Amazon renews Secret Level for a season 2
Amazon Video has renewed Secret Level for a second season. As reported by Variety, the streaming service said the show was its most-watched animated series debut within the first week of release. There is currently no information regarding which IPs will be covered in season two. The first series contained stories set in the worlds […]
DFC: Nintendo Switch 2 will be “the clear winner” of next-gen consoles
2025 is set to be a bumper year of growth for the games industry due to the long-awaited launches of Switch 2 and Grand Theft Auto 6. This is according to DFC Intelligence, which released its annual market report and forecast last week (via VGC). The firm predicted that Nintendo would be “the clear winner” […]
GamesIndustry.biz presents… The Year In Numbers 2024
Tis the season to be jolly pouring over pie charts, bar graphs, tables and any other statistics we can throw at you. Yes, the approach of the holiday break means the annual GamesIndustry.biz Year In Numbers infographic is ready to go, perfectly capturing the current state of the video games market in one (admittedly very […]
Raccoon Logic: We’re doing the last hurrah of the games industry we grew up with
Across the road from The Game Awards, in a car park featuring a couple of trailers and some plastic flamingos, sits the Racoon Logic team. The developer behind the upcoming Revenge of the Savage Planet is demoing the title and conducting interviews with journalists as opposed to doing a big Game Awards trailer. It’s a […]
2024 was the year of Microsoft’s grand pivot | Opinion
At the outset of 2024, the most often expressed concern about this year in the games business was that it was going to have a very sparse and underwhelming release calendar, at least compared to the spectacular heights of 2023. This was to some extent a ripple effect from the pandemic years: a backlog of […]
Activision confirms it has replaced Call of Duty Black Ops 6 voice actors during SAG-AFTRA strike
Activision has recast some of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s voice actors amid the SAG-AFTRA strike. After players noted characters William Peck and Samantha Maxis sounded a little different, voice actor Zeke Alton acknowledged that his performance of Peck in the Zombies mode appears to have been replaced. He has also been removed from […]
EA Sports College Football is now the US’ best-selling sports game of all time | US Monthly Charts
Electronic Arts’ college football game is now the biggest selling sports video game in US history when it comes to dollar sales. That’s according to the November report from Circana, which also reports EA Sports College Football 25 is among the top 50 best-selling games of all time by the same metric. It is also […]
Flashbulb Games makes cuts as unannounced project cancelled
Flashbulb Games has laid off seven of its staff. The Danish studio said it was a “tough decision” but although it was forced to shut down development on an unannounced project, all but seven employees were redeployed to its vehicle-building game, Trailmakers. “While this was a tough decision, the majority of the team previously working […]
Reflecting on The Game Awards 2024 | GI Microcast
The latest episode of The GamesIndustry.biz Microcast is available to download now.
This week, our show focuses on The Game Awards 2024. Chris reports on his experiences from attending the event, we discuss some of the big winners, and (inevitably) dive deeper into the big announcements from the night, as well as what […]
Zenimax Online Studios workers unionise
Workers at Elder Scrolls Online developer Zenimax Online Studios have unionised, Communications Workers of America has announced. The union, called ZOS United-CWA, has been recognised by parent company Microsoft and is made of 461 members, including “web developers, designers, engineers, and graphic artists,” the announcement said. A majority of the unionised workers are based in […]
Marvel Rivals is a bright spot in a dark year for live service | Opinion
Turning points are tricky things: they seem so obvious in hindsight, but are tough to spot when they’re actually happening. False positives are common, because all manner of things can seem pivotal in the moment, but transpire to be far less important in the long term. This probably speaks to a general tendency to underestimate […]
Sounds disruptive: How video games are resetting the music medium’s conventions | Playable Futures
This series of Playable Futures articles considers how the design, technology, people, and theory of video games are informing and influencing the wider world. The snowballing intersection of music and video games has been a near-obsessive talking point across both sectors over recent years. From famed musicians taking starring roles in triple-A titles, to placement […]
uBroker Spa acquires a 49% stake in Italian indie Memorable Games
uBroker Spa has acquired a 49% stake in Italian indie studio, Memorable Games. The firm – which invested €1m in the Turin-based Memorable – said it was “setting its sights on revolutionizing the gaming sector while promoting environmental awareness.” Going forward, Memorable said its “goal is to create increasingly ambitious projects that can make a […]
Why RuneScape creator Andrew Gower has returned to MMORPGs with Brighter Shores
A new game from Andrew Gower has been a long time coming. The British development veteran is best known for creating the hit 2001 MMORPG RuneScape – a title that is still very running today – and co-founding Jagex. In 2010, he departed the studio and, that same year, set up a new outfit, Fen […]
Clear Angle Studios opens new location in Los Angeles
3D capture and processing company Clear Angle Studios has opened a new location in Culver City, Los Angeles. Clear Angle, headquartered in Pinewood Studios, provides character scanning, digital facial and environment capture, prop and costume scanning, and other services. It has been supplying studios with its portable scanning units in Los Angeles for some time, […]
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D remake tops November charts | Japan Monthly Charts
Square Enix’s Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D remake launched at No.1 on Japan’s November charts, having sold 712,188 copies on Switch within two weeks. The title also came in second on PlayStation 5 at 200,944 units. Overall, the game sold a combined total of 913,000 copies since its release on November 14, 2024. Compared to other […]
Stories from 30 years of PlayStation
During EGX in London, PlayStation veterans Chris Deering, David Wilson, Geoff Glendenning, David Ranyard and Masami Kochi took to the stage to share stories from the history of PlayStation. I hosted the special session and there were some fascinating little insights into working on PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4. To mark the 30th anniversary of […]
Apple faces UK class action lawsuit for “anti-competitive” 30% fee
Apple is facing a class action lawsuit from UK developers alleging that the App Store’s 30% fee is anti-competitive. As reported by Bloomberg, Apple could be paying back up to £785 million in fees to 13,000 developers. The claim alleged that Apple’s 30% cut creates an “anti-competitive tax on the nation’s tech industry,” the publication […]
75% of UK students in favour of esports education in schools
75% of UK students advocate the integration of esports into the school curriculum, with 64% already engaged in esports-related academic activities. This is according to new research commissioned by Tencent in collaboration with the British Esports Federation and Ukie. Conducted by Censuswide, the report surveyed 2,000 respondents aged between 16 and 27 who were interested […]
EA expands free library of accessibility patents to make more games inclusive
Electronic Arts has added 23 new patents to its public library of free accessibility tools, including patents for photosensitivity analysis plugins, intelligent personalised speech recognition, and generating expressive speech audio from text data. EA said that by making the patents available to developers across the industry, free of charge, it is continuing its commitment to […]
Deceive Inc studio Sweet Bandits shuts down
Deceive Inc developer Sweet Bandits Studios has announced that it is shutting down. In a post on the game’s forum, co-founder and lead designer Philippe Pelletier Baribault (also known as ‘Baribandit’) said the studio has reached its “breaking point” and is unable to continue operating. “There is no easy way to say this: The Sweet […]
SpecialEffect’s One Special Day 2024 raises over £600,000 | News-in-brief
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Tencent acquires majority stake in Kuro Games
Tencent has acquired a majority stake in Chinese developer Kuro Games. As reported by Gematsu, Tencent bought a 37% stake in the studio from Hero Entertainment for an undisclosed sum, bringing its total ownership to 51.4%. This makes Tencent the only external shareholder of the developer. According to an internal memo, Kuro Games clarified that […]
Helldivers 2 wins Game of the Year at the 2024 TIGA Awards
Arrowhead Game Studios and Sony’s Helldivers 2 was the big winner of the 2024 TIGA Awards, taking home the Best Technical Innovation and Game of the Year prizes last night. Sony Interactive Entertainment also won awards for Best Use of a License, thanks to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and Best Narrative in Games for The Last […]
Handheld consoles are the industry’s next battleground | Opinion
Only a week or two after confirmation that Microsoft is working on a handheld Xbox device, we now have reports that Sony is also in the early stages of developing a new portable device – its first foray into this market since the discontinuation of the ill-fated PS Vita five years ago. With a successor […]
Burnout 3: Takedown | Why I Love
Why I Love is a series of guest editorials on GamesIndustry.biz intended to showcase the ways in which game developers appreciate each other’s work. This entry was contributed by Mladen Bošnjak, creative director at Misfit Village, currently working on their SCP based thriller Go Home Annie for PC and Consoles. As was the case with […]
Nintendo Switch ending online support exposes fragility of gaming partnerships in China | Opinion
It has been reported that Nintendo announced a discontinuation of its online services for the Nintendo Switch in China. This might seem like a very dramatic development with a profound impact on the console’s life in China, but actually, it’s not. I want to try to explain what this means as best as I can, […]
What can game developers learn from a live-action Star Trek simulator?
“The pirates are hiding in a nearby nebula,” a fleet officer tells us. “We can either explore them one at a time, but run the risk of abandoning the convoy, or we can send probes into each one – but that will definitely alert the pirates to our presence. Or we could just proceed to […]
Nintendo to close Switch eShop and online services in China in 2026
Nintendo has announced it will phase out its online store and services for Switch in China by the end of May 2026. The announcement, spotted by Eurogamer, states this will begin with the cessation of digital game sales through the eShop on March 31, 2026. There will also be no free trials offered from this […]
Report: Ubisoft Barcelona unions file lawsuit against return to office mandate
Unions for Ubisoft’s AAA and mobile studios in Barcelona have filed a lawsuit against the Assassin’s Creed publisher over its remote work policy changes. In affiliation with Spanish trade body CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo), the unions are demanding that Ubisoft revert the return to office mandate and ensure remote working is protected by a […]
Sales up 10% following Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launch | US Monthly Charts
US games consumer spending was back on the rise in October, boosted by the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. According to Circana’s monthly data, hardware, software, and accessories sales combined went up 10% year-on-year, reaching $4.7 billion. Breaking down this figure, content represented $4.23 billion, a 12% rise compared to October 2023, […]
Samsung launches free mobile cloud gaming platform for Galaxy devices
Samsung has launched a free mobile gaming platform across its Galaxy devices in North America. The mobile manufacturer has been trialling the streaming service in a beta since last year using a Game Launcher app, now renamed Samsung Gaming Hub. There will be 23 games available at launch, including free-to-play hits such as Monopoly Go, […]
Stalker 2 sells 1m copies in two days | News-in-brief
Shenmue 3 publishing rights shift to Inin Games
Inin Games has assumed publishing rights for Shenmue 3. In a statement, developer Ys Net said its previous work with Inin on Air Twister “deepen[ed] the relationship between Inin Games and YS Net”, adding it was “excited” the publisher would now be “shepherding Shenmue 3 into its next phase.” Inin Games says it will work […]
Why Two Point Studios returned to the office
It doesn’t feel that long since we last spoke to the team at Two Point Studios. In fact, it was two years ago, on the eve of the release of its second game: Two Point Campus. The simulation title had just suffered a slight delay, and one of the reasons the studio cited for the […]
Former Quantic Dream writer forms new studio Republic Games
Former Quantic Dream lead writer Adam Williams has debuted a new studio with the backing of Krafton. Led by Williams, Republic Games has received an undisclosed investment from the South Korean publisher. The studio is described as a “small but very experienced international group of developers” working on an untitled RPG. “We founded Republic Games […]
Merak Capital launches $80m fund to support MENA games startups
Merak Capital has announced a $80 million games fund and accelerator for startups in the Asia, Middle East, and North Africa (MENA) games market. The investment firm aims to support 15 to 20 game industry startups via Exel by Merak, including developers, gaming technologies, publishing platforms, and other services. The accelerator will provide these companies […]
New York Game Awards to honour Sam Lake
Remedy’s creative director Sam Lake will receive the Andrew Yoon Legend Award at the 14th annual New York Game Awards. The Andrew Yoon Legend Award is presented to those who have made a significant mark on the industry. Last year, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann received the accolade. Past winners include Hideo Kojima, Phil Spencer, and […]
Microsoft’s Xbox transition moves into high gear | Opinion
It’s been clear for quite a few years that Microsoft’s notion of what “Xbox” actually means has evolved past physical consoles alone. It now describes a whole ecosystem of software and services that spans all sorts of devices, and which is itself just one outlet for Microsoft’s enormous game publishing business. It’s taken a while […]
Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell movie cancelled
Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell movie adaptation has been cancelled, according to one of the film’s producers. As reported by The Direct, producer Basil Iwanyk confirmed the adaptation was no longer in production. Iwanyk signed on to the film in 2013. “The movie would have been awesome […] just couldn’t get it right, script-wise, budget-wise,” he said. […]
EA Sports NHL 25 announces multi-year deal with Professional Women's Hockey League | News-in-brief
EA Sports NHL 25 announces multi-year deal with Professional Women's Hockey League | News-in-brief Source link : Gamesindustry
ZeniMax QA workers to strike over concerns about return to office mandate and outsourcing
Hundreds of employees from ZeniMax Studios are striking today in response to its remote work policy and outsourcing of quality assurance work. The Communication Workers of America filed an unfair labour practice charge against ZeniMax last month for allegedly contracting out QA work without notifying the union. Members of the ZeniMax Workers United-CWA have raised […]
More layoffs at Payload Studios
TerraTech developer Payload Studios has gone through another round of redundancies. Sources told GamesIndustry.biz that eight people were laid off, three months after 25% of the studio was cut. Affected staff reportedly were given one month’s notice, and no redundancy pay. Payload co-founder and CEO Russell Clarke confirmed layoffs did occur, but wouldn’t confirm further […]
How Nintendo’s past will shore up Switch 2’s future | Microcast
The latest GamesIndustry.biz Microcast is now available to download, bringing you a quick dive into the biggest news from the past week.
Our main topic this week is Nintendo’s long-awaited (but very much expected) confirmation that Switch 2 will be backwards compatible with both its predecessor’s software library and its online service. We […]
Quantifying the impact of creator programs
Over the past 15 years, influencer marketing has evolved from a novel approach to an essential component of any modern activation related to a game’s launch or significant content update. Most developers and publishers view the concept as a uniquely powerful tool in their arsenal for reaching new players, but determining the tangible potential an […]
Pocketpair shares Nintendo, The Pokémon Company’s demands from Palworld lawsuit
Palworld developer Pocketpair has shared more details from the lawsuit it faces from both Nintendo and The Pokémon Company over alleged similarities between the latter’s titular franchise and its own monster-based survival game. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company first filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair on September 19 – eight months after Palworld launched – claiming […]
GeForce Now to establish 100-hour playtime limit
Nvidia’s subscription cloud gaming service GeForce Now will soon be enforcing a playtime limit of 100 hours per month. The new rule won’t affect Founder memberships, but will impact the newly renamed Performance and Ultimate tiers, Nvidia announced on Reddit. The company said the limit “comfortably accommodates 94% of members.” Unused playtime can be rolled […]
Zelnick on Take-Two’s packed 2025, and why PC is increasingly crucial for AAA
Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick has plenty of reasons to be optimistic. It’s more than just the fact Grand Theft Auto 6 – expected to be one of the biggest entertainment launches of all time – is still on course to launch in the autumn of next year. If we look at Take-Two’s more immediate situation, […]
Feeling seen: Handling marginalised representation in Usual June
Back in 2020, Finji CEO Rebekah Saltsman and creative director Adam Saltsman were figuring out how to follow-up Overland. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, that game is a far cry from what the duo set their sights on next – the ghostly supernatural vibes of Usual June. “We knew that whatever we did next, we […]
Why the European Court of Justice’s decision on cheats is not a milestone | Opinion
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is the highest court in the European Union. Decisions regarding video games are few and far between. So when it rules, we expect the decision to be a game changer. The judgement it delivered on 17 October 2024 – ruling against Sony in a dispute over cheats provided through […]
