StreamElements and Stream Hatchet released the State of the Stream report for Q1 2019. The report analyzes viewership data by streaming platform, by streamer, and by game.

Launched last year, Indie Games Accelerator program is now accepting applications for class 2019.

Tencent has secured the necessary approval to sell Nintendo’s portable console in China. The console will be distributed with a test version of the “New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe.”

Iraq’s parliament voted this week to ban PUBG and Fortnite, popular online battle royale games, Reuters reports.

The latest Newzoo report looks at the strongest players of the games market in 2018. Last year, the top 25 companies by game revenue earned a record-breaking $107.3 billion, which signifies 16% growth over 2017.

Wall Street banks are showing interest in Playrix, a gaming company established in Russia.

Kickstarter proudly announced on its blog that backers had pledged over $1 billion to projects in Games category.

Yesterday, the world held its collective breath in disbelief as flames engulfed Notre-Dame, Paris’s and the world’s gothic landmark.

On April 13, Twitch launched its first game, Twitch Sings. It’s a karaoke game allowing users to stream their performances to their channels.

Apple Arcade budget already exceeds $500 million, according to The Financial Times. Unnamed “people involved in the project’s development” indicate that Apple is spending several million dollars on each of 100+ games for Apple Arcade.

Mike Nichols, Xbox chief marketing officer, shared his thoughts about Google’s Stadia with Telegraph. According to him, Google has the infrastructure for streaming but lacks the portfolio of big titles.

On Thursday, Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) permanently banned the online multiplayer battle royale game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), Reuters reports.

Chinese market research company Analysis published a report suggesting MOBA’s decline in popularity among Chinese players. Since 2018, MOBA has moved from the first to the third place in the mobile gaming category. Players’ preferences now lie with first-person shooters and simulation games, both of which attract lots of female users.

Gameinformer joins the industry-wide conversation about casualties of unfortunate production practices. Former employees of Telltale Games spoke to the magazine to relate their heart-breaking story.

Wired has found and reported 36 games on Google Play that are rated as suitable for children despite objectionable content. These games feature violence, social casino gaming, and vaguely disturbing imagery like removing a panda’s bad tooth, with pandas, of course, responsible for general child-friendliness.

Tencent continues to solidify its position in the global gaming market with the launch of the game distribution platform WeGame X.

SuperData, a Nielsen’s company specializing in game research across all platforms, has launched Arcade Forecaster. The new tool uses metrics like revenue, monthly active users and in-game spending to evaluate the performance of digital titles. It also provides publishers and developers with a broader picture of the current macro-level trends in the digital market.

A recent study by Newzoo and ACI Worldwide provides interesting consumer insights about the UK game market, which is the world’s sixth-biggest ($5.1 billion revenue). These findings help better understand payment behavior of gamers in the UK in comparison with other countries.

Bethesda’s new mobile title, The Elder Scrolls: Blades, hit App Store a week ago. More than one million iOS users have downloaded the game, Sensor Tower reports.