March 2023

A free one-hour webinar on software and code assessments will take place on March 15th, via GamesIndustry.biz.

To sign-up for the webinar, simply head through here. The event is in collaboration with software and tools experts Endava, and is ideal for games programmers and studio leaders.

The event is all about how game developers can overcome and identity issues such as slow development, system weak spots, and whether anything is missing in the team’s knowledge. All of which will enable games studios to be faster, stronger and more efficient.

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Playtika has temporarily suspended the development of new games, and will not launch any new titles for the foreseeable future.

The change in strategy was announced alongside the publisher's Q4 financial results, MobileGamer.biz reported, and were attributed to various challenges in with mobile marketing.

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Forspoken developer Luminous Productions is being folded into Square Enix, the company announced.

The merger, which will be effective from May 1, is part of a wider strategy to "bolster the competitive prowess" of the firm's development studios, Square Enix said.

Luminous previously was a subsidiary of Square Enix, so it will now be an in-house studio and not a separate entity anymore.

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The Federal Trade Commission has published a warning to companies about overselling claims around the use of artificial intelligence in their products.

In a post on its website, the Commission emphasised that AI is an "ambiguous term with many possible definitions," and that while it can refer to tools for predictions, recommendations and decisions, computers cannot completely recreate or predict human behaviour.

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The Communications Workers of America has pressed charges against Activision Blizzard following the firing of two QA employees.

According to Kotaku, the two members of staff were reportedly fired on February 17 after they had expressed their concern following Activision mandating a partial return to the office, which the CWA said is violating labour laws.

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More than 200 QA staffers who mostly worked on Apex Legends were laid off.

As reported by Kotaku, EA's Baton Rouge, Louisiana office has made its quality assurance team redundant.

Sources said the employment notice came from an unscheduled and mandatory meeting with their contract firm, Magnit Global.

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On Monday, The National Videogame Museum (NVM) staff in the UK found themselves locked out of its premises.

Currently located within the Castle House building in Sheffield, the team was given notice about the closure via email. The British Games Institute operates the NVM.

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A new report by Ampere Analysis estimates that spending on console games, hardware, and services declined in 2022, totaling $56.2 billion.

• Global console spending: $56.2 billion, a decrease of 7.8% year-on-year
• Console game revenue: $32.6 billion, a drop of 9.3% year-on-year
• Game services spending: $7.8 billion, an increase to 5.6%
• Sony: 45% of the market share for all money spent on console games, hardware, and services

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Nordic Game today released the results of an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against two staffers, with the external firm hired to look into the matter saying the event organizer has likely violated the Swedish Discrimination Act.

In a summary of the investigation's findings, that external firm Gender Balance said it corroborated five accounts of sexual misconduct against a Nordic Game employee who had left the company by the time the investigation started.

However, it said it could not find supporting evidence for three more accusations made against a current Nordic Game employee by three different women.

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(The following is an excerpt from Kyle Orland's upcoming book Minesweeper, an in-depth look at the history and evolution of the classic puzzle game that has been a mainstay of Microsoft's since it came pre-installed with every copy of Windows 3.1. It is one of four titles in Boss Fight Books' "Season 6," which has a Kickstarter campaign running until 10 p.m. Eastern on March 7.)

For most of its existence, Minesweeper had only existed as a free add-on for the Windows OS. Originally, the pre-installed freebie served as a marketing tool, helping to teach players how to use a mouse and differentiating Windows from competing operating systems.

By 2011, though, no one was taking Minesweeper into account when deciding which computer OS would best fit their needs. Minesweeper had become a vestigial appendix in Windows's increasingly bloated body, contributing next to nothing to Microsoft's bottom line.

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In September 2022, content creators Jason Gastrow (better known as Videogamedunkey or just Dunkey) and Leah 'Leahbee' Gastrow announced the formation of their indie publishing label, Bigmode.

Earlier this year, the publisher revealed its first title, Shared Memory's Metroidvania-style game Animal Well.

"What we've been able to accomplish so far has really exceeded our expectations," Leah tells GamesIndustry.biz.

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Ubisoft Montpellier, the developer of Beyond Good and Evil 2, has seen another setback as its managing director, Guillaume Carmona, has left the studio amid labour issue allegations.

As reported by Kotaku, the reason for Carmona's exit was not provided due to legal confidentiality but it comes as the studio is under scrutiny by the Inspection du Travail (labour inspection services) for an "unprecedented number" of developer burnout and sick leave.

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After 11 years with the UK gaming trade group, UKIE CEO Jo Twist is stepping down this summer, the organization announced today.

Twist is moving on to be CEO of the UK's music trade group BPI.

Management of UKIE will be handled on an interim basis by head of commercial and membership Sam Collins and strategic project lead Dan Wood while the group looks for Twist's permanent replacement.

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Indielab Games has launched the UK-wide Indielab Games UK Accelerator 2023.

The initiative will focus on small to mid-sized game studios and will offer events, seminars, and networking opportunities.

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A flurry of new games arrived on shelves last week, but Hogwarts Legacy remains the biggest seller.

Warner Bros' wizarding RPG managed a third consecutive week at No.1 of GfK's UK boxed charts, despite seeing sales drop by 51% week-on-week.

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Working on a licensed property can be a dream come true for many, especially if it’s for a franchise you have a strong emotional connection to. I’ve been truly blessed that at ClockStone Studio I’ve gotten to work on titles like Bridge Constructor: Portal, Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead, and most recently Lego Bricktales.

Naturally, I was thrilled to be a part of all of these projects. But working on a licensed game isn’t easy, as these partnerships are difficult to acquire and at least as challenging to make good on. There’s a lot of work that goes into a collaboration with a major IP holder, and we’ve learned a lot about how to keep our corporate partners proud while having fun doing it. Here’s some of the best practices I’ve learned from my time at ClockStone.

Arguably the most important part of working on a licensed property is to find the right licence for your game. The first piece of advice I would give here is to be sure that you are always open to what’s going on, not only in the gaming industry, but beyond it. It’s very easy to be inwardly focused on your own studio’s work and this means missing out on opportunities that could overlap with what your studio is doing. Keeping your eyes and ears open and trying to foster an ongoing process of idea generation when it comes to potential partners is a pre-requisite of finding the right partner.

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Anna Hollinrake and Pavle Mihajlovic have been close friends for a long time.

The duo met at the 2017 BAFTA Breakthrough Brits event – the year that Hollinrake was part of the cohort. Since, they've developed a habit of just saying yes to things. They've learnt how to ride motorcycles together, how to surf, and completed a short story writing course… so starting a games studio together seems like a logical next step.

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Unity has posted its first profitable quarter in the company's 18-year history, albeit on a non-GAAP basis.

In a letter to shareholders, the company reported a non-GAAP operating profit of $13 million for the three months ended December 31, 2022. For the first three quarters of this year, Unity posted a non-GAAP operating loss of $22 million, $44 million and $37 million respectively.

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Blood Bowl 3 developer Cyanide has addressed issues with the game since its launch last week, apologising for its server issues.

In a post shared on Steam, as reported by PC Gamer, the developer addressed several problematic areas, including the game's state and its monetisation, which players have been critical of, deeming it too aggressive and expensive.

Cyanide emphasised that it's all optional and only unlocks cosmetic items.

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Mario maker Nintendo has announced that it will not attend the Los Angeles-based Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

The platform holder formally confirmed its absence from this year's show with IGN.

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Larian Studios has clarified why it left the Xbox versions of Baldur's Gate 3 off the list yesterday when it announced an August 31 release date for the game on PS5, PC, Mac, and GeForce Now.

"We've had an Xbox version of Baldur's Gate 3 in development for some time now," the company said.

"We've run into some technical issues in developing the Xbox port that have stopped us feeling 100% confident in announcing it until we're certain we've found the right solutions – specifically, we've been unable to get split-screen co-op to work to the same standard on both Xbox Series X and S, which is a requirement for us to ship."

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Episode six of the Playable Futures podcast assembles a panel of experts to tackle the challenges and opportunities of the industry’s talent pipeline, and how the sector finds itself at a crossroads in terms of future proofing recruitment for the medium and long term success of the sector.

Next Gen Skills Academy co-founder Marcia Deakin, UKIE head of education and Digital Schoolhouse director Shahneila Saeed, and Futurlab head of people Keira McGarvey join Will Freeman to discuss the future talent pipeline for the games industry and how we join the dots between industry and education.

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This Week in Business is our weekly recap column, a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a dash of opinion (sometimes more than a dash) and intended to shed light on various trends. Check back every Friday for a new entry.

Rovio delisted the original Angry Birds mobile app in 2019 and pulled a number of its old games from app stores without warning, much to the chagrin of long-time fans.

Two years later, it acknowledged that move was "not cool" in an open letter to its fans, saying its "heart was in the right place" and pledging to make amends.

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Update: An Activision Blizzard spokesperson has reached out to emphasise it has previously confirmed a premium Call of Duty release for 2023. The article has been amended to reflect this.

Activision Blizzard will reportedly release a follow-up to 2022's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare later in 2023, following reports that it was delaying the next non-MW entry in the series to 2024.

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Hogwarts Legacy has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide in its first two weeks on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

The news was announced alongside Warner Bros Discovery's financial results for the nine months ended December 31, 2022, with the company adding that the fantasy action-RPG has also generated $850 million in sales since its launch on February 10.

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Whatever you think about Microsoft's arguments for letting its acquisition of Activision Blizzard advance, you can't fault its stage management. This week was crucial to the case it is making to the European Commission, which is one of the major remaining regulatory hurdles to the deal proceeding, and Microsoft orchestrated an impressive PR blitz for the occasion, most of it designed to underline a commitment to multi-platform releases.

Ten-year commitments to launch Call of Duty titles on Valve's Steam and on Nintendo platforms were re-emphasised, and Microsoft president Brad Smith waved around an envelope containing, he claimed, a deal ready for Sony's signature, which would presumably grant them the same thing.

There was a highly unusual intervention from the Communication Workers of America union – it seemed to imply a hostage situation, with Activision Blizzard being such a hellishly awful place for workers that regulators should let the deal proceed just because Microsoft is a better employer, leading one to wonder if anyone at Activision Blizzard signed off on this particular part of the strategy.

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The 26th DICE Awards took place last night, with Elden Ring winning the coveted Game of the Year prize.

FromSoftware's title also took home awards for Technical Achievement, Achievement in Game Design, Achievement in Game Direction, as well as RPG of the Year.

But it's Sony Santa Monica's God of War Ragnarok the won the most awards, with seven prizes including Achievements in Animation, Art Direction, Original Music Composition, Audio Design, and Story.

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Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation seeks to remove Atomic Heart from digital storefronts within the country.

As reported by PCGamesN, per Dev.ua, the department called on countries to throttle distribution of the game due to "its toxicity" concerns around user data collection, and the possibility that money spent on the game will ultimately fund Russia's war against Ukraine.

The ministry will send a letter calling on Sony, Microsoft, and Value to ban the Mundfish-developed FPS from their platforms.

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Ironmace, the developer of Dark and Darker, has refuted claims that the game was built using stolen assets and code.

Terence, a developer on the game, released a statement via the Dark and Darker Discord channel addressing the accusations.

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The Game Developers Choice Awards organizers today announced this year's recipients for its two special award categories, the Pioneer Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award.

This year's Pioneer Award will be granted posthumously to Mabel Addis, while the Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to John Romero.

The award organizers credit Addis as the first female game designer for her work on The Sumerian Game, a 1964 resource management game for elementary school students that used a teleprinter as an interface.

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The past month has seen a slew of developers and publishers announce their live service titles will be shutting down this year, some of which aren't even a year old.

Within the space of a week, it was announced that the plug would be pulled on Apex Legends Mobile, Rumbleverse, Knockout City, CrossfireX, Crayta and Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai: A Hero's Bonds.

As our managing editor Brendan Sinclair observed in our latest 10 Years Ago this month, this is far from the first time a wave of similar titles have been scrapped, and that it's a drop in the ocean compared to the number of live service games still running.

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EA DICE is building a new team to support Ridgeline Games in making a single-player Battlefield campaign.

EA DICE is one of three EA studios that have been tasked with establishing the future of EA's shooter series. DICE was to focus on the multiplayer aspect. Ridgeline Games -- the new team led by Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto in Seattle -- is building the single-player campaign. Meanwhile, LA-based Ripple Effect is creating a completely different Battlefield experience.

The change here is DICE is expanding its team to help Ridgeline Games in the creation of that single-player adventure.

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Canadian firm Behaviour Interactive has announced the acquisition of UK-based co-development studio SockMonkey.

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

This is Behaviour's first European investment, with SockMonkey Studios to take the name of Behaviour UK – North once the acquisition finalises.

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Esports firm GameSquare has announced it is now working with popular influencer Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins.

Blevins has taken on the role of chief innovation officer, and will be working with the company to pursue new opportunities for growth.

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Let's be honest – business is booming. The largest industry in the entertainment sector continues to grow, and despite some post-pandemic turbulence and growing pains (read: abhorrent mass lay-offs) growth across games is very good indeed, and much higher than expected pre-pandemic.

The British games industry still faces innumerous challenges in the years ahead and that road is a long and uncertain one – though the biggest hurdle facing the sector today is unrelated to those of business as usual. It's a pervasive word on the tip of the tongue for many in games right now – skills.

When you ask any prominent voice in the British games industry what the biggest challenges currently facing the sector are, they will tell you the same things: widening skills shortages, ongoing recruitment challenges at mid-top level, and a lack of diverse talent and leadership. But you already know this. We're very good at talking about the challenges – but very rarely do we talk about the solutions. Why is that?

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