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Google News returns to Spain after a seven-year absence
The service was pulled in 2014 ahead of a change to the country's copyright law.
Details emerge about Facebook's Substack clone for indie writers
A leak has detailed how Facebook's Substack-like publishing platform will work, including tie-ins with Pages and ways to get paid.
The New York Times removes its articles from Apple News
The New York Times is ending its partnership with Apple News.
Google Stadia may offer publisher-specific subscriptions
Last week, Google revealed pricing and availability for its much-anticipated game streaming service Stadia. It announced the Founder's Edition and Stadia Pro packages, as well as a targeted November release date. Later, Phil Harrison, a vice president and general manager of Google, seemed to slip a few more details. During YouTube's E3 Live show, Harrison reportedly said Stadia will also offer publisher-specific subscriptions. Those could allow Stadia gamers to subscribe to all titles from individual publishers.
Microsoft releases Office 2019 for Mac and Windows
Just because Microsoft is bent on moving everyone to cloud-based subscriptions doesn't mean it has forgotten about those who want a one-and-done purchase. The company is rolling out Office 2019 for Mac and Windows, giving you a "subset" of the upgrades that have come to Office 365 ProPlus in the past three years. They're not revolutionary, but they could be helpful if you've stuck to Office 2016 or earlier releases.
Roku makes it easy to launch a streaming TV channel
Roku just showed off its latest players upgraded with features like 4K and HDR, and now it's working on getting more stuff for owners to watch. That will come via its new Roku Direct Publisher tool, which lets the people who have videos make a channel for the box, without having to do any coding. Of course, you will need somewhere to host the content for your streaming channel, but if you already have that then getting content in front of Roku's 10 million or so active accounts (those that have actively streamed in the last 30 days) is as easy as writing this blog post.
Psychological thriller 'Allison Road' picks up a publisher
Allison Road's Kickstarter is canceled. Not because developers at Lilith Ltd can't reach their £250,000 goal or because they aren't up for the challenge after all -- Allison Road will now be published by Worms studio Team17. This deal allows Lilith to ditch crowdfunding altogether, which is a nice option now that the game has already benefited from the attention of a viral Kickstarter campaign. "Working with Team17 will give us the chance to make our game unhindered creatively, but at the same time will give us the resources, support and experience that only a 25-year-old studio can give," Lilith writes in a Kickstarter update.
Channel 4 creates its own video game publishing arm
Channel 4 is gearing up to launch its own video game publisher. The UK broadcaster has commissioned mobile games before, but they've often been specific projects that relate to its most popular programming. Now, it wants to offer additional support to the indie developer community. Channel 4 will continue to fund a smattering of games, but its new "All 4 Games" brand will offer broader games development, marketing and promotional support. So even if Channel 4 isn't funding the title, the idea is that its guidance and experience will justify a small cut of developers' revenues. That includes publishing games on all of the major app stores, as well as promoting them through its new All 4 video streaming service. What's not clear, however, is the exact cut Channel 4 will be taking from the games. The mobile space is brutal, especially now that the free-to-play model is so prevalent, so the broadcaster will need to prove its services represent good value.
Investors plug $6 million into Majesco
Majesco Entertainment completed an investment round that resulted in $6 million in funding, the Cooking Mama publisher announced today. $1 million of the funds were issued to the company with the rest stashed in escrow until certain, as-yet-unknown conditions are met by Majesco. The company also appointed two people to its boards of directors to replace two that stepped down, one of whom is Jesse Sutton, who will remain Majesco's CEO after resigning from the company's board. SEC filings in November admitted that Majesco "suffered losses that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern." It reported a 27.2 percent drop year-over-year in net revenue in September, as well as net losses of $2.7 million. As a result, Majesco laid off several staff in October to reduce fixed costs. The company also noted last month that it is "currently not developing any significant new games for release in fiscal 2015," which ends on October 31, 2015. [Image: Majesco]
Angry Birds publisher cuts layoffs down to 110
Angry Birds publisher Rovio announced plans to cut 16 percent of its workforce in early October, which approximated 130 jobs. That number is now down to 110, as the studio concluded its employee negotiations this week. As part of Rovio's reorganization plans, it opened up "several positions" to internal applicants, so the final number of layoffs for the publisher is expected to change as the company fills those new roles. As part of its restructuring, Rovio will discontinue its Tampere studio and consolidate its operations in Finland to its Espoo branch. The company's profits were halved as of April, resulting in a leadership change at the end of the year as announced in August. As of January 1, 2015, Mikael Hed will step down as CEO and move into the role of Chairman of Rovio Animation Studios, being replaced by Nokia's former Senior Vice President of Pekka Rantala. [Image: Rovio]
Majesco doubting 'ability to continue' following layoffs
Majesco has fallen on hard times, as the Cooking Mama publisher "implemented a reduction of our workforce to reduce our fixed costs," according to recent SEC filings. The company's layoffs came at the very end of October, just after its independent label Midnight City launched Costume Quest 2 on PS3 and PS4. The publisher reported a net loss of $2.7 million in September for the quarter ending July 31 as well as a net revenue of $2.9 million, a 27.2 percent drop year-over year. When pointing to the earnings report in a November 6 filing, Majesco said it "suffered losses that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern." Likewise, Majesco is "currently not developing any significant new games for release in fiscal 2015," a period that ends on October 31, 2015. The three games slated to launch during that time are Hello Kitty and Sanrio Friends 3D Racing for 3DS, Gone Home's console port courtesy of Midnight City and Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms for PC, which is currently available in early access form on Steam. [Image: Majesco]
Nexon teases Hyper Universe with a trailer, will publish Tree of Savior
Although Nexon's big showcase for the year, G-Star 2014, doesn't start until next week, there's already some information coming out thanks to a press day, and MMO Culture nabbed a few bits of news. Nexon showed a teaser trailer for its upcoming Hyper Universe game. While information about the game is a bit scarce, the premise of heroes from multiple universes battling it out lends itself to a possible PvP brawler idea. You can get a glimpse of a few of the various characters in the trailer below. Nexon will also be the Korean publisher for Tree of Savior; the company is taking over all marketing and business activities from this point on. Players can expect a new trailer of the game to be released next week during G-Star 2014, and the pace of development is said to be quickening to still meet its 2015 launch schedule.
The Banner Saga, Armikrog journey to PS4 in early 2015
Four games from independent developers will arrive on PS4 in early 2015, each courtesy of publisher Versus Evil. The publisher, which specializes in assisting independent devs reach new platforms and regions, revealed Stoic Studio's viking RPG The Banner Saga among the handful of games destined for the PlayStation Network. The Banner Saga's first episode launched in January after a successful $723,886 campaign on Kickstarter funded the game in April 2012. Versus Evil will also help another Kickstarter-funded game to reach PS4 early next year, Pencil Test Studios' clay-sculpted adventure game Armikrog. The other two games arriving on PS4 in 2015 thanks to the publisher are Kyn and Toren, the latter developed by Brazilian studio Swordtales. Players guide a "Moonchild" through the stages of childhood while ascending a tower in Toren, solving puzzles and slashing at enemies along the way. Versus Evil noted in PlayStation Blog's comments that none of the games are slated to reach Vita as of yet. [Image: Stoic Studio]
Amazon wants you to ask Hachette's CEO for lower e-book prices
Amazon's fight with Hachette over e-book pricing just got extra-personal. Hot on the heels of writers attacking Jeff Bezos' "retaliation," the Amazon Books Team has posted a Readers United site that calls on you to email Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch and ask him to lower the costs of e-books. The online retailer doesn't want you to mince words, either -- it wants you to bring up his "illegal collusion" and claim that he's using authors as "leverage." Some writers aren't on his side, Amazon says.
Bandai Namco to distribute next-gen racer Project Cars
Slightly Mad Studios' next-gen racing game Project Cars now has the support of Bandai Namco. The publisher agreed to distribute the game globally on Xbox One, PS4, PC for Windows and SteamOS as well as Wii U. Project Cars is slated to launch in November. The realism-fixated racing sim began as a crowdsourced World of Mass Development project in September 2011, two years after Slightly Mad Studios launched Need for Speed: Shift. It was originally planned for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 before the developer added the Wii U to its list of platforms in January 2012, then ditched Xbox 360 and PS3 in favor of their next-gen counterparts and SteamOS in November 2013. One year later, Project Cars will arrive as one of the PS4's first Morpheus games in addition to its support of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. [Image: Bandai Namco]
Nexon working with Sleeping Dogs dev on free game
Nexon America is partnering with Sleeping Dogs developer United Front Games to publish a free-to-play game, the publisher announced this week. No details on the game are yet known, though it is expected to arrive in 2015. This isn't the only project in progress at the studio, as United Front Games revealed in October that it is working on another game set in the same universe as Sleeping Dogs, which will be published by Square Enix. As for Nexon America, it is publishing Dirty Bomb, an Unreal Engine-based shooter from Brink developer Splash Damage. The game was momentarily known as Extraction before Splash Damage changed the name back to Dirty Bomb in May. [Image: Square Enix]
Walmart exploits Amazon publisher feud to remind people that it still sells books
While Amazon is caught up in an e-book pricing dispute with one of the world's biggest publishers, Walmart is making hay. As the internet retailer continues to squeeze Hachette for better pricing on e-books by limiting the amount of printed books it orders, which include titles from J.K Rowling and James Patterson, competing booksellers are conducting fire-sales to remind consumers that they're a viable alternative (and boost revenues in the process). Case in point: Walmart slashed 40 percent off nearly 400 Hachette titles on its website and shortened delivery times in order to beat its internet rival. The tactic appears to have worked, the retailer said that by the end of last week, physical book sales were up 70 percent in just three days. Amazon seems unfazed by it all and has told inconvenienced customers that they can go to "one of [its] competitors." Many customers have evidently done just that, but their actions aren't likely to help put an end to this e-book feud.
Amazon steps up pressure on Hachette for better e-book pricing
For months, Amazon has been applying relatively subtle pressure on Hachette an apparent bid to get better pricing on e-books; unnecessary shipping delays and reduced discounts on paper books have been common. Well, it's not subtle any more. The company has started pulling pre-orders for Hachette titles, either listing them as "unavailable" or removing product pages outright. The dispute leaves many caught in the crossfire -- authors lose revenue, while customers have to track down smaller stores that will take advance purchases.
Cartoon Network publishing Kickstarted Zelda-like Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake
Indie developer SleepNinja will get a little help to bring Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake to Steam and mobile devices later this year, as it agreed to a publishing deal with Cartoon Network Games, the publisher confirmed to Joystiq. The developer earned $26,091 on Kickstarter in February 2013, enough to reach a stretch goal that will bring the game to Android in addition to PC, Mac and iOS. "Cartoon Network have been great to work with and have definitely kept our backers in mind," SleepNinja Creative Director Justin Baldwin said via email. "Our publishing deal with them will not affect our backer's rewards; everyone will still be getting what was promised, and the game they were promised." Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake is an "environmental puzzler" in the same vein as Nintendo's Legend of Zelda series that features a colorful 16-bit aesthetic that "doesn't rely on pixel art." While Cartoon Network Games primarily focuses on games related to its current properties such as Adventure Time, Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake will be its first original IP on Steam. Cartoon Network said it plans to publish "more than 10 mobile titles and at least four on Steam." [Image: SleepNinja]
Double Fine to publish indie games, starting with Escape Goat 2
Double Fine may be known for creating games like Psychonauts, Brutal Legend and Broken Age, but it's expanding its efforts to add indie game publishing to its repertoire. Its first act as an indie publisher is to provide "promotional assistance and distribution" for MagicalTimeBean's Escape Goat 2, COO Justin Bailey told Game Informer. "Our goal is to help indies build their own community and empower them with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed on their own," Bailey said, adding that multiple indie developers have approached Double Fine to ask for publishing assistance. "They all had a unique request and that's where we started to see there was a real need for the knowledge we've gained over the last 14 years on how to prototype, fund, develop and publish our own games." Double Fine's publishing ambitions boil down to the efforts of two individuals: Bailey and senior publishing manager Greg Rice, who will offer advice for crowdfunding hopefuls as well as development feedback, platform porting advice and promotional assistance. "We're open to working with each developer and figuring out how we can help make them successful," Bailey added. Double Fine recently teamed up with MagicalTimeBean to create a quirky promotional video for Escape Goat 2. The game launched yesterday on PC, Mac and Linux via Steam, GOG and the Humble Store for $10. [Image: MagicalTimeBean]
