Latest in Video Games

Peter Chernin’s investment firm The Chernin Group has boosted its investment in interactive entertainment company Scopely, which announced that TPC and media giant Advance have just injected $200 million to help it grow its business. Scopley said that brings its latest round of funding – Series D – to $400 million…

BAFTA has said it plans to hold its Game Awards behind closed doors amid the growing threat of coronavirus. Instead of holding a red carpet event at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on April 2, BAFTA will live stream the gathering. It added that its Television Craft Awards and British Academy Television Awards are still set…

Organizers of the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, known as E3, has canceled its 2020 edition set for June 9-11 in Los Angeles. It becomes the latest major industry event to shutter amid the worldwide coronavirus outbreak. “After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of…

Continuing a trend that has seen at least five tech conferences cancelled this week, the Game Developers Conference (known as the GDC by many) has decided to postpone its March 16-20 event. “After close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world, we've made the…

Disney has sold FoxNext Games LA, maker of the video game Marvel Strike Force, and Cold Iron Studios in San Jose to mobile game specialist Scopely, the companies announced Wednesday. The deal stems from Disney’s $71.3 billion acquisition last year of most of 21st Century Fox, including FoxNext Games. The transaction…

If you have a teenager in your house, you shouldn’t be surprised by Nielsen’s latest statistic: Fortnite took in $1.8 billion in sales in 2019, more money in a single year than any game in history. SuperData, the video game arm of Nielsen, gave the numbers on the game. Epic Games owns Fortnite but doesn’t break out…

Facebook’s Oculus unit has acquired Beat Games, a company known for the virtual-reality video game Beat Saber. Terms were not disclosed. The company will become part of Oculus Studios but will also produce games for other platforms. Beat Saber is described as a light-saber-endowed spin on the game Dance Dance Revolutio…

For millions players of the video game Fortnite, the withdrawal symptoms are over. The Epic Games title, which went into a publicity-savvy “black hole” on Sunday, returned to full power Tuesday with a full-length trailer for its newest iteration. Live game play of the new chapter got under way after the trailer…

Epic Games’ Fortnite ended its 10th season with a flourish, going completely dark after an asteroid was depicted as blowing up the game’s map. “The End,” as it was touted on the game, came on Sunday afternoon. The 11th season is expected to debut this week. About 250 million people play Fortnite, with the game taking…

Sony’s long-awaited PlayStation 5 gaming console will arrive at the start of the 2020 holiday season, the company announced Tuesday. The news was confirmed in a blog post by Jim Ryan, president of Sony’s interactive entertainment unit. No pricing or exact release date were specified. Among the game titles planned for…

Shawn Layden, the chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios, is exiting the top role overseeing the company’s PlayStation games development. The news came Monday in a tweet from Sony’s official PlayStation account. “It is with great emotion that we announce that Worldwide Studios Chairman Shawn…

ABC has told its affiliates that ESPN2 has postponed its planned Sunday airing of an esports tournament involving the video game Apex Legends in the wake of the recent mass shootings in California, Texas and Ohio. The program, EXP Invitational Apex Legends at X Games, was set to air Sunday on cable outlet. In a memo…