Mobile publisher Zynga revealed its new title ReVamp, which will launch soon in select markets exclusively for Snapchat. ReVamp is the first social deception game to be released on Snapchat’s gaming platform, Snap Games.

When it comes to publishing their mobile games, Western developers prioritise two main app stores: the Apple AppStore and the Google Play Store. Why? They’re familiar platforms with low barriers to entry. And most developers are either unaware of wider global opportunities or assume that distributing and monetising their games on other platforms is too difficult.

Unlike the preceding trilogy, the Norse story of God of War will end after the second game. According to Sony Santa Monica creative director Cory Barlog, the studio just didn’t want to spend 15 years working on three titles.

Book Burner Games is a new indie studio founded by Russian game journalist Peter Salnikov. The small team is now working on its debut title, which will be a tactical RPG.

Composer Marty O’Donnell has been found in contempt of court over his use of Destiny assets even after he left Bungie. He will now have to pay the studio tens of thousands of dollars in fees.

Bandai Namco has revealed that its new RPG Tales of Arise has sold over 1 million copies globally in just a week. It helped bring the total shipments of the famous Japanese series to 25 million units.

Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, which is co-developed by Portkey Games and NetEase, launched in mainland China on Sep 9 to claim the top spot on the country’s iOS revenue chart.

tinyBuild has announced the acquisition (or as it calls it, “acquihire”) of another studio. It will buy Russian game studio Bad Pixel, known for multiplayer shooter Deadside. The deal could be worth up to $17.1 million.

On September 15, 2011, Sony organized a press tour for game journalists to present PlayStation Vita during the Tokyo Game Show. However, it turned into the controversial event known as “Vita Boat.”

NetEase, which is the second-largest game publisher in China, has reportedly downsized some of its studios and taken dozens of employees off their jobs. It happened in the wake of the country’s latest restrictions on the games industry.

Brace Yourself Games, known for games like Crypt of the NecroDancer and Industries of Titan, has implemented a new program that allows its employees to develop personal projects during their work time.

On September 10, a federal judge in California ruled that app developers can now direct users to payment options outside the App Store. That said, the court failed to “ultimately conclude that Apple is a monopolist.” Nor did the ruling force Apple into allowing third-party app stores on iOS. The iPhone maker was also allowed to keep its steep 30% commission. While Epic has lost on 9 of 10 counts, the Fortnite company might just have powerful…

Activision Blizzard employees and the Communications Workers of America (CWA), U.S.’s largest communications and media labor union, filed an unfair labor practice lawsuit against Activision Blizzard. The lawsuit, which is filed in California with the National Labor Relations Board, accuses Activision Blizzard of acting coercively to stop its workers from unionizing.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged App Annie and its co-founder and former CEO and Chairman Bertrand Schmitt with securities fraud. SEC found that the mobile analytics firm engaged “in deceptive practices” and made “material misrepresentations” about how it obtained its market data on mobile app performance. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, App Annie agreed to pay more than $10 million to settle the matter.

South Korea’s regulators have accused Google of abusing its dominance in the smartphone market. As a result, the company was fined $177 million.

GeForce NOW database leaked yesterday. It became a hot topic as it listed some intriguing unannounced games like the Half-Life 2 remaster, Injustice 3, and the PC version of God of War. NVIDIA has now finally responded to the leak, confirming that the database is real.

While Epic Games has already appealed the court ruling, Apple hasn’t yet decided whether to do the same. Team Sweeney, meanwhile, noted that his company has paid Apple $6 million as the judge ordered.

Mike Rose, the founder of indie publisher No More Robots, did a talk last month on how small studios should validate or adjust their development plans by setting realistic expectations about how much the development is going to cost them versus how much the game is going to bring in.

Deathloop, a new game from Arkane Studios, has finally come out. Critics praised the immersive shooter about assassins stuck in a time loop, calling it one of the best titles of 2021 and a great successor to Dishonored.