TRIPLEPOINTS OF INTEREST – AUGUST 14

In this week’s TPoI, Amazon Prime no longer offering discounts on recently released video games, Tencent’s stock soars as profits rise 70% from last year, and PlatinumGames founder thanks Nier: Automata director Yoko Taro for “saving” the studio.

Amazon Prime Cuts New Video Game Discounts

Thrifty Amazon Prime members are reporting that the online retailer no longer offers a 20% off on physical games after their release, which they used to offer on new games for the following two weeks after release. While Amazon still offers a 20% discount on pre-orders to Prime members, Matthew Hayes of WWG voiced his concern over the changes, highlighting the fact that fans cannot wait for reviews for games before committing to buying them. I4U compared Amazon’s service to the Best Buy Gamers Club Unlocked subscription, which hosts a similar deal and found the GCU to be more cost effective for gamers as it still allows for members to save 20% after a game’s launch.

Tencent’s Stock Rises to All-Time High

Tencent Holdings Ltd, a Chinese investment holding company that owns Riot Games and developed the popular social messaging app WeChat, recently announced their earnings for the second quarter of 2017. The company, which CNBC calls the most valuable firm listed in Asia, has reported a profit of 18.23 Billion yuan or 2.72 billion USD. TechCrunch states that the massive influx of growth is due primarily to their popular mobile games including Honour of Kings, a MOBA game with over 200 million registered users. Reuters reports that Honour of Kings is the top-grossing mobile game in the world and that it draws in almost as much as their popular PC game League of Legends.

PlatinumGames Founder Thanks Nier: Automata Director Yoko Taro for Saving Studio

PlatinumGames founder Hideki Kamiya took to twitter late last week to thank Nier: Automata director Yoko Taro for his efforts and saying, “…to say that Yoko-san saved Platinum would not be an exaggeration.” Polygon reports that PlatinumGames has been suffering due to the release of several unsuccessful games and the high profile cancellation of PlatinumGame’s Xbox Exclusive Scalebound. VG24/7 speculates that the high sales of Nier: Automata, which sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide exceeded sales expectations of their publisher Square Enix, was able to keep the studio afloat, and that the game will help support new game projects for the near future. Twinfinite reports that Nier: Automata is the ninth best selling game on the PlayStation 4 and that Kamiya hopes to work on future products with Yoko Taro.