Google’s parent company Alphabet has announced mass layoffs affecting thousands of workers globally. The tech giant will now focus on its growth areas, including AI.

The Game Developers Conference (GDC) has released the results of its annual survey about the current state of the games industry. Here are the key takeaways from the study, including devs’ views on the metaverse and consolidation.

A major acquisition in mobile gaming is looming on the horizon. Israeli giant Playtika has made an offer to buy Finnish developer Rovio, best known for the Angry Birds franchise. 

In 2022, the global games industry set a new record for the number and value of closed or announced deals. All thanks to Microsoft’s historic bid to acquire Activision Blizzard, but there have been a few other noteworthy investments as well.

Riot Games joins other game companies that have announced layoffs this month. According to the latest report, the League of Legends maker has decided to cut jobs in several divisions.

Joseph Staten, an industry veteran hired to help ship Halo Infinite, is now leaving 343 Industries to rejoin Xbox’s publishing division. This is a result of mass layoffs at Microsoft and the studio’s restructuring.

The European Parliament has decided to take action against loot boxes and other issues in the games industry to better protect consumers. The members also proposed several measures to stimulate market growth.

Obsidian Entertainment design director Josh Sawyer has shared his thoughts on video game leaks. Here is one of the biggest issues with them from a developer’s perspective.

Microsoft is reportedly preparing to conduct a new round of layoffs. This time, the scale is really big, as thousands of people could lose their jobs in the coming days.

NetEase has responded to Blizzard’s latest comments, explaining why it refused to extend their partnership to publish games in China for another six months. The tech giant criticized the World of Warcraft developer for its unprofessional behavior and overconfidence.

Following the announcement of Ubisoft’s “targeted restructuring” and CEO Yves Guillemot’s controversial address to employees, a French union has called on workers to strike. The organization also demanded a 10% salary increase.

The launch of the free mobile version of Vampire Survivors has brought millions of new players to one of the most popular and addictive indie games of 2022. Here are the key numbers for iOS and Android.

While Blizzard continues to look for a new partner to publish its games in China, NetEase has refused to extend their previously expired partnership. So the future of World of Warcraft, Diablo, and other games in the country is still vague.

Motorsport Games hasn’t paid salaries to its Russia-based development team for months. As a result, one of the employees reportedly decided to take more desperate action, threatening to leak the source code for several games online if the company continued not to pay wages.

Game Insight caused controversy after exiting the Russian market, not paying salaries, and laying off 600 employees last year. The company’s entity in the country had already been declared bankrupt, but the whole process was really tricky and lousy, according to new information provided by a bankruptcy administrator.

Tencent continues to fight corruption within the company. The Chinese gaming and tech giant has fired more than 100 employees over bribery and other violations, also reporting some of them to the police.

COLOPL, best known for its mobile free-to-play RPG White Cat Project, has decided to help its employees cope with global price hikes. The company will start providing a monthly allowance throughout the year.

It looks like The Callisto Protocol didn’t live up to publisher Krafton’s expectations. This led market analysts lowering sales projections and share price targets.

Some new shifts are taking place in the European video game market. Amid Ubisoft’s latest struggles, CD Projekt has managed to surpass the Assassin’s Creed publisher by market capitalization. Again.