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After last fall signaling its intentions to expand into cloud gaming, Netflix today launched a new app that will soon allow subscribers to play games on their TV. The app, dubbed “Netflix Game Controller,” lets you use your phone as a controller after pairing it with your TV in order to play the games available through Netflix’s service.

Though the game has appeared in the App Store, there’s no news yet on which of Netflix’s games will be making their way to the big screen or when. Instead, the app’s description simply teases: “Coming soon to Netflix.”

Reached for comment, Netflix declined to share additional details about its plans or timeline.

Netflix’s new app on the App Store. Image Credits: Netflix

However, Netflix has already gone on the record about its plans to expand beyond mobile gaming.

In October 2022, Netflix VP of gaming Mike Verdu told the audience at our TechCrunch Disrupt event that Netflix was “exploring a cloud gaming offering.” He also noted the company would open a new gaming studio in Southern California, led by Chacko Sonny, the former executive producer on Overwatch at Blizzard Entertainment.

The exec clarified he didn’t see Netflix competing in the same space as PlayStation or Xbox, however.

“It’s a value add. We’re not asking you to subscribe as a console replacement,” Verdu said at the time. “It’s a completely different business model. The hope is over time that it just becomes this very natural way to play games wherever you are.”

While other cloud gaming services have failed, like Google’s Stadia, Netflix believes the issues were around the business models, not the technology. Verdu remarked that Stadia’s games were fun to play, but the business itself was not sustainable.

Netflix, on the other hand, bundles free games into the cost of its streaming subscription.

As Netflix continued to roll out more games to its service, Netflix’s VP of external games Leanne Loombe this May touted Netflix’s cloud gaming ambitions, saying, “We do believe that cloud gaming will enable us to provide that easy access to games on any screen. Our overall vision is that our members can play games on any Netflix device they have” — a statement that would clearly include users’ TVs.

The streamer also said around the same time that it had 40 games slated for launch this year as well as 16 being developed in its in-house studios plus 70 more in development with its partners. Since Netflix expanded into gaming in November 2021, it has released north of 50 titles.

Netflix was spotted developing an iPhone-based game controller this March.

The focus on Netflix gaming has been dwindling in recent months, as the market has been more concerned about how Netflix’s plans to crack down on password-sharing would impact its bottom line. In the last recent quarter, the streamer added 5.9 million global subscribers, bringing the total to 238.4 million — an indication the crackdown was working. But that also means there are more potential gamers for Netflix’s cloud gaming service, whenever it may arrive.

For the time being, the new Netflix Gaming Controller app is only available on iOS. Because it’s so new to arrive, market intelligence firm data.ai doesn’t yet have it listed under Netflix’s apps and games on its service or have information on rankings.

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The New York Times announced last week that it will stop making Digits, a math puzzle game that debuted in beta in April. The last of these daily math puzzles will go up on August 8.

Digits is a fun game. It earned a slot in my daily rotation of the little games I play when I need a little break from writing (for the record, all of you are sleeping on Globle). You have six numbers at your disposal, which you can add, subtract, multiply and divide to get to another specific number. Yeah, it helps if you’re good at math and can do some simple arithmetic to see if your solution to the puzzle will work, but the game does the math for you. It’s all vibes, baby. Add some numbers, multiply them, subtract some other numbers, see how you do.

It’s not clear why The New York Times is ceasing the production of Digits, but the company says that it was never meant to be a permanent game.

“We always approached our experiment with Digits as a limited time beta test,” a New York Times spokesperson said. “During this time, we learned a lot about how players engaged with the game and we’re grateful for their feedback.”

At the risk of sounding like a boomer, I think math gets a bad rep these days, and I worry that y’all didn’t give Digits a fair shake. I think people in my generation like to joke about how they can’t do math, but I think we’re smarter than that! It’s not our fault (or teachers’ faults) that the American public education system is underfunded and lacks sufficient resources, and it’s hard to learn precalculus in a classroom with 35 hormonal teens. Math is cool as hell. Didn’t y’all grow up watching ViHart on YouTube? Didn’t you meet some guy in college with an Euler’s Identity tattoo?

For myself and the (probably, like, five) other people who played this game, the only consolation is that another beta-testing New York Times game, Connections, kicks ass. You’re given 16 nouns, and you have to sort them into the four correct groups of four. Sometimes a category is easy, like “modes of transportation.” Sometimes, they’re a bit more tricky, like “band names minus colors.”

Regardless, I will miss my little daily math puzzles. I guess I’ll have to just keep trying my hand at the crossword.

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Tencent, one of the world’s largest gaming companies, is set to gobble up Techland, the Polish game developer known for open-world zombie games like Dying Light, adding yet another member to its sprawling investment portfolio.

In a letter to players, Techland’s founder and CEO Paweł Marchewka announced that Tencent is in the process of becoming the gaming firm’s majority shareholder. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Teaming up with Tencent will allow us to move full speed ahead with the execution of the vision for our games. We have chosen an ally who has already partnered with some of the world’s finest video game companies and helped them reach new heights while respecting their ways of doing things,” he wrote.

In the span of two decades, Tencent has turned itself into a gaming IP and publishing behemoth by investing in and buying studios around the world. Some of the bigger deals it has struck include its full acquisition of Riot Games, the creator of League of Legends; its majority stake in Clash of Clans developer Supercell; becoming the single largest shareholder in Ubisoft, the creator behind Assassin’s Creed; and having a stake in Fortnite developer Epic Games as well as PUBG creator Krafton.

The Chinese firm’s investment pace has slowed significantly in recent times, recording just 11 deals in Q1 this year, down from 35 and 34 in the same period during the two preceding years, according to public data gathered by Crunchbase.

Tencent is known for taking a hands-off approach with its gaming portfolio companies, even those that it wholly owns. It probably acknowledges that the creative teams at these Western gaming companies may have very different cultural norms than a Chinese internet giant like itself. By partnering with Tencent, these companies gain an entry point to the world’s second-largest gaming market, while Tencent benefits from the valuable IPs generated by these studios.

Indeed, Paweł reassured the players that Techland “will retain full ownership of our IPs, maintain creative freedom, and continue to operate the way we believe is right.” He will continue serving as the studio’s CEO.

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Google has updated its mobile software marketplace policy to allow application developers to integrate digital assets like NFTs into their games through its Play app store, the company’s group product manager Joseph Mills announced on Wednesday.

As part of the policy update, Mills stated that apps must be “transparent with users about tokenized digital assets” and developers can’t “promote or glamorize any potential earning from playing or trading activities.”

Apps that aren’t in line with Google Play’s Real-Money Gambling, Games and Contests policy or fit eligibility requirements also can’t accept money for chances to win assets, including NFTs. “This includes, but is not limited to, offering mechanisms to receive randomized blockchain-based items from a purchase such as ‘loot boxes,’” Mills said.

Those limitations could potentially prevent NFT newcomers from being duped into believing that buying these tokenized assets could result in massive gains — an oft-used marketing tactic for some projects in the space.

This new change will also allow apps and games on Google Play to reconceptualize “traditional games with user-owned content to boosting user loyalty through unique NFT rewards,” Mills noted.

The company anticipates users will begin seeing in-app and game experiences later this summer, as a select group of developers are helping to test out the new policy ahead of its wide rollout to all developers on Google Play later this year.

Reddit, which has seen success from its crypto wallets and NFT avatars, partnered with Google to help update their policy, Matt Williamson, senior engineering manager at the social news site, said in the post.

In the future, Google Play plans on working with industry partners on further improving its support of blockchain-based applications, including secondary marketplaces.

While Google is updating its policies, one of the other major app stores, Apple’s, remains steady. In general, Apple has taken a cautious stance on the digital asset ecosystem by putting additional fees on NFT sales, something that most NFT creators would not agree to.

In October, Apple said apps are allowed to list, mint, transfer, and let users view their own existing NFTs. However, their rules prevent the ownership of NFTs from unlocking any more features within the app. Plus, while apps can let users browse other collections, they’re prevented from showing external links, buttons or call to action to purchase NFTs. Users can only purchase NFTs through Apple’s in-app payment system according to the company’s official guidelines.

Going forward, there could be potential for Apple to budge or make new policy updates to grow in the blockchain-based world and match Google’s evolving position — or the company could just say f*** it, and let Google have it. Time will tell.

Google Play changes policy toward blockchain-based apps, opening door to tokenized digital assets, NFTs by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch

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Microsoft and Activision Blizzard earned a big win in court today, as a federal judge ruled that the Federal Trade Commission cannot block the $68.7 billion merger.

The FTC sued Microsoft in December in an attempt to stop its acquisition of the gaming giant, which owns massive franchises like World of Warcraft and Call of Duty; the government body worried that the deal would “enable Microsoft to suppress competitors.” Microsoft already has a significant presence in the gaming industry, producing products like the Xbox console, the Game Pass subscription and Xbox Cloud Gaming, and it owns dozens of existing game studios like ZeniMax.

However, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley ruled that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard would not be anti-competitive.

“The FTC has not shown it is likely to succeed on its assertion the combined firm will probably pull Call of Duty from Sony PlayStation, or that its ownership of Activision content will substantially lessen competition in the video game library subscription and cloud gaming markets,” the judge wrote.

This ruling is a great sign for Microsoft. Though the deal is still not set in stone, Microsoft got even more good news today that could continue to propel the acquisition forward. Despite facing legal challenges in the U.K., where the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) tried to block the deal, the ruling against the FTC seems to have changed things. According to Microsoft president Brad Smith, the company has agreed with the CMA to pause this litigation.

“While we ultimately disagree with the CMA’s concerns, we are considering how the transaction might be modified in order to address those concerns in a way that is acceptable to the CMA,” Smith wrote in a statement.

The CMA’s appeal is mostly focused on cloud gaming, arguing that Windows’ “significant cloud infrastructure” would give Microsoft an unfair advantage upon acquiring Activision Blizzard titles. Microsoft has attempted to assuage these fears, pointing out that the company had signed deals guaranteeing that Activision Blizzard games would remain available on consoles other than Xbox.

On Activision Blizzard’s end, these legal developments are a welcome breath of fresh air.

For the last several years, Activision Blizzard has been a company defined by turmoil. CEO Bobby Kotick had been rumored to step down amid ongoing government investigations and sexual harassment scandals. One lawsuit filed by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing described the work environment at the gaming company as having a “frat boy culture.” And per a Wall Street Journal report, Kotick knew for years about sexual misconduct and rape allegations at his company, but he did not act.

Some Activision Blizzard employees have responded by organizing union drives, and despite corporate interference, the workers formed some of the first-ever unions at major U.S. gaming companies. On that front, labor organizers are cheering on Microsoft’s court victory today.

Last year, Microsoft and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) announced an unprecedented labor neutrality agreement. This means that Microsoft will remain neutral and offer a fair process for voluntary recognition of employee unions.

“By accepting Judge Corley’s decision and allowing this merger to move forward, the Federal Trade Commission has an opportunity to transform the video game and technology labor market by providing a clear path to collective bargaining for almost 10,000 workers,” the CWA wrote in a statement.

The National Labor Relations Board has found in multiple instances that Activision Blizzard illegally interfered with employee organizing; but if the gaming giant were owned by Microsoft, its leadership would have to abide by that labor agreement, meaning that the process of organizing a union at Activision Blizzard would be more accessible.

Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard merger can’t be blocked by FTC, judge rules by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

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Blockchain-based games want to go mainstream, but the million-dollar question is: What’s the best way to do it?

According to some web3 game developers, there might not be just one right answer.

To win Web 2.0 audiences over, it appears the industry will have to meet them where they are. To do that, web3 game devs should move web3 components to the back end and avoid promoting games as being based on web3, according to Sumeet Patel, founder of NFT-based algorithmic prediction game Exiled Racers.

That makes sense to me. When using applications, people don’t really care about what’s going on behind the scenes. They just want something that’s easy to use and does what they want it to. While some people may want to understand the technology and dive deep, the majority don’t really care.

“It doesn’t sound good, but gaming doesn’t need blockchain today, but blockchain does need gaming,” said Nicholas Douzinas, business development and growth lead at decentralized gaming platform Ajuna Network.

The global gaming industry is expected to grow from $282 billion in 2023 to $666 billion by 2030, as more people increasingly choose video games as their primary form of entertainment, and 4G-enabled smartphones enable people everywhere to indulge in mobile games, according to a report by Fortune Business Insights.

But blockchain gaming wasn’t even mentioned as a trend or driving factor for gaming growth. I think that’s fair because it’s such a small fraction of the market and has a long way to go before it can even make a dent in the industry.

“NFTs mean nothing to gaming; some people don’t care about ownership,” said Douzinas. But on the other side of the spectrum, some people want to engage deeply with web3 technology, he noted.

Ajuna Network aims to attract people who are interested in web3 technology and blockchains but are comfortable with owning a token and the possibilities that come with it, Douzinas said.

Not all gaming companies are taking that route.

Web3 games don’t need to highlight blockchain elements to succeed by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch

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Among Us, the popular multiplayer game where one crewmate is a murderous imposter, is getting an animated series. Innersloth, the independent game studio behind the game, announced Tuesday that it has partnered with CBS Studios to develop the show.

As reported by Variety, the premise of the series is based on the game; members of a spaceship — in brightly colored spacesuits — discover that an alien shapeshifter is sabotaging the ship and slaughtering crewmates, resulting in a cat-and-mouse chase where players have to suss out the imposter before everyone dies.

A release date for the “Among Us” series has yet to be announced. However, CBS is in talks with TV networks and streaming services, per Variety. Titmouse, the studio behind “Big Mouth” and “The Legend of Vox Machina,” will serve as the animation studio for the “Among Us” series.

Innersloth launched Among Us in 2018, but the game didn’t become popular until 2020. In fact, it saw such a huge spike in popularity that even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined in on the fun, livestreaming with top Twitch streamers like Pokimane, HasanAbi and DrLupo. In the fourth quarter of 2020, the game had nearly 500 million monthly active users, as well as 1.22 billion Twitch viewing sessions and over 4 billion YouTube views.

Among Us is available on mobile, PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. There’s also a VR version of the game.

Among Us is getting an animated TV series by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch

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Nearly six months after Google officially shut down its cloud gaming service Stadia, it appears the company may be launching a similar product through YouTube. The Google-owned video-sharing platform is reportedly testing an online game offering that could give users the ability to play games via the YouTube website on desktop or the YouTube app via iOS and Android devices.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the offering would be called “Playables” and would feature arcade-style games like Stack Bounce, where players use a bouncing ball to smash through layers of bricks.

In a statement provided to TechCrunch, a company spokesman declined to confirm the experiment but said, “Gaming has long been a focus at YouTube. We’re always experimenting with new features but have nothing to announce right now.”

When Google initially announced in a blog post that Stadia would shut down, the company also hinted that the underlying technology that powers the gaming service could be applied across “other parts of Google like YouTube, Google Play, and our Augmented Reality (AR) efforts,” the company wrote in September.

If YouTube were to move forward with this new gaming initiative, it’s our guess that Google would reuse the code it developed for Stadia.

Stadia launched in 2019 and let users play games directly from the cloud rather than downloading games to a console. It also had a feature on YouTube called Crowd Choice, where creators could livestream a game they’re playing on Stadia and let viewers answer polls in the chat section. However, the service struggled to reach enough players and shut down in January of this year.

YouTube reportedly experimenting with online games by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch

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