People love playing video games for many reasons. There is a good chance that you fit into this category. After a tough day at work or school, you likely return home and turn on your PlayStation. You’re not alone. Half the population regularly plays video games. With this in mind, readers should know that the landscape is rapidly changing. Many of these changes are happening due to companies joining teams. Other changes are happening because of technological advancements.
Below, readers will find out about the most important gaming news in recent weeks.
Sony Buying Bungie
Bungie has established itself as one of the top video game developers in recent years. The company is best known for its Destiny franchise. The company announced the exciting news on January 31, when it said it would be joining Sony. Bungie will join the PlayStation family although little will change. President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Jim Ryan, announced the news. He went on to say that Bungie will remain an independent, multi-platform publisher. Hermen Hulst said he was excited for Bungie to join the PlayStation family since he has been a fan of the developer for many years.
In addition to the announcement, it was revealed that Sony purchased Bungie for roughly $3.6 billion. It’ll be interesting to see where Bungie goes from here. Will the move impact its ability to produce exciting new titles?
Microsoft Cancelling Dormant Subscription To Game Pass
Microsoft is being forced to implement changes after an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority in the United Kingdom. Microsoft has announced that it will implement changes to ensure that subscribers can cancel their Game Pass services much easier. It will stop accepting payments for dormant subscriptions. The CMA was concerned about Microsoft using auto-renewing subscriptions to automatically charge customers each month. The concerns involved the automatic renewal of these services and whether customers were unknowingly paying for old subscriptions. Microsoft will address these issues by being more transparent.
It will provide more transparent information upfront to ensure customers fully understand their Xbox memberships. Furthermore, it will contact customers every 12 months to give them the chance to cancel. Inactive members will be canceled when they’re not used for a long time. Ultimately, this is something most won’t have to worry about when playing สล็อตเว็บตรง.
Entain Entering The Metaverse
Early this week, it was announced that Entain would be entering the metaverse. The company will invest $130 million into launching an innovative global lab to develop and launch immersive gaming experiences. It will also provide sports experiences. The company revealed that it had teamed up with several early partners, including BT, Theta Labs, and Verizon. To guarantee success, its products will be tested by consumers using VR arcades and retail experience zones.
With VR technology growing, the company is taking steps to be at the forefront.
Microsoft Buying Activision Blizzard
Before Sony announced it would buy Bungie, Microsoft revealed it was going to buy Activision Blizzard. The news sent shockwaves through the gaming industry and likely forced Sony’s hand. As the producer of Xbox gaming consoles, Microsoft would like to dominate the gaming market. Purchasing Activision Blizzard will prove to be very helpful. The acquisition will cost Microsoft nearly $70 billion. Microsoft already owns several gaming franchises such as Minecraft, Age of Empires, and Halo. Once it acquires Activision Blizzard, it will take control of Candy Crush, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft.
Still, some are worried that the move will hurt consumer privacy. Others wonder whether regulators will allow the acquisition to happen.
Viewership Growing
While many prefer playing video games, others like watching other people play them. In 2021, it was estimated that people watched more than 650 million hours of gaming content on YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook Gaming. As a result, viewership hours increased by 21% from the previous year. While YouTube excels in this category, it is far behind Twitch. The latter announced for more than 70% of all hours watched. Fans enjoyed watching a variety of video games with the most popular being rust, Minecraft, and Grand Theft Auto V. Open world games were watched more than others. Other popular games were battle royale games and shooting games. Regardless, online streaming of video games is quickly growing.
