Games industry roundup: Id Software vet Tim Willits to depart, Google Stadia's Reddit AMA, and Facebook slapped with $5bn fine

The hottest stories of the last week from the PC, mobile and blockchain spaces

• 1 PC game news and insights

  Here are the five hottest stories from our sister-site PCGamesInsider.biz for the last week.

  Here's why Dragonest has teamed up with Tencent to publish Drodo Auto Chess in China

  "A good product needs to be known by as many people as possible."

  Id Software studio boss Willits to leave the Doom developer

  24-year vet to depart following Quakecon.

  Here's everything we learnt from Google's Stadia Reddit AMA

  Search and software giant asserts its commitment to the tech, says why developers should come on board, discusses data caps and much more.

  Increase in subscription revenue offsets Fortnite decline for Microsoft as Xbox Live hits 65m monthly users

  Games cash dips 10 per cent year-on-year for the Big M.

  Anno 1800 helped drive PC to be Ubisoft's biggest cash cow for last quarter

  "So the 34 per cent was also pushed by Anno which is a PC specific game. But even with that launch, we had a very good performance on PC overall."

  
  

• 2 Blockchain game news and insights

  Here are the five hottest stories from our sister-site BlockchainGamer.biz for the last week.

  F1 Delta Time’s France Edition NFT sells for $25,000

  Making up one of the more expensive NFT auctions around, F1 Delta Time has just concluded its latest sale. With each of its racers being better known as virtual ‘love letters’ to Formula One, the France Edition 2019 was the latest among them.

  SkyWeaver dev Horizon Blockchain Games closes $3.75 million seed investment

  Canadian developer Horizon Blockchain Games has closed a $3.75 million seed round. The investment was led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture fund Initialized. Golden Ventures, Polychain, Coinbase, Digital Currency Group, and Inovia Capital also participated.

  Ultra raises $3 million and kicks off public sale

  While the Ultra team is hours away from the beginning of its public sale on July 16th. If it’s anything like its recently concluded block round, then there is good news yet to come for the team. For better context, thanks to the participation of investors, Ultra had managed to raise $3 million from a previous hard-cap of $1m.

  Game On! Blockchain – streamlining technology with Mo Dong of Celer

  With the introduction of its latest blockchain SDK solution, Cygnus, we speak to Celer Co-Founder, Mo Dong, about the kind of challenges that come with attempting to make a blockchain game, and the complications that can come with trying to encode it.

  ITAM Games releases the official version of DarkTown

  The ITAM Games team has introduced the community to its latest game to go live with its official version.

  
  

• 3 Influencer news and insights

  Here are the five hottest stories from our sister-site InfluencerUpdate.biz for the last week.

  Yogscast CEO Mark Turpin steps down over sexual harassment allegations

  CEO of media company The Yogscast has stepped down from his role at the company amidst ongoing sexual harassment allegations. He is the second departure from the company this month.

  YouTube launches educational playlists that are unaffected by the platform's frenetic algorithms

  YouTube is introducing a new education feature to promote mathematics, science, music and language within the platform.

  Facebook receives record-breaking $5bn FTC fine in wake of Cambridge Analytica

  Facebook is the latest recipient of a record-breaking fine set by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in light of multiple data scandals, including Cambridge Analytica.

  Chinese live-streaming platform DouYu unveils IPO pricing

  Live-streaming platform DouYu International Holdings Limited has revealed the pricing of its IPO, with shares priced at $11.5 per ADS.

  Instagram is now trialing hidden likes in select countries

  As part of a trial to remove social pressure, Instagram has hidden likes on its platform across a handful of countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada and Ireland.