| Game World Observer

Industry News October 23, 2023

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 sells record 2.5 million units in first 24 hours: how it compares to other PlayStation games

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has been a huge success for Sony and Insomniac Games. It took the title just 24 hours to set a new sales record for any game in the history of PlayStation Studios.

Industry News October 23, 2023

Battlefield 2042 breaks its peak CCU record with over 107k concurrent players, tech lead says “these numbers warm my heart”

Battlefield 2042 is having a renaissance thanks to the start of a new season and a series of promotional events from DICE. As a result, the game has managed to attract more concurrent players on Steam than it had at launch.

Featured October 20, 2023

40 studios to rule them all: inside Microsoft Gaming division post-Activision Blizzard deal

Now that Activision Blizzard has joined Microsoft, it has one of the most impressive portfolios of game studios in the industry. Let’s take a closer look at all of its development and publishing subsidiaries, as well as their key IPs.

Industry News October 19, 2023

Steam Deck sales could already reach 3-4 million units, with US, China, and Russia among top countries

The problem with Steam Deck is that Valve has never reported official sales figures since starting shipping its portable PC in February 2022. However, there is still some indirect data that can be used to estimate the number of owners.

Industry News October 19, 2023

Monster Hunter Now hits 10 million downloads, with estimated revenue of nearly $40 million

Monster Hunter has reached a major milestone just over a month after its global launch. With the help of Pokémon Go developer Niantic, it seems that Capcom has a new successful mobile game in its portfolio.

Market Analysis October 19, 2023

Baldur’s Gate 3 topped Starfield in player engagement on US Steam in September, but only ranked 20th on PS5

Circana shared the top three Steam games by player engagement in September. Baldur’s Gate 3 was the leader among all premium titles on the platform.

Industry News October 18, 2023

Marvel Snap generates over $116 million on mobile in its first year, with US leading in revenue and downloads

Marvel Snap, led by former Hearthstone game director Ben Brode, has been a huge success for developer Second Dinner and publisher Nuverse. Let’s take a look at its revenue and other metrics, as the game celebrates its first anniversary.

Market Analysis October 18, 2023

Circana: Starfield became best-selling game in US in September, with PC being its lead sales platform

Another month, another portion of fresh data from Circana on the US video game market. Here are the best-selling titles and consoles of September 2023.

Industry News October 18, 2023

Diablo IV peaks at just over 5k concurrent players on Steam, with players criticizing Blizzard for microtransactions

Diablo IV has finally launched on Steam, as Blizzard games continue to arrive on Valve’s platform, However, player reception has been far from great so far.

Industry News October 18, 2023

Harebrained Schemes parts ways with Paradox as publisher refocuses on its core genres with endless content support

Paradox Interactive and Harebrained Schemes, the studio behind Shadowrun and BattleTech, have decided to part ways. This comes just days after the new turn-based tactics The Lamplighters League proved to be a commercial flop.

Industry News October 17, 2023

Hearts of Iron IV breaks its peak CCU record, reaching 78k concurrent players and climbing 32 places on Steam charts

Hearts of Iron IV remains the evergreen hit for Paradox Interactive. The latest DLC sparked a new wave of interest in the strategy game, helping it set its new concurrent player record.

Industry News October 17, 2023

Prices for Activision games in Argentina and Turkey soar by 2,300% and nearly 1,000% respectively

Just a few days after Microsoft completed its record-breaking acquisition of Activision Blizzard, regional prices for the company’s games on Steam have skyrocketed in Argentina and Turkey. The changes affected the Call of Duty franchise, as well as some classic titles.

Industry News October 17, 2023

Lies of P hits 1 million copies sold: how it compares to other Soulslike games

Lies of P, a Pinocchio-inspired soulslike from South Korean publisher Neowiz and its subsidiary Round8 Studio, has sols over 1 million units globally. It reached this impressive milestone less than a month after its launch.

Industry News October 16, 2023

Pete Hines leaves Bethesda after 24 years of leading marketing campaigns for dozens of company’s games

Pete Hines, head of publishing at Bethesda Softworks, has announced his retirement. He has been with the company since 1999, supervising the PR and marketing of games like TES III: Morrowind, Fallout 3, TES V: Skyrim, and Dishonored.

Industry News October 16, 2023

Cryptic Studios and Zen Studios appear to be latest studios affected by Embracer Group’s restructuring

Embracer Group has already conducted layoffs at several first-party developers. It seems that Cryptic Studios and Zen Studios are the latest teams to be affected by the ongoing restructuring.

Industry News October 16, 2023

Minecraft tops 300 million copies sold, solidifying its status as best-selling game of all time

Minecraft remains the best-selling video game of all time by a wide margin. And Mojang has decided to share some new figures and data, as the title approaches its 15th anniversary.

Events October 13, 2023

GenAI for Business conference coming to San Francisco on October 23, program and speakers announced

WN Media Group has announced a new conference in the US that will focus on the latest trends and innovations in generative AI. Among the speakers are experts from companies like Scenario, Luma AI, Layer AI, MongoDB, Lightspeed, and more.

Deals October 13, 2023

Microsoft closes Activision Blizzard deal 20 months after announcement, Spencer asks Kotick to remain CEO of ABK until 2024

It is over, ladies and gentlemen! Microsoft has completed the record-breaking acquisition of Activision Blizzard after a lengthy battle with regulators in the US and Europe.

Industry News October 13, 2023

UK clears Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, making sure it “can’t have a stranglehold” on cloud gaming

Microsoft is now ready to complete its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which remained the barrier, has finally approved the record-breaking deal.

Industry News October 13, 2023

AppLovin may try to buy Unity again, as engine maker’s shares fell 40% since last year’s $17.5 billion offer

The recent Runtime Fee controversy and CEO John Riccitiello’s departure have sparked speculation among some market experts that Unity could be considered an M&A target. Mobile monetization platform AppLovin, which offered to acquire the engine maker last year, was named as a potential buyer.

All publications of the author

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 sells record 2.5 million units in first 24 hours: how it compares to other PlayStation games

Battlefield 2042 breaks its peak CCU record with over 107k concurrent players, tech lead says “these numbers warm my heart”

40 studios to rule them all: inside Microsoft Gaming division post-Activision Blizzard deal

Steam Deck sales could already reach 3-4 million units, with US, China, and Russia among top countries

Monster Hunter Now hits 10 million downloads, with estimated revenue of nearly $40 million

Baldur’s Gate 3 topped Starfield in player engagement on US Steam in September, but only ranked 20th on PS5

Marvel Snap generates over $116 million on mobile in its first year, with US leading in revenue and downloads

Circana: Starfield became best-selling game in US in September, with PC being its lead sales platform

Diablo IV peaks at just over 5k concurrent players on Steam, with players criticizing Blizzard for microtransactions

Harebrained Schemes parts ways with Paradox as publisher refocuses on its core genres with endless content support

Hearts of Iron IV breaks its peak CCU record, reaching 78k concurrent players and climbing 32 places on Steam charts

Prices for Activision games in Argentina and Turkey soar by 2,300% and nearly 1,000% respectively

Lies of P hits 1 million copies sold: how it compares to other Soulslike games

Pete Hines leaves Bethesda after 24 years of leading marketing campaigns for dozens of company’s games

Cryptic Studios and Zen Studios appear to be latest studios affected by Embracer Group’s restructuring

Minecraft tops 300 million copies sold, solidifying its status as best-selling game of all time

GenAI for Business conference coming to San Francisco on October 23, program and speakers announced

Microsoft closes Activision Blizzard deal 20 months after announcement, Spencer asks Kotick to remain CEO of ABK until 2024

UK clears Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, making sure it “can’t have a stranglehold” on cloud gaming

AppLovin may try to buy Unity again, as engine maker’s shares fell 40% since last year’s $17.5 billion offer