Valve has started accepting requests for Steam Deck dev kits. Developers can now get the hardware, but the company notes that supplies are limited.

Apple has humbly extended privacy restrictions for third-party apps to its own products. On iOS 15, App Store and Apple News will now ask users for permission to access personal data used for targeted ads.

Besides its financial results for the first half of 2021, CD Projekt has also revealed how many developers continue to work on Cyberpunk 2077. The studio still wants to regain players’ trust.

Kickstarter has shared a report on video games for the first half of 2021. They raised $13 million on the platform in total.

Publisher Koch Media has shared official sales data for RPG Pathfinder: Kingmaker ahead of its sequel’s release. The Owlcat Games-developed RPG sold over 1 million copies globally.

Sensor Tower has published a new report on the most popular mobile games in the US for the first half of 2021. “Imposter” became the fastest-growing theme, all thanks to a massive success of Among Us.

Tel Aviv company Odeeo has raised $1 million to develop new audio ads for mobile titles. Using this tool, advertisers will be able to deliver people personal audio messages that don’t interrupt gameplay.

Sony might be building a brand new studio in Japan to work on new AAA titles that can be successful in Japan as well as in the West.

Apple has been accused of abusing its dominant position in the mobile apps market — again! A new antitrust case was filed against the company in India, claiming that its in-app purchase rules destroy competition.

US skateboarding shoe and apparel company Vans partnered with Roblox to launch Vans World, an in-game interactive experience allowing players to skateboard while sporting Vans gear.

Australian indie developer Drop Bear Bytes is working on post-apocalyptic RPG Broken Roads, which is due out next year. Prior to signing with Team17, the studio was in talks with 35 publishers. Many of them, it seems, were only interested in the genre because the 2019 indie development darling Disco Elysium proved that a viable market exists for narrative-heavy RPG titles. What those publishers failed to understand, however, is that Disco Elysium does not define…

PEGI rates games on the age scale ranged from 3 to 18. There are a lot of criteria that impact the rating, with 18+ content including violence, discrimination, sex, and bad language. From now on, any game with gambling elements will automatically get a PEGI 18 rating.

Rise of the Tomb Raider became a one-year Xbox exclusive at the time of its release in 2015. New reports claim that the deal with Microsoft was worth $100 million.

Mobile game advertising is evolving in the face of today’s consumer privacy initiatives and changing media consumption habits. However, mobile gaming developers are doing everything they can to protect their revenue sources instead of looking for growth opportunities due to these developments. Fortunately, none are happening overnight, offering developers some time to chart a path forward.

Steam has always been a good place for indie games, and this market keeps growing every year. According to a new piece of analysis from VG Insights, indie titles make up 40% of all units sold on Valve’s store.

Obsidian Entertainment might be experiencing some hardships during the development of its upcoming RPG Avowed. That’s according to Chris Avellone, who claimed that the project keeps losing leads.

On August 31, Motive Studio held the first Dead Space dev stream and showed early preproduction build footage featuring assets that might not even make it into the final game. Which is perfectly logical, given that the production is just starting: Motive only began working on the title less than a year ago.

The grey market plays a huge role in the Chinese games industry, and the country’s new playtime restrictions for kids might boost it even more. People will not stop looking for alternative ways of playing games, especially if there are not too many legal solutions left.

Publisher and developer BonusXP delisted Stranger Things 3: The Game from Steam, GOG and Epic Games Store.