Razer’s OUYA Acquisition Finalized, Forges Ahead On Android TV

BY

For years, Razer has been known for creating some of the most reliable – not to mention stylish – PCs and accessories around, from glowing equipment to fancy laptops and tablets that create a unique gaming experience. However, today, the company has made a leap forward with its Android-based gaming console by acquiring the struggling OUYA platform.

On its Razerzone site, Razer announced this morning that its acquisition of OUYA, including its content catalog and online retail platform, has been completed. As a result, Razer will have access to a large number of independent developers who made games for the OUYA platform, as well as the opportunity to advance further on the Android-based game console market. Financial terms were not revealed from the deal.

“Razer has a long-term vision for Android TV and Android-based TV consoles, such as the Xiaomi Mi Box and Alibaba Tmail Box, to which OUYA already publishes,” said Razer co-founder and CEO Min-Liang Tan. “OUYA’s work with game developers, both AAA and indies, went a long way in bringing Android games to the living room and Razer intends to further that work. This acquisition is envisaged to usher more developers and content to the Android TV platform.”

Those who own an existing OUYA unit (as part of its initial Kickstarter campaign, or picking them up at retail) will have the opportunity to migrate to a more advanced Forge TV micro-console and Serval controller bundle, bringing their games, controllers and accounts to the Cortex TV platform with ease. The OUYA store, which has been home to many indie developers, will soon be launched as Cortex for Android TV, featuring a number of Forge items as well as previously released games.

Initially, the OUYA launched with great success on Kickstarter, and even managed to find good retail distribution at the likes of Target and other stores. As of late, however, it’s been struggling to keep up with good business, mainly due to a poorly conceived ad campaign and a lack of quality third-party titles from AAA developers. This buyout through Razer, however, provides an opportunity to see the service live on, even though it’ll be under a new name.

“When it comes to gamers, Min clearly knows what he is doing,” said Brian Fargo, video game designer, producer, programmer and founder of Interplay Entertainment and inXile Entertainment. “I’m certain that he has clever ideas on how to make his many initiatives with Forge TV fit well with all the titles and hard work that OUYA put in.”

Razer’s Forge TV console is signifcantly more powerful than the OUYA, and Forge will be adding more features later this year with the ability to stream games from your PC to your TV using Cortex Stream, and adding in the Turret keyboard and mouse combo. Adding the large catalog of OUYA games, and its relationships with developers, will give the Android console a significant boost. Plus, OUYA’s relationships in China will help Razer gain a foothold there, as the console battle heats up in that country.

We’ll see how well the migration goes for the OUYA platform and its games over the next few months. However, this is good news for those all around, and could give Razer even more incentive when it comes to its Android platform.

How YouTube Is Aiming To Retain Its Top Creators

BY

Considering the popularity of many YouTube stars – like PewDiePie, who made millions off his many videos last year – it shouldn’t be a surprise that Facebook, with its growing video business, is trying to nab many of these talents for its own site. However, YouTube isn’t ready to go down without a fight.

Per a report from the Wall Street Journal, Google’s video site recently launched a new division that focuses on top creators, in an attempt to help them generate more revenue and prevent them from leaving to try out a competitor, such as Facebook’s video service. This service will help users with creating new material, address complaints (rather quickly) and more. The best videos from this program would go towards a “Google Preferred” division, which provides the top five percent of YouTube content to advertisers for buying upfront at higher rates.

“I want to be running a platform that they can stay on, that they can grow up on and extend their work even further,” said YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, speaking at VidCon this past weekend.

The competition is certainly heating up, if this weekend’s video-oriented convention was any indication. Over 10 online video providers were present at the event, and a variety of superstars from said videos were on hand, who have no doubt garnered interest with these competitors.

“Everyone is interested in other platforms to diversify or to develop new audiences,” said Hank Green, host of various YouTube programs, including Crash Course.

These users have been talking to other services, although YouTube still seems to have a level of preference. For instance, Anna Akana, a popular YouTube host of comedy and advice sketches that interest more than 1.3 million subscribers, got in touch with a member of YouTube’s top creator team back in June, addressing concerns with upcoming programming. Before that time, YouTube hadn’t really been good about keeping in touch with creators, but this new program looks to change that – in order to keep them around.

With a video market that’s expected to grow 34 percent a year to more than $10 billion by 2016 (per Biz Journals), there’s no question that these superstars are a hot commodity to the likes of Facebook and Google. Now the only question is if the YouTube program will be effective over time – or if Facebook will have the strength to create a league of “top creators” of its own…

Instagram’s Ad Market Ready To Explode

BY

There’s been a lot of discussion as to how Instagram’s advertising program will fare – but it’s certainly gotten its fair share of success. And, according to a recent report from eMarketer, it’s going to get even better over the next couple of years.

The report indicates that the program, which consists of various images and videos hosted by sponsors, will generate nearly $600 million this year alone. That’s a big number, but it’ll show even more progress over the next couple of years, as it’s estimated to make a whopping $2.81 billion in ad sales by the end of 2017 — topping the likes of its main competitors at Google and Twitter.

Part of this program’s success is Instagram’s ties with Facebook, which purchased the company a few years back for an estimated $1 billion. “We expect to see rapid growth in Instagram’s ad revenues this year and throughout the forecast period — driven by high demand for the social network’s new ad products, which will expand beyond branding to include direct response, the ability to buy ads via an (applications programming interface), and enhanced measurement and targeting features,” said eMarketer in the report.

Robert Peck, an analyst for SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, added, “Monetization is moving at a ‘measured pace'” when it came to the campaign.

With Instagram — as well as its investments in WhatsApp and Oculus Rift — Facebook could be looking at huge numbers when it reports its second-quarter results later this week, with an estimated $4 billion in revenue set to be announced. Ad revenue is expected to be a big part of that, with a 15 percent increase year-over-year, according to Adweek.

Even though Instagram only makes up a small percentage of that profit at the moment, things are going to get bigger and better for the photo/video site.

Console Sales Now Allowed Throughout China

BY

There’s been talk about it for some time, but now it looks like it’s finally happening – China is set to allow Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo to sell consoles anywhere in its country, completely removing the 15-year-old ban. The ban had been partially removed last year when China allowed console manufacture and sales in the Shanghai area, but nowhere else.

China will now allow the production and sale of video game consoles throughout the country, according to a story in Fortune. The Ministry of Culture released a statement this week, stating that companies will now be allowed to manufacture and sell consoles anywhere in the country – and what a market it is, as it’s considered the third biggest gaming market in the world, mainly due to mobile sales.

The ban was originally put in place back in 2000 in an effort to protect children from the negative effects perceived with playing video games. In return, “gray markets’ were created that allowed consumers to import consoles through other means – although that process clearly isn’t needed now.

This follows China’s recent measures to alleviate the ban with the introduction of “foreign-invested enterprises” within its Free Economic Zone in Shanghai. However, with the lifting altogether, all sorts of games and systems can be sold, instead of working under that geographic limitation.

China is already becoming the biggest gaming market in the world – even bigger than the United States. A report from Newzoo indicates that its market could reach a whopping $22 billion by next year alone, which would surpass the $18 billion in online game sales made last year. Console sales may add to that, but so far sales of game consoles in China have been slow so far, according to Niko Partners.

So far, companies have already jumped on the initiative to sell consoles in China, with Microsoft selling more than 100,000 Xbox One units on its first day back in September. The PlayStation 4 has also been on sale for some time now, but now will see a bigger market across the entire country.

“I think this is huge for the industry! This broadens the market and will hopefully bring life to gamers in the region! Now they can game what they want, when they want!” said Caleb Soleb Gayle, owner of 2nd Opinion Productions.

We’ll see how the market fares over the next year, but it’s nice to see that China can finally get its game on – and without restrictions, no less.

Verizon’s Mobile Streaming Service Has A Name, Say Hello To Go90

BY

by Evan DeSimone

The long-rumored mobile video service that Verizon plans to launch this summer finally has a name, according to an article published by Variety.

A pre-launch staging website discovered by the publication and then hastily hidden away by Verizon indicated that the service will be called Go90 and, at least initially, offered to consumers for free.

Until the launch page slip-up, Verizon had been stingy with details about the service, fueling industry speculation about its name, price and content offerings. The site’s “about” section suggested that Go90 will offer a wide range of content, including live music and sports, in addition to traditional television programming from partner networks.

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

Twitch: ‘Seeing The Maturity Of eSports’

BY

The explosive growth of eSports owes a great deal to livestreaming, and when you’re talking about livestreaming video you’re talking about Twitch. Twitch’s rise to over 100 million monthly viewers in a few short years has been because of a symbiotic relationship with eSports, and that mutually beneficial relationship continues. Twitch is now a part of Amazon, and that backing is giving the company plenty of confidence has it moves forward.

The growth of Twitch has, of course, attracted scores of competitors like Azubu and Hitbox, but there biggest entry into the livestreaming market has to be Google, which is pushing to make YouTube into a top livestreaming site as well as a top spot for videos. It’s a busy time for Twitch, which isn’t slowing down at all as it moves ahead with multiple initiatives, including the first TwitchCon coming up this September. Andy Swanson, VP of eSports and Events for Twitch, spoke with [a]listdaily about the past, present, and future of Twitch. Swanson will be part of the upcoming [a]list Video Summit in August, where he will expand on this topic.

We’ve seen explosive growth in eSports over the last few years, with Twitch being a major factor in that. Will the strong growth continue When might it level off?

Twitch was actually founded on an eSports pivot point. On Justin TV, the biggest thing that we were seeing growth in was people playing competitive Starcraft. That area was something the exec team had identified as something that had stickiness and continual growth, as well as anrea they were passionate about.

Throughout Twitch’s growth, eSports is a huge, huge part of it. When I came on board eSports was roughly 70 percent of the content on Twitch, and now it’s somewhere between 40 and 50% – but that doesn’t mean eSports has shrunk in any way, shape, or form. If anything, it’s grown significantly. It’s just because the pie for Twitch has diversified. not because it has shrunk. What we’re seeing now is the maturity of eSports. We’re actually starting to see organized seasons, leagues that are consistent for many years, teams being established in a regular circuit. We’re starting to realize where the big tournaments are, where the big money is, where the big sponsors are looking to go.

What’s really interesting is we’re also starting to see a whole lot of interest in eSports from traditional game publishers. We’re starting to see the console game companies, the big guys really eying the space as well. With that often comes a lot of big brand opportunities.

How are brands working with Twitch, and how is that changing?

The Twitch Media Group, which I helped launch, the actual direct sales of brands on Twitch itself is only two years old, which is really new considering things like IGN and Future and GameSpot which have been around for over a dozen years. Originally with Twitch the first category that jumped on board was the endemics, and that makes a lot of sense — the game publishers and the game developers. For them it was really understanding what was happening on Twitch, what was really going on, what were the opportunities for them to speak directly with their own community, to create content and cultivate relationships with streamers. The game companies came first, then we saw Hollywood come in a big way, TV, theatrical and then DVD. They really saw this as an opportunity because this is where their demographic was, this is where they were able to showcase live video, this is where they saw incredible engagement.

We’ve started to see an incredible growth in what we call non-endemics, non-gaming categories. We’ve seen Old Spice, Duracell, you name it — any category we’ve had explored. It’s because of the uniqueness of what Twitch is,, the way people consume content differently, the quantities in which they are consuming it, and the social engagement while they are consuming it.

Two years ago we would have been very heavy from a brand perspective on gaming — and they still support us in a major, major way — now, more of our inbounds are from non-gaming brands. Which is why we’ve staffed up our New York and Chicago efforts significantly.

What’s next for Twitch and eSports and the relationships with brands What’s coming up in the year ahead?

The core endemic brands that support eSports in a big way are often technology companies, where the technology is based on the games — Logitech, Razer, Astro Gaming, Gigabyte, Alienware. Those companies have been supporting eSports for a long time. I’ve never been involved with an industry where there’s so much growth and so many interested parties, where everybody wants to learn about eSports. The example I use is all the big brands are sitting around the pool, and some of them are touching their toes in the pool. I feel like we’re just waiting for that one big brand to do a cannonball, and then everybody’s going to jump in the pool.

What are the key things a brand needs to know about Twitch and eSports, particularly when it comes to global reach?

Traditional distribution on cable is going to limit your audience, where we are global. Part of the challenge is also part of the opportunity when you’re looking at it from a brand perspective, particularly when you’re talking about integrating within a particular eSport. Do you only care about the North American market The way I describe eSports to folks is that it’s way more like the Olympics or the World Cup where it is an international experience. If you want to just surface on the US or North American feed, we can do that. But you do have to realize when ESL or League of Legends host international events, when they are in Stockholm or Poland or in Asia, you’re going to still have a significant amount of people in the United States watching.

How is TwitchCon shaping up What are you hoping to accomplish with it?

We’re very pleased with the amount of sponsors we’re seeing there, which for year one is pretty exciting. TwitchCon in its purest form is really meant to be a celebration of our broadcasters and our viewers. We actually toyed early on with not bringing in sponsors, and having it be a totally pure event. The idea is celebrating our broadcasters, celebrating our community, and teaching fledgling broadcasters. Go to the TwitchCon page and look at the agenda and you’ll see how focused it is on the community and the broadcasters themselves and how they can become better. One of the major areas we have is for sponsors that have some sort of technology that’s part of streaming — headsets, microphones, green-screen — and that improves the ability to stream. We’ve got over 2600 broadcasters coming already, with over 800 at the partner level, which are the folks that are the top tier. The rest of it’s going to be fans who want to meet their favorite Twitch celebrities. We’re also going to have game companies along, the hardware guys, and we’re actually starting to see some significant non-endemics as well that want to reach that audience.

ESL Exec Explains Strong Stance Against Drugs in ESports

BY

If only real sports like Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Football League (NFL) acted as quickly and swiftly as eSports company ESL did. Just nine days after former Cloud9 pro gamer Kory “Semphis” Friesen said in an on-camera interview that his entire team was using Adderall at ESL One Katowice 2015, ESL has doubled down on its ban of illegal performance-enhancing drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall.

The company has partnered with NADA (NationaleAnti DopingAgentur, located in Bonn, Germany) to help research and determine an anti-PEDs policy that is fair, feasible and respects the privacy of the players, while simultaneously providing conclusive testing results. Additionally, ESL will meet with WADA (World Anti Doping Agency, with headquarters located in Montreal, Canada) to actively involve them in the making, enforcing and further internationalizing of this policy to regions such as United States, Asia and Australia.

ESL will use the expertise of NADA and WADA to create a PEDs prevention program, which will be distributed to all players participating in eSports competitions organized, hosted or produced by ESL. The goal of this program is to ensure players are provided with information and structural support to help them manage the physical and emotional pressure that the highest level of competitive gaming puts on many of them.

The company is also instituting randomized PEDs skin tests at the ESL One Cologne event this August. In addition, it will perform those tests at every event in the Intel Extreme Masters, ESL One and ESL ESEA Pro League competitions as soon as the policy is established and the tournament rules are updated. Trevor Schmidt, senior manager at ESL America, explains why there’s no place for cheating in eSports in this exclusive interview.

How big a problem do you think Adderall or PEDs really are in eSports today?

There’s has never been testing before in the eSports industry and there is no significant case of a player admitting to or being caught under the influence of PEDs. So without data it’s impossible to say how specifically challenging PED use is in eSports. While the issue has the potential of being widespread, even one player under the influence hurts the integrity of the league. The recent incident has brought the realization to our entire industry that we need to take this seriously before it reaches levels that damage the entire sport.

What impact do you feel the increased amount of winnings in tournaments has had on pressure to perform?

We see this as a critical issue. Ten years ago, this was a hobby for players played in high school gyms or garages. Today almost all of the player base sees this as a full time job. ESL recently held an event in a World Cup football stadium for hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes. To many players this is more than a full time job, it’s their passion.

Doping has been part of real sports like Tour de France and Major League Baseball  for a long time. How important is it to send a message to pro gamers about drug use being illegal?

ESL believes setting a tone now is critical. The longer we allow the issue to stay behind the scenes the more it becomes a requirement to be a pro gamer, and we don’t want that. One of the keys to eSports is the accessibility of the sport. Allowing PEDs to have any part in that ecosystem hurts the long term development of the sport.

ESL is one of many companies involved in eSports. Are there any plans to have a unified drug enforcement policy across all games and companies involved?

Up until today, there has been no talk of testing for PEDs. ESL is really taking the first step and we hope that the entire industry is willing to join us in improving the integrity of all eSports events.

Do you feel anyone caught using drugs should be given a second or even third chance before potentially banning them?

ESL is still considering our punishment. We understand there needs to be a very thoughtful approach to policy. With in-gaming cheating, such as wall hacks that let you see through walls, we have a very detailed and strong policy. We have spent years developing these punishments for players caught with hacks. We expect to do the same with PEDs and determine the best ways to punish players.

With the ability for pro gamers to play across different leagues, how much weight is a ban in ESL if they can go and play in MLG or someplace else? 

ESL has conducted 18 major events in our ESL One and Intel Extreme Master’s events plus additional leagues during 2014-2015. All those featuring large scale prizes. If we were to ban a player from ESL events, it would be a serious punishment and make a career in eSports very challenging.

Another issue real sports face is gambling and Fantasy Sports — which are now part of eSports. Does the rise of this new business and the temptation it opens up warrant additional changes for ESL to be proactive?

ESL works with its partners such as Microsoft, Blizzard, Valve and Riot to address issues that hurt eSports — gambling is one of them. ESL needs to take a leadership role with its partners to not support and even regulate companies that hurt the integrity of eSports.

Spending For Free-To-Play Games Analyzed

BY

It’s a question that lingers on the minds of many a game developer — how long does it take for a free-to-play game to make a profit Well, the answer may not be simple, but a new report from eMarketer has provided some valuable insight.

A report turned in last month by deltaDNA took an overall look at usage data for more than 1,000 mobile games with 100 million players worldwide. Out of these findings, strategy and action free-to-play games seem to have the strongest retention rates, at 30 and 29 percent, respectively.

They didn’t stay there, however, as both numbers dropped after seven days into the report, while social casino games moved to the top, with a retention rate of 15 percent, followed by puzzles (11 percent). deltaDNA made it known that these games have better retention, mainly due to long-term playability. The chart below breaks this down a little more significantly, including dollar values based on these percentages.

Retention isn’t the only statistic to pay attention to, however. Average revenues also play a big part, with strategy and action games getting $1.80 and $1.40, respectively. Strategy games are more likely to see spenders convert for the long haul, mainly due to the “time blocking” system, where users have to wait to refill hearts or resources if they don’t wish to pay up front for them.

That said, puzzle and social casino gamers still play a big part. With a shorter window where players likely spend money, they have a slightly smaller value, although both types of these games have a long-term approach when it comes to monetization, across low-value transactions. That makes them just as profitable in the long run, compared to big purchases in strategy and action games.

As far as the number of monthly in-app purchases made by mobile gamers, the chart (taken from data early in the year) shows that most are pleased with one in-app purchase on a freemium release during the month. However, there’s a pretty healthy amount making multiple purchases, with 20.3 percent clocking in with five or more.

Mobile gaming is big business, as eMarketer estimates that there will be nearly 165 million mobile phone gamers in the US this year, which makes up more than half of the population. 113 million of those consumers will play these games on tablets. In addition, US mobile game revenue is expected to skyrocket an additional 16.5 percent this year, reaching a whopping $3.04 billion. That makes up nearly 31 percent of overall mobile download and in-app revenues.

These are sure to be music to the ears of free-to-play game developers. But remember, big and small spending both play a part, as this report indicates.

Meerkat Introduces GoPro Support

BY

In the live-streaming app business, Meerkat has been struggling to keep up with Twitter’s thriving Periscope app – even with popular events like the Pacquiao/Mayweather fight. However, with the introduction of a new feature, it could easily get back into the race.

Per a report from AdWeek, Meerkat has announced that its live-streaming app is now compatible with GoPro cameras, enabling users to stream their sports activities and other events with ease straight from the app.

The procedure is simple, as per instructions provided by a Meerkat representative. “Connect the GoPro to your iOS device as you normally would and open the Meerkat app. Shake it, and a prompt will pop up to start streaming directly from your GoPro device. Note that the current version of the iOS Meerkat app only supports GoPro 3 with GoPro 4 being available in the next update of the app.”

GoPro has become quite the popular service with both partners and video broadcasts over the past few years, enabling would-be filmmakers to catch events from a first-person perspective, providing a “you are there” viewpoint. These are especially popular with extreme sports activities, including wing diving and parachuting, although they’re used for more practical purposes as well.

Meerkat tweeted about the compatibility starting yesterday, complete with a GIF-based video that explains just how easy GoPro is to use through the app, complete with little animations. It will no doubt give the company a little boost heading into this weekend’s VidCon event in Anaheim.

The only question is what this will mean for the long term, as Twitter is likely to find a way to provide GoPro support for its popular Periscope app as well somewhere down the road. For the time being, Meerkat can enjoy the exclusivity – but it should find a way to take advantage of it so that it can gain ground on its competitor.

Image: The Next Web