March 2023

Tango Gameworks' founder and CEO Shinji Mikami is leaving the Evil Within studio.

The news was reported by True Achievements, and then confirmed to the publication by Bethesda. Mikami's departure was announced by Bethesda's senior vice president of development Todd Vaughn in a company-wide email.

"I am writing today to let you know that studio head Shinji Mikami has decided to leave Tango Gameworks in the coming months," he said. "Mikami-san has been a creative leader and supportive mentor to young developers at Tango for 12 years through his work on the Evil Within franchise, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and of course, Hi-Fi Rush."

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During this week's hearing in Europe over the Activision Blizzard acquisition, Microsoft made a case that -- when it comes to video games -- it is very much the small player.

It showed a slide to highlight the market share of the console sector in Europe, revealing that PlayStation holds 80% of the market, whereas Xbox has just 20%.

In the press briefing, Microsoft's Brad Smith went further: "Globally, it’s about 70/30. In Japan, it’s 96 to 4. And while there are some fluctuations over time, these numbers have been remarkably steady for two decades. Even last year, when Sony suffered constraints in its supply chain and it saw its numbers dip, they came back strong in the fourth quarter as their supply chain recovered. By our calculation, on a global basis, Sony outsold Microsoft in the fourth quarter by a margin of 69 to 31, pretty much consistent with the global market shares we’ve seen for 20 years."

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Destiny 2 creator Bungie has filed for a $6.7 million default judgment against LaviCheats.

As reported by TorrentFreak, the motion was filed last week as the website's operator failed to make a court appearance.

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The games industry moves pretty fast, and there's a tendency for all involved to look constantly to what's next without so much worrying about what came before. That said, even an industry so entrenched in the now can learn from its past. So to refresh our collective memory and perhaps offer some perspective on our field's history, GamesIndustry.biz runs this monthly feature highlighting happenings in gaming from exactly a decade ago.

We talked a bit last month about the rash of doomsday predictions for console gaming, and how they were growing in popularity during a particularly uninspiring stretch for the console market. After all, it had been more than seven years since the last generation of consoles kicked off, and the next generation of consoles still hadn't been announced.

Yes, the Wii U had actually launched the previous November, but it was not exactly rekindling any spark of excitement around gaming. The launch had a number of red flags, and the months that followed only brought more.

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Cognosphere, a subsidiary of MiHoYo and publisher of Genshin Impact, has taken legal action against leakers of its RPG.

As reported by Axios, a Californian court's subpoenas seek the names, IP addresses, and phone numbers of the Twitter account users Merlin Impact, Genshin World, and XWides.

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Today sees the launch of Sony's latest virtual reality headset, the PlayStation VR 2, which aims to offer a generational step up on the company's original VR headset.

Announced in February 2022, the PSVR 2 follows up on 2016's PlayStation VR, which had sold 4.2 million units worldwide as of March 2019.

Launching alongside Guerrilla Games and Firesprite title Horizon Call of the Mountain (more on this further down), the PSVR 2 features two 2000 x 2040 OLED panels, native 90 or 120 FPS, eye tracking, adjustable interpupillary distance, and haptic feedback both in the headset and its two controllers. All that for a RRP of $550, to which you'll have to add the price of a PS5 if you don't already own one.

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Thunderful Group has released its full-year financial results for 2022, showing a rise in profit despite a slight dip in revenues.

The publisher and distributor posted gross profit of SEK 1.1 billion ($106.3 million) for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 – an increase of over 15% year-on-year. Revenues reached SEK 3.03 billion ($292.8 million, down 3.5%).

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This article has been updated and edited for clarity, plus a correction over the timing of a tweet from an Activision Blizzard executive.

During Microsoft's press briefing this week, the firm’s Brad Smith pulled out an envelope with a contract in it.

“I walk around with an envelope that contains the definitive agreement that we sent to Sony two days before Christmas, I am ready to sign it at any time.”

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Rovio has announced that the re-release of the original Angry Birds will be delisted on Android and renamed on iOS due to "the game's impact on our wider games portfolio."

The company announced the change on Twitter, with Rovio Classics: Angry Birds due to be pulled from the Google Play Store today – less than a year after it was released last April.

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Thunderful has acquired Germany-based developer Studio Fizbin through its subsidiary Headup for an undisclosed sum.

This is the eleventh acquisition Thunderful has made so far, and the first time it's picking up a studio with which it has previously worked as publisher.

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Activision staffers learned of a December 2022 data breach at the gaming firm only days ago, and not from their employer.

As reported by TechCrunch, the leak was made public when malware research group vx-underground, a platform that says it has the largest collection of malware source code, shared the details on Twitter.

The site notes that hackers obtained data such as employee names, work email addresses, telephone numbers, and for some, the location of their offices.

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Virtual reality games studio Owlchemy Labs has appointed Andrew Eiche as CEO.

His new position will be effective on March 3; he previously served as chief operating officer and originally joined the company in 2015.

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Microsoft is speaking to the media following a closed hearing at the European Commission, as the tech giant tries to convince the regulator to approve its bid to buy Activision Blizzard.

The deal is facing opposition from regulators in Europe, UK and US.

If you're a bit lost around what's going on, let's recap.

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TV and film production firm Blumhouse has launched Blumhouse Games.

The new gaming subsidiary will create and publish horror-themed titles across mobile, console, and PC.

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Sony remains opposed to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, despite the two companies meeting in Brussels today.

But Microsoft has reached a deal with Nvidia, which will see Xbox games (that are also on PC) released on Nvidia's GeForce Now cloud service. This will include Activision Blizzard games (and Call of Duty) if the deal goes through. It follows a similar deal the firm has signed with Nintendo.

Persons familiar with the situation told GamesIndustry.biz that a deal is ‘not close’, earlier today, and it's a report backed up by Microsoft's Brad Smith in a post-hearing press conference.

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Microsoft has raised the retail price of its Xbox Series S|X systems in Sweden.

As reported by GamingDeputy, the tech firm's changes for the consoles were spotted on its website.

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Phil Elliott has been appointed CEO of indie publisher Modern Wolf, effective from March.

Elliott had announced he was leaving Square Enix Collective two weeks ago on Linkedin. He had been at Square Enix's indie publishing label since 2013, when he joined as head of community.

His role as director of indie publisher has been taken over by Timea Edvi, who has been at the Collective since 2016 and most recently was senior brand and marketing manager.

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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 Sergei Kolobashkin, founder and creative director at 110 Industries, who have just launched Wanted: Dead a new hybrid slasher/shooter from the makers of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive on PlayStation, Xbox and PC.

Let's take the nostalgia glasses off for a minute and face it - the Sega Mega Drive wasn't that good of a platform. An occasional QuackShot, Comix Zone or Streets of Rage 2 did happen every once in a while, but the console was primarily a Sonic player.

Sega had a lineup of games in mind that represented what the console is capable of and it was primarily Sega grind fests like Ecco the Dolphin (sorry Ed, you know, I love you, man), Gunstar Heroes and Golden Axe, with a dash of Mortal Kombat II and NBA Jam at the tail end. Then you had your retro engineered Electronic Arts titles that looked pretty bad in the '90s and have only gotten only worse all these decades later.

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Bungie has won part of its legal fight against cheat provider AimJunkies, and was awarded $4.3 million in damages and fees.

According to TorrentFreak, an arbitration process took place behind closed doors, with Judge Ronald Cox ultimately siding with Bungie about claims of violations of the DMCA anti-circumvention provisions, trafficking violations, breach of contract, tortious interference, spoliation, and more.

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In 1997, a young and eager Patrice Désilets had just graduated from film school and was looking for a job. Ubisoft Montreal happened to have just opened its offices. But becoming a video game developer wasn't really the plan.

"Not even close," he tells GamesIndustry.biz. "I studied movies and theater. I thought I would be making movies. But I applied for a job because I was a gamer."

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Communications Workers of America president Chris Shelton has urged the European Commission to approve the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, saying it could positively influence the labour market.

Shelton's statement comes as Microsoft is attending a closed hearing with the European Commission in Brussels today. In a letter to the European Commission's executive vice president Margrethe Vestager, Shelton pointed to the several issues workers have encountered over the past couple of years, trying to unionise at Activision Blizzard.

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Microsoft and Nintendo have signed a binding legal agreement to bring Call of Duty to the latter's platforms for ten years – if the former's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through.

Last year, Microsoft pledged ten-year deals to bring the best-selling shooter series to both Nintendo and Steam if it successfully acquires the franchise and its publisher.

Now, Microsoft president Brad Smith has announced on Twitter that a binding ten-year contract has been signed between his company and Nintendo.

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Hogwarts Legacy has held No.1 in the UK boxed charts, despite a drop in sales of 66% in its second week.

This is according to the GfK retail data. It's actually a relatively modest drop for a big game in its second week. Hogwarts Legacy had a very strong lauch weekend, and is comfortably the fastest-selling Harry Potter game. When the digital data arrived at the end of last week, it revealed that Hogwarts Legacy's launch was 88% bigger in the UK than the launch of last year's Elden Ring. Outside of Call of Duty and FIFA, it is the fastest-selling video game since Red Dead Redemption 2.

The digital data for its second week will be available later. With the PS5, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch versions of the game due to arrive later in the year, it's likely the title will continue to appear in the charts all year.

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Ubisoft has confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that it will be returning to E3 this summer.

There was confusion over the Assassin's Creed publisher's plans after CEO Yves Guillemot said his company would be there "if E3 happens," as reported by VG247.

E3 2023 is being organised by GamesIndustry.biz parent ReedPop. Lance Fensterman, president of ReedPop, told IGN in a statement that E3 would still happen and is "full speed ahead."

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The value of gaming deals across 2020 through 2022 amounted to $115.3 billion.

That's according to the latest InvestGame report on private investments, mergers and acquisitions and public offerings throughout the games industry.

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Every outfit tells a story. Characters aren't just defined by their facial features or physique, a lot of who someone is and what they're about comes from their style and environment.

I'm currently working on asymmetrical third-person horror title The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, based on the iconic film. My role has been primarily in environments and character, and I'm working to bring authenticity to every area of the game – including fashion.

Both at work and in my personal life, I'm fascinated with how clothes can play into the rules of a reality and how a characters' fashion choices are influenced by their environment. From fantasy to the real world, I love working to find solutions and bringing my own passion for fashion into projects I'm working on.

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Equity firm Supernova Capital has acquired game developers Mi-Clos and Little Red Dog Games.

The terms were not disclosed, with the announcement only saying that Supernova has also made an additional multi-million investment in both studios following the acquisitions.

Mi-Clos is a French studio known for narrative-driven titles such as Sigma Theory and Out There. Little Red Dog Games is a New-York based developer known for Rogue State and Precipice.

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Update, March 6, 2021: Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic returned to sale over the weekend, with developer 3Division posting an update to say it was excited to put the matter behind them.

"We thank you for your patience, support and understanding as we navigated this tricky situation," the developers said.

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Sea of Thieves is - can you believe it? - five years old this month, and to celebrate its half-decade anniversary, developer Rare is ushering in a new quality-of-life-focused season all about reinvigorating the piratical multiplayer adventure's core sandbox.

Sea of Thieves' Season 9 - which launches next Thursday, 16th March, just ahead of the game's 20th March anniversary - is somewhat unusual in that it isn't really built around one single flagship new feature. Instead, it's tweaking, finessing, and refreshing the game as a whole in a bid to create a more coherent, enjoyable experience after five years of disparate updates.

For starters, come the new update, all World Events - from ship battles to Ashen Lords - will dynamically scale to match different crew sizes. Additionally, emergent event - the kraken, megaladon, fog, and ship wrecks - have been adjusted to make them a more common occurrence after having all become increasingly seldom seen as updates have continued.

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As part of today's announcement showcase, Paradox has teased Life By You, a new game from former head of Sims and CEO of Second Life studio Linden Labs, Rod Humble.

Little has been shared about Life By You beyond a brief teaser trailer, but it's being developed by Paradox Tectonic, the Humble-run studio unveiled back in 2019.

At the time of Paradox Tectonic's establishment, Humble said the studio would focus on creating "open, fun, beautiful games which respect the players' intelligence and enables their creativity, freedom, emotion, and sharing", and we've now got our first look - albeit brief - of what the team has been working on since then.

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As part of today's announcement bonanza, Paradox Interactive has officially unveiled its long-awaited city builder sequel Cities: Skylines 2, which is coming to PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5 at some point "later this year".

Cities: Skylines 2 is being developed by Colossal Order and promises a "revolutionary" spin on the studio's acclaimed 2015 original, giving players the tools to "build any kind of city they can imagine and follow its growth from a humble village to a bustling metropolis".

How Cities: Skylines 2 will differ from its predecessor in more specific terms, beyond a shiny new facade, is currently unclear, but Paradox says the game - which it calls the "most open-ended city-building sandbox on the planet" - will enable players to "create and maintain cities that come to life like never before."

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Acclaimed grand strategy game Crusader Kings 3 is nipping outside for a bit of excitement in its next major expansion, Tours and Tournaments, which launches this spring.

As its name suggests, Tours and Tournaments has something of a focus on outdoor pursuits, and will, for intsance, let players host grand demonstrations of feats of arms around the map - an activity that'll attract nearby nobles and wandering knights, and potentially boost social standing or military prowess along the way.

Players' best knights can also be honoured with special titles and accolades that grant bonuses to both them and the armies they lead.

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Arkane Austin has confirmed crossplay support for its upcoming vampire shooter, Redfall.

As part of a recent Discord Q&A, which was subsequently shared on Steam, the developer was asked if Redfall would support crossplay between Steam and its Game Pass version.

The answer was a yes. "You'll definitely be able to play with your friends on Steam," Arkane replied.

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Harebrained Schemes, the studio behind the acclaimed likes of Shadowrun and Battletech, has announced The Lamplighters League, a pulp-inspired tactical turn-based strategy game heading to PC and Xbox Series X/S in 2023.

The Lamplighters League - or rather, The Lamplighters League and the Tower at the End of the World to give it its full name - is described as a original pulp adventure set in an alternate 1930s. It'll pit players against a nefarious global cult, the Banished Court, out for global domination.

"For millennia," Harebrained explains, "all that stood between this sinister cabal and their plans was a band of heroic scholars known as the Lamplighters League. Unfortunately, the best of the best are all gone, so now it's up to the best of the worst."

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The roadmap for WWE 2K23 has been revealed, including 24 wrestlers joining the line-up.

The DLC will consist of five content packs, including Superstars, Legends and NXT rising stars making their franchise debut.

These packs can be purchased individually, or are included in the Season Pass, as well as the Deluxe and Icon editions of WWE 2K23.

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Frogwares has announced the release date for Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened.

The game had been delayed by the Ukrainian studio due to the ongoing war, mentioning a late March / early April release date back in February.

The game now has a firm release date of 11th April. Check out the new release date trailer below.

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The lead discussion point in DF Direct Weekly #101 centres on Larian's announcement that while Baldur's Gate 3 isn't a console exclusive, currently there's no release date for the Xbox Series version of the game owing to technical issues. The game is in development for Xbox, there are no exclusivity deals, but there are challenges in getting split-screen co-op working on Xbox Series S - and that's causing a hold-up.

"We've had an Xbox version of Baldur's Gate 3 in development for some time now," a statement from Larian says. "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."

The key question here is why split-screen co-op is a 'requirement', which we'll discuss momentarily but the developer is quick to point out that "there's no platform exclusivity preventing us from releasing BG3 on Xbox day and date, should that be a technical possibility. If and when we do announce further platforms, we want to make sure each version lives up to our standards and expectations."

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There have been lots of questions about Atomic Heart, but maybe the biggest remains the question of just what exactly it is. As it turns out, like a lot of games that front-load on the dramatic marketing events, spark off controversies, and define themselves by reference to other, beloved games rather than on their own terms, Atomic Heart doesn't really know what it is either. If you're like me, you'll probably get a good way through the game before you have much of a clue yourself.

Before you get to that point, you will most likely know it as at least "controversial" - and there have been just a few controversies. As we've reported elsewhere in more detail, developer Mundfish has come under scrutiny for, first, putting on some poorly timed marketing events in Russia, featuring big red banners reading "Glory to Soviet Engineers" during the country's own land-grabbing, and deeply horrifying, invasion of Ukraine.