Welcome back to another quick roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news!
Valorant: It’s been an ugly week in esports, as Riot Games suspended esports pro Jay “sinatraa” Won for the next half a year for what it characterized as his refusal to fully cooperate with the company’s investigation into his alleged sexual assault and abuse of a former girlfriend. Won’s team, Valorant’s Sentinels, is working its own investigation, so he was already suspended from participating on the team.
South Korea: Let no one say that the Korean don’t take their esports seriously, folks – a congressman from the country has proposed a government bill that would stop companies from shutting down esports leagues abruptly, which he argues violates “the rights of the related businesses, esports, pro players, and viewers.”
NetEase: MMO Fallout has a great recap of NetEase Connect, which ran through all the MMOs and other multiplayer titles on deck for the company. Most notably, we’re keeping an eyeball on Astracraft, the new battle royale Naraka: Bladepoint, and Project Ragnarok. EVE Echoes players also have a big update to look forward to in June.
Valheim: It’s coming up on 7M copies sold – pretty impressive for a game that still hasn’t actually launched.
Netmarble: Netmarble Corp. released its Q1 2021 earnings this week, reporting revenues rising to more than half a billion dollars for the period – up 7% since this quarter last year. Even so, the company called the figures “relatively sluggish” thanks to rising labor costs.
Nexon: Finally, Nexon announced the schedule for NDC the Nexon Developers Conference, running from June 6th to 11th. Nexon says it “features 49 open sessions on data analysis, programing, visual art & sound as well as business management” – and yes, there will be English and Japanese translations too.
