Activision’s new game has a $500-million opening; Ticketmaster acquires blockchain startup; Bird’s new service could bypass city regulations.

Activision Gains $500 Million From New Game

Santa Monica-headquartered Activision Blizzard Inc. netted $500 million from its “Call of Duty: Black Ops IV” game, which VentureBeat reports is roughly the same total its previous game, “Call of Duty: WWII,” sold during its opening weekend a year prior. That said, Activision Blizzard notes the new “Black Ops” broke records for minutes watched on streaming platform Twitch Interactive Inc., and broke the one-day sale record on PlayStation 4 consoles.

Ticketmaster Acquires Blockchain Startup

Koreatown-based Ticketmaster Corp. purchased ticket blockchain outfit Upgraded, Socaltech reported Oct. 18. The ticketing mogul will now be able to create encrypted digital tickets, increasing the security of the ticketing process in an attempt to sidestep fraudulent PDF or paper tickets. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Bird Looking to Fly Past Regulations

CNN Technology reports Bird Rides Inc.’s new scooter delivery service, which drops off its electric scooters at your doorstep and lets you keep them for the day could be an attempt to avoid the limitations cities have enforced on them. For example, in Santa Monica, Bird may only operate up to 300 scooters at a time on the streets. But, as CNN notes, via the delivery service Bird could deliver “hundreds or thousands of scooters to people’s doorsteps, depending on demand.”