Industry News February 26, 2021 Sony confirms shutting down Japan Studio following exit of Bloodborne producer and Silent Hill director Sony will re-organize Japan Studio, known for games like Gravity Rush and Knack. It looks like the team behind Astro’s Playroom will become a standalone studio.
Industry News February 26, 2021 Bloomberg: EA cancels ‘ambitious’ game Gaia, still has more than 35 projects in making Electronic Arts decided to stop the development of another game called Gaia that has been in development for years. It happened shortly after the company canceled the revision of Anthem.
Industry News February 25, 2021 Judge orders Valve to give Apple part of Steam private data on 436 games Valve will have to unveil some of its private Steam information requested by Apple in a lawsuit against Epic Games.
Industry News February 25, 2021 Unity: mobile game ad revenue increased by 8% in 2020, card games showed highest growth Unity has released its latest gaming report, providing insights from 2020 on ad revenue and the market in general. The company also issues a forecast of key trends for 2021.
Industry News February 25, 2021 Bloomberg: CD Projekt developers locked out of their workstations after ‘nightmarish’ hack The recent hacker attack impacted the development process within CD Projekt. It looks like most of its employees have been unable to properly work for two weeks.
Featured February 25, 2021 BioWare on canceling revision of Anthem: “This will be disappointing to the community” Anthem NEXT should have become a revision of BioWare’s online game, but now the studio decided to stop the development. It will focus on other series instead, including Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
Industry News February 24, 2021 ResetEra implements total ban on threads for promoting new Harry Potter game Forum ResetEra bans promotional posts for the upcoming Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy amid the discovery that its lead designer supported Gamergate.
Industry News February 24, 2021 Reasons behind Sony’s new strategy on bringing more PS exclusives to PC Days Gone will become the next PlayStation exclusive to be released on PC. Sony wants to expand its audience, but there are a few other reasons for the company to bring its games outside its platform.
Industry News February 20, 2021 Electronic Arts files patent for technology to instantly play games before download Electronic Arts filed a new patent that allows users to play games instantly, without having to wait for the download and installation to end.
Industry News February 20, 2021 Artie raises $10 million to make instant games playable via messengers and browsers Artie, a mobile platform for instant games, raised $10 million with money coming from Zynga and Shutterstock founders among other investors. It supports not only JavaScript and HTML5 but also Unity.
Industry News February 19, 2021 Rumor: Konami outsources Silent Hill to several developers, Bloober Team hints it might be one of them Rumors about a potential reboot of Silent Hill have been circulating for a while. Now The Medium developer Bloober Team reveals it is working on a certain horror franchise with a famous publisher.
Industry News February 19, 2021 EA officially completes its $1.2 billion acquisition of Codemasters, not all fans like it Codemasters officially joins Electronic Arts. The publisher confirmed that it has finally completed the $1.2 deal.
Industry News February 19, 2021 Russian singer Zemphira collabs with Playrix on new song dedicated to Homescapes butler Austin Mobile publisher Playrix and famous Russian rock singer Zemfira released an animated music video for a new song Austin. It’s inspired by the Homescapes butler of the same name.
Industry News February 18, 2021 Microsoft launches platform to improve game accessibility on Xbox and PC Microsoft has updated guidelines that might help developers make their projects more accessible for people with disabilities. Now the studios will be able to send their Xbox or PC games for review and receive feedback on how to improve them.
Industry News February 18, 2021 Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund invests over $3 billion in Activision Blizzard, Take-Two, and EA Saudi Arabia continues to show interest in the game industry. The sovereign wealth fund bought stakes in three major publishers, with Activision Blizzard taking almost half of the $3 billion investment.
Industry News February 18, 2021 Stadia studios reportedly praised for ‘great progress’ just days before being shut down by Google The employees weren’t aware of Google’s plans to close two first-party Stadia studios. It happened soon after the leadership praised them for making “great progress.”
Industry News February 18, 2021 Game developers discuss politics in games amid controversy around Six Days in Fallujah Six Days in Fallujah is controversial war shooter that continues to cause debate online. After its creators said that the game won’t be a “political commentary,” some developers questioned whether games should touch political topics at all.
Industry News February 15, 2021 One More Level alleges being paid no royalties for Ghostrunner, despite game’s success Today, Polish studio One More Level stated that it hasn’t seen revenue from Ghostrunner’s commercial success yet. Not being able to publish its financial report, the company saw its shares drop.
Industry News February 15, 2021 Steam reaches 50,000 games milestone Shortly after breaking its concurrent user record, Steam hit another milestone. The store has now over 50,000 games available, with the number growing every month.
Marketing February 15, 2021 IDFA policy may lead to iOS in-app advertising market losing nearly 20% of value Analysts unveiled a new forecast on the possible aftermath of Apple’s changes in its IDFA privacy rules. This year, the in-app ad market on iOS may see a 17% drop in the value.