Latest news with #HonorofKings
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Violent and lewd! Not Grand Theft Auto, Shakespeare's Macbeth
Last week, the Guardian spoke to the team behind Lili, a video game retelling of Macbeth, shown at the Cannes film festival. The headline quote from the piece was 'Shakespeare would be writing for games today', which I have heard many times, and does make a lot of sense. Shakespeare worked in the Elizabethan theatre, a period in which plays were considered popularist entertainment hardly worthy of analysis or preservation – just like video games today! The authorities were also concerned about the lewd and violent nature of plays and the effect they may have on the impressionable masses – ditto! But if we agree that a 21st-century Shakespeare would be making games, what sort would he be making? If our central thesis is that Shakespeare would be interested in mass, popular entertainment, then – if we're talking pure revenue – he would be making casual smartphone games: Tencent's multiplayer arena battle game Honor of Kings, for example, made $2.6bn (£1.9bn) last year. However, while the Bard was certainly interested in royalty and honour (and making money), it's hard to see Hamlet working as a multiplayer arena-based online battle game structured into an endless series of fast-paced skirmishes. Our titular hero would barely get out the words, 'O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!' before being vaporised in a scorching barrage attack. For similar reasons, I can't see Shakespeare making battle royale games such as Fortnite because, while he certainly liked a battle and lots of deaths, there's not a lot of room for narrative complexity or rousing military rhetoric when the sole aim is to shoot as many people as possible while dressed as a giant banana or Sabrina Carpenter. No, I think if Shakespeare was magically reincarnated in the first quarter of the 21st century, there is only one genre he'd be working in: the open-world role-playing adventure. Here, he'd have the time and space to weave complex narratives involving dozens of characters and diverse environments. King Lear's moors would become a desolate explorable wasteland, much like the post-apocalyptic hellscapes of Fallout or Death Stranding; Macbeth's castle would resemble the haunted dungeons of Elden Ring or The Witcher 3; the Verona of Romeo and Juliet would be a beautiful, troubled take on GTA's Los Santos. Shakespeare's major thematic obsessions – war, revenge, madness and the nature of free will – are all major elements in fantasy RPGs; his ability to weave in all classes, from the lowest peasants to the most vainglorious kings, is reflected in the social strata of the great open-world titles. Shakespeare's histories mixed real-life and fictional characters, as does the Assassin's Creed series, titles that are also interested in the classic Shakespearean concerns of identity, disguise and illusion. More broadly, open-world games have the same sort of freewheeling structure and psychological flexibility as Shakespeare's plays. They have subplots and side quests, they have nonlinear timelines and complicated, morally ambiguous characters; they are expansive and baggy, and wide open to varied interpretation. Vitally, open-world games let the spectator into the narrative as a viewer and an actor; similarly Shakespeare wanted his audiences to be drawn into the action, using asides, quips and monologues to break down the divide between stage and pit. Loud, opinionated and combative, video game players have much more in common with Shakespeare's Elizabethan audiences than polite modern theatregoers. This potential intersection between Shakespeare and open-world games is quietly gaining traction. A few years ago the RSC employed three artists to consider the interplay of live theatre with technology and one of them, the digital artist Adam Clarke, tested ideas for hosting Shakespeare performances within Minecraft. More recently, we saw the brilliant documentary Grand Theft Hamlet about an attempt to stage Hamlet within Grand Theft Auto during the Covid lockdowns. What, after all, is an open-world online video game if not a technological rendering of Shakespeare's fundamental philosophy: all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. It is always intriguing to see highly recognisable video game genres getting clever reinterpretations. Rift Riff by Dutch game designer Adriaan de Jongh and his small team is a tower defence game like, say, Plants vs. Zombies, except here the landscape is much more open and there are little tactical additions, such as being able to lay down the foundations for new towers before you have gathered the required resources to build them, which makes planning fun and creative. Add in the lovely, inviting visuals and sound effects and you have a captivating strategy sim suitable for newcomers and veterans alike. Available on: PC Estimated playtime: 15-plus hours Writer, director and video game fan Alex Garland has been confirmed to helm a forthcoming live action movie adaptation of Elden Ring, produced by A24 and Bandai Namco. If it's going to be authentic, the first two hours of the film will revolve around the lead character being repeatedly slaughtered by the Tree Sentinel knight at the very start of the quest. Pac-Man is now officially 45 years old and the BFI has a piece tracing the evolution of the game from that old story about the pizza to the fact that all the ghosts have different personalities. Ms Pac-Man is a better game, though. Game design luminary Peter Molyneux recently held a Q&A session at the Nordic Game 2025 conference, and gaming news site wrote up his excellent answer to the question, whatever happened to Project Milo? And frankly, if you have to ask what that is, you'll never know. I am poring over Hurt Me Plenty, a lavish coffee table book about the best shooter games of the noughties, published by Bitmap Books. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Half-Life 2 and Unreal Tournament are all analysed here, as well as lesser-known oddities. (Codename: Nina – Global Terrorism Strike Force anyone?) A fascinating overview of this foundational period for modern shooter design. Unreal estate: the 12 greatest homes in video game history Fortnite returns to iPhone app store in US, ending exile imposed by Apple Hello Stranger – interactive thriller puts remote worker in trial-by-internet | ★★☆☆☆ Sign up to Pushing Buttons Keza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gaming after newsletter promotion This one came to us from Andy on email who asked: What's the strangest game you have ever played? Last year I played Harold Halibut on Game Pass, which I think is probably the weirdest game I've ever experienced. I'd love to hear about other strange gaming experiences. I've played a lot of games that are famously weird, such as Seaman (look after a talking fish with the voice of Leonard Nimoy), Mister Mosquito (you're a mosquito) and Katamari Damacy (you're making giant balls of junk for the king of the universe), but I've also played many more obscure weird games, such as Spectrum classic Fat Worm Blows A Sparky (you're a microscopic worm trapped in your own computer), the bizarre Amiga adventure Tass Times in Tonetown (you're trapped in an alternative 1980s punk dimension) and the PlayStation 2 voyeur sim, Polaroid Pete (you're a photographer trying to take snaps of weird things happening in local parks). My favourite is Sega's Emergency Call Ambulance, which is like Crazy Taxi except you're driving an ambulance with a critically ill patient in the back and if you get into too many collisions you have to give them CPR or they die. This was a big arcade release, but somehow never made it to home consoles. I simply cannot understand why. If you've got a question for Question Block – or anything else to say about the newsletter – email us on pushingbuttons@
Saudi Gazette
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Saudi Gazette
Esports World Cup 2025 reveals full schedule
The ES TIMES — The Esports World Cup 2025 has officially revealed its full schedule, confirming 25 tournaments across 24 different eSports disciplines. The competition will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, over seven weeks from July 7 to August 24, 2025, with a record prize pool of $70 million (262,656,590.00 Saudi Riyals), making it one of the largest tournaments in the history of eSports. This year, more than 2,000 players from 200 teams will participate, competing in a wide variety of games. Here's the breakdown of events by week: Week 1: VALORANT, Apex Legends, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Rennsport, Dota 2 Week 2: League of Legends, Dota 2, MLBB Women's Invitational, Honor of Kings, Free Fire Week 3: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, StarCraft II, MLBB Mid-Season Cup, PUBG Mobile, Honor of Kings Week 4: Overwatch 2, PUBG Mobile, Chess, MLBB Mid-Season Cup Week 5: Call of Duty: Warzone, Rainbow Six Siege X, EA Sports FC 25 Week 6: Rocket League, PUBG Battlegrounds, Teamfight Tactics, Tekken 8 Week 7: Counter-Strike 2, CrossFire: Mercenary Forces Corporation, Street Fighter 6 One of the highlights of this year's tournament is the integration of several mid-season tournaments into existing global tournaments, such as Honor. of Kings and Overwatch 2. Chess also marks its debut as the first traditional sport to join the Esports World Cup. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) will be a key pillar, hosting the Mid-Season Cup 2025 and the return of the Women's Invitational to showcase the best women's teams in the MLBB scene. Valve's top games will be a pivotal part of the event, with Dota 2 concluding the ESL Pro Tour Season 3 with the Esports World Cup, formerly known as the Riyadh Masters. Meanwhile, Counter-Strike 2 will feature as a main event with a prize pool of $1.25 million (4,690,296.25 Saudi Riyals). The Esports World Cup 2025 promises exciting competitive rounds and unforgettable moments for gaming fans around the world. In addition to individual tournaments, organizations will compete for Club World Cup Championship points and the opportunity to join the 2025 EWCF Club Partner Program. Raouf Belhamra – Esports and Gaming writer
RTHK
14-05-2025
- Business
- RTHK
Tencent posts 13pc rise in revenue for first quarter
Tencent posts 13pc rise in revenue for first quarter Tencent says its robust first-quarter growth was mainly driven by revenues from its key gaming businesses. Photo: RTHK Chinese tech giant Tencent on Wednesday reported a 13 percent rise in its revenue in the first quarter, fuelled by accelerated growth in its key gaming business. Revenue topped 180 billion yuan, beating analysts' forecasts of 174 billion yuan. Net profit rose 14 percent year on year to 47.8 billion yuan, falling short of analyst expectations of 52.2 billion yuan. As one of the world's largest gaming companies, the group saw revenues from its hit titles driving overall performance, benefiting from the regulatory easing in the country's gaming industry following the stringent restrictions of previous years. Domestic gaming revenues rose 24 percent year on year to 42.9 billion yuan – thanks to the performance of "Honor of Kings" and "Peacekepper Elite", as well as that of newer titles such as "DnF Mobile". Revenue from its global gaming business, meanwhile, totalled 16.6 billion yuan, representing a 23 percent annual increase. The group, operator of China's largest messaging app WeChat with over 1.4 billion monthly active users, also saw revenue from marketing services jump 20 percent year on year to 31.9 billion yuan, thanks to the "robust demand" from advertisers on WeChat's Mini Program product. Un a statement, the Shenzhen-headquartered company noted that capital expenditures for the first quarter amounted to 27.5 billion yuan, up 91 percent, as it continues to invest in artificial technology and develops products such as an AI chatbot called Yuanbao. 'AI capabilities already contributed tangibly to our businesses, such as performance advertising and evergreen games,' Tencent said in its earnings release. "We also stepped up our spending on new AI opportunities, such as the Yuanbao application and AI in Weixin. 'We believe operating leverage from our existing high-quality revenue streams will help absorb the additional costs associated with these AI-related investments and contribute to healthy financial performance during this investment phase," it said. The company said it expects strategic AI investment will generate considerable returns in the long term.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TCEHY Set to Report Q1 Earnings: What's in Store for the Stock?
Tencent TCEHY is scheduled to release first-quarter 2025 results on May Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter earnings is pegged at 88 cents per share, unchanged over the past 90 days, indicating 18.92% year-over-year Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $24.26 billion, indicating a year-over-year increase of 8.89%. TCEHY surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, with an average surprise of 11.65%. (See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.) Tencent Holding Ltd. price-eps-surprise | Tencent Holding Ltd. Quote Let us see how things have shaped up for the upcoming announcement. Tencent's performance in the first quarter of 2025 is expected to have been shaped by multiple ongoing initiatives across games, advertising, fintech, and AI infrastructure. In domestic games, momentum from the fourth quarter of 2024 is expected to have been carried over, supported by evergreen titles like Honor of Kings, Peacekeeper Elite, Valorant and also contributions from recently released games, DnF Mobile and Delta Force. All five of Tencent's highest-grossing games recorded year-over-year daily active users (DAU) increases during the 2025 Spring Festival period, suggesting sustained engagement. Deferred revenue, which grew by a high-teens percentage year over year in 2024, is expected to have contributed positively to the top line in the quarter under marketing services, revenues increased 17% year over year in the fourth quarter, with AI-driven enhancements to the advertising platform and strong advertiser demand across categories such as e-commerce, financials, FMCG, healthcare and education. Video Accounts Marketing Services revenues grew over 60% year over year, while Weixin Search ad revenue more than doubled. These trends are expected to have supported continued advertising growth in the quarter to be FinTech, commercial payment revenues were flat year over year in the prior quarter, with volume of transactions rising but average selling prices under pressure. The same dynamics are expected to have continued in the first quarter, with consumer demand improving but supply-side pricing pressures still company reported that AI-native application Yuanbao saw rapid growth, with DAU increasing 20-fold from February to March. However, the revenue impact in the first quarter is expected to have been limited due to supply constraints in GPU availability. Increased allocation of GPUs for internal use initially limited external cloud services revenue, though installation activities during the first quarter are expected to have laid the groundwork for stronger growth in subsequent heavily invested in AI development in the fourth quarter of 2024, marked by a 21% year-over-year increase in R&D expenses and a 421% year-over-year rise in capital expenditure. The company intends to further increase both R&D spending and capital expenditures in 2025 to support AI infrastructure and model development across business groups. The bottom line in the first quarter of 2025 is expected to have reflected the increased R&D spending, driven by higher staff costs and GPU service depreciation related to AI initiatives. According to the Zacks model, the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that is not the exact case here. TCEHY has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Here are a few companies worth considering, as our model indicates that they possess the right combination of factors to exceed earnings expectations in their upcoming releases:Capital Southwest CSWC currently has an Earnings ESP of +3.23% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Capital Southwest shares have plunged 8.3% year to date. CSWC is slated to report its fourth quarter fiscal 2025 results on May 14. Baidu BIDU has an Earnings ESP of +8.67% and a Zacks Rank #3 at shares have gained 3.1% year to date. BIDU is scheduled to report its first-quarter 2025 results on May Materials AMT has an Earnings ESP of +1.94% and a Zacks Rank #3 at shares have gained 19.9% year to date. It is scheduled to report its second-quarter fiscal 2025 results on May 15. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report American Tower Corporation (AMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) : Free Stock Analysis Report Tencent Holding Ltd. (TCEHY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Capital Southwest Corporation (CSWC) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Times
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Times
Mobile games turn into boom-or-bust industry as spending rises
[HONG KONG] Mobile gamers ramped up their spending by 4 per cent last year even as the number of downloads and new releases fell, highlighting the narrowing of the industry to a handful of huge titles that dominate users' time. New hits took less time than ever to reach their first US$1 million in revenue – 106 days – but competition from evergreen titles meant there were fewer of those standouts than before, according to Appfigures data. Only 399 new games achieved that threshold, and there were 43 per cent fewer games released overall in 2024, the researchers said. The games industry is struggling to develop a sustainable economic model, with many publishers and studios in recent times cancelling projects and cutting staff after the pandemic-driven boom in entertainment faded. The surging cost to develop and promote new titles has dampened investment and pushed console makers Nintendo and Microsoft to announce the first US$80 retail games. On mobile, Tencent Holdings earned roughly four times as much as the second-biggest publisher in 2024, Monopoly Go! creator Scopely, with longtime favourites Honor of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite in the top four highest global earners. The most profitable and downloaded games for the year were almost all long-lived mobile titles – less than US$4 billion of the total US$65.7 billion spending came from games actually released in 2024. Among those, eight came from Chinese developers, including Mihoyo's Zenless Zone Zero, and two from Japan. Appfigures researchers said developers seeking a slice of the industry are fighting to retain existing players and recruit new ones. One strategy is to use cross-promotional work and other forms of entertainment. 'Collaborations between mobile games and major IP from TV and movies to comics and fashion are nothing new. But in online multiplayer and live service games they shine, boosting both player acquisition and spending,' according to the Appfigures report. 'Monetisation through branded events has grown more sophisticated over time and is now a core strategy in top titles.' American gamers were once again among the world's most valuable, as they spent an average of US$6.43 per download, across iPhone and Android devices, more than four times the global average of US$1.52 per download. Both figures increased by 11 per cent, underscoring the underlying trend of increased spending. BLOOMBERG
