Variety’s Post

The subscription wars are underway. Consumers rely on subscriptions to manage nearly every aspect of their lives, including music, food, gaming, health and fitness — and every provider wants a share of that spend. Check out this new guide from Bango via the Custom in-house team at Digiday Media that helps break down how consumers and subscriptions are interacting and what subscribers want most from the companies with which they transact: https://lnkd.in/exUxQ48x

The latest big announcement from Live Nation and Download Festival is... the video game Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance?! Video games at a music festival? This might seem unusual, but there's a huge overlap between gaming and music audiences, especially in the alternative scenes - just take a listen to Mick Gordon's soundtrack for Doom 2016 or check out the likes of Serj Tankian, Matt Heafy and Alissa White-Gluz writing original vocals for Metal: Hellsinger. In the case of Download Festival, Sega is installing eight gaming booths so players can play the game inbetween sets. But I actually think festival organisers could be more ambitious with video game music... America has a sellout festival and conference dedicated to video game music called MAGFest, where thousands of video game music fans cram out the Gaylord National Convention Centre in America to check out live performances from video game music performers, cover artists, orchestrators and arrangers. I'd love to see festivals such as Download make space for live video game music. Imagine Mick Gordon performing the Doom soundtrack live with artists from Periphery and Nine Inch Nails like he did at The Game Awards? Imagine cover bands like The 900s (a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater cover band!) taking to the stage? 65daysofstatic doing a full live-performance of No Man's Sky post-rock soundtrack? The Algorithm (Boucle Infinie) performing his soundtrack for The Last Spell, Hammock playing a late night set of their interpretive score from Far Cry 5 or Kellie Quinn tanning vocals to music from Sonic Frontiers with a live band and orchestra behind him? If you're sceptical about the crowds that video game music could pull, rock concerts have been taking place since the '80s in Japan with sellout crowds in their thousands where in-house sound teams from companies such as Sega (SST) and Taito (Zuntata) play prog-rock/fusion versions of game soundtracks.

Did you know? The game industry, surpassing the movie and music sectors combined, pours vast resources into new content. Curious about their return strategy? Unravel the nuances of game monetization! 🚀 https://lnkd.in/g65AWAdH #Gameopedia #Monetisation #GameDevelopment #GameBusiness #GamingTrends

“...the internet and the digital tools it supports have catalyzed a golden age of entertainment, with creators and consumers thriving amid record growth in the music, film, gaming, and publishing sectors.” Learn more about how the internet is fueling global growth in the entertainment and content industries:

STYNGR is known for being innovative. They were the first to provide players with curated in-game music experiences. Challenge: Improve UX, scalability, and service integration As a platform based on integrations with various music labels and gaming providers, STYNGR needs to consistently provide scalable, secure, compliant, and reliable solutions. In addition, to keep up with the fast-paced media and entertainment industry and increasingly discerning gaming aficionados, their services need to revolve around outstanding experiences. Solution: Modernize the technology platform to unlock new functionality HTEC and STYNGR focused on improvements in three strategic areas: (1) Platform Integration (2) Blockchain introduction (3) Infrastructure improvements. By enabling direct API integrations, HTEC has not only improved the user experience but also facilitated both existing and future integrations to more easily come online. Great timing as we're excited for our HTEC and Momentum Design Lab, an HTEC company team attending NAB Show this week. #NABshow2024. Scan our QR code if you see us around Zinaida Huremović Ana Aristizabal Aleksandar Stojanovic Robert Radusinovic David Thomson Pamela Strug Marko Anić

New Post: A new ‘Silent Hill’ game has been released for free on PS5 - https://lnkd.in/gyfVv_Jf - The Silent Hill franchise has received a new game, available for free on PlayStation 5 right now. READ MORE: Mikael Hedberg makes video game nightmares Silent Hill: The Short Message was released last night (January 30) during the PlayStation State of Play. The game was actually originally leaked way back in 2022, with a South Korean board rating spotted for the game but no real indication of when it might release or if it was actually still in development. As it turns out, the title was still in development and has been released for free exclusively on PlayStation 5. In a new PlayStation blog post, producer Motoi Okamato explained the thinking behind this new Silent Hill game. The game is fairly short, weighing in at around two hours, but shows off the potential future of the Silent Hill franchise beyond the already announced games such as the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake and the upcoming Annapurna Interactive published Silent Hill: Townfall. “We wanted to make a new, modern Silent Hill. As part of that we explored how we could incorporate contemporary problems. We ended up looking at how modern youth communicate online and through phones, and the role that could play in a psychological horror story,” Okamato wrote. Okamato also elaborated on the subtitle of the game, explaining what the ‘short message’ is supposed to represent in the game, and why Konami chose to have young characters as the focus. “We chose to set our story around young characters like this. Characters who are genuinely suffering and lost, where even one more minor setback can wind up pushing them even deeper into a spiral of anguish. But, in the same way, even the smallest kindness can be the thing that pulls them back from the brink. And that’s what also makes this game a message, from us to everyone living with that ever-present conflict and pressure”. In other gaming news, Death Stranding 2 has confirmed a 2025 release date along with the subtitle for the game. The post A new ‘Silent Hill’ game has been released for free on PS5 appeared first on NME. - ----------------------------------------------------- Download: Stupid Simple CMS - https://lnkd.in/g4y9XFgR

Agree with everything that Rob is saying here and wanted to add my own thoughts. The music industry doesn't take video games seriously enough. This baffles me when the industry is obsessed with finding 'super fans' - something that video games have cultivating for more than 50 years. If you want to harness the power of super fans, give people more ways to engage with your music. Japan and Korea are absolutely leading the way on this front. HYBE's mobile games for BTS, 'BTS Island: In the SEOM Puzzle' and Rhythm Hive were downloaded 3.7 million times last year and made $16 MILLION in revenue. TakeOne Company's Blackpink and NTC mobile games picked up 1.6 million downloads in the last year and have made $2.1 million in revenue. Perhaps most impressive of all: Sony's mobile game for the Japanese idol group Hinatazaka46 only had 20k downloads in the last year but has managed to make $6.8 MILLION! All of these figures are pretty much coming from Japan. Why is this impressive? The game was released in 2020. This means rather than relying on new downloads to generate revenue, Sony has clearly fostered a highly engaged playerbase who keep returning to the game on a daily basis. Another rhythm game, Uni's on Air, based on Japanese idols Sakurazaka46 and Hinatazaka46, made $12.7 million in the last year and is only available in Japan. The average revenue per download is $97. Couple of caveats here: Japan's video game industry is predominantly focussed on mobile as the preferred platform as choice and the fan culture for 'idol bands' is leagues beyond anything we see in the West, even Swifties imo. That said, I do believe this model of rhythm games can be replicated by labels in the West for major artists (such as Taylor Swift) and previous attempts at doing so have been successful WHEN DONE RIGHT. The Avicii Invector game is a fantastic example, while the mobile rhythm game Beatstar continues to go from strength to strength and highlights the need (gap?!) for music focussed games in the West.

Integrating Spotify into your PlayStation 5 (PS5) offers a multitude of advantages, transforming your gaming experience into a sensory delight. Here's a closer look at why having Spotify on your PS5 is a game-changer: 1. Seamless Music Integration With Spotify on PS5, you can seamlessly integrate music into your gaming environment.

We have another new live roulette game hits the Playtech live casino game portfolio. K-Pop Roulette Live is based on the popular fad of K-Pop music from South Korea. Now, to warn you, this game does not strictly follow the traditional betting options standard roulette games offer. Instead, it simplifies the betting options, giving you a low volatile game. Although, you can still win 35 to 1. I’ll explain all this in the How to Play K-Pop Roulette section below. The wheel itself uses a single-zero. I prefer the single-zero because it offers a better RTP than double-zero roulette games. However, due to the way this game changes the betting options, it doesn’t make too much of a difference when placing bets. https://lnkd.in/dBwkSZE8 Playtech #livecasino Playtech Live Latvia

New Post: ‘Fortnite’ Festival XP glitch lets players level up ridiculously quickly - https://lnkd.in/gcVKfuiW - A Fortnite Festival XP glitch has been discovered, meaning players have been levelling up incredibly quickly through the new game mode. READ MORE: Best FPS games: what’s the best shooter you can play in 2023? Fortnite Festival kicked off on Saturday (December 9), and brought a Rock Band-style game mode that lets fans play along to the likes of The Weekend, Queens Of The Stone Age, and Fall Out Boy. Yet the new game mode has also introduced an exploit that’s letting players gain hundreds of levels without jumping into Fortnite‘s traditional battle royale matches. While we won’t be detailing the exact steps needed to carry this out, it involves activating the ‘Play on the Jam Stage for 20 minutes’ daily quest and joining a friend who’s already at the stage. Due to the bug, you’ll automatically gain a level every time you rejoin them thanks to the Fortnite Festival XP glitch. The Weeknd in ‘Fortnite Festival’. Credit: Epic Games At time of writing (December 11), Epic Games has yet to acknowledge the bug. However, it’s worth noting that players should only attempt to abuse the exploit at their own risk, as the developer may issue resets or account punishments for those who use it to get ahead. Elsewhere, Fortnite Festival has proven a hit for more than just its XP glitch. Songs by Lady Gaga, The White Stripes and Nine Inch Nails are now available to play in the rhythm-based mode, which has been created by Rock Band developer Harmonix. Looking ahead, more support for Fortnite Festival is on the way. In a recent blog post, Epic Games confirmed that adding support for instrument controllers (such as those from Rock Band or Guitar Hero) is a “priority” for the team heading into 2024. Meanwhile, a major collaboration with Lego has brought yet another mode to Fortnite. The post ‘Fortnite’ Festival XP glitch lets players level up ridiculously quickly appeared first on NME. - Download: Stupid Simple CMS - https://lnkd.in/g4y9XFgR