Daily Briefing: Thursday 21st January

Geo-Blocking Fine For Publishers & Storefronts

A whopping $9.5m is being taken from 5 publishers and Valve for breaching EU anti-trust laws. Specifically, for engaging in 'geo-blocking' in the EU. German users forced to pay German prices for games, as an example, goes against the principle of the EU Digital Single Market.

• Without getting too into it, the EU Digital Single Market can result in some vast differences in game prices compared to consumer spending power across EU countries, so it can get a bit awkward for some EU customers. It'll likely take more than these fines for these publishers to relent, though - there are further millions in lost revenue on the line. If geo-blocking stops, games will either get a lot more expensive for the poorer EU nations or a lot cheaper for the richer ones.

Valve Games To Be Announced & Valve New Zealand

Speaking to NZ news outlet 1 News, Gabe talked at length about how good New Zealand is - going so far as to say ""It's as if there's a new element that's been discovered called 'not-stupidium', and New Zealand is one of the world's producers of it". He suggests that Valve are considering moving some of their operations there, including their major CSGO and DOTA 2 tournaments, but have no current plans. He also confirmed that they have single-player games to be announced, noting that shipping Alyx has been a morale boost and has inspired them to make more games.

• Reading Gabe's interview makes New Zealand sound like a utopia compared to anywhere else. It'll be interesting to see what an inspired Valve can do in terms of games - Alyx was incredible, but being in VR meant it only got to a limited audience.

Capcom Raise Forecast Thanks To Digital Sales

Capcom have told investors to expect up to 20% more operating income this fiscal year, thanks to strong Monster Hunter Rise pre-sales and a great performance from Resident Evil 3, as well as continued sales of Monster Hunter World and other catalogue titles.

• Capcom are continuing to be modern Capcom - making great games and selling them. There are few publishers who have such an exciting future outlook from in-house devs. If those leaked plans are anything to go by, expect lots of games in the next few years!