All results
Canadian-born streamer Agent 00 has forged his own lane. At 12 years old, he begged his mother to buy him a Kodak camera, he said in a YouTube video. He started taking pictures of his loved ones, took part in video competitions, and even began editing Call of Duty montages. He also started uploading NFL videos to a clip channel. One video in particular of Marshawn Terrell Lynch racked up 70,000 views, he said. That avenue came to a halt due to a copyright strike, he said during a live interview at the University of California, Berkeley, for the Microsoft Windows Campus Creator Tour. “Then I had to find my own hustle,” he explained. He started editing videos for others, providing commentary, and then sharing gaming content on YouTube, with NBA 2K putting him on the map. “I played The Last of Us. I was really good at that. I had some good videos there. Anything from like Watch Dogs, Call of Duty, you know, and stuff like that. Eventually, I landed on NBA 2K,” he said during the live...
Sony Interactive Entertainment has agreed to a $7.85 million settlement over allegations of market monopolization of its digital PlayStation games. According to a press release, a class-action lawsuit was filed against defendant Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC in 2023 in the San Francisco Division of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit alleges that the company violated federal antitrust law and various state laws. Plaintiffs claim Sony monopolized the market for its digital games, resulting in higher prices for consumers, who were only able to purchase through the PlayStation Store. According to Wired, plaintiffs allege third-party retailers were restricted from selling PlayStation titles, which would have been available through “game-specific vouchers.” Retailers included Amazon, GameStop, and Walmart, according to USA Today. Sony denies wrongdoing and has agreed to a settlement that would provide $7.85 million to the plaintiffs,...
Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, LA, has made history in esports. Southern University won the 2026 ECAC EA Sports College Football National Championship, becoming the first Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to do so, according to a press release shared with AFROTECH™. Coby Robinson, a computer science major with the gamertag K1NGC0BY, was crowned the ECAC EA Sports College Football 26 Division II national champion, according to Sports Illustrated. Robinson won the best-of-five series, defeating No. 1 seed Bellarmine University 38-29 in the final match to clinch the series 3-2. “I feel great, happy, and accomplished because this has been a dream of mine,” said Robinson in a press release, according to Louisiana Weekly. “To see myself continuing to dominate and make history shows that I belong and that my dream is within reach.” Christopher Turner, director and head coach of Southern University’s Esports and Digital Gaming Ecosystem (EDGE), wrote on...
A new partnership has formed to expand the esports pipeline to HBCUs. National HBCU Esports Community According to a press release, PlayVS, a scholastic and collegiate gaming platform, and Urban One, a media company with 80 million monthly unique users, have formed a three-year partnership to launch an esports community for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Gamers will benefit from organized competition, media amplification, and a gateway to collegiate esports opportunities. “Black gamers are among the most influential audiences in the industry, yet Black professionals represent only about 5% of its workforce,” Tiffany Nasralla, Urban One’s chief revenue, said in a press release. “The gap isn’t about talent. It’s about access. Through our partnership with PlayVS, we’re using our platform to build a national stage for HBCU students, expanding visibility, structured competition, and real pathways into the industries they’ve long helped define. This is about turning...
Sarah Bond is stepping down from her post at Xbox. Bond had been working at Xbox, owned by Microsoft, since 2017, according to her LinkedIn. She previously held the post of corporate vice president, and also dedicated time as executive sponsor of the Blacks @ Microsoft employee resource group. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Bond made history when she was appointed president and chief operating officer of Xbox in 2023. She became the first Black woman to serve as president of Xbox and a major multinational gaming company. At the time, she described the feat as an honor in a post shared on X. As president, she was tasked with managing the strategic direction and operational execution for the Xbox platform at Microsoft, planning and legal and finance initiatives to streamline operations and business performance, and cross-functional teams across product development, engineering, marketing, and sales to improve the user experience, according to information listed on her LinkedIn...
The morning of Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, many users began searching “Is Roblox down?” after encountering error messages while trying to access their favorite games. Roblox, the popular multiplayer online platform where users create and explore virtual worlds built from digital blocks, is experiencing a major global outage, Techloy reports. The disruption is affecting users in North America, Europe, India, and parts of Asia, with more than 15,000 complaints reported on outage-tracking website DownDetector. Per DownDetector, most reports involve server connection issues, accounting for roughly 63% of complaints. Gameplay problems make up about 31%, while approximately 5% of users say they cannot access the website at all. User reports vary widely: some players can log in but can’t join games, others are stuck at the login screen, and some experience brief access before being disconnected shortly after entering a game, per Techloy. The issues are affecting players across PC, mobile...
Sony and Microsoft have long dominated the console wars. Still, Valve is positioning itself to enter the battlefield with a system that blends the power of PC gaming with the simplicity of a living room console. Its new Steam Machine is already sparking conversation about whether the gaming landscape is ready for a true PC console hybrid that can stand alongside the PlayStation 5 (PS5) and Xbox Series X. What Makes The Steam Machine Different According to the BBC, Valve describes the Steam Machine as a compact yet powerful gaming PC that fits neatly under a television, delivering a streamlined experience for those who want PC-level performance without the usual complexity. The company describes it as a system optimized for gaming, capable of supporting 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, powered by Linux-based SteamOS and AMD graphics processors. With Valve’s Steam platform already serving as the largest distribution platform for PC games, this new hardware arrives carrying the...
As anticipation continues to build for “Grand Theft Auto 6” (“GTA 6” or “GTA VI” ), one of the most anticipated video game releases in recent memory, new reports suggest that fans will have to wait a bit longer. Rockstar Games’ ‘GTA’ 6 Release Date Announced According to Reuters, publisher Take-Two Interactive has pushed the release date for Rockstar Games’ next major title, “GTA 6,” to Nov. 19, 2026. The announcement represents the second public delay, postponing the launch from May 2026, the outlet reports. Take-Two’s stock dipped about 6% following the news, but industry analysts told Reuters the delay could actually strengthen the game’s commercial potential. Releasing during the holiday season could align “GTA 6″ with peak consumer spending and major console promotions. “Releasing it closer to the holiday season allows for more opportunities to bundle with the tail end of current-gen consoles, making it more valuable to Take-Two because of the marketing dollars the console...
Cxmmunity Media has secured funding that creates more opportunities for new talent in gaming. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, the Black-owned media technology company has a track record of creating opportunities for the youth. It is responsible for launching the first HBCU Esports League, in partnership with Amazon’s Twitch, which garnered over 53 million live views and led to more than $2 million in scholarships, according to information shared on Cxmmunity Media CMO and co-founder Chris Peay’s LinkedIn. Building on its momentum, Cxmmunity Media has received a six-figure strategic investment to support its philanthropic arm, which is “dedicated to increasing access and long-term opportunities for emerging talent to enter the gaming, esports, and digital entertainment industries,” Variety reports. Live Nation Urban is responsible for the funding, delivered through its partner company’s Black Lily Capital Investment Fund, intended to support Black entrepreneurs. “Our partnership...
Being Black is not a monolith, which is why the culture’s approach to gaming is not something that is one-size-fits-all. That said, Xbox is on a mission to revolutionize the industry by offering a variety of games that fit the many needs of those playing. Beyond those who play games, there is also a space for those who have an interest in creating them over at the Microsoft-led company. One of the latest games that stem from Xbox is South of Midnight, a spellbinding third-person action-adventure game set in the American Deep South. Designed to celebrate Black heritage and Southern culture, the project follows main character Hazel, who was created by Compulsion Game’s, Zaire Lanier, who serves as the writer and narrative designer on the game. “When creating Hazel, for me, it was important to not think of Blackness as a monolith,” she said during the “ WOVEN: The Power of Black Voices in Gaming” panel at Microsoft’s Black TechXcellence House during the AFROTECH™ Conference 2024. ...
Nearly 630,000 Fortnite players were reportedly “tricked” into making purchases through the game and will receive a refund. According to a press release, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reportedly accused Fortnite developer Epic Games of leading gamers to make “unwanted purchases” by carrying out tactics through its game button configuration. “For example, players could be charged while attempting to wake the game from sleep mode, while the game was in a loading screen, or by pressing an adjacent button while attempting simply to preview an item,” the press release from the FTC read. It had also been brought to light that Epic Games had allowed minors to accumulate charges without parental approval and blocked gamers who filed disputes of unauthorized charges, preventing them from obtaining items they had purchased. For these reasons, the company received an order from the FTC to refund players in December 2022 who had been subjected to these “unlawful billing practices.” The...
For anyone who gets frustrated with their partner’s gaming habits, Tee Grizzley may have some news to change your mind. During an appearance on the “Earn Your Leisure” podcast , the rapper and gamer pro shared that he has “made millions” from simply playing video games. “The way to make money, you gotta know how to repurpose things,” Tee Grizzley explained, detailing how he generates income through Twitch. “Boom, you got subscribers, you got ads, you got people that can donate to you — and the sky’s the limit with all that stuff.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by VSG Entertainment (@vsgent) He continued, “With your videos saved, so you can take those videos [and] you can make content out of them on your TikTok, your Instagram, YouTube. You can [even] get a bag off Snapchat.” This isn’t the first time Grizzley has highlighted his lucrative gaming ventures. As AFROTECH™ reported, in a 2022 interview with the “Million Dollaz Worth Of Game” podcast, Grizzley shared that...
Drake fans are responding after a Kendrick Lamar video game attracted more than a million players. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the rapper’s song “Not Like Us” inspired a web-based game developed by Richie Branson, whose real name is Marcus Brown II. “Not Like Us: The Game” allows users to play as Lamar. The objective is to hit an owl piñata using a baseball bat until candy pours out. With each hit, the speed of the owls progressively increases and players hear the word “wop.” Someone tell @aubreysattorney and @certifiedjared we’re live with a “Family Matters” game. https://t.co/liLzQffnM7 — Family Matters: The Game ⁶𓅓 (@fammattersgame) July 22, 2024 The game has been a success, garnering 1.2 million players in its first 36-hour period, Branson revealed on X, formerly Twitter. “I did this for the people,” Branson told Rolling Stone. “I did it as a love letter to hip-hop and music, and because of that I wanted to make sure people would enjoy it. This particular game and the way...
Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” is now a video game. The song, which some may call a diss track, others a West Coast anthem, was released on May 4, 2024 and debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. In the U.S., it logged 70.9 million official streams, made 5 million radio airplay impressions, and sold 15,000 copies by May 9. Exactly two months later, Lamar dropped the highly anticipated music video, which has gained 69.9 million views (at the time of this writing). Now, the hit song has made its way to the gaming world. According to Rolling Stone, “Not Like Us: The Game” gives players the ability to play the web-based game as Kendrick Lamar, and with a baseball bat they must hit an owl piñata until candy pours out. Each time users hit the owl piñata, they will hear the word “wop” played. The concept was developed by Richie Branson, whose real name is Marcus Brown II. “I did this for the people,” Branson told Rolling Stone. “I did it as a love letter to hip-hop and music, and...
Bronny James just took home a top prize in the gaming world. The Los Angeles Lakers player participated in the “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III” Tournament, which was held during the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, NV, Bleacher Report mentions. James outperformed Charlotte Hornets’ Grant Williams and Detroit Pistons’ Bobi Klintman during a drill contest that lasted two minutes, with James scoring 84 points. As a result, he walked away victorious with a $10,000 prize pool and a “Call of Duty” championship belt. The outlet also notes James had previously played in other “Call of Duty” tournaments and competed for a $25,000 prize in “Modern Warfare III” back in May. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bleacher Report (@bleacherreport) James’ interest in gaming should come as no surprise. In fact, in 2020 he became a member of esports group FaZe Clan, TMZ Sports reported at the time. “He joined as our newest member. It’s a very authentic relationship that developed between...