| Game World Observer

Industry News January 17, 2022

Cory Barlog thinks bad ports should be blamed on publishers, not developers

Sony Santa Monica Studio creative director Cory Barlog has shared his thoughts on ports in the wake of the God of War launch on PC. He explained why the bad quality is usually not the developers’ fault.

Marketing January 17, 2022

Why indie platformer Neko Ghost, Jump! only sold 100 units at launch despite getting 17,000 wishlists

Neko Ghost, Jump! has generated more than 17,000 wishlists on Steam. The game, however, only sold 100 copies on day 1. Developer Victor Burgos tried to figure out the reasons for the failed launch.

Industry News January 17, 2022

Russian Orthodox Church makes prayer service for “those obsessed with computer passion”

The Russian Orthodox Church has written a special prayer service for people who are obsessed with video games. However, it still must be approved by the Holy Synod, Russia’s Ecclesiastical governing body.

Industry News January 14, 2022

117 game companies counted in Ukraine

Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation has shared a report on the local IT industry. It lists all tech companies in the country, including the ones making video games.

Industry News January 14, 2022

Mobile action games saw 69% increase in player spending in 2021, thanks to Genshin Impact’s success

Sensor Tower has analyzed growth for different mobile genres in the US during 2021. Driven by Genshin Impact, action games saw the biggest increase in player spending with almost 69%.

Industry News January 14, 2022

Bobby Kotick earned $154 million in 2021, more than CD Projekt, Ubisoft, Roblox, and EA CEOs combined. But still less than Playtika CEO

Consulting firm Games One has shared a list of the highest-paid gaming CEOs. Activision Blizzard’s Bobby Kotick made it to the top-3, earning more than CD Projekt, Ubisoft, and EA leaders combined.

Industry News January 13, 2022

Deep Rock Galactic attracts 6 million new players in week after PlayStation Plus launch

Deep Rock Galactic was added to PS+ on January 4 and managed to attract 6 million new players in the first week. It helped the studio more than double its player base.

Industry News January 12, 2022

Genshin Impact reaches $3 billion in player spending on iOS and Android

Genshin Impact managed to reach another milestone during the first week of January. According to AppMagic, the miHoYo’s hit surpassed $3 billion in lifetime player spending on mobile.

Industry News January 12, 2022

Worlde clone generated 12k downloads in 24 hours before being deleted from App Store

Worlde, a puzzle game that got massively popular online, has spawned numerous clones. One of them called Worlde — The App even managed to generate 12,000 downloads before Apple apparently removed it from the App Store.

Industry News January 12, 2022

Riot Games to pay employees 25% of their annual salary if they leave company amid announced changes

Riot Games has announced a new five-year development plan, also making an unusual offer to its employees. Every worker that doesn’t want to embrace the new strategy and decides to quit the company will receive 25% of their annual salary.

Industry News January 11, 2022

Phil Spencer on not virtue-shaming Activision Blizzard: “Xbox’s history is not spotless”

Xbox head Phil Spencer has opened up about the company’s relationship with Activision Blizzard amid the ongoing harassment scandal. While not going into a lot of detail, he noted that Xbox won’t publicly shame other publishers.

Industry News January 11, 2022

Swimming, no slow stealth, and diverse ecosystem: what Days Gone 2 could have possibly looked like

Amid the new wave of conversations about the cancellation of Days Gone 2, game director Jeff Ross has talked about his vision for a potential sequel.

Industry News January 11, 2022

Eric Seufert: more studios to focus on Android-first development in 2022

Media strategist Eric Seufert has shared five trends of the mobile games market for 2022. Among other things, he believes that companies will start creating Android-first strategies for their titles in the wake of the ATT implementation on iOS.

Industry News January 11, 2022

Genshin Impact becomes most talked about video game on Twitter in 2021

Twitter has summed up the gaming activity on its platform for 2021. Genshin Impact became the most talked about title of the year, while the overall number of game-related tweets exceeded 2 billion.

Industry News January 11, 2022

Apple to allow independent payment systems in South Korea, still intends to charge fees

Apple said it would allow third-party payment solutions in South Korea following last year’s adoption of the law which banned app store operators from forcing their own in-app payment systems.

Marketing January 11, 2022

Developer Benjamin Kobe recommends against using large gaming subreddits to promote small indie titles

Developer Benjamin Kobe, founder of Austin, Texas-based indie studio Clutch Dynamics, shared his experience of promoting his game Boris the Sloth on Reddit. He suggests staying away from large gaming and gamedev subreddits for UA purposes.

Industry News January 10, 2022

Take-Two shares drop after company addresses Zynga deal in investor call

It was no surprise that Take-Two would like to use Zynga’s expertise to bring its main video games franchises to mobile. However, the company saw its stock fall soon after discussing the deal with its investors.

Marketing January 10, 2022

How one Reddit post generated over 11,000 wishlists for city builder Laysara: Summit Kingdom

A team behind city builder Laysara: Summit Kingdom made a post on Reddit at the end of last year. It has gone viral since then helping generate 11,000 wishlists on Steam. So what really worked for the devs?

Industry News January 10, 2022

CD Projekt RED design director Mateusz Kanik leaves studio after 15 years

Mateusz Kanik, who has been working at CD Projekt for 15 years, has decided to leave the studio. He worked on The Witcher 2 and at one time was game director on Cyberpunk 2077.

Industry News January 10, 2022

Roblox takes down Chinese version of its app, which was crucial for its expansion into this market

Roblox had high hopes for its Chinese app as it was supposed to help the company expand into the local market. However, it has been suddenly removed from app stores. While not sharing specific reasons behind the decision, Roblox is now working on the new version.

All publications of the author

Cory Barlog thinks bad ports should be blamed on publishers, not developers

Why indie platformer Neko Ghost, Jump! only sold 100 units at launch despite getting 17,000 wishlists

Russian Orthodox Church makes prayer service for “those obsessed with computer passion”

117 game companies counted in Ukraine

Mobile action games saw 69% increase in player spending in 2021, thanks to Genshin Impact’s success

Bobby Kotick earned $154 million in 2021, more than CD Projekt, Ubisoft, Roblox, and EA CEOs combined. But still less than Playtika CEO

Deep Rock Galactic attracts 6 million new players in week after PlayStation Plus launch

Genshin Impact reaches $3 billion in player spending on iOS and Android

Worlde clone generated 12k downloads in 24 hours before being deleted from App Store

Riot Games to pay employees 25% of their annual salary if they leave company amid announced changes

Phil Spencer on not virtue-shaming Activision Blizzard: “Xbox’s history is not spotless”

Swimming, no slow stealth, and diverse ecosystem: what Days Gone 2 could have possibly looked like

Eric Seufert: more studios to focus on Android-first development in 2022

Genshin Impact becomes most talked about video game on Twitter in 2021

Apple to allow independent payment systems in South Korea, still intends to charge fees

Developer Benjamin Kobe recommends against using large gaming subreddits to promote small indie titles

Take-Two shares drop after company addresses Zynga deal in investor call

How one Reddit post generated over 11,000 wishlists for city builder Laysara: Summit Kingdom

CD Projekt RED design director Mateusz Kanik leaves studio after 15 years

Roblox takes down Chinese version of its app, which was crucial for its expansion into this market