Fortnite may be a free video game, but it's already earned $1 billion this year, as well as a cult following. A crowd gathers to buy copies of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" during a launch event for the highly anticipated video game at a GameStop Corp. store November 7, 2011 in North Las Vegas, Nevada. The worldwide video game market could grow from $137.9 billion this year to $180.1 billion by 2021, according to Newzoo. The research firm also expects the top five video game markets to generate nearly $98 billion in revenue this year. China famously banned video game consoles for 15 years (2000 to 2015) due to fears about their impact on children's development, but that merely turned PCs – and later, mobile devices – into its main gaming platforms. China is now home to Tencent (NASDAQOTH: TCEHY), the largest video game publisher in the world.

It was supposed to be a rival to Elon Musk's Tesla and even had a giant factory almost next door. However, Chinese firm Faraday Future has said it will move production of its planned luxury electric SUV to a new site, virtually scrapping a stalled $1 billion Las Vegas factory amid deepening financial woes of key investor Chinese entrepreneur Jia Yueting. Faraday is part of a network of young electric vehicle (EV) firms in China and the United States backed by Jia, who has said his company LeEco - that grew from a Netflix-like video website to a business empire spanning consumer electronics to cars within 13 years - is facing a severe shortage of cash after expanding too fast and in too many directions. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval looks at a model for a Faraday Future factory in North Las Vegas, Nev. Electric car maker Faraday Future said Monday, July 10, 2017 that it is deserting its plan to construct a $1 billion manufacturing plant in southern Nevada eight months after suspending the project and sinking at least $120 million into it. Faraday Future halted work on the project outside Las Vegas last November, at the time calling the stoppage a'temporary adjustment' that would not affect plans to begin production in 2018.

Faraday Future took the wraps off a long-awaited production car this week at CES in Las Vegas just as circumstances grow ever more challenging for the Los Angeles-based automotive startup backed by Chinese entrepreneur Jia Yueting. The company showed off the FF 91 crossover-style car late Tuesday that it says combines supercar performance with ultra-luxury ride and comfort, has advanced web-enabled entertainment features for passengers and even parks itself in crowded lots using autonomous driving technology. It tested the latter feature before a live audience on Monday, as well as clocking its acceleration on stage against high-end luxury vehicles from Bentley, Ferrari and Tesla. "The FF 91 will usher in a new age of connected vehicles," Nick Sampson, the company's senior vice president of engineering and R&D and a former Tesla engineer, said at the unveiling that was webcast, noting that interested buyers can reserve one at the company's website with a $5,000 deposit. Jia, who is also founder and CEO of LeEco, the so-called Netflix of China, joined Sampson and other Faraday executives at the Las Vegas event to mark the FF 91's unveiling.

A few hundred miles south of Tesla Motors headquarters resides another electric car maker that has been given the green-light to unleash its prototypes on California roads. Faraday Future won approval today from The Golden State to begin testing its self-driving vehicles later this year on public routes. The Los Angeles-based startup plans to start building and selling electric vehicles next year in the United States, but has not disclosed details of regarding its newly awarded self-driving program. Faraday Future won approval today from The Golden State to begin testing its self-driving electric vehicles later this year on public routes. Faraday is one of several Chinese-funded startups hoping to challenge Tesla in premium electric vehicles.

ORG XMIT: 131672750 NORTH LAS VEGAS, NV - NOVEMBER 07: GameStop employee Randi Taber stacks copies of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" during a launch event for the highly anticipated video game at a GameStop Corp. store November 7, 2011 in North Las Vegas, Nevada. Video game publisher Activision released the eighth installment in the '"Call of Duty" franchise at midnight on November 8. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) ORIG FILE ID: 131913279 (Photo: Ethan Miller Getty Images) Video game retailer GameStop is making a move into publishing. The company announced Monday a venture called GameTrust, which will publish video games for multiple platforms from independent studios. Studios Insomniac Games (Ratchet & Clank), Ready at Dawn (The Order: 1886) and Frozenbyte (Trine) are among the indie studios creating games that will be published through GameTrust. Mark Stanley, GameStop's vice president of internal development and diversification, says the venture will focus on games "largely ignored by big publishers" in favor of triple-A titles.

Secretive electric car company Faraday Future hopes to have its first vehicles rolling off the assembly line in 2018. The announcement was made as officials marked the start of construction on a planned 1 billion Las Vegas-area production plant, not far from rival Tesla's Gigafactory. While it's clear the company plans to create an electric car, a prototype has yet to be unveiled and there are no specifics yet on what kinds of cars it might manufacture. The company, backed by Chinese entrepreneur Jia Yueting, currently has about 700 employees in the U.S. It unveiled a concept car in January, but hasn't put a vehicle on the market. Faraday Future puts the size of the Apex Industrial Park facility at 3 million square feet, or nearly the size of the sprawling Las Vegas Convention Center close to the Las Vegas Strip.