The Xbox Game Pass subscription business has reported a record number of active players, reporting a record 120 million monthly active users across its gaming ecosystem.

• Revenue: $52.7 billion (up 2% year-on-year)
• Net income: $16.4 billion (down 12%)
• Operating income: $20.4 billion (down 8%)

• More Personal Computing (incl. Xbox) revenue: $14.2 million (down 19%)
• Gaming revenue: Down 13%
• Xbox content and services revenue: Down 12%
• Xbox hardware revenue: Down 13%
• Monthly active users (gaming): 120 million

The company said that a number of the declines were in line with expectations.

The post Xbox Q2 Revenue Dips 13%, Game Pass Continues Growth appeared first on Sudairy.

According to Windows Central, the survey suggested that a potential $3 subscription tier offering come with features, such as allowing users to play new first-party Xbox titles six months after launch, and would include Xbox’s slate of exclusive titles as well.

Multiplayer and EA Access games would also be accessible in this new potential tier offering.

With Game Pass reportedly falling short of it’s target in growth, back in October, it makes sense that they are exploring new tier offerings.

The post Microsoft Gauging Interest in Xbox Game Pass Ad-Supported Tier appeared first on Sudairy.

According to researcher Molly White via Twitter, the company attributed the decision to FTX’s filing for bankruptcy.

“There is simply no way for FTX to cure the reputational harm already caused to Riot as a result of the highly public disrepute wrought by the debacle preceding FTX’s bankruptcy filing. FTX cannot turn back the clock and undo the damage inflicted on Riot in the wake of its collapse,” Riot Games said, reportedly.

The two sides initially partnered up via an advertising deal in 2021 which would see Riot Games promote FTX’s brand in connection with its esports circuit, the League of Legends Championship series.

FTX owed Riot $12.5 million but so far has only covered $6.2 million of that balance during 2022, and in 2023 FTX would need to pay $12,875,000, with payments continuing to grow until the year 2028.

Riot Games also noted their criticism of the fall of FTX and arrest of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried as among the reasons that they decided to end the deal.

The post Riot Games Files Motion to End Deal with FTX appeared first on Sudairy.

The numbers demonstrate the financials for the three month period that ended on October 29th, 2022.

The numbers:

• Net sales: $1.2 billion, down 8% year-over-year
• Net loss: $94.7 million, down 10% year-on-year
• Hardware and accessories: $627 million, down 6% year-over-year
• Software: $352 million, down 19% year-over-year
• GameStop’s net loss was down 10% compared to the same period last year, but still hit $94.7 million
• Sales decreased across the board

In an earnings call (as transcribed via Seeking Alpha), Gamestop CEO Matt Furlong stated that the company would not provide “formal guidance at this time.”

“It is worth reiterating, however, that our goal is to achieve profitability in the near term,” he said.

“I want to finish by reiterating what we’ve said in the past. We’re attempting to accomplish something unprecedented in the retail sector. We’re seeking to transform a legacy brick-and-mortar business that was on the brink of bankruptcy into a retailer that meets customers’ needs through our stores, e-commerce properties and emerging sales channels. This path carries risk and is taking time, but it is the path we are on. With that said, GameStop is a stronger business today than at any time in the recent past.”

The post GameStop Continues Troubling Trend in Q3 appeared first on Sudairy.

Embracer was previously trading on Nasdaq First North Growth Market, where they have been listed since November 2016 under the name THQ Nordic AB, and its last day there will be December 21.

“The rationale for the listing in 2016, and the related capital raise was, among other things, to finance growth, facilitate the possibility of using the company’s shares as a means of payment in acquisitions, and strengthen the company’s profile and brand among investors, customers and within the sector in general,” the company said in an official announcement.

“The listing of the company’s class B shares on Nasdaq Stockholm is an important step in [its] continued development and has been a long-standing ambition of the company’s board of directors and management,” it continued.

“In addition to the fact that the listing on Nasdaq Stockholm provides a quality stamp for the company, the listing is also expected to make the company’s class B shares even more attractive as a means of payment, which may facilitate future acquisition discussions. Furthermore, the listing on Nasdaq Stockholm is expected to better reflect the maturity of the company from a capital market perspective and enable more institutional investors to invest in the Company’s class B shares.”

The post Embracer Approved to Trade on Nasdaq Stockholm appeared first on Sudairy.

Per the release: “Metal: Hellsinger, the award-winning rhythm shooter from developer The Outsiders and publisher Funcom, cranks the volume to max with a brand-new update. The 1.5 patch adds a new top difficulty — Archdevil — and gives players weapon skins to unlock and combos to master. Additionally, Funcom and The Outsiders are excited to announce that Metal: Hellsinger is now available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, making the Eight Hells more accessible than ever.”

The game boasts a 98% positive Steam score, a Golden Joystick Award for Best Audio, a Best Music and Score nomination from The Game Awards.

The post Metal: Hellsinger Surpasses One Million Player Milestone appeared first on Sudairy.

The mobile version of PUBG experienced 104.4 million installs globally between January and September 2022, which represents a 27% decline year-over-year from the same period in 2021, additionally,  PUBG Mobile made $1.6 billion between January and September of this year, also a 27% decrease from the $2.2 million generated from Q1 to Q3 last year.

Looking at another popular title, MiHoYo’s RPG Genshin Impact, they generated $1.4 billion in consumer spending between Q1 and Q3 2022. The game celebrated it’s second anniversary in style, hitting $3.7 million in lifetime revenue around the time, according to Sensor Tower.

MiHoYo’s RPG has amassed 126.4 million installs on mobile to this date.

The post PUBG Mobile Surpasses $9 Billion in Lifetime Revenue appeared first on Sudairy.

Furthermore, the lawsuit may seek to block the record-breaking deal, according to sources in the report who also said that the FTC’s four commissioners are yet to vote on a complaint or meet with lawyers, but the bulk of the investigation has been completed.

A lawsuit is not guaranteed and the FTC has not made any formal announcements at this time.

The post FTC Reportedly Considering Lawsuit Over Microsoft Activision Deal appeared first on Sudairy.

Despite technical issues that has garnered criticism, the games are among the trend of AAA game launching during the third quarter and their incredible successes, such as Sony’s God of War Ragnarok and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Additionally, the game has found success in the United Kingdom market as well, generating more revenue in it’s first two days since launch than any other Pokemon release in the United Kingdom has in the past.

The post Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Become Fastest Selling Games in Nintendo History appeared first on Sudairy.

Playstation officially celebrated the milestone on their official Twitter account.

“Congratulations to @SonySantaMonica for making God of War Ragnarök the fastest-selling first party launch game in PlayStation history!”

The post God of War Ragnarok Surpasses 5 Million Units Sold appeared first on Sudairy.

Additionally, their research finds  that for the year 2022, consumer spending among the group will reach $36 billion, while Japan’s and Korea’s markets make up 77% of the Asia-10’s gaming revenue.

The Asia-10 relates to Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, and India.

Furthermore, their 2022 India Games Market report projects that the country will amass $704.5 million in player spending and $1.4 billion by 2026.

The post Niko Partners Releases 2022 Asia-10 Games Market Report appeared first on Sudairy.

China-based NetEase has handled publishing for some of Blizzard’s biggest titles, including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and Overwatch, however the two sides were unable to agree to terms on a new deal to keep the relationship alive.

The current deal will officially expire on January 23rd, at which point the following titles will be suspended in China:

• Diablo 3
• Hearthstone
• Heroes of the Storm
• Overwatch
• StarCraft (all titles)
• Warcraft 3: Reforged
• World of Warcraft

Additionally, Blizzard has said it will cease new sales of these titles “in the coming days” but the upcoming releases for World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, Hearthstone: March of the Lich King, and season two of Overwatch 2 will move forward as planned.

Furthermore, Diablo Immortal, which is co-developed by NetEase and Blizzard, is covered by a separate agreement.

“We have put in a great deal of effort and tried with our utmost sincerity to negotiate with Activision Blizzard so that we could continue our collaboration and serve the many dedicated players in China” NetEase CEO William Ding said in an official statement.

“However, there were material differences on key terms and we could not reach an agreement.

“We hold high regard in our product and operational standards and abide by our commitments to Chinese players.”

Blizzard released a statement of their own stating that the two companies could not agree on a deal that was “consistent with Blizzard’s operating principles and commitments to players and employees.”

The post Blizzard, Netease End 14-Year Partnership appeared first on Sudairy.

The project, known as Keystone, as the topic of conversation as Spencer was interviewed on an episode of The Verge’s Decoder podcast.

“The console we built that now people have seen, Keystone, was more expensive than we wanted it to be when we actually built it out with the hardware that we had inside, and we decided to focus that team’s efforts on delivering the smart TV streaming app” Spencer explained.

Microsoft announced a partnership with Samsung earlier this year to bring an Xbox Cloud Gaming app to Samsung’s Smart TVs and Spencer said that the company is “really happy with the results there” thus far.

Spencer added that Xbox is “still focused” on the project but that pricing has proven to be difficult as they try to align it appropriately within the market.

“I don’t want to announce pricing specifically, but I think you’ve got to be $129, $99, like somewhere in there for [Keystone] to make sense in my view, that we just weren’t there,” Spencer said. “We weren’t there with the controller. And I love the effort. The reason it’s on my shelf is the team rolled up their sleeves and in nine months they built that thing. And a bunch of us took it home and it worked. It worked really, really well.”

The post Xbox Explains Decision to Abandon Plans for Keystone Streaming Console appeared first on Sudairy.

Furthermore, Activision claims Modern Warfare 2 is the “highest grossing entertainment opening of 2022”, according to the report.

The newest records build on Modern Warfare II’s momentum:

• Modern Warfare II is the highest grossing entertainment opening of 2022.
• Modern Warfare II is the #1 top selling opening in franchise history topping $800 million in sell-through following its first three days of release.
• On November 16, the run continues with the release of Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0.

“Our developers, along with our entire Activision Blizzard team, are the backbone of our unwavering commitment to serve our hundreds of millions of players around the world. I am so proud of the extraordinary efforts from our Call of Duty teams and the records they have achieved with Modern Warfare II. Connecting the world through joy, fun and the thrill of competition is the key to our success. Modern Warfare II has provided this to millions of players faster and with greater satisfaction than ever before,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard.

“The incredible momentum driving Modern Warfare II is a direct reflection of the energy and passion of the Call of Duty community,” said Johanna Faries, General Manager, Call of Duty. “As we look ahead to an unprecedented level of support for Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0’s launch next week, we are motivated to deliver again for the best player community in the world.”

The post Activision Says Modern Warfare 2 Hits Record Sales Numbers appeared first on Sudairy.

Overall results

• Net sales: ¥163.4 billion ($1.1 billion, down 3.3% year-on-year)
• Operating income: ¥26 billion ($177.6 million, down 10.6%)
• Ordinary income: ¥45.1 billion ($308.1 million, up 43.5%)
• Profit attributable to owners of parent: ¥39.5 billion ($269.9 million, up 71.7%)

Digital Entertainment

• Net Sales: ¥117.1 billion ($800 million, down 9.5%)
• HD games: ¥29.4 billion ($200.8 million, down 29.6%)
• Mobile/PC: ¥59 billion ($403 million, down 5%)
• MMO: ¥28.6 billion ($195.4 million, down 3.1%)
• Operating income: ¥24.5 ($167.4 million, down 16.7%)

The post Square Enix Releases Financial Report appeared first on Sudairy.

“Today we announced internally an update to our racing portfolio” EA said in a statement (via GamesIndustry.biz). “Following an evaluation of the next Project CARS title and its longer-term growth potential, we have made the decision to stop further development and investment for the franchise.

“Decisions like these are very hard, but allow us to prioritise our focus in areas where we believe we have the strongest opportunity to create experiences that fans will love. We are focusing on our strengths in our racing portfolio, particularly licensed IP and open-world experiences, and expanding our franchises to be more socially-led with long-term live services that will engage global communities. Games are at the heart of sports and racing entertainment, and with shifting fan expectations, we recognise the need to evolve our games beyond pure play, providing experiences for fans to also watch, create and connect with their friends.

“We are working with everyone impacted by this decision to place them into suitable roles across our EA Sports and racing portfolio, as well as other parts of EA, wherever we can. Our priority now is on providing as much support as possible to our people through this transition.”

The post EA Dropping Project CARS appeared first on Sudairy.

“The combination of Unity and ironSource is transformational in that it will give mobile game developers the tools they need at each stage of their development journey: from building, publishing, and operating mobile games to monetizing them, if they choose to, and growing their player base across multiple channels.”

The deal was initially announced back in July of this year and was yet another acquisition for Unity, who also absorbed the likes of Ziva Dynamics, Pixyz Software, SpeedTree, Parsec, SyncSketch and visual effects company Weta Digital.

Riccitiello says that the company “remains committed to developing features for PC, consoles and XR” (via GamesIndustry.biz). “The benefits from the merger with ironSource are, indeed, particularly strong for mobile game developers who choose advertising as their business mode,” he acknowledged, adding that most mobile developers using advertising and in-app purchases to monetise their games and claiming most players “welcome ads as a way to discover new games to play.”

“We know you will have a lot of questions about how Unity will integrate and introduce these products,” he continued.

“We are committed to moving quickly and transparently to integrate our technologies to deliver the best tools and services and over the course of the next week will share more about the short-term benefits for mobile game developers in particular.”

The post Unity Completes Merger with IronSource appeared first on Sudairy.

“NetEase Games has been exceptionally supportive from the very get-go, believing in our high ambitions and quality-focused approach to game development,” Sundberg said in an official statement. “We are very pleased to have them as our partners on this adventure and with their support, we can begin to realize the vision for our studio.”

“We believe in the creativity of Liquid Swords and share their passion for building open-world games and experiences” Simon Zhu, NetEase Games president of global partnerships and investments added. “They have built a strong, experienced team and we are very excited to partner with them as they begin their journey of creating something amazing for gamers worldwide.”

The post NetEase Takes Minority Stake in Liquid Swords appeared first on Sudairy.

Frontier stated that they will “continue to explore opportunities to grow Frontier’s resources.”

“When we launched our third-party publishing strategy in 2019 we were excited by the potential to align our Frontier Foundry development partners more formally with Frontier through acquisition,” Frontier Developments CEO Jonny Watts said.

“Our experience with Complex Games on Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters has been terrific, and I am delighted to welcome Noah [Decter-Jackson, CEO] and the team to Frontier, with a view to growing and evolving our development team in Manitoba, Canada.”

The post Frontier Acquires Complex Games appeared first on Sudairy.

The Seattle based indie game devs also commented on the acquisition, with vice president of game studios Amir Rahimi stating that Spry Fox will “help accelerate our creative development in another beloved genre and add to the growing variety of Netflix’s games catalog that will have something for everyone”, via their official website.

Spry Fox CEO David Edery posted on his blog stating that the studio will retain its focus on ‘cozy games’, with the team already working on Cozy Grove 2 and a “larger, non-violent MMO” that has yet to be announced.

Edery added that there will be “no change in our current development efforts” and assured that all previous games will remain downloadable on their current platforms. He also elaborated on how Spry Fox will benefit from Netflix’s ownership.

“We can continue making the games that we were already making and wanted to make, but with more support and resources to make those games better and bring them to more people around the world,” he wrote.

“We can stop stressing about how our games generate profit on our games and instead focus exclusively on making them as enjoyable and fulfilling to our players as possible. We can collaborate with other creative people within Netflix to hopefully get better at what we do and how we do it.”

The post Netflix Acquires Spry Fox appeared first on Sudairy.

The report notes that in comparison,  the PlayStation 4 reached 2 million units sold after 90 weeks, adding that the majority of the Playstation 5 units that we sold, were the disc-based consoles, which sold 1.75 million compared to the digital only model that sold 278,046 consoles.

Furthermore, in Japan the PlayStation 5 model increased to ¥54,980 ($370) for the disc model and ¥44,980 ($302) for the digital console.

The post Playstation 5 Reaches 2 Million Units Sold in Japan appeared first on Sudairy.

Per the report, live streaming game content hours watched on Youtube saw numbers jumping 42% to 434 million for September. Additionally, Youtube’s non-gaming related content saw total live content hours watched on the site reaching 2.7 billion.

It’s important to note that StreamElements switched its analytics partner for the September report from Rainmaker.gg to Streams Charts.

StreamElements commented, via GamesIndustry.biz, stating – “Analytic sites track hours watched at different times during any given minute so peaks and valleys can make results vary,” the representative said. “Even with these variances, most results are consistent when it comes to whether or not a platform rose or dropped in overall hours watched.”

The post YouTube Game Streaming Sees Spike in Viewership appeared first on Sudairy.

Magic Games was founded by former Peak Games executives Çağrı Öztürk, Rüya Çelikcan and Mert Kasar.

The funds will be utilized to build it’s team, open a European based office, and help bring it’s debut title to life. Their debut title has yet to be announced, but is reportedly a match-3 game.

“Our company builds around the belief that social interactions are the key to deepening and enriching our shared gameplay experience,” Öztürk said in a statement. “Social features are integral to our development cycle as we work to build multiplayer games that anyone can enjoy.”

The post Magic Games Raises $5 Million appeared first on Sudairy.

Google is offering full refunds to anyone who bought Stadia hardware, namely the service’s optional controller, or games on the service (but not for its Pro subscription plan). Google is also cancelling pre-orders, zeroing out any future subscription fees and taking its gaming library offline after Jan. 18, 2023.

Stadia launched back in 2019, with Google intending to disrupt the industry with it’s introduction of a platform that was centered on streaming. However, with very few exclusives and an unattractive subscription model as it’s main offering, traction was slow with Stadia.

Coupled with Microsoft’s moves into the industry, becoming a bigger threat and competitor thanks to it’s Xbox Game Pass system, Stadia was dealt a rough road to travel.

“While Stadia’s approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn’t gained the traction with users that we expected, so we’ve made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service,” Stadia’s GM Phil Harrison wrote in a blog post.

The post Google Shutting Down Stadia appeared first on Sudairy.

“We’re continuing to invest in the future of the franchise by bringing in new talent and perspectives,” Respawn founder and head of the Battlefield franchise Vince Zampella said in an official announcement.

“With Marcus and his team at Ridgeline Games joining the world-class global team we have already in place, Battlefield is in the strongest position to succeed.”

The post EA Announces New Studio Ridgeline Games appeared first on Sudairy.

A number of Xbox Insiders in the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring will get to check out the proposed changes as the Xbox team explores different strategies. Some of the new changes include a “Jump back in” row which will give users quick access to most recently played games and apps.

The Xbox Team is also exploring new game channels and collections , and the ability for users system apps like Settings, Store, Search, and My Games & Apps as they will have dedicated tiles on Xbox Home.

The new Xbox Home experience is slated to launch sometime in 2023.

The post Xbox Asks Insiders To “Help Shape” New Xbox Home Experience appeared first on Sudairy.

It’s clear that Instagram is worried about their hold on the top spot, as TikTok continues to climb the ranks, and given the amount of updates Instagram has implemented to make it’s app feel more like TikTok (more on that), the brands are digging in their heels to collide for supremacy atop the influencer marketing mountain.

The report cites a new data study from analysts at Insider Intelligence (previously eMarketer) that indicates that TikTok is set to overtake Facebook in influencer marketing spend within 2022, and will take over YouTube, who currently sits in the second spot, by the year 2024.

Currently within the United States, YouTube is seeing $948.0 million in influencer marketing dollars spent on its platform which is ahead of Facebook’s $739.0 million, but TikTok has already topped YouTube based on marketer usage for influencer centric marketing campaigns.

Also noted were Instagram’s recent rolling back of some recent updates to replicate TikTok, but some kickback, which included a complaint from celebrities like the Kardashians, forced a change in approach.

Instagram could be planning for larger scale changes in the future, so it can slide more fluidly into an influencer marketing centric focus. Whether or not TikTok SEO will force Instagram to embrace search engine optimization style marketing remains to be seen, but change is coming.

Smaller influencers are set to see some growth in opportunities as well, as Instagram’s feed adjustments would allow smaller “micro” and “nano” influencers to get a bigger cut of the revenue cake. To clarify, Nano-influencers are considered to be those with 1,000-4,999 followers, with micro-influencers clocking between 5,000-19,999 followers, and with TikTok content creators who would fit in those categories already generating benefits, it’s vital for Instagram to also point focus in those directions.

The report predicts that “nano” influencer spending will rise 220.5%, and spending on “mega” influencers will grow only 8.0%.

There is also data to show that marketers may prefer to work with smaller creators, for a number of reasons that include cheaper rates and higher engagement rate potential.

“TikTok is surging in popularity for influencer marketing, but it’s still nowhere near Instagram in terms of spending or marketer adoption,” Insider Intelligence principal analyst Jasmine Enberg said. “That’s in part due to the higher prices Instagram creators charge for content, but also because of its wide array of content formats, most of which are now shoppable. Still, Instagram is trying to be more like TikTok so that it can attract smaller creators, which TikTok is known for. That’s key for Instagram to retain its lead in the influencer marketing space, especially as many creators on TikTok now boast follower counts that rival or surpass those on Instagram and YouTube.”

The report closes by predicting that 74.5% of U.S. marketers will use influencer marketing in 2022 and influencer marketing spend will rise by 27.8% to $4.99 billion this year alone.

The post TikTok Surpassing Facebook in Influencer Marketing Spend in 2022, YouTube by 2024 appeared first on Sudairy.

The NFT boom has permeated throughout a number of industries, including gaming and even marketing in NFT SEO, throughout 2022 after a meteoric boom in 2021 that saw financial numbers rocket to incredible milestone numbers.

Hey @wario64 a special PlayStation quest at EVO is asking players about what gaming NFTs they want to see from PlayStation. pic.twitter.com/Vwd5Q3cHn1

— Snorlax Ownz (@snorlaxownz) August 5, 2022

This coincides with an announcement last month regarding the Playstation Stars loyalty program, which immediately caused chatter as there was a mention of digital collectibles, with many connecting that with NFTs, but it wasn’t the case.

Time will tell what the purpose of this survey is.

The post Playstation Asking Players About NFTs appeared first on Sudairy.

“The Tyrus Transaction offers tremendous opportunity for X1 to partake in the growing global creator economy which is an industry of over 50 million individual content creators¹ where Tyrus is extremely well-positioned,” said Mark Elfenbein, CEO of X1, in an official statement. “The video game category has been a top category of the creator economy and has largely benefited the growth of the video game industry recently.”

Tyrus’ Manager, Amanda Solomon, will also join the X1 Advisory board as part of the move.

“Becoming part of the X1 family will allow Tyrus to extend its reach and engage with new and exciting talent in the gaming and esports community,” said Amanda Solomon, CEO of Tyrus. “The talent and diversity of our influencer roster is something we take great pride in. I look forward to growing our presence in this space and providing unique access for global brands to a highly influential GenZ audience”.

The post X1Esports Acquires Tyrus LLC appeared first on Sudairy.

According to an official press release: “We delivered an outstanding second quarter and surpassed our expectations for growth and profitability fueled by record Activation revenue and continued momentum on Social and CTV platforms,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “As advertisers seek stability and clarity in an increasingly unstable and opaque marketing environment, they continue to choose DV’s industry-leading quality and performance solutions to protect their brands and reduce media waste, ultimately driving better outcomes and ROI. Based on our strong results in the first half of 2022, we are raising our guidance for full year revenue and adjusted EBITDA. We remain confident that our growing global scale, market leading innovation, and legacy of trust will further deepen our client relationships and fuel steady growth that will outperform our competitors and the broader digital ad industry in 2022 and beyond.”

Here are the numbers:

Second Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights:
(All comparisons are to the second quarter of 2021)

• Total revenue of $109.8 million, an increase of 43%.
• Activation revenue of $60.5 million, an increase of 60%.
• Measurement revenue of $38.9 million, an increase of 23%.
  • Media Transactions Measured (“MTM”) for CTV and Social increased by 56% and 26% respectively.
  • International measurement revenue increased by 18%, with EMEA revenue growth of 14% and APAC revenue growth of 25%.
• Supply-Side revenue of $10.4 million, an increase of 49%.
• Net income of $10.3 million and adjusted EBITDA of $34.0 million, which increased by 60% and represented a 31% adjusted EBITDA margin.

Second Quarter and Recent Business Highlights:

• Grew Total Advertiser revenue by 43% year-over-year in the second quarter primarily due to a 24% increase in Media Transactions Measured (“MTM”) and a 10% increase in Measured Transaction Fee (“MTF”), and continued to achieve a Gross Revenue Retention rate of over 95% in the second quarter.

• Grew premium-priced Authentic Brand Suitability (ABS) revenues by 52% year-over-year in the second quarter driven by existing client upsells and geographic expansion as well as by a 20% year-over-year increase in the number of advertisers activating the solution in the second quarter of 2022.

• Drove global market share growth through product upsells, international expansion and new enterprise logo wins including British Airways, Taco Bell, Universal Parks, Roshfrans, Meta, Asda, Califia Farms, Infiniti and Smile Direct.

• Continued to expand our coverage in the digital gaming sector and began working with Twitch Ads on a solution to identify contextually brand-safe and suitable livestreamed content for advertisers on Twitch. The solution is currently in closed beta. Twitch is an interactive livestreaming service and global community.

• Launched an exclusive partnership with Reddit to enable full-suite media verification and maximize advertiser performance across its dynamic, user generated content environment.

• Launched an exclusive partnership with Scope3 to provide advertiser and agency customers with a comprehensive campaign-based carbon footprint metric via DV’s flagship service and analytics platform, DV Pinnacle®.

• Launched a platform-wide agreement with the LinkedIn Audience Network to provide brand safety and fraud prevention for all LinkedIn native ads across desktop, mobile web and in-app. The integration uses DV’s technology and data to not only ensure that all campaigns activated through the LinkedIn Audience Network are brand safe, but also fraud-free.

“We delivered strong revenue growth in the first half of 2022 due to the resilience of our business model and the essential nature of our products,” said Nicola Allais, CFO of DoubleVerify. “Our revenue outperformance translated into stronger than expected adjusted EBITDA margins, which also benefited from the faster integration of recent acquisitions and our overall financial discipline, ensuring that our operating expense growth was commensurate with our expected revenue growth. At the midpoints of our raised full-year guidance range, we now expect 35% revenue growth and 31% adjusted EBITDA margins. We continue to monitor the impact of the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment on our clients’ ad budgets, and to engage them in regular dialogue as we successfully execute our plan for the rest of the year.”

The post DoubleVerify Reports Second Quarter Financial Results appeared first on Sudairy.

Things to know about this preview:

• The people you share your membership with do not have to be Insiders but must reside in the same country as you. Enrollment is limited and will remain open while the offer is available.
• Joining the Game Pass – Insider Preview will convert the time remaining on your membership to time in the new plan, based upon the monetary value of the old membership. For example, a full month of Ultimate will be converted to 18 days of membership for this plan. This way you won’t lose any of the remaining value on your existing subscription upon conversion. Conversion is final, and users must wait for their new membership to expire before returning to a previous membership.
• Conversion is not available for invited group members. Before joining a group, a group member can cancel their existing subscription or wait for it to expire. If they do not have a Microsoft account, invited friends and family will have to create a new Microsoft account and sign in with it to participate.
• Members with Xbox All Access won’t be able to participate in this preview.
• In Colombia, parts of the copy for the preview have not been localized and might be displayed in English.

Known issues:

• Invited members with an existing subscription may encounter an error when accepting an invite. We’re working on enabling these members to cancel immediately to accept the invitation.
• Attempts to upgrade twice within 24 hours will be blocked. For example, upgrading from Xbox Live Gold to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will work, but attempts to then upgrade from Ultimate to Xbox Game Pass – Insider Preview will be blocked for 24 hours. There is currently a generic error code shown when this is attempted.
• Microsoft account family members will not receive an email when automatically added to a group. Primary account holders can share benefits with Microsoft account family members automatically. We’re working on sending a confirmation email, and family members do not need to explicitly accept an invite to get access.
• A Primary account holder may see a “Something went wrong” error when trying to share directly to two or more Microsoft account family members at once after purchase. Please wait a short time and try again. Alternatively, try sharing via email or link.
• Error while trying to purchase Xbox Game Pass – Insider Preview plan. If you’re blocked from purchase with this error code: PEX-CatalogAvailabilityDataNotFound, please report a problem following the steps outlined in the Insider subreddit here. You may be able to work around this by restarting the Microsoft Store and trying to purchase again.
• Subscription sharing “Get help” link on account.microsoft.com links to the support.xbox.com home page instead of a specific support article with sharing help.
• Invitation and group management related emails are currently only in English.  We are working on additional languages for these emails.

The post Ireland, Colombia Xbox Insiders Can Preview New Game Pass Offer appeared first on Sudairy.

Here is a look inside the numbers:

• Net sales: ¥216 billion ($1.62 billion), up 21.5% year-on-year
• Operating profit: ¥44.4 billion ($334 million), up 64.3% year-on-year

• Net sales in the digital entertainment segment: ¥89.6 billion ($674 million), up 34% year-on-year
• Operating profit in the digital entertainment segment: ¥29.4 billion ($221 million), up 48% year-on-year
• Sales for home video games represented $304 million during Q1 FY2023, a 54% increase year-to-year
• Bandai Namco sold 11.4 million units across four titles released during the quarter, up from 10 million during same period in year prior

Bandai Namco stated that each of its businesses “quickly promoted various measures to adapt to changes in lifestyles and preferences of customers” during Q1 and that helped lead to a solid performances in digital business, and other areas.

“Profits also increased significantly due to strong repeat sales of home video games, which have high profit margins,” the company stated. “As a result of this strong Q1, net sales during Q2 are now expected to reach ¥430 billion ($3.23 billion) instead of ¥400 billion ($3 billion), with the revision “reflecting the significant progress in actual results and recent market environment for the first quarter.”

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Additionally, Blockchain gaming related investments totaled 25% of Q2 2022’s value at $1.2 billion.

Total M&A transactions reached $18.6 billion and saw a growth of 135% year-over-year for the quarter. The report went on to say that the increase in both mergers and in acquisitions took place in over 59 deals, with a big chunk, 2/3 to be exact, being attributed to Take-Two’s acquisition of Zynga for $12.7 billion. Mergers and acquisitions, per the report, amassed $26.5 billion and were down 7% when comparing to the same period last year.

Unity’s merger with IronSource, Embracer’s acquisition of Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal for $300 million were some examples of M&A deals that were highlighted in Q2.

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“Logitech G’s leadership in PC and console gaming gear make them an ideal partner to help us realize the vision of bringing a better gaming experience to gamers around the globe,” said Tencent Games Smart Solution Innovation Lab general manager Daniel Wu. “Today marks the start of a new opportunity for our companies to further push the frontiers of gaming devices.”

As of this writing, there is no official release date associated with the console, and marketing plans are not currently known although it will likely include elements of Influencer Marketing and even Video Game SEO to help scale.

Earlier this year, Xbox was reportedly planning to launch a cloud streaming device sometime in 2023, but no official statement has been issued by Microsoft since.

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The report, which cites “four sources with direct knowledge of the matter”, claims that Tencent wants to become the single largest shareholder in Ubisoft, the publisher for many popular titles, and is willing to pay up 10 $102 per share to facilitate a deal in the latest video game stock news reports.

“Tencent is very determined to nail down the deal as Ubisoft is such an important strategic asset for Tencent,” one reported source says.

Ubisoft shares opened today’s trading at $43.03, and following the report by Reuters, Ubisoft shares were trading up 15% at $49.24.

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