Your Gaming and Esports Update
Deals
EA To Buy Codemasters for $1.2B
Electronic Arts said Monday that it will acquire Codemasters for $1.2 billion after reaching an agreement with the UK gaming company. It’s part of a bid “to lead the video game racing category,” according to a press release. Codemasters has developed racing games like Formula One, Dirt and Dirt Rally, with EA developing the hugely successful Need for Speed franchise. EA said it can lend its game analytics, technology, art and motion capture, marketing, publishing and game development expertise to Codemasters games.
Roblox Acquires Loom.ai
User-generated gaming platform Roblox announced the acquisition of Loom.ai for an undisclosed sum. Loom.ai is a San Francisco-based startup founded by former LucasFilm and DreamWorks staff. Created in 2016, it specialises in real-time facial animation technology for 3D avatars.
Parsec Raises $25M
Parsec, a startup that’s built streaming technology for both work and play, is announcing that it has raised $25 million in Series B funding. This brings Parsec’s total funding to $33 million, according to Crunchbase. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with the firm’s general partner Martin Casado joining the board. Previous investors Lerer Hippeau, Makers Fund, NextView Ventures and Notation Capital also participated.
SteelSeries Acquires KrontolFreek
Gaming peripherals company SteelSeries acquired controller accessories firm KontrolFreek. The parties didn’t disclose the financial terms of the purchase. With this acquisition, the Danish firm plans to strengthen its offering aimed at players who use controllers. KontrolFreek specialises in competitive accessories such as grips and thumbsticks, particularly targeting PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC players.
Discord to Raise Up To $140M, $7B Valuation
Discord, the chat and communications platform wildly popular with gamers and, increasingly, many others, is raising up to $140 million in a Series H round, at a valuation that could be as high as $7 billion, according to paperwork filed by the company and unearthed by Prime Unicorn Index. We have attached the documentation at the end of this article. Discord’s growth has exploded in recent years, with monthly active users almost doubling to 120 million this year with 800,000 downloads a day.
Updates
Unity and Snap Partner to Extend Ad and Tech Reach
Unity, the world’s leading platform for creating and operating real-time 3D content, and Snap today announced a partnership that extends the reach of Unity’s Ads supply to Snapchat advertisers, and brings Snap technology to game developers through Snap Kit. With more than 50 percent of all mobile games made with Unity, the Unity and Snapchat advertising and game development integrations fortify reach to the mobile gaming audience, and the discoverability of mobile games, across both platforms.
Amazon’s Luna Launches on Android
Amazon’s cloud gaming service, Luna, is now available on Android, Amazon announced on Tuesday. Like the iOS version of Luna, there’s no separate Luna app to download — instead, you’ll access the service through the Chrome web browser. Amazon launched Luna in early access in October, where it was initially available on PC, Mac, Fire TV, and on iPhone and iPad via web apps. The service works on a channels-based model, where you pay a monthly fee for each channel of games you want access to.
Eagles Become First NFL Team With Esports Tournament Provider
Esports Entertainment Group has announced a landmark multiyear partnership with the Philadelphia Eagles to serve as the first esports tournament provider for an NFL club. As part of the multi-year agreement, EEG will operate biannual Madden NFL esports tournaments for the Eagles utilizing the Esports Gaming League platform. Also under the terms of the deal, the Eagles will become an EEG shareholder.
Esports To Be Medalled Event at 2022 Asian Games
Esports will be an official medalled event at the 2022 Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China, joining other “intellectual titles” within the sporting event such as chess. Esports’ inclusion as a medalled event follows its presence in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia as a demonstration event, where competitions across six titles were featured, namely Arena of Valor; Hearthstone; League of Legends; StarCraft II; Clash Royale; and Pro Evolution Soccer 2018. The move to becoming an official medalled event marks a significant milestone for esports in the APAC region and towards the eventual goal of competitions being featured in the Olympics.
