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Happy Thursday Creators!

We have plenty of news to cover down below, but I first wanted to take a moment to talk candidly with you about the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

This past week creators came together in support of the Palestinian people during a Global Strike announced by Gaza journalist Motaz Azaiza and Palestinian filmmaker Bisan Owda. The strike organizers urged all supporters to refrain from spending, shopping, banking, and attending work or school. Instead, supporters were asked to use their platform to call for a ceasefire and call to end the genocide happening before our eyes.

While the focal point of this newsletter is news in the gaming and live streaming space, it is crucial we acknowledge the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The people of Gaza are facing immense challenges, especially as many world powers turn their backs on them to instead support the aggressors, Israel. Millions of Palestinians have been displaced as a result of the ongoing violence and the situation has remained dire.

If the crisis in Gaza angers you and you wish to do something tangible to support those suffering, I have listed a few resources where you can find more information to take action.

• Recommended Readings and Media on Gaza via afsc.org

• Consider donating to Medical Aid For Palestinians via map.org.uk

• A list of businesses actively profiting off of this conflict that you may want to reconsider supporting via afsc.org

Please be diligent and conduct your own research on each of these organizations and educate yourself on the facts of this conflict (if you haven’t done so already). Thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak with you about this very important matter.

Cheers,
Dim

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🥇This Week’s Top Stories

Are The Game Awards Hurting The Games They Celebrate?

The Game Awards stand as a significant annual spectacle in the video game industry, honoring the finest releases of the year and unveiling exciting glimpses of upcoming projects. This year, Baldur’s Gate 3 secured remarkable success, clinching not only the coveted Game of the Year award but also earning accolades for Best RPG and Player’s Voice, among other categories. Alan Wake 2 also enjoyed notable triumphs, claiming victories in the Best Narrative, Best Game Direction, and Best Art Direction categories. For a comprehensive list of all the winners at The Game Awards 2023, look no further.

This year, the Game Awards received ample criticism on how it handled the awards segments. TV writer and comedian Mike Drucker took a swing at the Game Awards format criticizing the showrunners for prioritizing segments from The Muppets, Hideo Kojima, Jordan Peele, and Simu Liu. These celebrities took valuable airtime from actual awards winners. Most notably, the Game of the Year recipient, Larian Studios had barely any time to give an acceptance speech. After 30 seconds, a “Please Wrap It Up” sign rushed them off stage. Compare this to Kojima and Peele receiving over six minutes to talk about a teaser for a new game that had no actual content and is several years out from release. Although Larian Studios CEO has since published a thread with his acceptance speech, it hardly resolves the many award winners who didn’t get an opportunity to share.

Why It Matters:

Earlier this week, E3 officially announced it will not attempt to revive the popular convention any longer. This development brings added pressure to the Game Awards to fix ongoing issues for the 2024 showcase. There are very few awards shows that give developers, who invest years of their time in a single game, a platform to truly speak about their craft. With 6.5 million views, The Game Awards has the viewership numbers to fill this void. Of course, there are other prestigious award shows like the DICE Awards which could be compared to the games industry’s Oscars. There are also the BAFTA Games Awards, Game Developers Choice Awards, and several smaller shows. We’ll find out next award season if The Game Awards learns from its critics or doubles down to focus on marketing upcoming titles.

Will Neff and Kick Dominate Ludwig’s Creator Dodgeball World Championship

The super exciting Creator Dodgeball World Championship went down on December 10, marking Ludwig’s first big event since he renewed his contract with YouTube. With this new deal, Ludwig is no longer tied to exclusivity and can now broadcast any production platforms like Kick and Twitch.

This competition featured 30 personalities from different platforms including Twitch, Kick, YouTube and Facebook. It also include some creators better known for Podcasting and the Chessboxing events.

Creator Dodgeball’s peak viewership hit a whopping 123,000 viewers. The finale had Team YouTube and Team Kick face-off with Kick earning the victory 5 games to 2. The Kick team featured Yassuo, Sapnap, Nadia, Will Neff, and Caroline Kwan. Kwan was named the tournament’s MVP. Team YouTube featured Ludwig, Sykkuno, Valkyrae, Fuslie, Lilypichu, and Michael Reeves who all performed phenomenally.

Why It Matters:

Ludwig is well known for organizing large scale events featuring prominent creators across different platforms. While Ludwig was forced to cancel his annual Chessboxing tournament last September, it was encouraging to see him return with a successful event before the year ended. Ludwig’s renewed YouTube contract is just another example of content creators broadcasting across multiple platforms. The Creator Dodgeball Tournament was streamed on YouTube and Twitch and amassed over 123K viewers across platforms. Even though this was Ludwig’s debut return to Twitch, most people watched on YouTube, making up 62.65% of the total view time. Creators who want to expand their audience should consider multi-streaming. Even on a smaller scale, creators should see more upside overall.

Huge W For Epic Games Against Google Monopoly

In a significant win for Epic Games, the jury in the Epic v. Google case has ruled that Google's Google Play app store and Google Play billing service constitute an illegal monopoly. After just a few hours of deliberation, the jury unanimously found that Google holds monopoly power in the Android app distribution and in-app billing services markets. The verdict stated that Google engaged in anticompetitive behavior, and Epic was harmed by it. The jury also concluded that there is an illegal tie between Google's app store and its billing payment services, deeming distribution agreements and deals with game developers and OEMs as anticompetitive.

Google's Vice President of Affairs and Public Policy, Wilson White, expressed the company's intention to appeal the verdict, emphasizing their fierce competition with Apple, Android app stores, and gaming consoles. Epic Games, in a blog post, hailed the verdict as a win for app developers and consumers worldwide, asserting that Google's app store practices are illegal and abuse its monopoly power to extract excessive fees, stifle competition, and hinder innovation.

Why It Matters: This historic victory contrasts with Epic's previous battle against Apple, where it mostly lost two years ago. The case against Google revealed secret revenue-sharing deals between Google, smartphone manufacturers, and major game developers, demonstrating Google's efforts to suppress rival app stores. The outcome, decided by a jury, sets the stage for potential remedies, with a decision on appropriate actions expected in the second week of January. Epic seeks the freedom for every app developer to introduce their app stores and billing systems on Android. While Epic did not pursue monetary damages, the implications of the verdict could have significant financial repercussions, potentially saving the company hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars if exempted from Google's fees. With this win, I expect Epic Games to relaunch Fortnite on the Google Play Store and bring the many new offerings recently launched on PC and console to mobile.

📊Weekly Poll📊

The Game Awards generated a lot of buzz this past week. With the event in the rearview mirror, what do you want to see at the 2024 showcase?

Use the link below to participate in our weekly poll. Leave a comment if you’d like to elaborate on your thoughts!

Sound off in our weekly poll!