Eric Peckham
TechCrunch
Los Angeles, CA, United States
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Past articles by Eric:
Bear and bull cases for Unity’s IPO –
Key data points from its S-1 filing help explain Unity's ability to stay ahead of the curve. → Read More
How Unity built a gaming engine for the future –
Unity is currently in a powerful position as the key platform for developing VR/AR content and distributing it across different operating systems and devices. → Read More
Are virtual concerts here to stay? –
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the music industry to experiment seriously with virtual concerts. Historically, musicians and their managers have been careful about challenging the traditional concert model that became their main source of income as revenue from album sales disappeared. Is the current surge of virtual concerts here to stay or will it be abandoned […] → Read More
Starz CEO Jeffrey Hirsch on programming in a digital world –
In the war between subscription video on-demand (SVOD) services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, Starz has been growing on the sidelines and fighting to be the preferred add-on for consumers on top of their primary subscription. That journey has required the longtime premium cable TV network to rethink its target audience, content strategy and […] → Read More
Newzoo forecasts 2020 global games industry will reach $159 billion –
Games and esports analytics firm Newzoo released its highly cited annual report on the size and state of the video gaming industry yesterday. The firm is predicting 2020 global game industry revenue from consumers of $159.3 billion, a 9.3% increase year-over-year. Newzoo predicts the market will surpass $200 billion by the end of 2023. Importantly, […] → Read More
What went wrong with Quibi? –
Two months after Quibi’s high-profile launch as a short-form mobile-native TV app led by billionaires Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, it is evident the startup is greatly underperforming relative to the hundreds of millions of dollars already spent on content and marketing. According to a Wall Street Journal report, “daily downloads peaked at 379,000 on […] → Read More
Confronting racial bias in video games –
Protests across the U.S. over police violence and systemic racism against Black Americans have sparked gaming companies like Electronic Arts, Epic Games and Sony Interactive Entertainment/PlayStation to publish statements of their support and make donations to relevant advocacy organizations. These are positive actions, but the most impactful thing game companies can do is take action […] → Read More
With stadiums closed, TV networks turn to live esports broadcasts –
Two years from now, people will look back at 2020's COVID-19 lockdown as a pivot point in esports’ development. → Read More
CRV’s Saar Gur wants to invest in a new wave of games built for VR, Twitch and Zoom –
Saar Gur is adept at identifying the next big consumer trends earlier than most: The San Francisco-based general partner at CRV has led investments into leading consumer internet companies like Niantic, DoorDash, Bird, Dropbox, Patreon, Kapwing and ClassPass. His own experience stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic spurred his interest in three new investment […] → Read More
VCs see opportunities for gaming infrastructure startups and incumbents –
As the infrastructure for developing games becomes more advanced, studios have turned to buying best-in-class technology from others instead of building everything from scratch (often with inferior quality). This shift underpinned Unity’s rise as the most popular game engine. The current focus on games as ever-evolving social hubs that can remain popular for a decade […] → Read More
7 VCs talk about today’s esports opportunities –
Even before the COVID-19 shutdown, venture funding rounds and total deal volume of VC funding for esports were down noticeably from the year prior. The space received a lot of attention in 2017 and 2018 as leagues formed, teams raised money and surging popularity fostered a whole ecosystem of new companies. Last year featured some […] → Read More
5 top gaming investors explain how the pandemic is reshaping MMOs and social games –
Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions into isolation, video games are seeing a surge in usage as people seek entertainment and social interaction. When we surveyed gaming-focused VCs in October, Andreessen Horowitz partner Jonathan Lai predicted that “next-generation games will be bigger than anything we’ve seen yet,” eventually reaching “Facebook scale.” This month, […] → Read More
Recap: Roblox, SuperAwesome and Fingerprint execs discuss kids’ media –
Consumption of all types of kids-focused digital media has soared with a large portion of the world’s children home from school right now. At all times of day, children are playing games, watching shows and using edtech tools — often in a social context with friends online. This only accelerates the normalization of virtual spaces […] → Read More
TechCrunch Live: Join execs from Roblox, SuperAwesome, and Fingerprint tomorrow at 11:15am PDT to discuss kids media –
With large majorities of all children (70% in the U.S. and U.K.) staying home from school during the COVID-19 crisis, use of digital media properties popular with kids has soared. Screen time among kids in the U.S. is up 50% according to research by SuperAwesome. This adds momentum to a space that has already been […] → Read More
Despite pandemic, gaming is well-positioned to withstand recession –
Efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 have led to a global economic downturn, but the gaming industry is booming. With hundreds of millions of people sequestered in their homes, game usage has spiked. And while the economic repercussions will persist after people cease physical distancing, gaming is positioned to fare well during a recession. […] → Read More
Survey shows growth in podcasts and voice assistants, little change in streaming –
A new annual survey taken before the current COVID-19 crisis led to restrictions of movement in much of the U.S. suggests good news for Amazon, Facebook’s dominance unthreatened and continued growth in podcasting. Edison Research and Triton Digital released their annual Infinite Dial survey last week, compiling data on consumers’ use of smart speakers, podcasts, […] → Read More
With kids and adults staying at home, are virtual worlds ready for primetime? –
We’ve been diligently following the development of virtual worlds, also known as the “metaverse,” on TechCrunch. Hanging out within the virtual worlds of games has become more popular in recent years with the growth of platforms like Roblox and open-world games like Fortnite, but it still isn’t a mainstream way to socialize outside of the […] → Read More
In retrospect, Disney’s CEO switch was a decisive act of crisis management –
Disney surprised the media industry on February 25 when it announced that longtime CEO Bob Iger had replaced himself with executive Bob Chapek. The abruptness of the news and the choice of successor, combined with the company’s explanation that it was a long-planned transition, didn’t seem to add up. Here’s what you need to know […] → Read More
The companies that will shape the upcoming multiverse era of social media –
Throughout this series on the rise of multiverse virtual worlds, I have outlined the collision of gaming and social media into a new multiverse era of social media within virtual worlds due to technological and cultural changes. The result will be a healthier ecosystem of social media than what currently exists and the economic development […] → Read More
Making money from games: the future of virtual economies –
Fictional portrayals of virtual worlds such as “Ready Player One” and “The Matrix” typically portray the physical and virtual worlds as distinct realms siloed from each other. Characters escape a dystopian, impoverished physical realm and enter a separate, utopian virtual realm in which they are wealthy and important. Our non-fictional future won’t have that dichotomy. […] → Read More