Tencent has agreed to buy UK developer Sumo Group for £919 million ($1.27 billion). This will be paid in cash through Tencent’s Sixjoy Hong Kong Limited subsidiary.

It’s been only a few days since the announcement of Steam Deck, but the upcoming handheld PC has already become one of Steam’s top sellers. It landed in third place in the store’s weekly chart.

Garena’s mobile battle royale Free Fire has surpassed 1 billion in lifetime downloads on Google Play alone. It’s worth noting that it’s the first game in this genre to reach this milestone.

Sledgehammer Games game director Glen Schofield’s take on how much work goes into making Call of Duty has caused heated debate online. A lot of developers supported his point of view, saying that work travels and the research process might be really “exhausting.”

Steam Deck, a new handheld PC from Valve, drew a lot of attention from the games industry professionals. People are now making memes, comparing the device with Nintendo Switch, and praising its concept and hardware. However, the question is whether it will be able to compete in the market?

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO and president Jim Ryan has discussed the company’s vision and the PlayStation 5 launch in China. He also explained why Sony tries to make “best games” and what it takes to create a new IP.

Tami Sigmund, senior producer at Blizzard, has shared her thoughts on the problem of senior devs leaving big game companies during the pandemic. Although people keep speculating about it, there are some objective reasons for this situation.

Google’s plans to pay developers based on the number of sessions players have spent in their games drew mixed reactions within the games industry. Some experts are worried that this model might make studios produce lengthier games to increase engagement.

Marcel Hatam, currently International Brand Manager at Ubisoft and formerly Brand Manager at Crytek, has shared his thoughts on Bild’s coverage of the potential acquisition talks between Crytek and Tencent.

Mike Verdu, a former EA, Zynga and Facebook exec, is joining Netflix as vice president of game development.

Thanks to the official stats shared by CD Projekt, we know that players have spent 6.3 million hours in the character creator on Cyberpunk 2077. However, for all the stuff gamers have done in the game, there’re still plenty of activities that they haven’t completed because the developer removed the content once promised for the title.

Xbox head Phil Spencer said that seeing the popularity of legacy games on Game Pass can justify greenlighting new instalments, one example being the Fable reboot by Playground.

Shiro Games, the France-based developer of Northgard and Evoland, has launched a new publishing label called Shiro Unlimited.

Pearl Abyss, known for its MMORPG Black Desert, has announced its plans to open the “largest art center” in the history of South Korea’s games industry. It will help the company to develop new games and support its existing IPs.

According to German tabloid Bild, Tencent has plans to acquire Germany-based Crytek for over €300 million via its European subsidiary. Bild claims that it’s not games that the Chinese giant might be after.

Google is now looking for new ways to attract more developers to its cloud-gaming platform Stadia. That’s why the company will introduce an 85/15 revenue split for new games. However, this rate will only apply to the first $3 million in sales.

Wishlists are important for indie developers because they show how many people are interested in a game. It also might be a key metric for publishers. So how many wishlists should a game have to show that you’re on the right track?

Xbox chief Phil Spencer said that Microsoft is likely to acquire a studio or studios in India, South America or Africa in the next 3-5 years.

Noclip has released a new hour-long documentary on the making of the Demon’s Souls remake for PlayStation 5. In the video, Bluepoint Games discuss the process of turning an iconic classic into a modern game, as well as its own approach to remaking old titles.