Industry News | Game World Observer

It Takes Two hits 10 million unit sold. “Nobody expected this,” says Josef Fares

It Takes Two has reached a new milestone. It has sold over 10 million copies globally, which makes it the most commercially succesful game in Hazelight Stuios’ portfolio.

Industry News Today 14:58

Over 1 million Chinese players apply for refunds due to expiration of Blzzard’s agreement with NetEase

As the future of Blizzard games in China remains hazy, local players have started applying for refunds for unused in-app purchases. NetEase, which was responsible for operating these products in the country, explained how users can claim their money back.

Industry News Today 13:09

NCSoft West lays off 20% of employees as part of ‘global realignment’

Another game company has been hit by layoffs. The Western arm of Korean publisher NCSoft has cut one-fifth of its staff and the division’s CEO Jeffrey Anderson has stepped down from his position.

Industry News Yesterday

Dwarf Fortress made $7.2 million in January, 44 times more than in all of 2022

Tarn and Zach Adams have updated the revenue data for Dwarf Fortress. The game brough in a record-breaking amount of money tothe developers last month, a testament to its success upon launch on Steam.

Industry News Yesterday

PlayStation reports 53% Q3 revenue growth, driven by strong sales of consoles and third-party games

Sony has shared a financial report for the third quarter ended December 31, 2022. The company’s gaming division saw its revenue and profit increase thanks to strong sales of games and PlayStation 5.

Industry News January 30

Wargaming top manager called a terrorist by KGB Belarus

Nick Katselapov, Chief Business Development Officer at Wargaming, has been added to the list of people related to terrorism by KGB Belarus (the State Security Committee). He was accused of financing terrorist activity.

Industry News January 25

The Day Before loses its page on Steam. Developer cites trademark complaint

The long awaited zombie survival from the Yakutian studio is in trouble. The Day Before’s official page disappeared from Steam. The developers are citing legal circumstances but fans don’t believe them.

Industry News January 23

Cyberpunk 2077 quest director Paweł Sasko on game’s non-linearity: “Players expected more because of the fact how The Witcher 3 is built”

Cyberpunk 2077 gained a second wind two years after launch, thanks to a slew of bug fixes and the popularity of the Edgerunners anime series. However, there are still debate about the level on non-linearity of the game.

Industry News January 23

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf production director Mac Walters leaves BioWare after almost 20 years

Mac Walters, experienced writer and creative director, has decided to leave BioWare. He has worked at the studio for almost two decades.

Industry News January 20

Google to lay off 12,000 employees to match new economic reality and focus on growth areas like AI

Google’s parent company Alphabet has announced mass layoffs affecting thousands of workers globally. The tech giant will now focus on its growth areas, including AI.

Industry News January 20

GDC: Nearly 50% of game developers remain skeptical of metaverse and negative about consolidation

The Game Developers Conference (GDC) has released the results of its annual survey about the current state of the games industry. Here are the key takeaways from the study, including devs’ views on the metaverse and consolidation.

Industry News January 19

Report: Riot Games hit by layoffs across esports, HR, and support teams

Riot Games joins other game companies that have announced layoffs this month. According to the latest report, the League of Legends maker has decided to cut jobs in several divisions.

Industry News January 19

Halo Infinite head of creative Joseph Staten leaves 343 Industries amid layoffs and restructuring at Microsoft

Joseph Staten, an industry veteran hired to help ship Halo Infinite, is now leaving 343 Industries to rejoin Xbox’s publishing division. This is a result of mass layoffs at Microsoft and the studio’s restructuring.

Industry News January 18

Josh Sawyer says biggest issue with leaks is not being able to defend yourself “against assertions made up ex nihilo”

Obsidian Entertainment design director Josh Sawyer has shared his thoughts on video game leaks. Here is one of the biggest issues with them from a developer’s perspective.

Industry News January 18

Microsoft to lay off 10,000 employees ahead of posting slowest sales growth in years

Microsoft is reportedly preparing to conduct a new round of layoffs. This time, the scale is really big, as thousands of people could lose their jobs in the coming days.

Industry News January 18

NetEase calls Blizzard’s proposal ‘outrageous and inappropriate’ amid escalating game publishing dispute

NetEase has responded to Blizzard’s latest comments, explaining why it refused to extend their partnership to publish games in China for another six months. The tech giant criticized the World of Warcraft developer for its unprofessional behavior and overconfidence.

Industry News January 17

French Union calls on Ubisoft workers to strike: “Mr. Guillemot is trying to shift the blame onto the employees”

Following the announcement of Ubisoft’s “targeted restructuring” and CEO Yves Guillemot’s controversial address to employees, a French union has called on workers to strike. The organization also demanded a 10% salary increase.

Industry News January 17

Vampire Survivors tops 3 million downloads on mobile, generating around 60k installs per day

The launch of the free mobile version of Vampire Survivors has brought millions of new players to one of the most popular and addictive indie games of 2022. Here are the key numbers for iOS and Android.

Industry News January 17

NetEase refuses to extend its partnership with Blizzard in China for another six months

While Blizzard continues to look for a new partner to publish its games in China, NetEase has refused to extend their previously expired partnership. So the future of World of Warcraft, Diablo, and other games in the country is still vague.

Industry News January 17

Report: Motorsport Games employee threatens to leak source code for 4 games due to unpaid wages

Motorsport Games hasn’t paid salaries to its Russia-based development team for months. As a result, one of the employees reportedly decided to take more desperate action, threatening to leak the source code for several games online if the company continued not to pay wages.