Dave & Buster’s to allow betting on its arcade games
Heading to Dave and Buster’s with friends could soon earn you some money. The entertainment chain announced Tuesday, April 30, it will allow customers to wager on its arcade games. The company is partnering with gaming provider Lucra to create a betting feature in its app.
“We’re thrilled to work with Lucra to bring this exciting new gaming platform to our customers,” said Simon Murray, senior vice president of entertainment and attractions at Dave & Buster’s. “This new partnership gives our loyalty members real-time, unrivaled gaming experiences and reinforces our commitment to continuing to elevate our customer experience through innovative, cutting-edge technology.”
There will be a limit to the size of the bets, but exactly how much has not been disclosed.
Lucra and Dave & Buster’s announced they will set a limit on bet sizes, though they haven’t disclosed the specific cap yet. Historically, the average bet on Lucra has been $10. Founded in 2019 by Stanford Graduate School of Business classmates Dylan Robbins and Michael Madding, who both formerly worked at Goldman Sachs, Lucra is a software platform that enables users to compete in friendly competitions for real money.
“Lucra helps our partners drive user adoption, increase retention and engagement, and add new monetization streams to their business,” CEO Dylan Robbins said.
The betting function is expected to launch in the next few months.
Blame game: What’s causing massive layoffs in video games amid record year?
Projects are being canceled and studios shuttered amid a wave of layoffs in the video game industry that has put thousands out of jobs. But many are wondering what’s driving these deep cuts after video game revenue hit another record in 2023.
The new year is off to a rough start for those working in gaming. In January and February alone, Kotaku reports that more than 8,100 people have or will be laid off. This is headlined by EA cutting 5% of its workforce, Sony letting go of 900 employees from its PlayStation division, and Microsoft laying off 1,900 Activision-Blizzard and Xbox employees.
“It’s both the best year and the worst year for the games industry,” Aldora co-founder and CEO Joost van Dreunen told Straight Arrow News.
“The expectation for 2024 is a flat year. 2023 was such a blowout year in terms of these big releases that we’re now seeing,” he said. “Everybody kind of took a step back and said, ‘Let’s take it easy because 2024 doesn’t look like it’s going to be amazing.’”
Behind the company curtain
While software sales have been massive, lagging hardware sales could be to blame for some of the cuts.
“Sony probably assumed that the PlayStation 5 would trend the same way that PS2, 3 and 4 did,” said Michael Pachter, managing director at Wedbush Securities. “And it’s not selling as many, period. They’re three full years into the cycle and they sold 54 million units. They typically sell north of 20 million a year.”
Meanwhile, Pachter chalks up Microsoft’s layoffs to its massive acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, which was finalized last year despite objections from the Federal Trade Commission. Shortly after the cuts became public, a lawyer for the government regulator took issue with the job loss.
“Microsoft, I think, is largely a function of their combination with Activision,” Pachter said. “So it’s probably about 20% of the Activision workforce that they laid off. So there was certainly a lot of redundancy. You don’t need two CFOs or as many HR people or as many legal people.”
Joining forces
Consolidation is a huge part of the current gaming industry. Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to purchase Activision-Blizzard was the Windows-maker’s largest in its history. It also acquired ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion in 2020, adding the Doom, Fallout and Elder Scrolls series to their stable.
Well before it gobbled up some of the biggest publishers in the business, Microsoft spent $2.5 billion to buy Mojang, the studio behind Minecraft, in 2014.
“Either you invest a lot of money internally and develop it yourself or you acquire and hope it works,” van Dreunen said of the push to acquire studios.
Subscription surge
Microsoft’s recent string of acquisitions is an attempt to draw gamers to its subscription service, Game Pass, which offers a rotating list of games. It’s similar to Netflix and Hulu for video games.
“If you spend enough time in Game Pass, you never have to leave,” Pachter said. “If you spend enough time on Netflix, you never have to leave. Do you miss out on Oppenheimer? Yes, you do. But can you live without seeing Oppenheimer?”
“They rely upon scale to bring down the cost of the components… We’re not seeing component costs coming down as rapidly.”
Subscriptions help to subsidize the business as console makers often take a loss on hardware sales.
“When somebody goes and they buy an Xbox at their local retailer, we’re subsidizing that purchase somewhere between $100 and $200, with the expectation that we will recoup that investment over time through accessory sales and storefront,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer told The Wall Street Journal in 2022.
“They rely upon scale to bring down the cost of the components,” Pachter added. “But that’s not happening anymore. We’re not seeing component costs coming down as rapidly.”
How live games changed the game
The business behind video games was once a simple proposition: Develop games in the most cost-effective way possible, sell a lot of copies of the game, and come up with a new idea to do it again.
Today, juggernaut live games boast big player counts and screen time on the platform of the player’s choosing.
“We’ve sort of seen this inversion over the last five years, where it used to be that the platform was the biggest thing and the games would sort of tuck in within the platform,” Microsoft President of Gaming Content Matt Booty said during an episode of “The Official Xbox Podcast” in February. “Today, big games like Roblox or Fortnite could actually be bigger than any one platform. And that really has changed the way that we think about things.”
More and more, companies are looking to games as a service, which offers studios a continuing revenue model rather than relying on the initial purchase.
“You could also sort of shape the experience according to the likes of the audience.”
Joost van Dreunen
This can be done in various ways. Some of the most popular include subscriptions for playtime, a feature seen in many large-scale, multiplayer online role-playing games like World of Warcraft.
Microtransactions, low-cost purchases that can include cosmetic items or power-ups, appear in a good portion of games these days and are most prevalent in mobile games.
Then there are season passes, where users pay to have access to a progression tree that features in-game items that could be worth double or triple the player’s initial investment.
“The real rationale for season pass is not to collect the $10 for the pass, it’s to keep the player engaged with daily tasks,” Pachter said. “Because the player who comes back every day to make sure he gets his money’s worth and earns his little thing tends to stay an extra 10 or 20 or 30 minutes. And more engagement just necessarily translates to higher in-app purchases.”
“The idea is to convert monthly active users into daily active users and that conversion goes up with a season pass,” he added.
A constant stream of revenue is just part of the benefit of live service games.
“It’s much better to have live services and ongoing engagements where we build the game to 40% completion and then we just iterate on the model as we go,” van Dreunen said. “This gives you two benefits. One of them is you sidestep the issues traditionally associated with demand uncertainty.”
“But at the same time you could also sort of shape the experience according to the likes of the audience,” he continued. “So it’s much more of a back and forth rather than, ‘We develop this pristine experience right here. It’s secret and now we hope that it works.’”
“Some people like to watch movies in a theater, be entertained for two hours and go home and talk about the movie for a week,” Pachter said of the difference in models. “And others like to watch reality TV shows and watch dating shows and guess who the bachelorette is going to pick. So those are completely different experiences. Live services is far more analogous to reality TV than it is to a self-contained film.”
Exclusive game viability
Since the dawn of modern video games, console-exclusive titles have driven sales for any specific platform.
“They’ve built their fan base very strongly around these exclusives,” van Dreunen said. “Sony and Microsoft have really put together a marketing plan for the devices that have a particular personality. And so people identify very closely with.”
In February, rumors swirled that Xbox would be offering its exclusive titles to competitors PlayStation and Nintendo. In response, the gaming media painted the situation as the end of the brand.
“The gaming press plays to that stupid, infantile approach by saying, ‘Oh no, no, Microsoft, our understanding as gaming press is all console-first party titles should be exclusive. And you’re violating our preconceived notion of how it should be,’” Pachter said of the reaction.
The perceived drama culminated with a special episode of “The Official Xbox Podcast” featuring Spencer.
“So we’ve made the decision that we’re going to take four games to the other consoles, just four games, not a change to our kind of fundamental exclusive strategy,” Spencer said.
Those games are Pirate-sim Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment, a far cry from Halo and Gears of War leaving Xbox.
“I actually think Microsoft’s overarching goal is to sell Game Pass subscriptions,” Pachter said. “And their strategy is to hook the consumer. And I think that they’re acknowledging right now that they don’t have everybody.”
“What makes Fortnite so successful, makes Minecraft so successful, is that they’re available on any platform,” van Dreunen said. “And increasingly, we’ll be moving in that direction. And then we become much more platform agnostic.”
But even with these changes in the gaming industry, decades-long console wars are not heading for a peace treaty.
“I just think sales get cut in half next cycle, not to zero,” Pachter said of the next console generation. “And then they get cut in half again the next cycle, and they get cut in half again the next cycle.”
“It’s a little bit the equivalent of having really, really expensive headphones or really, really, really high-definition televisions and there’s always going to be an audience for that,” van Dreunen said. “And then there’s everybody else.”
While this year’s gaming layoffs are on track to far outpace 2023’s numbers, it doesn’t appear to be a warning sign for the industry that has seen significant growth in recent years.
“I would expect all these companies in 18 months to be rehiring a lot of the people that they just laid off,” van Dreunen said.
Disney invests $1.5 billion in Fortnite maker Epic Games
It’s game on at Disney, as the media giant is making its biggest move into the gaming world. Disney is investing $1.5 billion in Epic Games, the makers of Fortnite. The companies said the collaboration will create new video games and an entertainment universe where players can engage with content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and more.
“Our exciting new relationship with Epic Games will bring together Disney’s beloved brands and franchises with the hugely popular Fortnite in a transformational new games and entertainment universe,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger. “This marks Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games and offers significant opportunities for growth and expansion. We can’t wait for fans to experience the Disney stories and worlds they love in groundbreaking new ways.”
This is not the first partnership between the two companies, as Disney characters have appeared on Fortnite. Not many details about the collaboration have been shared thus far, and it is not yet known when Disney fans and Fortnite players can expect this new “multi-year project” to launch.
“Disney was one of the first companies to believe in the potential of bringing their worlds together with ours in Fortnite, and they use Unreal Engine across their portfolio,” said Tim Sweeney, CEO and Founder, Epic Games. “Now we’re collaborating on something entirely new to build a persistent, open and interoperable ecosystem that will bring together the Disney and Fortnite communities.”
Kim Kardashian closing free mobile game that made her millions
Kim Kardashian’s popular, free-to-play mobile game is in its final months, the billionaire announced last week. The closure is not sitting well with some of the hardcore fans who have been building in-game clout over the past decade from their phones.
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood tasks users with moving from the E-list in Tinsel Town all the way to the upper rungs of society.
Players run chic boutiques, attend club and store openings, and star in photoshoots. They also start families and own property across the globe. They can use in-game and real-world currency to customize their avatars.
“I’m so grateful from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has loved and played Kim Kardashian: Hollywood in the past 10 years,” Kardashian said in a statement to Straight Arrow News. “This journey has meant so much to me but I’ve realized that it’s time to focus that energy into other passions.”
Users can’t download the app anymore as stores have removed it. The game will officially shut down for existing users April 8, according to a pop-up message from in-game reporter Ray Powers that greets players the moment they start the app. At that point, all of the in-game purchases and currency will disappear.
Initially released in 2014, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood was a huge success, reaching 42 million downloads and $157 million in sales its first two years, despite being free to play.
“This journey has meant so much to me but I’ve realized that it’s time to focus that energy into other passions.”
Kim Kardashian on closure of mobile game
The birth of microtransactions
Microtransactions have become a huge part of gaming over the last two decades, allowing people to spend real money to buy virtual goods within a game’s ecosystem.
These transactions are generally $5 and under but can get far more expensive. They are most prominent in free-to-play mobile games, which have been dubbed “freemium,” but they appear in games across all platforms.
Microsoft first brought the idea to the table in 2005 as it launched the Xbox 360 console and its brand-new marketplace. The next year, Bethesda Studios sold the Horse Armor Pack for $2.50 in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
The global microtransaction market grew to $76.66 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach $117.95 billion in 2027, according to The Business Research Company.
In most “freemium” mobile games, microtransactions allow you to pay to progress. They also often offer cosmetic upgrades like skins and emotes. Loot boxes randomize the experience but have many regulators comparing the process to gambling.
Recently, the Federal Trade Commission accused Fortnite-maker Epic Games of using tricks known as “dark patterns” to charge players without informed consent. The FTC ordered Epic to pay $245 million in refunds for unwanted microtransactions. Gamers have until the end of February to apply.
PlayStation is synonymous with video games, ever since the first console launched back in the mid-1990s. It’s become such a big part of overall culture that the company partnered with Nike a number of times for highly-coveted sneakers. But PlayStation’s collaboration with Balenciaga in 2020 took things to another level, or at least another price point.
While the T-shirts and hoodies look pretty basic, they still fetched $675 and $875, respectively. When the brands released the collab, it was tough to procure a console, and the clothes cost more than one anyway. Balenciaga continued its effort to cater to gamers with the fall 2021 fashion show. Around the same time, they also took their items into the virtual world with Fortnite Skins.
Gucci
#4: Gucci x 100 Thieves
100 Thieves is a gaming lifestyle brand with esports teams and a content creation house. The crew includes big names in gaming like Nadeshot, Valkyrae and CouRageJD.
The most expensive item was a $5,600 leather biker jacket. Outfitting yourself in head-to-toe Louis Vuitton x League of Legends gear can cost more than $10,000. For those who thought the prices were too steep, Louis Vuitton also made a character skin that cost around $10 in game currency.
TAG Heuer
#2: TAG Heuer x Mario
When you think of speed and video games, your mind probably goes right to Sonic the Hedgehog. But when Mario gets behind the wheel of his kart, he’s also a force. Luxury watchmaker TAG Heuer was savvy to this and partnered with the world-famous plumber for two models of Formula 1 Mario Kart watches.
The two models had very different prices, one sold for $4,300 while a more luxurious model went for $25,000. They sold out right away, so clearly there was a demand for high-priced Mario-themed watches.
Tiffany & Co.
#1: Tiffany & Co. x Pokémon
Pokémon is one of the hottest IPs around. The mobile game phenomenon PokémonGo even had people trespassing trying to catch ’em all. Pokémon has had a ton of collaborations over the years, the latest of which with Tiffany & Co., which went on sale Nov. 29.
The iconic jeweler enlisted artist Daniel Arsham to design the pieces using the iconography from his Pokémon art exhibit, A Ripple in Time. The collection features Pikachu-centric jewelry.
Biden to address nation on Israel-Hamas war: The Morning Rundown, Oct. 19, 2023
President Biden is set to address the nation following his visit to Israel. And, after 18 years, the main suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway confesses – these stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023.
Biden to address nation on Israel-Hamas war; aid headed to Gaza
President Joe Biden will address the nation during a speech from the Oval Office Thursday night, Oct. 19, where he will update Americans on the U.S.’ response to the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Biden returned home after visiting Israel, where he reaffirmed the United States’ support of Israel in its war with Hamas following the terrorist attack that killed 1,400 people, including 31 Americans.
Biden also announced he secured a deal with Egypt to allow humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. According to Gaza authorities, more than 3,400 people have been killed since Israel began its airstrikes.
The president spoke to reporters about the need for aid while aboard Air Force One.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to the press in front of the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, onboard of Air Force One. (Reuters)
“I was very blunt with the Israelis. Israel has been badly victimized, but the truth is, if they have the opportunity to relieve suffering of people who have nowhere to go — it’s what they should do — and if they don’t, they’ll be held accountable in ways that may be unfair,” Biden said. “My point to everyone is if you have the opportunity to alleviate the pain, you should do it. Period.”
Get up to speed on the stories leading the day every weekday morning. Get The Morning RundownTM straight to your inbox!
Israel agreed to give aid to Gaza as long as it doesn’t benefit Hamas and said it would open its own checkpoints for aid only after Hamas releases the roughly 200 hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attack.
Biden said aid would likely begin to arrive in Gaza on Friday, Oct. 20.
The president’s visit to Israel came just a day after a blast at a hospital in Gaza. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 471 people were killed in the explosion.
While Gaza authorities said it was caused by an Israeli airstrike, the United States government has sided with Israel, saying evidence points to a failed rocket launch by a Palestinian militant group being behind the blast.
Back in the U.S., anti-war protesters descended on the Capitol on Wednesday, Oct. 18.
Straight Arrow News was there as approximately 300 people were arrested after protesting inside a congressional building. Hundreds of protesters blocked Independence Avenue directly outside the capitol building.
This all occurred as senators received a classified briefing regarding Israel.
U.S. resumes deportation flights to Venezuela
The United States resumed deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants on Wednesday, Oct. 18. The first plane, with about 130 passengers, took off from Texas and made a stop in Miami before landing in Venezuela.
This is the first time in years that U.S. immigration authorities are deporting migrants to Venezuela as the Biden administration searches for solutions to the growing number of people seeking asylum in the United States.
An official with ICE said the passengers prioritized for the first flight included migrants who recently arrived in the country and those who have committed crimes in the U.S.
Border Patrol said all the passengers had entered the U.S. illegally.
The U.S. plans to have “multiple” deportation flights per week to Venezuela.
Joran van der Sloot confesses to killing Natalee Holloway
Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway, has admitted to her mother he was responsible for Natalee’s death.
Van der Sloot made the confession in an Alabama courtroom Wednesday, Oct. 18, where he pleaded guilty to federal extortion and wire fraud charges.
The confession was part of a plea deal in which van der Sloot agreed to provide additional information to Natalee’s mother Beth Holloway about her daughter’s disappearance.
“Today, I can tell you with certainty that after 18 years, Natalee’s case is solved. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over. It’s over. Joran van der Sloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter’s murder. He is the killer,” Beth Holloway said.
Van der Sloot was charged with extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from Natalee Holloway’s family in exchange for information following her disappearance.
In June 2023, van der Sloot was extradited to the U.S. from Peru, where he was serving a 28-year sentence in the 2010 murder of a 21-year-old college student.
Van der Sloot was sentenced Wednesday, Oct. 18, to 20 years in prison, which will run concurrently with the time he’s serving in Peru.
Jim Jordan fails to get enough votes for second time
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is hoping the third time is the charm as he intends to hold another vote on the House floor on Thursday, Oct. 19, to become the next speaker.
The Ohio Republican failed to reach a majority again during Wednesday’s, Oct. 18, vote, losing support the second go-around. Twenty-two House Republicans voted against Jordan, up from 20 on Tuesday, Oct. 17.
Following the second speaker vote, a spokesperson for Jordan said, “We’re going to keep going.”
As the House remains without an official speaker, a group of House Republicans is considering a measure to expand the power of temporary speaker Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., in order to address issues like preventing a government shutdown and funding aid packages for Israel and Ukraine. But others are opposed, saying that would be unconstitutional.
Our political correspondent Ray Bogan has more on these developments in his report.
Woman arrested for trying to approach Trump during trial
An arrest was made during the civil fraud trial of former President Donald Trump in New York on Wednesday, Oct. 18.
A woman was taken into custody after trying to approach the former president, who was attending the trial for the second time this week. She was quoted as saying, “I want to speak to Mr. Trump.”
A court officer told her to sit back down, and then, moments later, she was escorted out of the courtroom by several officers.
The woman, later identified as a court employee, was arrested on a contempt charge for disrupting a court proceeding. A court spokesperson said the woman has been placed on administrative leave and is barred from entering state courts during the investigation.
When asked about the arrest, Trump said he was not aware of the incident as it happened behind him in the courtroom.
The former president and his company are being accused by the New York attorney general of overvaluing his assets to banks and insurance companies. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
Wheaties features video game character on box for first time
History is being made at the breakfast table on Thursday morning, Oct. 19. Wheaties, “the breakfast of champions,” as the cereal’s tagline goes, is doing something it has never done in its 100-plus years — feature a video game character on its box.
The General Mills cereal brand is releasing a special edition box featuring Marvel’s Spider-Man character. The collaboration between Wheaties and Marvel coincides with the release of the “Spider-Man 2” video game on Friday, Oct. 20.
The limited-edition box is exclusively available on the Wheaties website.
But it’s going to take the Marvel superhero a while if he wants to catch up to Michael Jordan, who has been featured on the Wheaties box 19 times — the most of any athlete.
