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Industry News May 3, 2023

Age of Wonders 4 peaks at 38k concurrent players, breaking into Paradox’s top 10 launches on Steam

Triumph Studios and Paradox Interactive have just released Age of Wonders 4, a new installment in its series of turn-based strategies. Let’s look at the launch numbers and how they compare to other titles in the companies’ portfolio.

Marketing May 3, 2023

Steam bans devs from putting more than two trailers before screenshots, introduces trailer categories

Valve has announced two major changes to the visual content displayed on Steam pages. This should make it easier for users to navigate game trailers and screenshots.

Industry News May 3, 2023

Another round of mass layoffs at Unity — 600 people to lose their jobs

Unity has initiated a new wave of layoffs, according to the latest report. This will be the company’s largest round of job cuts in the past 12 months.

Industry News May 2, 2023

Honkai: Star Rail tops Genshin Impact in first-day mobile revenue, generating over $6 million in 24 hours

miHoYo recently released its new title, free-to-play turn-based RPG Honkai: Star Rail. Let’s see how its launch compares to Genshin Impact, the biggest hit from the Chinese game developer.

Industry News May 2, 2023

UK regulator may ban Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard for 10 years, “absent a change of circumstances”

People continue to find new details in the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) 415-page report on its decision to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The merger may be banned for the next 10 years.

Industry News May 2, 2023

Redfall becomes Arkane’s lowest rated game, with players wondering “How did Arkane regress from Dishonored to this?”

Arkane Studios has just launched Redfall. While the company is known for making some classic titles, its new co-op shooter is definitely not the case.

Game Development April 28, 2023

Case study: how Belka Games successfully grew competencies within art and UI departments with minimal effort

Growing competencies within a team is a challenging issue, often seen as costly and not easy to approach. However, Anton Danko, the lead artist of Solitaire Cruise project at Belka Games, shares his successful experience in this matter.

Industry News April 26, 2023

UK Competition and Markets Authority has prevented Microsoft’s proposed purchase of Activision Blizzard

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has prevented Microsoft’s proposed purchase of Activision Blizzard after an in-depth review of the deal. The CMA is concerned that the deal will harm the local cloud gaming market.

Industry News April 25, 2023

Sybo expands Subway Surfers franchise with new matching game

Danish studio Sybo is on a mission to expand its Subway Surfers franchise. The company recently released a new game under the Subway Surfers brand. The new game is called Subway Surfers Blast, which is a clone of Toon Blast.

Marketing April 24, 2023

How profitable is the business of launching “trash” games on Steam?

A developer under the pseudonym Creator has released a detailed post on DTF about how much money they were able to earn on Steam by releasing “trash” games. Here are the main points from the article.

Events April 24, 2023

WN Media Group to host two conferences in Istanbul this summer — one for game developers and another dedicated to AI tech

On June 7-8, WN Media Group will host two conferences in Istanbul, Turkiye — WN Istanbul’23 and AI For Business. Here are all the details about the upcoming events.

Featured April 21, 2023

Brief history of Sony’s M&A deals: how PlayStation brought together 20+ first-party studios

Sony remains one of the largest game publishers in the world, constantly expanding both through nurturing internal teams and buying new studios (e.g. its latest acquisition of Firewalk Studios). Here’s a brief guide to the history of PlayStation’s M&A deals and all the developers it currently owns.

Industry News April 20, 2023

China approves 86 more games, including Honor of Kings rival Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

Chinese authorities have issued a new batch of video game publishing licenses. This time, the list only covers products made by domestic companies.

Dev Interviews April 20, 2023

GD Berlin Dev Contest winner announced: Meet team behind 3D cyberspace platformer Boti: Byteland Overclocked

Dozens of game developers took part in a special online showcase that was held as part of the Game Developers Berlin event on April 5. Let’s take a look at the contest’s results and its winner, 3D platformer Boti: Byteland Overclocked.

Market Analysis April 20, 2023

Circana: US video game spending hit $4.6 billion in March, with engagement returning to pre-pandemic levels

New month, new data on the US video game market from Circana (formerly the NPD Group). Here are the best-selling games and consoles of March 2023.

Marketing April 19, 2023

Discovery issues, or why make indie games at all: Florent Maurin reflects on The Wreck’s commercial failure

We usually hear stories of success, but cases where indie games don’t live up to their devs’ expectations are unfortunately much more common. The Wreck co-creator Florent Maurin has opened up about the game’s commercial failure, also reflecting on the point of making indie games in today’s market.

Deals April 19, 2023

Epic Games acquires Brazilian studio AQUIRIS to open its first office in Latin America

Epic Games has announced a new M&A deal, acquiring Brazil-based studio Aquiris. The team, known for its mobile titles like Wonderbox, will now be working on the new content for Fortnite.

Industry News April 19, 2023

The Sims 4 hits 70 million players, all thanks to base game going free-to-play

The Sims 4 has reached a new milestone almost nine years since its launch in 2014. It has officially become the most played game in franchise history.

Industry News April 19, 2023

Don’t Nod reports record operating revenue of €30 million for 2022, sees strong sales potential in ARPG segment

Don’t Nod has released its financial report for the year ended December 31, 2022. The French studio has shared key figures, also outlining its plans for the future.

Market Analysis April 18, 2023

Expert explains why cloud gaming shouldn’t be considered distinct market by antitrust regulators

Cloud gaming is one of the concerns that antitrust regulators have over Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. But is it really a distinc market? Here are some thoughts from Joost Rietveld, associate professor in the department of Strategy & Entrepreneurship at the UCL School of Management.