News of the Week; April 1, 2020

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Video Streaming to TVs Soared 85% in U.S. in First Three Weeks of March, Nielsen Says
2. Broadband speeds fall in dozens of big US cities during pandemic
3. Alarm, Denial, Blame: The Pro-Trump Media’s Coronavirus Distortion – Hannity, Limbaugh & other commentators turned a pandemic into a battle of us vs. them – the battle President Trump has waged.
4. Charter gives techs $25 gift cards instead of hazard pay during pandemic
5. Comcast waiving data caps hasn’t hurt its network—why not make it permanent?
6. Instead of COVID-19 Hazard Pay, Spectrum Is Giving Its Repair Techs $25 Gift Cards To Closed Restaurants
7. Saudi spies tracked phones using flaws the FCC failed to fix for years
8. Saudi Arabia reportedly tracked phones by using industry-wide carrier weakness
9. Teardown of Huawei flagship phone finds US parts despite blacklisting
10. AT&T, Verizon Will Waive Wireless Overage Fees During Pandemic. But You’ll Have To Ask.
11. Verizon Is The Only US Wireless Carrier Charging Extra For 5G
12. FCC Permits Schools and Libraries to Make Wi-Fi Available to Public
13. FCC requires anti-robocall tech after “voluntary” plan didn’t work out [Updated]
14. Goodbye, John Legere: CEO leaves as T-Mobile completes Sprint merger
15. Frontier prepares for bankruptcy, regrets failure to install enough fiber
16. China’s economy was hit hard by the pandemic. Its 5G ambitions could be crucial to its recovery
17. Is the media an essential service?
18. Opinion of the Advocate General of the Court of Justice on net neutrality and zero-rating
19. Tone Deaf: Using COVID-19 As A Prop To Celebrate The Death Of Net Neutrality

DIGITAL

1. Court: Violating a site’s terms of service isn’t criminal hacking
2. Levandowski says Uber must pay his $179 million judgment to Google
3. Yet Another Court Says Suing Twitter For Terrorist Acts Is A Waste Of Everyone’s Time
4. “Material Support for Terrorism” Lawsuit Fails a Third Time–Colon v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
5. Redbox’s Terms of Use Fail (OUCH)–Wilson v. Redbox (Eric Goldman)
6. Section 230 Protects Classifying Non-Competitive Software as a Threat–Asurvio v. Malwarebytes (Eric Goldman)
7. Broadband Speeds Dip In Major Cities Due To Covid-19
8. Coronavirus misinformation is the latest test for social media platforms
9. Study looks at how Russian troll farms are politicizing vaccines
10. How China Built a Twitter Propaganda Machine Then Let It Loose on Coronavirus: ProPublica analyzed thousands of fake and hijacked Twitter accounts to understand how covert Chinese propaganda spreads around the globe.
11. Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories Are a Public Health Hazard: It’s time to debunk the worst—and most dangerous—Covid-19 misinformation. 
12. The Digital Response to the Outbreak of COVID-19: Undeniably, we need to use technology as part of disaster response, but the regulatory immaturity of the industry makes technology companies risky allies
13. Internet Archive offers 1.4 million copyrighted books for free online: Massive online library project is venturing into uncharted legal waters.
14. Authors fume as online library “lends” unlimited free books
15. Publishers And Authors Misguided Freakout Over Internet Archive’s Decision To Enable More Digital Book Checkouts During A Pandemic
16. Streaming Gets Big Bump During Coronavirus Quarantines, Nielsen Says: SVOD platforms outpaced the overall gains in TV usage during the first few weeks of March.
17. As More People Shelter At Home, Podcasts See 15% Drop In U.S.-Based Listeners
18. Amazon: Walkout leader’s firing wasn’t due to his organizing efforts
19. Amazon, Walmart Suspend Marketing Deals With Digital Media Firms
20. Email, text message attacks surge during COVID-19 crisis
21. An Internet Shutdown Is Keeping Coronavirus Information from Millions in Pakistan
22. South Korea: Cyberbullying Amid Coronavirus – Some online trolls seem determined to infuse Korean politics and COVID-19 with racial tensions.
23. Anti-Vaxxer Sues Facebook, In The Middle Of A Pandemic, For ‘In Excess’ Of $5 Billion For Shutting Down His Account
24. Facebook spends US$100M to support local news amid pandemic
25. Facebook invests $100M in journalism as COVID-19 makes it more vital than ever: In the form of direct grants and advertising spend
26. Facebook Says Live Streams Have Increased 50% This Month, Will Expand ‘Stars’ Monetization To Musicians, More
27. Facebook has a new way for communities to help each other through COVID-19: Its Community Help feature is expanding
28. Tech giants are navigating an ‘infodemic.’ Are they doing it right?: Social media platforms have resisted being arbiters of truth for years, but COVID-19 has changed that, fast.
29. How data-mining companies are set to gain from the Covid-19 pandemic: Their business model, challenged by numerous activists and analysts, is likely to gain further public acceptance, to the detriment of democracy.
30. Democrats say Google’s COVID-19 ad ban is a gift to Donald Trump: “To not allow political candidates to mention or discuss COVID-19 is something that has the potential to dramatically bolster Trump’s…reelection.”
31. Judge Allows PEN America’s Lawsuit Against Donald Trump Over Retaliation Against The Media To Proceed
32. President Trump Is So Upset About This Ad Showing His Failed Handling Of COVID-19 That He’s Demanding It Be Taken Down
33. Democrats Being Blocked From Advertising On Trump’s Failed COVID-19 Response Due To Content Moderation Rules
34. How Do You Moderate COVID-19 Misinformation When It’s Coming From Official Sources?
35. Jared Kushner’s Coronavirus Task Force Is Using Private Email Accounts To Conduct Official Business
36. Google sent users 40,000 warnings of nation-state hack attacks in 2019
37. Tech Firms Are Swooping in to Profit From COVID-19: Tech is winning gov’t contracts to roll out spurious apps & services. Innovation must be administered publicly to prevent the further commodification of health care.
38. Tech giants should give away their money instead of their products: Anything helps, yes. But there’s a limit to even a billion dollars in donations – “Can’t make payroll on ad credits.”
39. The Online Cold War: foreign hackers and trolls undeterred by virus crisis
40. Apple acquires Dark Sky weather app, and that’s bad news for Android users
41. Bogus coronavirus claims lead Google Play to finally give Infowars the boot: Apple kicked Alex Jones out of the App Store in 2018.
42. Google Commits $800 Million, Mostly in Ad Credits, to Coronavirus Relief Efforts
43. Don’t Click That Link! It Might Be Viral: There’s been an explosion of Covid-19-related websites, some real and some nefarious.
44. Frequency of looking for and accessing information about the coronavirus pandemic among adults worldwide as of March 2020
45. Snapchat preempts clones, syndicates Stories to other apps
46. Snapchat Reports Engagement Records During the Coronavirus Pandemic: The app reached all-time highs in Snaps sent, Snap Games, time spent watching Shows
47. Spotify is bringing its kids app to the US, Canada, and France: Just as kids are stuck at home because of the pandemic
48. Spotify and Warner Music Group renew their global licensing deal, resolve issue in India
49. HQ Trivia returns with surprise $1,000 show and $100,000 donation
50. Resurrected HQ Trivia App Welcomes 100,000 Players For First Game Back
51. HQ Trivia returns, reportedly acquired by private investor: Live mobile trivia competition to donate $100k to World Central Kitchen
52. Will Airbnb Become Obsolete After the Coronavirus?: The world’s most-visited cities are deserted. When the virus passes, they will be durably changed.
53. Patreon, Which Had 150,000 Pre-Pandemic Creators, Sees 30,000 Sign-Ups In March Alone
54. B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal keeps ‘doors open’ during pandemic: CRT is able to stay fully operational because it operates remotely
55. COVID-19 court closures forcing long-overdue use of technology, say lawyers
56. Vancouver studio uses 3D printers to make face shields for hospital workers
57. Some Instacart and Amazon Workers Stay Home, Calling for More Pay in Coronavirus Pandemic: Coronavirus risks prompt walkouts, pay demands at delivery and retail companies
58. “Amazon Is a Breeding Ground”
59. Amazon fires warehouse worker who led Staten Island warehouse walkout
60. No Masks and Uncertain Sick Leave: New York Whole Foods Delivery Workers Say Amazon Is Failing To Protect Them
61. Amazon auditions to be ‘the new Red Cross’ in Covid-19 crisis | Free to read This could be the group’s finest hour but there are concerns about workers being put at risk
62. Why Amazon Is Poised to Emerge from the Covid-19 Crisis Stronger Than Ever: Amazon has reacted to the coronavirus with restrictions designed to cement its market power at the expense of merchants and consumers.
63. Who needs a government when you’ve got Amazon to keep things running?: While Trump blusters, the online giant has taken on the role of regulator and benevolent dictator
64. Nationalize Amazon: Instead of letting Amazon use coronavirus to dominate even more of the economy, the company should be nationalized and reoriented to serve the public good instead of predatory capitalism.
65. We Should Nationalize Food Delivery Apps and Turn Them Into a Public Food Service
66. The Technology 202: Mask scams and misinformation still present on social media despite tougher policies
67. Well Hyped Satellite Broadband Provider OneWeb Files For Bankruptcy
68. OneWeb goes bankrupt, lays off staff, will sell satellite-broadband business
69. Daisy Keech Moves Out Of ‘Hype House’ Mansion, Files Suit Against Ex-Business Partners
70. John Krasinski Launches ‘Some Good News’ YouTube Channel, Gaining 330K Subscribers Overnight
71. YouTube Taps Lilly Singh, Philip DeFranco, Others For Coronavirus Interview Series With Dr. Fauci
72. “With me” videos on YouTube are seeing huge spikes in viewership as people stay home: A growth of 600 percent since social isolating started
73. Reese Witherspoon Pacts With YouTube For Charitable ‘Shine On’ Series Amid Quarantine
74. We Talked To Industry Insiders About How The Coronavirus Is Impacting YouTube Ad Revenues
75. YouTube Sets 480p Resolution Limit On Android App Across India Amid Coronavirus Lockdown
76. YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Instagram See Significant Boosts In Traffic Amid Digital Ad Woes
77. YouTube To Launch TikTok Competitor ‘Shorts’ Later This Year
78. TikTok Strikes Short-Term Licensing Deals With Sony, Warner, Universal
79. Facebook Hosts Beware: Potential Defamation Liability around the Corner
80. FTC Paid Endorser Settlement Sets Framework for Advertiser Best Practices
81. Rihanna’s ‘Fenty Beauty House’ Temporarily Shutters As Coronavirus Precaution
82. Google Wants Your Data in Exchange for a Coronavirus Test: Public health shouldn’t mean surrendering privacy to Silicon Valley.
83. Disney+ Is Reportedly Asking Users If It Should Offer Shows Aimed At Older Audiences
84. Patreon, Which Had 150,000 Pre-Pandemic Creators, Sees 30,000 Sign-Ups In March Alone
85. How U.S. Sports Are Publishing On Social Video Without Games Being Played
86. BuzzFeed Cuts Staff, Executive Pay In Attempt To Prevent Coronavirus-Related Layoffs
87. Some Silicon Valley Companies Are Booming as COVID-19 Rages: For some businesses, the novel coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it have been a boon, boosting their popularity if not yet their revenue.
88. We just glimpsed how a “digital dollar” might work, thanks to coronavirus: Proposal for new government-run payment platform didn’t make it into the coronavirus relief plan. It won’t be the last we hear of the idea.
89. Not having lockdown parties on Zoom? What are you waiting for?: Zoom birthday parties & virtual pubs demonstrate social distancing isn’t isolation – will the party stop when we can all go outside again?
90. Coronavirus scammers are getting taken down by grassroots ‘hackers without borders’
91. ‘The Valley has stepped up’: Ro Khanna on layoffs, bailouts, Trump and crisis innovation – Protocol talks with the California representative about how the tech industry is being affected by the crisis — and what comes next.
92. New pandemic edtech power networks
93. Ad Council’s COVID-19 PSAs Bring Together White House, Social Platforms, Tech Companies, Advertisers, And Influencers
94. From female computers to male comput♂rs: Or why there are so few women writing algorithms and developing software
95. The Law of Informational Capitalism (Amy Kapczynski)
96. Digital Repression in Autocracies (Erica Frantz, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Joseph Wright)

A.I.

1. AI and big data won’t work miracles in the fight against coronavirus
2. EU Parliament Told Predictive Policing Software Relies On Dirty Data Generated By Corrupt Cops
3. As Platforms Rely Less on Human Content Moderators, What’s at Stake?: In response to COVID, some social media sent content moderators. This could be a glimpse into their desire to rely less on human labour
4. Neural implants plus AI turn sentence-length thoughts to text
5. Unity Game Simulation Lets Studios Use AI Bots To Playtest Games In Google Cloud
6. CAA Signs Human Avatar-Fashioning Tech Startup ‘Soul Machines’
7. The false positive problem of automatic bot detection in social science research: A study of Botometer’s diagnostic ability over time
8. Emotional AI, soft biometrics and the surveillance of emotional life: An unusual consensus on privacy (Andrew McStay)
9. The benefits of Artificial Intelligence in the field of IP
10. Artificial Intelligence – Our March 2020 report

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. Bill C-4 Receives Royal Assent: Incoming Changes to the Intellectual Property Landscape
2. EU: infringement of software license agreement can result in an intellectual property infringement
3. The Open COVID IP Pledge
4. IP monitor: Canadian Intellectual Property Office announces further extension of deadlines in wake of pandemic
5. COVID-19: Canadian Government Can Now Use Patented Inventions to Respond to the Public Health Emergency
6. COVID-19 Emergency Response Act: Amendments to the Patent Act
7. COVID-19 and intellectual property
8. Patents Concerning Coronavirus Treatments
9. Evalve v Edwards – Review of competing public interests in grant of final injunctions
10. Florida Atlantic University Suddenly Decides Owl Tutoring’s Name Is Trademark Infringement After Over A Decade
11. Lean Trademark Strategies – For The Covid-19 Pandemic And Its Aftermath
12. A “Dark Horse” Victory for Katy Perry: Central District of California Overturns $2.8M Copyright Verdict
13. First Circuit Treads “Unchartered Waters”: Holds Copyright Sublicenses Can Be Implied
14. RIAA Realizes It Sued Charter Over A Bunch Of Songs It Doesn’t Hold The Copyrights For
15. A Snapshot From Section 101: Patent Directed to Image Cataloging Not Patent Eligible
16. A Collision of Patents, Copyrights, and Piracy on the High Seas
17. 67 Years Ago Today: Jonas Salk Announced The Polio Vaccine… And Did NOT Patent It
18. Supreme Court Holds that States are Immune from Copyright Infringement
19. GEICO Earns Victory at Intersection Between Copyright and Trade Secret Law Covering Source Code
20. Top 3 legal predictions on Copyright for 2020
21. Copyright Termination. Chapter One: What Kind of Grants Can Be Recaptured?
22. Copyright Termination. Chapter 2: When Can a Grant Be Terminated?
23. Is Your Character Entitled to Copyright Protection? The Ninth Circuit Reinforces High Bar for Copyright Protection of Characters
24. The Pirates Of Precedence, or How a Modest Copyright Case Could Affect Controversial Supreme Court Cases
25. Ninth Circuit Shows Led Zeppelin a Whole Lotta Love in ‘Stairway’ Copyright Win
26. Copyright Is Broken: COVID-19 Pandemic Revealing Just How Messed Up Our Permission-Based Culture Is
27. Permission Culture Gone Mad: Worries About Proper License For ‘Balcony Singing’ Lead Collection Society To Say It’s Okay, You Can Sing
28. I Just Took a DNA Test . . . Am I the Joint Author?
29. U.S. Supreme Court Holds Copyright Remedy Classification Act of 1990 Does Not Abrogate State Sovereign Immunity for Copyright Infringement: Allen v. Cooper
30. Judge Ramos Finds “Bad Faith” Enforcement of a Patent is Not Patent Misuse
31. Global patent law update
32. Eli Lilly and Co v Genentech Inc: issue estoppel and abuse of process in patent cases

PRIVACY

1. Zoom iOS App Sends Data to Facebook Even if You Don’t Have a Facebook Account: Zoom’s privacy policy isn’t explicit about the data transfer to Facebook at all.
2. Zoom is being sued for allegedly handing over data to Facebook
3. Zoom Meetings Aren’t End-To-End Encrypted, Despite Misleading Marketing
4. Who’s Zoomin’ Who? Privacy and Data Security Concerns over Stay-at-Home Video Conferencing
5. Zoom’s privacy problems are growing as platform explodes in popularity
6. Attackers can use Zoom to steal users’ Windows credentials with no warning
7. Researchers Say Kids’ Android Apps Are Still Riddled With Malware
8. >4,000 Android apps silently access your installed software
9. UK’s National Health Service Plans To Use Big Data Analysis To Fight COVID-19 — With The Help Of Palantir
10. Can ProctorU Be Trusted With Students’ Personal Data?
11. Moscow To Launch New Surveillance App To Track Residents In Coronavirus Lockdown
12. Voluntary Virus Tracking Apps Seek To Get A Grip On The Coronavirus Problem
13. How Much Data Does Clearview Gather On People? The Answer (Sadly) Will Not Surprise You.
14. Maine Event: ISP Privacy Law Challenged on Free Speech Grounds
15. Geolocation and the Fight Against COVID-19: Could the Emergencies Act Overrule Privacy Law Protections for Cellphone Location Data?
16. Appeals Court Tells Baltimore PD To Start Coughing Up Information About Its Cell Site Simulators
17. Countries are using apps and data networks to keep tabs on the pandemic: And also, in the process, their citizens
18. Will Germans trade privacy for coronavirus protection?
19. Australian state will install home surveillance hardware to make sure if you’re in virus isolation, you stay there: Could be a wearable, could be wired. Backed by big fines and jail
20. Verily’s COVID-19 website becomes a health data privacy battleground: “These tools can be a helpful part of the solution during our ongoing public health emergency, but patient privacy shouldn’t be sacrificed as a result”
21. Pitching trade against privacy: reconciling EU governance of personal data flows with external trade (Svetlana Yakovleva, Kristina Irion)
22. Someone Convinced Google To Delist Our Entire Right To Be Forgotten Tag In The EU For Searches On Their Name

   

1. Johnny Depp disclosure in libel case in English MAC Court Ruling
2. The death of Hungary’s democracy is a worldwide press-freedom warning
3. Judge Schofield: Claims Over White House Revocation of Press Credentials and Security Clearances May Proceed
4. Call for Creatives: United Nations Opens Submission Process for COVID-19 Messaging Work
5. ‘The real ideological war has just begun and Covid-19 is only the starting point’: Ai Weiwei on China’s response to the outbreak – The Chinese artist reflects on how authoritarian political systems tackle the crisis effectively
6. The importance of art now and beyond Covid-19: The always deeply flawed and unequal conditions of labour for the artistic community have been revealed and made much worse by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
7. The importance of art in the time of coronavirus
8. UK gallery curator calls for public art project in response to Covid-19: Ambitious national programme is needed to support artists and institutions, says Serpentine Galleries’ artistic director
9. In a Pandemic, How Do You Make the Case for an Art Emergency?: Literary Arts Leaders are Bracing for Months of Financial Crisis
10. ‘A Matter Of Common Decency’: What Literature Can Teach Us About Epidemics
11. Insights: Adapting Hollywood To The Pandemic, And What Happens Hereafter
12. Call for Depression Era-style Public Art Project
13. This American Life host Ira Glass on storytelling during Covid-19
14. The Architecture of Quarantine Is No Longer a Thing of the Past
15. Ethics and Reporting Practices for COVID-19
16. Disease control: Mapping violations of free speech under the cloak of the coronavirus crisis
17. The ‘human canvas’ livestreams from Tasmanian museum
18. Marvel, DC will delay digital comic books during brick-and-mortar closures
19. Adam Schlesinger, Emmy Winner and Fountains of Wayne Cofounder, Dies of Coronavirus Complications

GAMES

1. ‘NBA 2K’ Publisher Beats Copyright Suit Over LeBron James’ Tattoos: In a landmark decision on the tatto a federal judge rules that Take-Two’s depiction was de minimus and that an implied license was granted.
2. Judge Swain: Depicting NBA Players’ Tattoos in Video Game Is “Fair Use”
3. Court Manages To Get NBA2K Tattoo Copyright, Trademark Case Exactly Right
4. Videogame Doesn’t Infringe Tattoo Copyright By Depicting Basketball Players–Solid Oak Sketches v. 2K Games (Eric Goldman)
5. Videogame Can Replicate Musician’s “Signature Move” (Unless It’s a False Endorsement, Which It Isn’t)–Pellegrino v. Epic Games (Eric Goldman)
6. US court dismisses Humvee trademark infringement suit against Activision: New York judge rules that use of Humvees in Call of Duty is protected as artistic expression
7. Wargaming.net files lawsuit against group of former employees: Blitz Team says it has become target of “unfair competition and legal bullying” at hands of Wargaming
8. Gamevice brings yet another accusation of Nintendo patent infringement: This is the peripherals manufacturer’s third attempt at such a complaint
9. Nintendo Switch sells out at retail, leading to third-party price inflation
10. The year of Mario: A ton of classic 3D games reportedly coming to Switch in 2020
11. How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection
12. Report: Gearbox overspent on Borderlands 3, and devs see bonuses cut in response
13. Borderlands 3 devs accuse Gearbox of shorting bonuses: Kotaku reports that promised six-figure bonuses have been significantly reduced, studio planning an IPO
14. Epic offers $1m reward for evidence of Houseparty smear campaign: Fortnite developers assures that app does not enable access to bank accounts or other services
15. Activision has dished out over 50,000 permabans in Call of Duty: Warzone
16. Activision permabans over 50,000 cheaters in Call of Duty: Warzone – Publisher says it has “zero tolerance” policy on cheaters and will issue regular updates on number of bans handed out
17. Jedi Academy dev promises to fix mistake that let PC gamers slaughter console players
18. Sony declines to sell Call of Duty in Russia (again): Modern Warfare 2 Remastered will not be sold through PlayStation Store
19. Players host weddings, classes, more in online games during COVID-19 crisis
20. Hyper casual dominated new mobile downloads in 2019: More than 75% of the 20 most downloaded new mobile games of 2019 were hyper casual
21. Fox’s virtual Texas NASCAR race sets esports record with 1.3 million viewers
22. NASCAR’s First Virtual Race Draws Record-Setting 903K Viewers, Seals Broadcast Deal For Rest Of Season
23. Mobile esports team Tribe Gaming raises $1 million: Backers include NBA all-star Gordon Hayward, WWE wrestler Cesaro, and Super Evil Megacorp CEO Kristian Segerstrale
24. During The Outbreak: All Sports Are eSports Now
25. How to play Pokémon Go when everyone’s stuck inside
26. Pokémon and Apex Legends esports events cancelled: Physical events scrapped amid coronavirus concerns, prize money shifted to online competitions
27. Anybrain receives €1m investment form Trust Esport: Artificial intelligence startup works to secure online gaming and make esports more fair
28. FaZe Clan, Verizon Host Charity ‘Fortnite’ Match For Coronavirus Relief Efforts
29. ESL partners up with PUBG Mobile to host competitions for the game
30. Andre ‘Typical Gamer’ Rebelo Signs Exclusive Streaming Deal With YouTube
31. What is happening with video game sales during coronavirus: GamesIndustry.biz analyses the latest figures from GSD
32. Pandemic has led to spikes in mobile gaming, says ironSource: App monetization firm reports daily average users, new game installs up in regions under lock down
33. The rise and rise of video games: Covid-19 has drawn renewed attention to an under-appreciated industry
34. Kojima’s GBA experiment—and the sunny island childhood it changed forever
35. Kojima Productions working remotely after employee diagnosed with COVID-19
36. Kojima Productions staff working remotely after employee diagnosed with COVID-19: Developer is working with health authorities to prevent further spread of virus
37. UK retailer Game furloughs staff with full pay through April: However, company tells staff it cannot guarantee full pay or jobs past that point
38. Twitch is holding a Stream Aid charity event to raise money for the fight against coronavirus
39. Twitch ‘Stream Aid’ To Combat Coronavirus Raises $2.8 Million, Nabs 135,000 Concurrent Viewers
40. A Twitch streamer is exposing coronavirus scams live
41. Mojang shakes up AR game Minecraft Earth to adapt to shelter-in-place play
42. Pokémon Go temporarily changes mechanics to reduce spread of COVID-19: Mojang follows suit with changes to Minecraft Earth
43. Pokémon Go revenue spikes as game continues to adjust for COVID-19: Last week was its highest-earning week in 2020 so far, despite lockdowns
44. Record number of Steam users online during coronavirus outbreak: Steam sees record numbers of users in-game, and record concurrent users for third week running
45. With more people staying home, Steam makes changes to reduce bandwidth use
46. GameStop turns a Q4 profit despite 28% dip in sales: Retailer says pandemic has increased demand; chain closed 320 stores last year and looks to close that many or more in the current year
47. Amid pandemic closures, GameStop says it’s seeing increased business
48. GameStop ends 2019 with sales down year-over-year, but ‘increased financial flexibility’
49. GameStop to close at least 320 stores in 2020
50. GameStop says no indication of PS5, Xbox Series X delays: Retailer says as of right now, pandemic has had “minimal” impact on product deliveries
51. Sony says COVID-19 won’t impact PS5 launch (yet)
52. Early Access MMO Last Oasis offering full refunds due to server problems: Game being taken offline for a week while developers fix issues
53. Colopl acquires Steins;Gate developer Mages for $15 million: Studio will become a wholly owned subsidiary after mobile firm purchases all shares
54. Koch Media, Kalypso Media expand physical publishing partnership
55. South Australia launches second round of Games Innovation Fund
56. Xbox encouraging devs to push updates during off-peak hours to lessen server strain
57. Microsoft adjusts Xbox Live functionality due to pandemic: As demand for cloud services surges, custom gamerpics disabled and game updates only delivered in off-peak hours
58. Future shuts down Official Xbox Magazine after almost two decades
59. Official Xbox Magazine closed: Publication is reportedly one of six magazines Future has discontinued
60. Sony doesn’t see pandemic affecting PS5 launch: Despite factory closures and downgraded profit forecast, Sony estimates no material impact on its gaming business so far
61. Sony will begin limiting PSN download speeds in the U.S.
62. Sony reduces PSN download speeds for the US: PlayStation maker expands European downgrade “to help ensure internet stability” during pandemic
63. Bungie: Google Stadia an “amazing solution” for playtesting during lockdown – COO Patrick O’Kelley says Google’s streaming platform can replicate an essential aspect of game development
64. Google Stadia, ‘beefy laptops’ drive Bungie’s remote work success
65. Tencent and Huawei are working on a mobile cloud gaming platform
66. All hail Nintendo’s animal overlords | Opinion: Animal Crossing looks set to be one of the year’s biggest games — we might reflect on what it says about the appetite for different kinds of escapism
67. A Super Mario Christmas is the ideal counter to PS5 and Xbox Series X | Opinion: Why a bunch of Mario ports may be all Nintendo needs to face off against the new consoles
68. Strong week for UK physical game sales despite lockdown: “Animal Crossing New Horizons” drops to No.3
69. Final Fantasy VII Remake shipping early amid COVID-19 disruption: Square Enix reveals European and Australian players may receive the game sooner than April 10 launch
70. Square Enix will ship ‘Final Fantasy VII Remake’ early to some countries: Disruption caused by the coronavirus will leave some players open to spoilers.
71. Epic launches new publishing program with 50/50 profit sharing for developers
72. Epic launches publishing label with Remedy, Playdead and GenDesign onboard: Epic Games Publishing will be multiplatform, cover as much as 100% of costs, and offer partners 50/50 profit share
73. Epic Games is now a third-party multi-plat publisher, secures three big studios
74. Epic signs Playdead, Remedy, and genDesign to new publishing label
75. COVID-19 preventing Bethesda from hosting digital E3 showcase
76. Star Citizen dev Cloud Imperium raises $17.25 million in funding
77. Cloud Imperium secures $17.25m in additional investment: Existing investors pour more finance into Star Citizen developer
78. Colopl acquires game and interactive novel developer Mages for $14.92 million
79. Terraria has sold over 30 million copies across all platforms
80. Niantic acquires 6D.ai to help map out the entire world for AR
81. Niantic acquires AR mapping company 6D.ai: Location-based game developer working on dynamic, 3D map of the world
82. How to Clean Your VR Headset
83. Roto VR Picks up $1.86M Investment to Support Roll-out of Rotating VR Chair
84. ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Now Among Steam’s 10 Best Rated Games Ever, Surpassing All Other ‘Half-Life’ Titles
85. With Half-Life: Alyx out, Valve shifts focus to its Hammer level editor
86. Forte recruits 5 more high-end game studios to make blockchain-based games
87. Wasteland 3 delayed due to COVID-19: Minecraft Dungeons also delayed into May for the same reason
88. The Sandbox blockchain-based world will feature virtual Atari theme park
89. Researchers turn to PC gamers for help with COVID-19: Folding@home downloaded onto over one million devices
90. Tinybuild’s Hello Neighbour books have made $16m in revenue: Book series hits 2m sales as game franchise passes 30m downloads
91. League of Legends: The art of balance – Summoner’s Rift team manager John Frank discusses the intricacies of balancing one of the world’s most successful competitive titles
92. An extended interview with Crash Bandicoot designer Andy Gavin
93. What happens when an outbreak ruins your game announcement plans?
94. WHO and game companies launch #PlayApartTogether to promote physical distancing
95. Industry launches #PlayApartTogether in fight against COVID-19 pandemic: Over 50 companies now using their platforms to spread key messages, organisers in talks 70 more
96. Resident Evil 3 Remake review: Are we ready for pandemic nostalgia?
97. Deep Dive: Making a cozy, therapeutic experience in Coffee Talk
98. Don’t Miss: How Mario Kart influenced Nintendo’s fighting game, ARMS
99. Don’t Miss: What it took to port Resident Evil 2 to the N64
100. Don’t Miss: The Valkyrie Profile-inspired design of Indivisible
101. Don’t Miss: Give players a place to feel ‘cozy’ and they’ll keep coming back
102. Video: Storytelling with verbs to better integrate narrative and gameplay
103. Video: Using forgiveness mechanics to design better games 
104. Video: How Gearbox baked accessibility features into Borderlands 3
105. Blog: Understanding and effectively implementing live ops
106. Blog: Differentiating narratives using the selfish story model
107. Next big thing or next big bubble? – 10 Years Ago This Month: Streaming, motion controls, and stereoscopic 3D were all pushed as transformative technologies
108. 28 years later, a no-disc version of the Sega CD exists—and it rocks [Updated]
109. Insert Coin, the arcade documentary worth feeding all your quarters into 
110. Cyberpunk dev CD Projekt Red donates $950,000 to help fight COVID-19
111. Eidos-Montreal hosting Deus Ex flash sale to help those affected by COVID-19
112. Rockstar pledges 5% of Red Dead and GTA Online revenue to fight COVID-19
113. Dozens of devs pitch in games for Humble’s all-for-charity Conquer COVID-19 bundle
114. Game industry backs ‘Play Apart Together’ campaign to slow spread of COVID-19
115. U.S. Patent no. 10,286,326: Soft reservation system and method for multiplayer video games

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