Supercell has invested $37 million in Space Ape Game, a developer of Beatstar and other mobile games. The deal will bring the Clash of Clans maker’s stake in the studio to 75%.

Another Tencent’s product will soon be closed. The Chinese tech giant has announced its decision to shut down the mobile app of WeGame, a game store dubbed its answer to Steam.

Industry analysts continue to say that the games market will experience a decline this year. According to the NPD Group, US consumer spending will fall to $55.5 billion in 2022, which is down 8.7% year-over-year.

Mike Ybarra, the president of Blizzard Entertainment, has tried to defend the controversial monetization model of Diablo Immortal. He thinks that it is still a gameplay-first project with a free campaign.

Bungie might be joining a handful of AAA game developers that have brought their main franchises to mobile. According to the latest report, the studio is now working on a new FPS for iOS and Android, which is based on the Destiny IP.

WN St. Petersburg 2022, a conference for game developers and publishers, starts today. Here are opening remarks by Pavel Ryaykkonen, CEO and founder of WN Media Group.

Global player spending in mobile games has reached $41.2 billion in the first half of 2022, according to Sensor Tower. Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile, the two highest grossing mobile titles, have generated over $1 billion each.

The Netherlands might follow Belgium’s example, becoming the next European country to ban loot boxes. Several political parties have proposed a bill to impose restrictions on these in-game mechanics, which they say are addictive and can manipulate kids.

Over 150 developers from 49 countries took part in the WN Dev Contest last month, competing for a $150,000 prize pool. Let’s take a look.

For this week’s indiedev interview, we spoke with Hong Kong-based team Distilled Gaming. It is now working on Death or Glory, a bold attempt to mix the CCG and fighting genres. The studio’s founder and game designer Roy Loh opened up about the game’s development, monetization, and being inspired by both MTG and Street Fighter.

CD Projekt has revealed the amount of dividend payments to its shareholders. They will receive over $20 million, which is almost half of the company’s annual profit but five times less compared to the previous year.

Another report on mass layoffs at a major game company has appeared. Unity has cut hundreds of employees across the globe and stopped hiring new people.

Nexters has joined a handful of game companies conducting mass layoffs over the last few weeks. Almost a quarter of total staff have lost their jobs, with this situation affecting people located in Russia, Cyprus, Turkey, and other countries.

Proletariat, known for making fantasy battle royale Spellbreak, has officially joined the Blizzard family. The team will be working on World of Warcraft and upcoming expansions to satisfy fans’ “voracious appetite” for new content.

Fntastic has responded to criticism and allegations of using free labor as part of its volunteer program. The Day Before developer shared more details about its policy of attracting unpaid volunteers, saying that they have a chance to get full-time jobs at the studio.

CD Projekt’s QA partner Quantic Lab has responded to allegations that it misled the Polish developer to keep an outsourcing contract for Cyberpunk 2077. The Romanian company noted that this report lacked understanding of the whole game testing process.

BIT ODD is a new Helsinki-based studio founded by several Clash of Clans lead developers. The team has raised €5 million to develop a multiplayer game inspired by the 80s aesthetic.

New Blood CEO Dave Oshry recently shared wishlist numbers for the team’s upcoming game Gloomwood, which performed great during the latest Steam demo fest. Here is what others can learn from this data.

A group of scientists have shared the results of a meta-analytic examination of sexualization in video games. They found no evident connection between games and male players’ sexist views or the threat to female players’ mental health.