The Financial Times this weekend has published details about an interesting development project that is currently in-the-works at British semiconductor specialist firm Arm Ltd. The article states that several executives in the industry have divulged (anonymously) that Arm's engineering team is designing a proprietary chip - these insider sources opine that this new creation could be one of the company's most advanced undertakings. The SoftBank-owned chipmaker is having a bumper year in terms of financial success and has invested in its future - it is speculated that their own semiconductor design will be showcased as a prototype product to potential new clients - with the main goal being to drum up more business and growth. Parent group SoftBank is likely pushing for maximum profit margins as it prepares Arm for an initial public offering (IPO) this year.

Arm's modus operandi involves partnering up with other chip manufacturers in order to license out its semiconductor intellectual properties. In turn these partners are expected to deal with the overall design and manufacturing processes of chips (plus sales of). Arm has teamed up with foundries TSMC and Samsung in the past to create prototypes for software testing purposes, but not much has been heard about those proofing projects in the following years. In an unusual turn (from certain industry perspectives) from its traditional working methodologies, it seems that Arm is embracing a different approach by producing its own compelling designs, with the hope of demonstrating greater potential to customers. FT's sources have provided evidence that Arm has expanded its operations and that a newly formed "solutions engineering" team is focused on prototyping new silicon for usage in mobile hardware and related devices.

Atari - one of the world's most iconic consumer brands and interactive entertainment producers - announced, on April 19, the acquisition of more than 100 PC and console titles from the 1980s and 1990s. The collection includes notable games from the Bubsy, Hardball, Demolition Racer series, as well as the 1942: Pacific Air War, F-117A, and F-14 air combat series. Atari will seek to expand digital and physical distribution of the classic titles, create new games based on the IP, and explore brand and merchandising collaborations.

"This is a deep catalog that includes groundbreaking and award-winning titles from Accolade, Infogrames and Microprose," said Atari CEO Wade Rosen. "Many of these titles are a part of Atari history, and fans can look forward to seeing many of these games re-released in physical and digital formats, and in some cases, even ported to modern consoles." Atari also acquired the trademark to the Accolade and GTI brands. Accolade was a well-respected US-based video game developer and publisher from 1984 until 2000.

Today Japan's Sega Sammy Holdings Incorporated declared its intention to fully acquire Finnish development studio Rovio Entertainment Oyj in a buyout valued at a cool $776 million. The Helsinki-based developer, responsible for creating the Angry Birds video game franchise, has agreed to Sega Sammy's terms - and Rovio share values have climbed as a result of this announcement. The deal is expected to be finalized in the late summer or early autumn of this year, and signals an ambition on Sega's part to gain prominence in the mobile gaming world. Rovio had previously turned down a proposed takeover by Playtika - an Israeli company specializing in digital entertainment - for $735 million, late last month.

Angry Birds was the first mobile game to be downloaded one billion times, according to figures released by Rovio, so Sega has acquired a solid intellectual property that has also expanded into the movie world (two animated features) and endless merchandising avenues (toys, clothing and other accessories). Commenting on the buyout, Haruki Satomi, President and Group CEO, Representative Director of Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. said: "Among the rapidly growing global gaming market, the mobile gaming market has especially high potential, and it has been Sega's long-term goal to accelerate its expansion in this field."

Japanese OLED display manufacturer JOLED has decided to throw in the towel, as the company board has filed for bankruptcy protection at the Tokyo District Court. JOLED has some 33.7 billion yen (US$257 million) in liabilities and is hoping to cover some of these by selling off assets. The Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), which is the largest shareholder of JOLED, will be taking over its R&D department, along with around 100 employees as well as its intellectual property. However, it will not take over either of JOLEDs two fabs, located in Nomi and Chiba, Japan. The two fabs employ around 280 staff and currently the two fabs building displays using JOLED's innovative printing technology for OLED displays are expected to be closed.

However, as JOLED still has supply contracts with the likes of Apple, ASUS, Eizo, LG and Sony, INCJ will continue to operate the fabs for now, to fulfil the contracts for the time being. INCJ is apparently accepting responsibility to cover JOLED's liabilities, sheltering the other shareholders of JOLED, which includes Japanese Denso and Chinese CSOT/TCL. JOLED has struggled for most of its existence, being late to market with its OLED displays and haven't been able to compete with the likes of LG and Samsung in Korea and BOE Display and CSOT in China. Hopefully INCJ will be able to take advantage of the intellectual property from JOLED, as the company is focusing on making its own line of OLED displays in the future.

Softbank, the owner of Arm Ltd., is preparing everything it can to ensure a successful initial public offering (IPO) of Arm. However, ahead of the IPO, we have more information about Arm's plans to change its licensing and pricing structures to collect more royalties and ensure higher cash flow for future investors. Currently, Arm licenses technology in the form of intellectual property (IP), usually in different flavors of Cortex-A CPU cores that go inside processors for phones and laptops. Chipmakers that use the IP have additional expenses such as Arm ISA license fee and per-chip royalty, which is based on the chip's average selling price.

However, according to Financial Times, we have a new pricing structure that changes how Arm bills its partners and customers. From now on, Arm will grant licenses to chipmakers and ask them to only ship to device makers with an agreement with Arm. Additionally, these device makers now pay per-device royalty based on the device's average selling price (ASP). This ensures that Arm's fee applies to the higher margin product, which means that ultimately Arm will collect more cash flow from its customers and partners. Currently, the old model charges around 1-2 percents per chip in each smartphone, considering the ASP of smartphone chips to be $40 for Qualcomm, $17 for MediaTek, and $6 for Unisoc. However, taking the ASP of a mobile phone at $335, as recorded in 2022, the fee would be much higher. People familiar with the matter noted that Arm will apply this pricing structure as early as 2024. Apple and Samsung are not impacted by this change, as both companies enjoy their own agreements with Arm.

Microsoft is still deep into its negotiations with several international regulatory bodies regarding the buyout of Activision Blizzard, with a deadline looming it seems that tensions are rising. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) needs a lot of convincing since it regards the proposed takeover as a serious threat to Sony's ability to compete with Microsoft, with the ownership of the Call of Duty series being a main focus. Sony has expressed concern about the blockbuster franchise becoming a potential Xbox console exclusive in the future - Microsoft has pledged to continue development on PlayStation platforms for a proposed 10-year period, with no technological compromises and a promise to release all versions simultaneously on launch days.

In its latest testimony given to the UK's CMA, Microsoft has made a (slightly odd) suggestion that Sony should figure out a way to make its own answer to the Call of Duty series: "Microsoft considers that a period of 10 years is sufficient for Sony, as a leading publisher and console platform, to develop alternatives to Call of Duty.…The 10-year term will extend into the next console generation.… Moreover, the practical effect of the remedy will go beyond the 10-year period, since games downloaded in the final year of the remedy can continue to be played for the lifetime of that console (and beyond, with backwards compatibility)."

Atari has announced that is buying Nightdive Studios for a cool $10 million - the abandonware specialists will become part of the publisher's larger ambitions to boost production of retro IPs. Nightdive's proprietary KEX engine will form the technological base for future remakes of Atari titles from the archives. As the news of this acquisition hit the web, the Nightdive Twitter posted a positive message regarding the buyout: "This is a big win for our team! As we look to continue producing high-quality, new, and remastered games that do justice to the original IP; we could think of no better long-term partner than."

Nightdive leaders Stephen Kick and Larry Kuperman stated in a joint statement: "Night Dive and Atari have a long history together and we know that Atari shares our passion for retro games and our focus on producing high-quality new and remastered games that do justice to the original IP. As we look to grow our business and expand our capabilities, we could think of no better long-term partner than Atari."