Karol Severin | MIDiA Research

Why games could be the winning entertainment sector as disposable income tightens

Blog post by Karol Severin

28 Apr 2022

Inflation, as well as macroeconomic and geopolitical developments (from Brexit, through chasing Covid-induced debt, right up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) will likely drive disposable income (and...

You can play Snoop Dogg in Call of Duty, but you can’t PLAY him

Blog post by Karol Severin

21 Apr 2022

Snoop Dogg

call of duty

Warzone

Call of Duty dropped the ‘Tracer Pack: Snoop Dogg Operator Bundle’, costing 2,400 COD Points ($19.99). It comes with Snoop’s playable skin, his own voice lines and progression path towards unlockable...

Sony continues investing in Epic Games

Blog post by Karol Severin

19 Apr 2022

Sony

Epic Games

Fortnite

Sony continues investing in Epic Games Although Microsoft stole the headlines with its acquisition of Activision early this year, Sony is certainly not just standing on the side-lines. Last week, it announced...

Unreal is evolving from a games development tool to a story-telling tool

Blog post by Karol Severin

7 Apr 2022

Epic Games

Unreal Engine 5

games development

Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, launched Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) this week. Despite being in works for a few years and in private Beta for most of 2021, the overall product strategy focusses on tapping...

Gamer brand fandom
Assessing partnership suitability between games and entertainment brands

Report by Karol Severin

21 Mar 2022

£3,000.00 excl. VAT

Games

audience insight

gaming

The 20,000 foot view Entertainment partnerships in games are booming, with games companies being approached with opportunities from all directions. This increased level of opportunity puts pressure on...

Games companies’ video opportunity
From marketing to monetisation

Cover image for Games companies’ video opportunity

Report by Karol Severin

16 Mar 2022

Free Report

Games

gaming

gaming culture

MIDiAs head games analyst, Karol Severin, discusses a key games video opportunity for games companies and games video creators alike, alongside two panellists - CEO of Wormhole Labs and a Twitch content...

Quick Take: Regulation and war are leading the global games industry's trajectory to diverge

Blog post by Karol Severin

11 Mar 2022

regulation

Russia

China

Over the last few years, the traditional unit sales-based model in games has been increasingly moving towards engagement-led models. In other words, we are moving away from costly price points to buy complete...

Webinar: Games companies’ video opportunity

Blog post by Karol Severin

3 Mar 2022

webinar

games video

creators

Traditionally, games companies predominantly used games video for marketing purposes. This made perfect sense in the era of unit sales and early-adoption stages of games-related video. Today, 30% of console...

Reflections from PG Connects London 2022

Blog post by Karol Severin

25 Feb 2022

PG Connects

industry events

games industry

PG Connects London 2022 was the first in-person games industry event that I attended in over two years. Having spent the best part of the pandemic on Zoom, which quickly blurred the lines between a call...

From marketing to monetisation
The games video opportunity for games companies

Cover image for From marketing to monetisation

Report by Karol Severin

22 Feb 2022

£3,000.00 excl. VAT

Games-related video consumption is now as big as established TV and video genres. Despite games companies providing the fuel for the games video sector (i.e., games experiences, processed into content...

Quick take: Roblox is another victim of the attention recession

Blog post by Karol Severin

17 Feb 2022

Roblox

earnings

attention recession

Earlier this week, Roblox announced its fiscal year (FY) 2021 results. The market response was stark, wiping 20+% from Roblox’s market cap. While the media is citing Roblox’s slowing growth (particularly...

Microsoft sets the scene for regulator scrutiny around Activision deal

Blog post by Karol Severin

10 Feb 2022

acquisitions

Microsoft

Activision

Brad Smith, president and vice chair at Microsoft, published a post on Microsoft’s website yesterday , outlining the company’s new Open App Store principles and addressing key questions around exclusivity...

The ‘attention recession’ just showed its teeth to Facebook – and took a $200bn bite

Blog post by Karol Severin

3 Feb 2022

facebook

The games video opportunity for games companies

Blog post by Karol Severin

27 Jan 2022

games video

games streamers

video creators

Traditionally, games companies predominantly used games video for marketing purposes. This made perfect sense in the era of unit sales and early-adoption stages of games-related video. Today, 30% of console...

NFTs and entertainment
Opportunity assessment

Report by Karol Severin

27 Jan 2022

£3,000.00 excl. VAT

Epic Games

mobile games

games subscriptions

NFTs are taking the media and entertainment worlds by storm, but we are still, arguably, in early-adoption stages. The media and supply-side frenzy is kicking in, posing more noise and challenge for...

Acquiring Activision is Microsoft’s big bang in games

Blog post by Karol Severin

19 Jan 2022

acquisitions

m&a

Microsoft

Only last week we wrote about Take-Two acquiring Zynga for $12.7 billion in what was the largest games acquisition in history. But that was last week. This week, that record is beaten more than five-fold,...

Hybrid futures
MIDiA 2022 predictions

Report by Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Srishti Das, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

13 Jan 2022

Free Report

MIDiA Research Predictions

Cultural Trends

social media

MIDiA analysts dive into our 2022 predictions, and why we believe it will be ' the year of the creator '. Watch the webinar here ....

Time for diversification for Take-Two as it bids to acquire Zynga

Blog post by Karol Severin

12 Jan 2022

take two interactive

Zynga

acquisition

Take-Two Interactive announced an acquisition deal to buy Zynga (pending a 45-day shopping window for Zynga) for $12.7billion. The deal Who got a great deal? It depends on who you ask. It worked out well...

Fandom drivers
From fan psychology to NFT demand

Report by Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Srishti Das and Tatiana Cirisano

9 Jan 2022

£3,000.00 excl. VAT

fandom

fans

fan behaviour

Fandom is entertainment’s growth currency, yet it remains both under-valued and poorly understood. While other entertainment currencies can be accurately measured (number of streams, number of sales,...

Ubisoft+ is coming to Xbox as shifts in distribution continue

Blog post by Karol Severin

6 Jan 2022

Ubisoft

xbox

games distribution

Ubisoft has announced that its subscription service Ubisoft+, currently available on PC, will come to Xbox in the future. It will also make its upcoming title Rainbox Six Exploration available on Xbox...