PC Gaming Weekly // Nov 1, 2018

A weekly look at PC games and the stories that matter most

Hi news, I still don't know what to think about Epic Games' big raise -- $1.25 billion. This is the biggest raise I've seen from a video game company, and before you say, "Well, duh, Fortnite!" remember that Epic also makes one of the most important game development toolsets in the world -- the Unreal Engine.  Now, what will Epic do with this new influx of capital? Maybe this will be the time it begins -- or puts more resources into -- creating Unreal Engine 5? Or is its next game around the corner? Or will it do something else? I'd love to see your thoughts -- tweet them to me or GamesBeat. Or email us.  Meanwhile, PC Gaming Editor Jeff Grubb reviewed what he's calling "the fastest gaming CPU" from Intel; EA announced its "cloud-native" gaming platform, Project Atlas; and Dean Takahashi interviewed Blizzard Entertainment's new CEO, J. Allen Brack (the former boss for World of Warcraft).  As for me, Magic: The Gathering -- Arena has taken over my PC gaming habits. I'll have thoughts on this adaptation of the granddaddy of all collectible card games next week.  For PC gaming coverage, send news tips to Jeff Grubb and guest post submissions to Rowan Kaiser. Please be sure to visit our PC Gaming Channel.  --Jason Wilson, GamesBeat managing editor FEATURED VIDEO Dean went to TwitchCon, where he profiled up-and-coming steamer Ruby Rails. FROM THE PC GAMING CHANNEL Blizzard president J. Allen Brack interview — Designing a company to last for generations In his first interview as new Blizzard president, J. Allen Brack said the company has to think about how to make itself last for generations. Read more September 2018's top 10 Minecraft Marketplace creations: 1.35 million downloads After MineCon Earth, players flocked to the Minecraft Marketplace. We've got the top 10 most downloaded creations for the month and more. Read more EA: Respawn has multiple games launching 'by next holiday' EA told investors that Respawn has more than one game coming before the end of the 2019 holidays. Smart money is on Titanfall 3 for a number of reasons. Read more Ubisoft thrives 6 months after escaping Vivendi's hostile takeover Ubisoft exceeded its targets for its second fiscal quarter ended September 30. The company also said its latest Assassin's Creed game had a strong launch. Read more EA unveils its 'cloud-native gaming' technology dubbed Project Atlas Electronic Arts unveiled its "cloud-native gaming" technology dubbed Project Atlas. Read more Record $25 billion in deals may be game industry's Everest While 2018 is one for the record books for game deals, nobody wants to be without a chair when the music stops. Read more Fortnite maker Epic Games raises a landmark $1.25 billion Epic Games has received funding of about $1.25 billion thanks to a large group of new investors. Read more Intel and StreamLabs partner to create dedicated livestreaming hardware Do you want a tiny PC to help you stream your console or PC games? Well, too bad! Intel and Streamlabs are making them anyway. Read more The i9-9900k review — the fastest gaming CPU in an era of great CPUs Intel's new Core i9-9900K is as fast as predicted. It crushes productivity tasks, and it's great in games. But so are a lot of CPUs. Do you need this one? Read more BEYOND VB Former Runic, Gearbox Developers Form Monster Squad Games, Working On Co-op Action Game Eight former developers from the likes of Runic Games (Torchlight, Hob) and Gearbox Software have spun off to form Monster Squad games, and are working on a gameplay-focused co-op game (via Gameinformer) Read the full story Valve Gets 2,663 Windows-Only Steam Games Running on Linux Back in August, Valve announced that it had been working to improve Linux compatibility for the games available on Steam. (via PC Magazine) Read the full story Battlefield 5 Won't Have Real-World Currency At Launch After Last Year's Loot Box Controversy Battlefield 5 will not include its premium, real-money currency at launch so that players can instead familiarize themselves with the new Company system and earn in-game rewards. (via US Gamer) Read the full story No Man's Sky Underwater Update Opens Up New Worlds With each update, No Man's Sky finds new ways to make me obsessed with it. The latest update, the undersea-focused The Abyss, is no different. (via Kotaku) Read the full story RECOMMENDED FOR YOU Battlefield V War Stories hands-on -- Under No Flag Dean Takahashi of GamesBeat plays the first War Stories episode of Under No Flag, one of the single-player vignettes in Battlefield V. In this story, a special commando squad sabotages planes at an air base. This edited version has about 10 minutes of gameplay.   Squad Streams at TwitchCon Emmet Shear, CEO of Twitch, shows off Squad Streams at TwitchCon.   Copyright © 2018 VentureBeat, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive regularly curated content from VentureBeat and VB's Partners. VentureBeat 500 Sansome Street Suite B102 San Francisco, California 94111 Add us to your address book Update your subscription status below: Update what VB content you'd like to receive or remove me from all VB content.