Ryan’s Desk
I am writing this with DreamCon still in my legs and Comic Con already on my calendar, and the throughline is impossible to miss. Black creativity is not asking for a seat in blerd spaces anymore. It is running them.
A few days ago we were in Houston at DreamCon, building something real with McDonald's and standing in a room full of Black and brown fans who treat anime, gaming, and culture as one language. Now I am heading to Comic Con to be part of Shaboozey's comic book release, and I want you to sit with how big that is. An artist who broke down the door in country music is walking straight into panels and ink and claiming the page too. That is not a novelty crossover. The same person who refused to stay in the lane the industry drew for him is now doing it in ours.
Put those two rooms next to each other and you see the pattern. This is what Black liberation looks like when it gets creative. Not permission, ownership. We are building the culture and holding the pen at the same time. If you skim nothing else this week, skim the shift, not the headlines. The story is not DreamCon or Comic Con or any single drop. It is that the blerd world stopped waiting to be invited.
Trend of the Week
1.1 Billion Visits
FIFA's official Roblox game has already crossed 1.1 billion lifetime visits and averages 1.5 million sessions a day, and it is now hosting World Cup 2026 activations from adidas, Brazil's CBF, and more. A single in-game placement can now rival a linear-TV spot for reach among fans under 25. The stadium moved to the server.
Quick Hits
🏆 Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced hit 100,000 concurrent Steam players in three days, a franchise first, per GameSpot.
🎮 Palworld reached its 1.0 release this month, closing out a long early-access run for one of the decade's biggest survival breakouts.
📺 Mortal Kombat 2 sets its HBO Max streaming date for July 24 after a $129M worldwide theatrical run, per Variety.
📸 IShowSpeed anchored the YouTube FIFA Creator's Cup at Wollman Rink on July 12, then got tapped to headline State Farm's Gamerhood Season 5.
Currency Flowing in the Cxmmunity
💸 Pure: $8M Seed led by Hidden Capital, with MaC Venture Capital, Ludlow Ventures, and others. Announced July 15, Pure builds compliance-first financial and identity infrastructure for peer-to-peer skill-based games. Signal: real-money skill gaming is maturing, and diverse capital, including a Black-led firm, is early on the rails that power it.
💸 Neon Commerce: $13M Series A with KRAFTON (strategic), a16z, and Renegade Partners. The startup runs direct-to-consumer commerce for games and grew its gross merchandise value more than tenfold in two years. Signal: publishers want to sell straight to players and keep the platform storefront cut.
💸 PixVerse: $439M raise, valuation now past $2B. Announced July 13, PixVerse builds AI video models, including R-Series world models aimed at game development. Signal: game engines and generative video are converging, and investors are paying for whole worlds, not clips.
A Labor of Love
🎯 Riot Games: Sr. Manager, Partnership Management (Commercial Partnerships). Riot's board is live with commercial partnership and product-insights roles, plus paid Summer 2026 internships across League, TFT, VALORANT, and 2XKO. A strong fit for someone who wants to sit where gaming, brands, and business meet.
🤝 Aftershock Media Group: Program Manager, Esports Partnerships. Remote, roughly $45K to $60K, running the Brawl Stars esports partnership program. Good for a partnerships or program-ops mind who can work core CET hours.
🎨 WarForge Studio: Senior UI Artist / Senior Technical Artist. Fully remote, owning UI from concept to shipped product on a new 4X strategy game. Needs strong craft, mobile-game instincts, and hands-on Unity experience.
Visit Hitmarker for to learn about more jobs in the gaming industry: HERE
Hidden Gem: DeGen Rivals
Mario Kart meets Fall Guys with blasters. DeGen Rivals drops eight players into free-to-play vehicular chaos where you weaponize the physics to smash rivals off the map. Cross-play between PC and mobile, endless avatar and kart customization, and guild leaderboards for the competitive crowd.
Pre-order Avatar Legends: HERE
Shaboozey Is Building a Comic Universe, and It Starts at Comic-Con
Story Summary
The Grammy winner is making his San Diego Comic-Con debut next week, and he's not showing up empty-handed. He's bringing The Outlaw Cherie Lee, his first comic book, a three-issue western from Range Comics, the graphic novel imprint backed by Range Media Partners. The book grows straight out of his upcoming album, The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales, which drops July 31.
Read the full story: HERE
Kai Cenat Built a University and Brands Are Paying the Tuition.
Story Summary
Streamer University 2026 ran July 15 through the morning of July 20, and it moved more than 120 accepted creators into a dorm-style program at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas.
Read the full story: HERE
Twitch just Released a New Voice Command that just Leveled the Playing Field for Smaller Creators
Story Summary
Twitch rolled out voice activated clipping. Say “Twitch, Clip That” out loud while you are live, and the platform captures the moment that just happened and drops it into your Clips Manager for review. It grew out of the Auto Clips work Twitch has been testing, and it is going to Partners and Affiliates first, in English only for now.
Read the full story: HERE
Brand Partnerships x Collaborations
🦔 100 Thieves x PSA
Introducing the PSA + 100 Thieves Collection, a limited 5-piece capsule designed with collectors in mind, available exclusively at San Diego Comic-Con from July 23rd through July 26th, 2026.
Learn more: HERE
🎮 Halo x Waze
The legendary Master Chief returns with fresh nav, a brand new Warthog & Ghost, and for the FIRST TIME...he's deploying Cortana to help keep your daily missions.
Learn more: HERE
🎮 Shoe Palace x Upper Deck - San Diego Comic-Con
For SDCC, Shoe Palace, Upper Deck, and DC unite to debut the Absolute Batman 1 Bundle Set—an unforgettable collectable offering. This premium set includes a stunning foil variant edition of Absolute Batman 1, a limited-edition, serial numbered Upper Deck trading card, and a bold Absolute Batman t-shirt from Shoe Palace. Each piece features breathtaking artwork by superstar artist Nick Dragotta, making this bundle an essential addition for fans and collectors alike.
Learn more: HERE
Upcoming Community & Industry Events
📅 Anime & Wine - August 29th - Atlanta, GA (RSVP Link Coming Soon)
The Cxmmunity Store
The Cxmmunity Store is live! Visit the Cxmmunity store to grab our newest drop of T-shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies!
Visit: HERE
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Today’s Newsletter is by The Cxmmunity Media Team.
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