RocketWerkz founder cracks US$50m but says gaming future is grim
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RocketWerkz founder cracks US$50m but says gaming future is grim
Dean Hall's DayZ and Icarus games have been winners, but he fears studios are increasingly beholden to large publishers.
RocketWerkz has had success with its Icarus survival game, including via downloadable content that allows players to keep pets.
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RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Trump and Xi hold long-awaited trade call
By Kevin Liptak and Simone McCarthy , CNN Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and US President Donald Trump. Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina and SAUL LOEB / AFP President Donald Trump emerged from a long-awaited 90-minute telephone call with President Xi Jinping of China encouraged that ongoing trade tensions could soon be resolved. Calling the conversation "very good," Trump said in a social media post after the call that follow-up talks would soon be arranged with his economic team, and that he and Xi had invited each other to visit each other's respective nations. Trump said the call focused almost entirely on trade, without touching on other geopolitical issues like Iran and Ukraine. The call "resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries," Trump wrote on Truth Social. It comes after a long period of silence between the leaders, and the discrepancy in how each side was talking - or not talking - about the call ahead of time only underscored a widening gulf between the world's two largest economies. Tensions have been rising between the two sides in the weeks after they agreed to a 90-day trade truce last month, which hit pause on their tit-for-tat escalation of tariffs. Trump accused China last week of "violating" the agreement - a charge Beijing has denied, while it accused the US of taking steps to "seriously undermine" that consensus. In his readout of the Thursday call, Trump singled out the issue of rare earth minerals - which China had placed restrictions on - as an area where he made progress with his counterpart. "There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products," Trump wrote. He said a meeting between the economic teams would occur "shortly" in a location to be determined. And he said the leaders look forward to visiting each other. "During the conversation, President Xi graciously invited the First Lady and me to visit China, and I reciprocated. As Presidents of two Great Nations, this is something that we both look forward to doing," Trump wrote. US officials had signaled in recent days that a call between the two leaders could help jump-start progress in expected upcoming trade talks, which had appeared to stall following the initial truce reached in Geneva. As CNN reported ahead of Thursday's call, Chinese officials - who were deeply wary of Trump's unpredictability and track record of putting foreign leaders in awkward or embarrassing situations - had put off a phone call, according to people familiar, even as Trump stated on multiple occasions this spring that he expected to speak with Xi soon. The president's Oval Office ambushes of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa caught the attention of officials in China, those people added, and officials wanted to avoid anything similar, even in a private conversation. But Trump regards securing a new agreement with Beijing both as a critical component of his broader trade agenda and as a necessary follow-up from his first term, when trade deals with China got derailed during the Covid-19 pandemic. The two leaders are known to have last spoken on 17 January, days before Trump's inauguration. They are navigating a fractious relationship, with recent points of contention stretching beyond their gaping trade imbalance. Following the Geneva talks last month, US officials had expected China to ease export restrictions on rare earth minerals, which had been imposed in April in retaliation against Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs on Chinese goods. The minerals are an essential part of everything from iPhones and electric vehicles to big-ticket weapons like F-35 fighter jets and missile systems. But the restrictions haven't been lifted, causing intense displeasure inside the Trump administration and prompting a recent series of measures imposed on China, three administration officials told CNN last week. Beijing, meanwhile, has bristled as Washington warned companies against using AI chips made by China's national tech champion Huawei, moved to limit critical technology sales to China and announced that the US would "aggressively revoke visas" for Chinese students in the US with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields. - CNN
Scoop
10 hours ago
- Scoop
Poor Countries Set To Pay $22billion For China Debt
Article – RNZ New research from the Lowy Institute shows the world's poorest countries will make record high debt repayments to China this year. , RNZ Pacific Senior Journalist New research from the Lowy Institute shows the world's poorest countries will make record high debt repayments to China this year. The research, released last month, showed China is set to call in US$22 billion for debts from 75 countries assessed by the World Bank as the world's poorest and most vulnerable in 2025. Ten Pacific nations were on the list. China's foreign ministry, meanwhile, denies Beijing is responsible for developing debt. Lowy research author Riley Duke said China had shifted from lead bilateral banker to chief debt collector for the developing world. 'Because of the large amount of lending that China did in the mid-2010s, and the way it structured its loans through its Belt-and-Road initiative, this year, it is seeing a huge spike in repayments,' he said. For Pacific countries that had borrowed from China, Duke said repayment strain was already an issue. He identified Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu as being at higher risk due to respective loans. In Tonga, the impact of Chinese loans had been a 'big political issue' this year. Duke anticipated that about 15 percent of the government's revenue over the next few years would be devoted to debt repayments. 'Last year, Tonga spent more on its debt repayments than it did on health for its citizens,' he said. 'And so when we look at the….forward outlook, there are more challenges on the horizon. There are key development issues across the Pacific that countries and their governments and their people want to be dealing with. 'But instead, these debt burdens are there and they're persistent. 'Again, just to focus on Tonga…. [it] ran five successful budget surpluses in the lead-up to having a big wave of Chinese debt repayments coming in. 'But then it faced huge economic costs from the pandemic, from the earthquake, from cyclones, and so that wiped out all the money that [the government] had put aside.' Duke believed the amount of China's lending into the region was less than a quarter of the level it was in the mid-2010s. 'I'd be surprised to see any new large loans from China in the region, and I think related to that is the broader topic of whether Pacific countries should take on lots of debt. 'Pacific countries have large financing gaps. There's a lot of infrastructure that needs to be built, and sometimes loans are the best way to do that, and ultimately that just comes back to the quality of the project. 'People are a bit afraid of debt, and I think it's a bit…of a dirty word, but if a loan is taken out to finance a project that is good for economic growth, good for a Pacific country [because] it drives connectivity [and] it drives the economy, then it's a good loan, and it's good debt to take on, and it will pay itself back.' He said there had also been a shift in how China engaged with the region. 'China's main form of engagement with the Pacific 15 years ago was lending. I think 80 percent of all of China's development financing to the region was in the form of loans, and that's fallen off dramatically since around 2018.' That shift was due to a range of factors, including increased financing options for Pacific governments, Duke said. 'In 2010, China might have been the only partner offering large-scale infrastructure financing. 'Australia is now offering more financing in that space. The World Bank is offering more financing in that space; there's climate funds that are also offering adaptation projects and adaptation infrastructure. 'So there are more options on the table for Pacific countries than there was previously. And I think that is part of the reason that China's lending has declined.' China's foreign ministry denied Beijing was responsible for developing debt. 'China's cooperation on investment and financing with developing countries follows international practice, market principles, and the principle of debt sustainability,' spokesperson Mao Ning said. 'A handful of countries are spreading the narrative that China is responsible for these countries' debt. 'However, they ignore the fact that multilateral financial institutions and commercial creditors from developed countries are the main creditors of developing countries, and the primary source of debt repayment pressure. 'Lies cannot cover truth and people can tell right from wrong.'
National Business Review
16 hours ago
- National Business Review
Citi makes new appointment for Australia and NZ
US-based investment banking group Citi has appointed John McLean as head of equity capital markets and global asset managers for Australia and New Zealand. McLean is currently head of global asset managers for Citi's financial sponsors business in Asia Pacific and will relocate from Singapore to Sydney for the role. In his current role, he is responsible for managing a regional team advising global alternative asset manager and sovereign wealth fund clients. Citi Australia chief executive Mark Woodruff said in a statement that McLean was the ideal person to lead the bank's growth plans, due to his experience in Asia and Australia. Meanwhile, McLean said he was excited to be returning to Australia. 'There is significant opportunity in both private capital markets and equity capital markets across Australia and New Zealand and I look forward to growing the team and delivering for our clients.' McLean's deal experience includes working on the Green Tea IPO in Hong Kong, the Hexaware IPO in India, the private sale of Dulwich College International, and the partial divestment of Temasek's Singapore Airlines stake. As well as his financial sponsors' expertise, McLean has over two decades of experience in equity capital markets. This is supplied content and not commissioned or paid for by NBR.
