move into China
88. Temporary Pokémon Center coming to London: Pop-up store opening at Westfield to coincide with Sword and Shield launch
89. Nintendo and Tencent working to localize Switch games for China: No Switch software has been approved by Chinese government so far, four games shown at ChinaJoy 2019
90. Blog: How I got my Nintendo Switch port to run at 60fps
91. Here’s why Nintendo Switch consoles keep frying
92. $13,000 NES cartridge found at the bottom of a Safeway sack
93. New ‘Game Trials’ program will let Switch Online members try games for free
94. Why is Electronic Arts almost completely ignoring the Switch?
95. EA CEO: The Switch isn’t players’ first choice for multi-platform EA games
96. EA: Our players often choose other platforms over Nintendo Switch – EA explains absence of games like The Sims 4 on Switch, points to $300m-plus bookings forecast for The Sims 4
97. EA: Subscriptions combined with cloud services will “lower the barriers” to gaming – CEO Andrew Wilson suggests cloud services paired with subscriptions would cause “shift” in gaming
98. Roblox has surpassed 100 million monthly active users
99. Pokémon GO reaches over one billion downloads worldwide: Niantic’s location-based Pokémon catching adventure achieves milestone just over three years after launch
100. Console Wars—a book about the Genesis and SNES—will become a TV show
101. DuckTales: Remastered is being pulled from digital stores on August 8
102. Enduring popularity of key franchises helps boost sales and profits at Capcom
103. Capcom profits up 50.8% thanks to “highly profitable” digital downloads: Japanese publisher increases focus on esports as it restructures unprofitable arcade business
104. “NBA Last 90” Foreshadows the Potentially Lucrative Intersection of eSports and Sports Betting
105. Chinese publisher NetEase is building a $725 million esports park in Shanghai
106. NetEase reveals plans for $700m esports stadium in Shanghai: Stadium to feature game development, team building, and training facilities
107. EVO in trouble with Bandai Namco, Konami and Solid Snake actor David Hayter: Tekken tournament organisers used iconic character in promo video without permission from any of the above
108. Nexon to acquire Swedish game developer Embark Studios
109. Nexon to fully acquire stock in Embark Studios: Nexon’s Western development strategy will now be “driven” by Embark founder Patrick Söderlund
110. Layoffs at Nexon America as two California-based offices are closed
111. Nexon closes second US office in a month: LA-based Division Partners precedes the closure of Nexon M later this month
112. Slitherine acquires Master of Magic publishing rights from Atari
113. Slitherine acquires Master of Magic franchise: Strategy game developer hints at publishing sequel to 1994 MS-DOS title
114. Flurry of New Apple ‘AR/VR’ Job Listings Point to New Products on the Horizon
115. Iconic VR Film ‘The Matrix’ to Return to Select Theaters for 20th Anniversary
116. XRDC: 59% of AR/VR developers are working on games – Oculus Rift surpassed HTC Vive this year as the top AR/VR/MR development platform
117. Valve Cancels VirtualLink Adapter Accessory for Index, Cites Technical Issues & Laptop Adoption
118. Valve clamping down on abuse of Steam’s Popular Upcoming list: Developers reportedly now need Valve’s approval before changing release date
119. Oculus Rift surpasses HTC Vive as VR devs’ top platform in new XRDC Innovation Report!
120. Here’s What Facebook Says About Camera Privacy on Quest & Rift S
121. Video: Reinventing a platformer for VR the Astro Bot way
122. Over 50 ‘field leaders’ laid off at GameStop due to ongoing cost-cutting
123. Why the gaming world will be worse once GameStop is gone
124. Video: A postmortem of indie kingdom-builder Kingdoms and Castles
125. Video: Delivering data-driven dynamic gameplay effects inFor Honor  
126. Video: What an art-house indie learned from a year of working in F2P
127. Video: How Slay the Spire achieved success through marketability
128. Dangen Entertainment: What it really costs to run an indie publishing label – With the right focus and the right relationships, the Osaka-based publisher can find success with 10,000 units sold
129. Genetics-themed survival game Niche is heading to schools for free
130. Immortalising your grandmother in a WWII game: Bob De Schutter talks us through the inspiration and incredible true stories behind his PC title Brukel
131. Don’t Miss: Building the monstrous transforming puzzle heads of GNOG
132. Don’t Miss: Deconstructing the development and design ofGravity Ghost
133. Don’t Miss: The Chinese Room’s Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs postmortem
134. Don’t Miss: Deconstructing the art design of Journey
135. This War of Mine: Five years later – Publishing director Paweł Feldman on how 11 bit Studios managed the game’s life-cycle and ensured steady sales
136. Niche developer offers game to schools for free: Stray Fawn Studio encourages teachers to get in touch for free classroom codes
137. How Diablo meets Left 4 Dead in co-op action RPGKillsquad
138. Metal Wolf Chaos XD: A weirdly timed return to 2004’s robo-blasting innocence
139. The design and iteration of tactical deck-building gameNowhere Prophet
140. Giving players the ability to bump off any NPC in The Outer Worlds was ‘insanely hard’
141. Making family matter in Children of Morta
142. The three eras of game discoverability
143. nWay introduces blockchain solution to its development platform: Power Rangers: Legacy Wars developer adds support for unified marketplace across all nWayPlay games
144. Video Gaming / E-Gaming Law Update
145. U.S. Patent No. 5,885,156: Video game apparatus, method of controlling the growth of play character in video game, and video game medium therefor 
146. Halo TV series pushed to 2021: Production on Showtime adaptation begins later this year with Natascha McElhone and Bokeem Woodbine among announced cast

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