Spyro is back, history has been made in the OWL & PUBG is overrun with Chinese cheaters on this week’s episode of The Video Game Pals!

PLUS: Remember to write in for your free copy of Life is Strange!

-What we’re playing

-Reader Mail

-Buy or sell: play a game first or play it on your platform of choice?

-DA NEWS:

1. Spyro Trilogy Remaster is coming to PS4 in Q3 of this year:

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2018/02/13/spyro-trilogy-remaster-coming-to-ps4-this-year

2. Geguri has signed to the Shanghai Dragons, becoming the first female player in the OWL:

https://www.polygon.com/2018/2/14/17012010/overwatch-league-first-female-player-geguri-shanghai-dragons

3. THQ Nordic has purchased Koch Media and regained a ton of the original THQ’s IP:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2018/02/14/thq-nordic-buys-saints-row-metro-dead-island-owner-koch-media

4. Harry Potter Director Chris Columbus to direct Five Night’s at Freddy’s movie:

http://deadline.com/2018/02/five-nights-at-freddys-chris-columbus-harry-potter-blumhouse-1202286349/

5. PUBG’s active daily players players took a MAJOR hit for the first time in months dropping from nearly 3.5 million to just around 2.5 million:

https://twitter.com/ynakamura56/status/963666762582708224

Meat and Potatoes: Nakamura attributes the drop to player frustration over Chinese players invading North American serves and cheating. Now, that may sound like the rantings of a racist baby if you don’t play the game, but it’s become a very real issue for PUBG players in NA. Recent data from the company's anti-cheat tech provider, BattlEye indicates that 99% of accounts that have been banned for cheating are from China. Youxi Story also reports that 46% of the game’s total players are based in China making the problem hard to address for PUBGCorp. We’ve already seen one million accounts banned for cheating in January alone and BattlEye says things have “continued to escalate” despite their best efforts to combat the issue. Since being acquired by Tencent, a Chinese server was announced to be on the way, but my question is will this all be enough? Do you think this issue could really affect the longevity of PUBG? Has it affected your own play/enjoyment of the game?

Outro Music:

"Swanky Ballroom Party For Sophisticated People" by Adhesive Wombat - @adhesivewombat

The Video Game Pals is The Pals Network's weekly video game podcast where we talk about video games, the news and how it all makes us feel.

The Pals:

Sean: twitter.com/SeansSoapbox

Pete: twitter.com/Loud_Pete

Thompson: twitter.com/RelicVampire

Andy: twitter.com/tiger_millions

Peggy: twitter.com/MoiraiOW