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Legal July 7, 2023

Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka sentenced to 2.5 years and fined $1.2 million for insider trading

Yuji Naka, one of the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog, has been sentenced to two and a half years for insider trading. However, he can avoid prison if he complies with the conditions of probation.

Industry News July 7, 2023

Street Fighter 6 surpasses 2 million copies sold: how it compares to previous games in series

Capcom now has another hit game in its catalog, as Street Fighter 6 reaches a new milestone. Let’s take a look at how its sales compare with other games in the long-running series.

Industry News July 6, 2023

IO Interactive opens new UK studio to work on upcoming James Bond game and online RPG Project Fantasy

IO Interactive is expanding into the UK by opening a game development studio in Brighton. The new division will focus on a title based on the James Bond IP.

Industry News July 6, 2023

Emile Morel dies at 40 — creative mind behind Rayman Legends and Beyond Good & Evil 2

Game designer and creative director Emile Morel has suddenly died at age 40. The last game he was involved in was Beyond Good & Evil 2.

Deals July 6, 2023

Embracer Group raises over $180 million through direct share issue as its restructuring moves forward

Embracer Group has issued 80 million new B shares. The raised funds will help the Swedish holding company achieve certain goals as part of its restructuring program.

Deals July 5, 2023

New investment from Tencent allows Lighthouse Games to remain independent and boost development of its AAA title

Lighthouse Games, an independent studio started by Playground Games co-founder Gavin Raeburn, has secured investment from Chinese tech giant Tencent. This marks a huge step forward for the UK team.

Market Analysis July 5, 2023

Global version of Harry Potter: Magic Awakened generates $2.3 million, with Japan and US driving IAP revenue

Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, a mobile card game based on the world-famous IP, has been a huge success in China. Let’s take a look at the metrics for the global version launched on June 27.

Industry News July 5, 2023

NetEase shares surge 85% over past nine months, thanks to success of AI-powered MMO game Justice Mobile

NetEase has regained lost ground thanks to the successful launch of its new game Justice Mobile. The company’s stock has now reached a one-year high.

Industry News July 4, 2023

BattleBit Remastered hits 1.8 million copies sold, but its creators urge indie devs not to make multiplayer games

BattleBit Remastered has been a massive success, especially for a game made by three indie developers. However, its story should serve as more of a warning to other indie studios wishing to make a multiplayer title than a call to action.

Legal July 4, 2023

Netherlands plans to impose complete ban on loot boxes in video games

The Dutch government is now preparing to completely ban loot boxes in video games. This is part of the country’s plan to improve regulations for in-game purchases.

Industry News July 4, 2023

Midnight Ghost Hunt attracts 1 million players, thanks to free offering on Epic Games Store

Midnight Ghost Hunt, a multiplayer title by indie studio Vaulted Sky Games, has reached a new milestone following its launch on the Epic Games Store. The team also shared a roadmap outlining the project’s future.

Events July 3, 2023

Tencent, 505 Games, NetEase, and more to attend WN Connect Shanghai’23 on July 27

WN Media Group has announced a new WN Connect event that will take place in Shanghai on July 27. It is expected to bring together over 200 games industry professionals from Tencent, ByteDance, 505 Games, and other companies.

Industry News July 3, 2023

Valve explains its stance on games with AI-generated assets: “Our goal is not to discourage the use of it on Steam”

In the wake of reports from game developers whose games have been banned from publishing on Steam for the use of AI-generated content, Valve has explained its official position on the matter.

Industry News July 3, 2023

Daedalic ditches game development, lays off 25 people following Gollum’s failure

Daedalic Entertainment will no longer develop video games in-house after the failed launch of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. Nacon’s subsidiary plans to focus exclusively on publishing.

Industry News June 30, 2023

Fallout co-creator Tim Cain on lessons learned from failure: “When you do something right, you don’t always know why it’s right”

Everybody makes mistakes, but not everybody accepts them and learns from them. Tim Cain, prominent game designer and co-creator of some of the most famous RPGs, has opened up about how devs can make better games based on their failures.

Industry News June 30, 2023

tinyBuild moving away from third-party publishing as its shares plunge nearly 80% on bad H1 performance

tinyBuild has seen its shares collapse following the release of its latest financial statement. The company reported a revenue decline, the departure of its CFO, and its decision to stop publishing games from third-party developers.

Featured June 30, 2023

6 most popular types of business proposals in games industry — ZiMAD’s insights

Yana Vesnina, M&A Manager at ZiMAD, shares the most common business proposals that game publishers encounter and the challenges associated with them in her column for Game World Observer.

Industry News June 30, 2023

Valve now quietly rejecting games with AI-generated assets on Steam, citing copyright uncertainty

It appears that Valve might be banning some games with AI-generated assets from being released on Steam. Several developers have already faced this issue, although the company has yet to update its policy.

Industry News June 29, 2023

Horizon Forbidden West and TLoU Part II cost over $200 million each: how it compares to budgets of other AAA games

Information about the production budgets of some of the biggest PlayStation exclusives has been accidently made public during the FTC v. Microsoft hearing. Let’s take a look at how these numbers compare to other AAA games.

Industry News June 29, 2023

Key takeaways from Bobby Kotick’s deposition: Removing Call of Duty from PS “would cause reputational damage”

Deposition of Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activsion Blizzard, was one of the highlights of day four of the FTC. v. Microsoft hearing. Here is what he had to say about Call of Duty and its absence on Switch, as well as his stance on Game Pass and subscription services in general.