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Technology

Microsoft faces EU antitrust warning over Activision deal – sources

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BRUSSELS, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Microsoft (MSFT.O) is likely to receive an EU antitrust warning about its $69 billion bid for “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O), people familiar with the matter said, that could pose another challenge to completing the deal.

The European Commission is readying a charge sheet known as a statement of objections setting out its concerns about the deal which will be sent to Microsoft in the coming weeks, the people said.

The EU antitrust watchdog, which has set an April 11 deadline for its decision on the deal, declined to comment.

Microsoft said: “We’re continuing to work with the European Commission to address any marketplace concerns. Our goal is to bring more games to more people, and this deal will further that goal.”

The U.S. software giant and Xbox maker announced the acquisition in January last year to help it compete better with leaders Tencent (0700.HK) and Sony (6758.T).

U.S. and UK regulators, however, have voiced concerns, with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission going to court to block the deal.

Microsoft was expected to offer remedies to EU regulators in an attempt to avert a statement of charge and shorten the regulatory process, other sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in November.

The EU competition enforcer, however, is not expected to be open to remedies without first sending out its charge sheet, although there are ongoing informal discussions on concessions, the people said.

Microsoft last month reached a 10-year deal with Nintendo (7974.T) to make “Call of Duty” available on Nintendo consoles, saying it was open to a similar agreement with Sony, which is critical of the acquisition.

The deal has received the green light without conditions in Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Serbia.

Reporting by Foo Yun Chee
Editing by Mark Potter

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Technology

Sony, Honda roll out prototype of ‘Afeela’ EV that uses Qualcomm tech

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Jan 4 (Reuters) – Japan’s Sony (6758.T) on Wednesday unveiled a prototype of the new “Afeela” electric vehicles it will build together with Honda (7267.T), saying it would harness its vast entertainment content as it looks to become a player in next-generation cars.

Sony gave a glimpse of the Afeela, which sports rounded corners and a sleek black roof, at the CES 2023 technology trade show in Las Vegas. The car will use technology from hardware maker Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O), including its “Snapdragon” digital chassis.

Sony’s long-awaited push into electric vehicles – it announced the venture with Honda in March – shows how manufacturers are increasingly focused on the cockpit experience in cars, which offers the potential to sell content via subscription services cars, especially as autonomous driving capabilities improve.

“In order to realise intelligent mobility, continuous software updates and high-performance computing are required,” Yashuhide Mizuno, the chief executive of Sony Honda Mobility, told the trade show. “To that end, we will work closely with Qualcomm.”

Qualcomm on Wednesday launched a new processor, the Snapdragon Ride Flex SoC, that handles both assisted driving and cockpit functions, including entertainment. Previously those functions were handled on different chips, and bringing them together can help bring down costs, a Qualcomm executive told Reuters.

Sony is also looking to harness its traditional strengths in sensors. The Afeela will be equipped with more than 40 sensors, Mizuno said. The car will use the “Unreal Engine” 3-D creation tool from Epic Games, the maker of the “Fortnite” series of games.

For Honda, the venture with Sony may allow it to speed up what has so far been a slow shift to electric. It has also struggled over the years to make gains in the luxury vehicle market with its Acura brand. The new EV will be priced at a premium, the venture has said.

The venture between Sony Group Corp and Honda Motor Co Ltd aims to deliver its first electric vehicles by early 2026 in North America.

Shares of Sony were up 1.6% in Tokyo trade, while Honda shares were flat. The benchmark Nikkei 225 (.N225) was little changed.

Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Additional reporting by Jane Lanhee Lee in San Francisco; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Muralikumar Anantharaman

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China races to install hospital beds as COVID surge sparks concern abroad

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  • Authorities rush to add hospital beds, build fever clinics
  • U.S. raises concerns over possibility of COVID mutations
  • Beijing reports five more deaths on Tuesday
  • Security tight at crematoriums amid doubts over death toll

BEIJING/WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) – Cities across China scrambled to install hospital beds and build fever screening clinics on Tuesday as the United States said Beijing’s surprise decision to let the virus run free was a concern for the world.

China this month began dismantling its stringent “zero-COVID” regime of mass lockdowns after protests against curbs that had largely kept the virus at bay for three years but at significant costs to society and the world’s second-largest economy.

Now, as the virus sweeps through a country of 1.4 billion people who lack natural immunity having been shielded for so long, there is growing concern about possible deaths, virus mutations and the impact on the economy and trade.

“We know that any time the virus is spreading, that it is in the wild, that it has the potential to mutate and to pose a threat to people everywhere,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday, adding that the virus outbreak in China was also a concern for global growth.

Beijing reported five COVID-related deaths on Tuesday, following two on Monday, which were the first fatalities reported in weeks. In total, China has reported just 5,242 COVID deaths since the pandemic emerged in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, a very low toll by global standards.

But there are rising doubts that the statistics are capturing the full impact of a disease ripping through cities after China dropped curbs including most mandatory testing on Dec. 7.

Since then, some hospitals have become inundated, pharmacies emptied of medicines, while many people have gone into self-imposed lockdowns, straining delivery services.

“It’s a bit of a burden to suddenly reopen when the supply of medications was not sufficiently prepared,” said Zhang, a 31-year-old delivery worker in Beijing who declined to give his full name. “But I support the reopening.”

Some health experts estimate 60% of people in China – equivalent to 10% of the world’s population – could be infected over coming months, and that more than 2 million could die.

In the capital, Beijing, security guards patrolled the entrance of a designated COVID-19 crematorium where Reuters journalists on Saturday saw a long line of hearses and workers in hazmat suits carrying the dead inside. Reuters could not establish if the deaths were due to COVID.

‘GETTING SICK’

In Beijing, which has emerged as the main infection hot spot, commuters, many coughing into their masks, were back on the trains to work and streets were coming back to life after being largely deserted last week.

Streets in Shanghai, where COVID transmission rates are catching up with Beijing’s, were emptier, and subway trains were only half-full.

“People are staying away because they are sick or they are scared of getting sick, but mostly now, I think it’s because they are actually sick,” said Yang, a trainer at a nearly empty Shanghai gym.

Top health officials have softened their tone on the threat posed by the disease in recent weeks, a U-turn from previous messaging that the virus had to be eradicated to save lives even as the rest of the world opened up.

They have also been playing down the possibility that the now predominant Omicron strain could become more virulent.

“The probability of a sudden large mutation … is very low,” Zhang Wenhong, a prominent infectious disease specialist, told a forum on Sunday in comments reported by state media.

Nevertheless, there are mounting signs the virus is buffeting China’s fragile health system.

Cities are ramping up efforts to expand intensive care units and other facilities for severe COVID cases, the state-run Global Times reported on Monday.

Authorities have also been racing to build so-called fever clinics, facilities where medical staff check patients’ symptoms and administer medication. Often attached to hospitals, the clinics are common in mainland China and are designed to prevent the wider spread of contagious disease in hospitals.

In the past week, major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Wenzhou announced they had added hundreds of fever clinics, some in converted sports facilities.

The virus is also hammering China’s economy, expected to grow 3% this year, its worst performance in nearly half a century. Workers and truck drivers falling ill are slowing down output and disrupting logistics, economists say.

A World Economics survey showed on Monday China’s business confidence fell in December to its lowest since January 2013.

Weaker industrial activity in the world’s top oil importer has capped gains for crude prices and driven copper lower.

China kept benchmark lending interest rates unchanged for the fourth consecutive month on Tuesday.

Reporting by Bernard Orr and Xiaoyu Yin in Beijing, David Stanway in Shanghai and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Writing by John Geddie and Marius Zaharia; Editing by Robert Birsel

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China reports first COVID deaths in weeks as doubts gather over official count

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  • Beijing reports two deaths, first since Dec. 3
  • Comes after Beijing relaxed anti-virus controls
  • Citizens, analysts question official figures
  • Virus surge weighs on world’s second economy

BEIJING, Dec 19 (Reuters) – China reported its first COVID-related deaths in weeks on Monday amid rising doubts over whether the official count was capturing the full toll of a disease that is ripping through cities after the government relaxed strict anti-virus controls.

Monday’s two deaths were the first to be reported by the National Health Commission (NHC) since Dec. 3, days before Beijing announced that it was lifting curbs which had largely kept the virus in check for three years but triggered widespread protests last month.

Though on Saturday, Reuters journalists witnessed hearses lined up outside a designated COVID-19 crematorium in Beijing and workers in hazmat suits carrying the dead inside the facility. Reuters could not immediately establish if the deaths were due to COVID.

A hashtag on the two reported COVID deaths quickly became the top trending topic on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform on Monday morning.

“What is the point of incomplete statistics?” asked one user. “Isn’t this cheating the public?,” wrote another.

The NHC did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters on the accuracy of its data.

Officially China has suffered just 5,237 COVID-related deaths during the pandemic, including the latest two fatalities, a tiny fraction of its 1.4 billion population and very low by global standards.

But health experts have said China may pay a price for taking such stringent measures to shield a population that now lacks natural immunity to COVID-19 and has low vaccination rates among the elderly.

Some fear China’s COVID death toll could rise above 1.5 million in coming months.

Respected Chinese news outlet Caixin on Friday reported that two state media journalists had died after contracting COVID, and then on Saturday that a 23-year-old medical student had also died. It was not immediately clear which, if any, of these deaths were included in official death tolls.

“The (official) number is clearly an undercount of COVID deaths,” said Yanzhong Huang, a global health specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a U.S. think tank.

That “may reflect the lack of state ability to effectively track and monitor the disease situation on the ground after the collapse of the mass PCR testing regime, but it may also be driven by efforts to avoid mass panic over the surge of COVID deaths,” he said.

The NHC reported 1,995 symptomatic infections for Dec. 18, compared with 2,097 a day earlier.

But infection rates have also become an unreliable guide as far less mandatory PCR testing is being conducted following the recent easing. The NHC stopped reporting asymptomatic cases last week citing the testing drop.

China’s stocks fell and the yuan eased against the dollar on Monday, as investors grew concerned that surging COVID-19 cases would further weigh on the world’s second largest economy despite pledges of government support.

The virus was also sweeping through trading floors in Beijing and spreading fast in the financial hub of Shanghai, with illness and absence thinning already light trade and forcing regulators to cancel a weekly meeting vetting public share sales.

Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp (6723.T) said on Monday it had suspended work at its Beijing plant due to COVID-19 infections.

SPREADING FAST

China’s chief epidemiologist Wu Zunyou on Saturday said the country was in the throes of the first of three COVID waves expected this winter, which was more in line with what people said they are experiencing on the ground.

“I’d say sixty to seventy percent of my colleagues…are infected right now,” Liu, a 37-year-old university canteen worker in Beijing, told Reuters, requesting to be identified by his surname.

While top officials have been downplaying the threat posed by the new Omicron strain of the virus in recent weeks, authorities remain concerned about the elderly, who have been reluctant to get vaccinated.

Officially, China’s vaccination rate is above 90%, but the rate for adults who have received booster doses of the vaccine drops to 57.9%, and to 42.3% for people aged 80 and above, according to government data.

In the Shijingshan district of Beijing, medical workers have been going door-to-door offering to vaccinate elderly residents in their homes, China’s Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

But it is not just the elderly that are wary of vaccines.

“I don’t trust it,” Candice, a 28-year-old headhunter in Shenzhen told Reuters, citing stories from friends about health impacts, as well as similar health warnings on social media. Candice spoke on condition that only her first name be used.

Overseas-developed vaccines are unavailable in mainland China to the general public, which has relied on inactivated shots by local manufacturers for its vaccine rollout.

While China’s medical community in general doesn’t doubt the safety of China’s vaccines, some say questions remain over their efficacy compared to foreign-made mRNA counterparts.

Reporting by Liz Lee, Martin Quin Pollard, Eduardo Baptista, Jing Wang and Ryan Woo in Beijing and David Kirton in Shenzhen; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore

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China reportedly delays key economic meeting amid signs of surging infections

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  • Beijing drops key tools of ‘zero-COVID’ regime
  • Changes follow historic protests last month
  • Opening up sparks fears of infection spread

SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, Dec 13 (Reuters) – Chinese leaders have reportedly delayed a key economic policy meeting amid growing signs that COVID-19 infections are surging nearly a week after Beijing jettisoned some of the world’s toughest restrictions.

President Xi Jinping and other Politburo members and senior government figures had been expected to attend the closed-door Central Economic Work Conference, most likely this week, to chart a policy course for the embattled Chinese economy in 2023.

A Bloomberg News report on Tuesday night, citing people familiar with the matter, said the meeting had been delayed and there was no timetable for rescheduling.

The delay comes as authorities continue to overturn the previously resolute “zero-COVID” policy championed by Xi.

Long queues are appearing outside fever clinics in a worrying sign that a wave of infections is building, even though official tallies of new cases have dropped in recent weeks as authorities reduce testing.

And companies in China, from e-commerce giant JD.com to cosmetics brand Sephora, are rushing to minimise the impact of surging infections – doling out test kits, encouraging more work from home and, in some cases, procuring truckloads of medicine.

The signs come as China attempts to swiftly align with a world that has largely reopened, following unprecedented protests last month in China three years into the pandemic.

The protests were the strongest show of public defiance during Xi’s decade-old presidency and come amid growth figures for China’s $17 trillion economy that were some of the worst in 50 years.

Despite rising infections, people in China cheered the withdrawal on Tuesday of a state-mandated app used to track whether they had travelled to COVID-stricken areas.

As authorities deactivated the “itinerary code” app at midnight on Monday, China’s four telecoms firms said they would delete users’ data associated with the app.

“Goodbye itinerary code, I hope to never see you again,” said a post on social media platform Weibo, where people cheered the demise of an app that critics feared could be used for mass surveillance.

“The hand that stretched out to exert power during the epidemic should now be pulled back,” wrote another user.

And in a further sign of policy easing, Chinese healthcare company 111.inc has started selling Pfizer’s Paxlovid for COVID-19 treatment in China via its app – medicine previously only available in some hospitals.

It sold out just over half an hour after the listing was reported by local media, according to the platform’s customer service.

For all the relief over last week’s decision to begin overturning the government’s zero-COVID policy, there are fears that China may now pay a price.

[1/11] People wearing face masks walk on a street, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Shanghai, China, December 13, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song

Infections are expected to rise further during the Chinese New Year holiday next month, when people travel across the country to be with their families, – a risk for a 1.4 billion population that lacks “herd immunity” and has relatively low vaccination rates among the elderly, according to some analysts.

The moves made last week to unwind the COVID curbs included dropping mandatory testing prior to many public activities and reining in quarantine.

HONG KONG RELAXES

Beijing’s envoy to the United States on Monday said he believes China’s COVID-19 measures will be further relaxed in the near future and international travel to the country will also become easier.

China has all but shut its borders to international travel since the pandemic first erupted in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in later 2019. International flights are still at a fraction of pre-pandemic levels and arrivals face eight days in quarantine.

Financial hub Hong Kong, which already has less stringent border controls than mainland China, on Tuesday said it would drop a requirement for incoming travellers to avoid bars and restaurants in the three days after arrival.

Hong Kong will also scrap its mobility-tracking app governing access to restaurants and venues such as gyms, clubs and salons, Chief Executive John Lee said.

While the lifting of controls is seen as brightening the prospects for global growth longer term, analysts say Chinese businesses will struggle in the weeks ahead, as a wave of infections creates staff shortages and makes consumers wary.

Analysts say the decline in reported new cases could reflect the dropping of testing requirements rather than the actual situation on the ground.

“The rapid surge of infections in big cities might be only the beginning of a massive wave of COVID infections,” said Ting Lu, Chief China Economist at Nomura.

“We reckon that the incoming migration around the Chinese New Year holiday in late January could bring about an unprecedented spread of COVID.”

Experts say China’s fragile healthcare system could be quickly overwhelmed if those fears are realised.

In Beijing, empty seats on commuter trains and deserted restaurants highlight some people’s caution.

“Maybe other people are afraid or are worried about kids’ and grandparents’ health. It’s a personal choice,” Gao Lin, a 33-year-old financier, told Reuters.

China stocks (.CSI300) edged lower on Tuesday as a recent rebound triggered by reopening hopes gave way to concerns about spreading infections. The yuan currency was little changed, but it is already set for its worst year since 1994, when China unified the official and market exchange rates.

Reporting by Bernard Orr in Beijing, Brenda Goh and Shen Yiming in Shanghai and Farah Master in Hong Kong; Writing by John Geddie and Greg Torode; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Nick Macfie

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Queues form at fever clinics as China wrestles with COVID surge

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  • Queues outside fever clinics in Beijing, Wuhan
  • Top virus expert says peak may come in a month
  • Stocks, yuan sag on concern over rising cases
  • China moves to free up domestic travel

BEIJING/HONG KONG, Dec 12 (Reuters) – People queued outside fever clinics at China’s hospitals for COVID-19 checks on Monday, a new sign of the rapid spread of symptoms after authorities began dismantling stringent curbs on movement.

Three years into the pandemic, China is moving to align with a world that has largely opened up to live with COVID, making a major policy change last Wednesday after unprecedented protests.

It has dropped testing prior to many activities, reined in quarantine and was preparing to de-activate a mobile app used to track the travel histories of a population of 1.4 billion people.

Authorities continue to urge mask-wearing and vaccinations, particularly for the elderly.

But with little exposure to a disease kept largely in check until now, China is ill-prepared, analysts say, for a wave in infections that could heap pressure on its fragile health system and drive businesses to a halt.

Lily Li, who works at a toy company in the southern manufacturing hub of Guangzhou, said several employees, as well as staff at suppliers and distributors, had been infected and were at home isolating.

“Basically everybody is now simultaneously rushing to buy rapid antigen test kits but has also somewhat given up on the hope that COVID can be contained,” she said.

“We have accepted that we will have to get COVID at some point anyway.”

In Beijing, about 80 people huddled in the cold outside a fever clinic in the upmarket district of Chaoyang as ambulances zipped past.

A Beijing government official said on Monday night that visits to such clinics has risen to 22,000 per day, up 16 times on the previous week.

Reuters witnessed similar queues outside clinics in the central city of Wuhan, where COVID-19 first emerged three years ago. read more

In recent weeks, local cases have been trending lower since a late November peak of 40,052, official figures show, however. Sunday’s tally of 8,626 was down from 10,597 new cases the previous day.

But the figures reflect the dropping of testing requirements, say analysts, while health experts have warned of an imminent surge.

In comments on Monday in the state-backed newspaper Shanghai Securities News, Zhang Wenhong, head of a team of experts in the commercial hub, said the current outbreak could peak in a month, though an end to the pandemic might be three to six months away.

In a WeChat post, Zhang’s team said that despite the surge, the current Omicron strain did not cause long-term damage and people should be optimistic.

“We are about to walk out of the tunnel; air, sunshine, free travel, all waiting for us,” the post said.

STOCKS, YUAN SAG

China’s stock markets broadly retreated and the yuan eased from a near three-month high hit in the previous session, as investors fretted that rising infections might disrupt consumption and manufacturing.

But for the same reason, demand surged for stocks in Chinese drugmakers and providers of masks, antigen tests and funeral services.

“Please protect yourself,” the management of a condominium in the capital’s Dongcheng district warned residents on Sunday, saying almost all its staff had been infected.

“Try as much as you can not to go out …,” it said on messaging app WeChat. “Be the first person to take responsibility for your own health, let’s face this together.”

Such messages appear to have hit home for some who say they are reluctant to visit crowded places or dine at restaurants.

That is why few analysts expect a quick, broad rebound in spending in the world’s second largest economy, as the glee that greeted the abrupt relaxations was tempered with uncertainty for consumers and businesses.

Yet China is pushing to free up nationwide travel, even if foreign trips may be a while off.

A state-mandated mobile app identifying travellers to COVID-stricken areas will shut down at midnight on Monday, according to a notice on its official WeChat account.

The number of domestic flights available across China exceeded 7,400, nearly double from a week ago, flight tracker app VariFlight showed.

New home sales in 16 cities picked up last week, in a move partly attributed to the easing of curbs, as people venture out to view homes, the China Index Academy said.

Reporting by Eduardo Baptista, Ryan Woo, Bernard Orr, Sophie Yu in Beijing, Brenda Goh in Shanghai, Martin Quin Pollard in Wuhan and Josh Ye and Greg Torode in Hong Kong; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Nick Macfie

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Technology

FTC likely to file lawsuit to block Microsoft bid for Activision -Politico

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Nov 23 (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is likely to file an antitrust lawsuit to block Microsoft Corp’s (MSFT.O) $69 billion takeover bid for video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc (ATVI.O), Politico reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

A lawsuit challenging the deal is not guaranteed, and the FTC’s four commissioners have yet to vote out a complaint or meet with lawyers for the companies, the report said, adding that the FTC staff reviewing the deal are skeptical of the companies’ arguments.

The FTC did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

“We are committed to continuing to work cooperatively with regulators around the globe to allow the transaction to proceed, but won’t hesitate to fight to defend the transaction if required,” an Activision Blizzard spokesperson said. Any suggestion that the transaction could lead to anticompetitive effects is “completely absurd,” the spokesperson added.

Shares of Activision fell about 2% in extended trading after closing 1% higher.

Microsoft, maker of the Xbox game console, announced in January the deal to buy Activision, the maker of “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush” games, in the biggest gaming industry deal in history as global technology giants staked their claims to a virtual future.

[1/4] Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard logo in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Microsoft is betting on the acquisition to help it compete better with videogame leaders Tencent (0700.HK) and Sony (6758.T).

The deal is also facing scrutiny outside the U.S. The EU opened a full-scale investigation earlier this month. The EU competition enforcer said it would decide by March 23, 2023, whether to clear or block the deal.

Britain’s antitrust watchdog in September said it would launch a full-scale probe.

The acquisition could damage the industry if Microsoft refused to give rivals access to Activision’s best-selling games, Britain’s antitrust regulator has said.

The deal has drawn criticism from Sony, maker of the Playstation console, citing Microsoft’s control of games like “Call of Duty.”

“Sony, as the industry leader, says it is worried about ‘Call of Duty,’ but we’ve said we are committed to making the same game available on the same day on both Xbox and PlayStation,” Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith has said.

A spokesperson for Microsoft said: “We are prepared to address the concerns of regulators, including the FTC, and Sony to ensure the deal closes with confidence. We’ll still trail Sony and Tencent in the market after the deal closes, and together Activision and Xbox will benefit gamers and developers and make the industry more competitive.”

Reporting by Tiyashi Dattaa and Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Leslie Adler

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Technology

Sony to expand Chinese game incubator in Microsoft head-to-head

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HONG KONG, Nov 23 (Reuters) – Sony Group Corp (6758.T) said it plans to expand a programme to identify and incubate Chinese-made games, in a race with Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) to tap China’s gaming market.

The programme will invest more than 1 million yuan ($140,080) in each game it enrols, and will not only fund small teams but also big teams with dozens of engineers or more, Bao Bo, Sony’s director of China game production, said

The Japanese tech giant’s plans were made public during an event live-streamed on Tuesday from the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu to restart the China Hero Project programme, which ground to a halt due to COVID-19.

“The scale of the third phase will far exceed the previous two,” Bao said, adding that Sony will publish some games and its PlayStation Studios will support enrolled projects.

Sony said that it will be the publisher of Lost Soul Aside and Convallaria, two games enrolled in the previous two phases.

The China Hero Project unveiled its first two batches of games in 2017 and 2019 and has supported 17 titles, of which seven have reached the market.

Bao told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that the new batch aims to include 10 titles or more, and it welcomes games of all genres.

It marks the latest in Sony’s years-long approach to China, which ultimately led it to a lucrative exclusivity deal with the Chinese hit game “Genshin Impact” outside of the China Hero Project. Little known before its 2019 launch, it became of the world’s most profitable games.

Reuters reported last month that Sony’s success with “Genshin Impact” has driven Microsoft to aggressively woo Chinese game developers with big licensing deals.

To accelerate its expansion, Sony announced that it has formed the “China Game Production” team to oversee Chinese-made games. The Shanghai branch of Sony’s gaming-focused subsidiary, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) now employs just under 100 people after it entered China in 2014.

Tatsuo Eguchi, president of SIE Shanghai，said the success of Genshin Impact convinced Sony’s management that Chinese games are important, adding that Sony is allocating more resources than ever there. He also said that Sony’s partnership with Genshin Impact’s developer, miHoYO, is going strong.

Sony sells the PlayStation (PS) consoles in China, where people have traditionally preferred playing mobile-based games.

It has sold more than 3.5 million PS4 consoles in China and Jim Ryan, CEO of SIE, said it had sold about 670,000 units of PS5 there since its Chinese launch in May 2021.

Eguchi said that Sony’s goal is to sell twice as many PS5 consoles as it had for the PS4 and believed the China Hero Project could help meet this goal.

“We want gamers around the world to better understand the creativity that comes from China. I have always had a dream which is for console gaming to become a regular part of daily entertainment for Chinese people,” he said.

(This story has been corrected to say just under (not more than) 100 people, in paragraph 10)

($1 = 7.1388 Chinese yuan renminbi)

Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Alexander Smith and Louise Heavens

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Technology

PlayStation eyes new investment for PC, mobile push

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TOKYO, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Sony Group Corp’s (6758.T) gaming business is looking at fresh investment to bolster its push into PC and mobile, a senior executive said, as the PlayStation 5 maker competes for talent with deep-pocketed rivals and as industry dealmaking heats up.

“Further investments in areas that will strengthen the expansion on to PC, on to mobile and into live services, that’s definitely a possibility for us,” Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, told Reuters in an interview without providing further detail.

Sony, whose studios are known for single player console games such as “Spider-Man” and “God of War”, has outlined ambitious plans to release titles on PC and mobile and offer live service games, which provide continuous updated play.

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The radical shift is reflected in its recent deals including the $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie, the studio behind the multiplayer “Destiny” franchise, which Sony operates outside its PlayStation Studios network.

Other investments include the purchase of a minority stake in Japanese developer FromSoftware, whose action role playing game “Elden Ring” has sold more than 16.6 million units.

“You should think of collaborations on the game development side first and foremost, but it’s also not unthinkable with our PlayStation Productions efforts that we explore opportunities,” Hulst said of the FromSoftware investment.

Sony is producing a growing number of game adaptations, with this year’s “Uncharted” movie grossing more than $400 million globally and a TV series based on “The Last of Us” franchise from its Naughty Dog studio launching on HBO next year.

Hulst, who is based in the Netherlands and took up his post in 2019, has overseen the growth of PlayStation Studios to 19 studios, with additions including Nixxes, which ports console games to PC, and mobile developer Savage Game Studios.

KEY DIFFERENTIATOR

Given the scope of the transformation targeted by the gaming business, analysts expect further dealmaking from Sony.

“I think that they’re still going to add studios,” said Serkan Toto, founder of the Kantan Games consultancy.

The strength of PlayStation’s studio network has drawn praise as a key differentiator with Xbox maker Microsoft (MSFT.O), which is trying to buy Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O).

Sony gaming chief Jim Ryan has raised objection about the $69 billion mega-deal’s potential impact on PlayStation users.

“If Sony can pull off what they did with single player experiences but (as) multiplayer experiences across platforms, on the PC, on consoles and maybe even on the phone, then all bets are off,” said Toto, pointing to the success of online games such as Fortnite from Epic Games.

Sony’s push on to other platforms comes as it has struggled to produce enough PlayStation 5 units due to supply chain snarls. Its in-house studios are also developing titles for the next generation PlayStation VR2 headset, due to launch early next year.

Such headsets, which have attracted investment from players including Facebook parent Meta (META.O), are yet to break through and become a primary method for playing games. Pricing for the device has not been announced.

While “Horizon Forbidden West”, which launched in February, is “an open world and that’s not necessarily very suitable to a PSVR2 game,” Sony is designing “bespoke” titles such as “Horizon Call of the Mountain” for the system, Hulst said.

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Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman

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Kim Kardashian to launch private equity firm with former Carlyle partner

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Sept 7 (Reuters) – Reality television star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian and a former partner at Carlyle Group Inc (CG.O) Jay Sammons are launching a new private equity firm focused on investing in consumer and media businesses, according to a joint statement.

The new firm, named SKKY Partners, will make investments in sectors including consumer products, hospitality, luxury, digital commerce and media, and plans to make both control and minority investments.

Kardashian and Sammons will serve as co-founders and co-managing partners, with Sammons leading day-to-day operations of the firm.

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Television personality Kim Kardashian attends a panel for the documentary “Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project” during the Winter TCA (Television Critics Association) Press Tour in Pasadena, California, U.S., January 18, 2020. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni//File Photo

Kardashian has gained success in her recent business ventures such as shapewear label Skims and makeup brand KKW due to their popularity with young shoppers and the TV personality’s huge social media following. Skims was valued at $3.2 billion in January.

Kardashian’s launch of a private equity firm also underscores a broader shift among renowned Hollywood celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio, Ashton Kutcher and Gwyneth Paltrow who are turning prolific investors in the private equity and venture capital space.

Tennis star Serena Williams raised $111 million for her new early-stage venture capital firm Serena Ventures in March. The firm has invested in more than 50 companies with a total market value of $14 billion, including online learning platform MasterClass and tech company Propel.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported the launch of the private equity firm. (https://on.wsj.com/3BgVrdA0)

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Reporting by Uday Sampath and Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Krishna Chandra Eluri

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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