May 2023

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Amazon is taking a second stab at creating an MMO based on The Lord of the Rings, following the cancellation of a similar project two years ago.

The company announced today that it has reached an agreement with Embracer Group, which owns the series' rights holder Middle-Earth Enterprises, to develop and publish an online multiplayer game based on Tolkien's renowned fantasy work.

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The European Commission has given final approval to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard after the Xbox maker made 10-year commitments to address regulator concerns in the growing cloud streaming market.

While the commission's preliminary investigation identified concerns around the deal having negative impacts in the console, PC, and multi-game subscription markets, after an in-depth look into the issues, it ultimately determined some of those were non-issues.

It agreed that Microsoft would have no incentive to withhold games from PlayStation consoles in Europe, as the European Economic Area (EEA) has four PlayStation systems for every Xbox system, and the Call of Duty franchise is not as big in Europe as in other markets.

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Xbox Series S and X has surpassed two million sales in the UK, chart company GfK has revealed.

The console achieved the feat in 128 weeks and has generated £696 million.

It is the eighth fastest home console to reach this number, GfK says. It is one place ahead of Nintendo Switch, which reached two million sales in 140 weeks.

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Sim title Roots of Pacha has been pulled down from Steam due a dispute between developer Soda Den and publisher Crytivo.

In a post shared on Twitter, the studio said: "We are sad to report that we have been engaged in a dispute with Crytivo over the rights to Roots of Pacha."

The post further said that Soda Den seeked an amicable resolution internally but wasn't able to do so.

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Independent AAA studio Deviation Games has reportedly been hit by layoffs.

VGC spotted several members of the team announcing via social media that they had been dismissed from the studio.

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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the biggest boxed video game launch of the year in the UK.

GfK also reveals that the game is Nintendo's second biggest release in UK history by revenue, behind 2008's Wii Fit. If we discount the Balance Board price, it is actually the biggest Nintendo release by revenue. In terms of units, the game only lags behind Wii Fit and combined sales of Pokémon games (namely: combined sales of Sun and Moon, and Scarlet and Violet).

Its opening week sales eclipse the boxed sales of Hogwarts Legacy by more than 50%. This is just boxed sales, and Hogwarts, which was released on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S and X in February, did have a very strong digital launch. Switch digital sales are typically much lower than the other platforms, so it's unknown if the game outsold Hogwarts overall (Nintendo doesn't share digital data with the charts companies).

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A new lawsuit against Super Free Games (SFG) alleges that the studio has been discriminatory towards women.

The suit was filed with the San Francisco Superior Court by a former employee that was laid off following years of inequality she experienced.

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The Open Roads development team is no longer a part of the Fullbright game studio.

As reported by Polygon, the collective, now known as The Open Roads Team, will continue to work with publisher Annapurna Interactive.

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Nexon has released its earnings for the first quarter of the year, posting significant growth and handily beating its forecasts for both sales and net income.

Nexon's results were driven by a handful of its titles in specific regions.

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Square Enix released its financial report for the year ended March 31, and the firm's revenues saw a 6% dip as it finished with about $2.5 billion in net sales.

Here's what you need to know about the Final Fantasy publisher's twelve-month period:

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Have you heard? The new Zelda game launched today.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the direct sequel to Switch launch title Breath of the Wild, and its arrival marks the end of a six-year wait to find out the answer to one of the burning questions about Nintendo's current generation: having successfully reinvented one of your most beloved franchises, what do you do next?

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We are constantly being lied to by the companies in this industry, and every other.

Well, maybe "lied to" is a bit strong, but we're constantly being given an incomplete picture, one that his been smeared with Vaseline to cover up wrinkles and digitally altered to really make those rose-colored highlights pop.

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The Competition and Markets Authority, the UK regulator who last month blocked Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, has imposed further restrictions on both companies.

An interim order published yesterday by the organisation details new restrictions on either firm "acquiring an interest" in the other.

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This is an unusual moment in Nintendo's storied history. It's launching Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the hugely anticipated sequel to one of its most critically acclaimed games of all time, while simultaneously watching the Super Mario Bros movie sail past a billion dollars in the box office, becoming not only the most successful video game adaptation ever, but also the fifth highest grossing animated movie ever.

Meanwhile the company's dream of expanding into Disney-style theme parks is off to a strong start, with Super Nintendo World areas at Universal Studios parks in Osaka and Los Angeles set to be joined by areas in Florida and Singapore by 2025.

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Riot Games has announced that A. Dylan Jadeja will be its next CEO.

He will succeed Nicolo Laurent, who served as CEO for six years at the games firm. In the announcement sent to staff, Laurent said he will focus on his family as he shifts to an advisory role.

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Konami's fiscal year report says that the firm amassed $2.3 billion in revenue, up 5% when compared to 2022.

Here's what you need to know about the Yu-Gi-Oh publisher's twelve months that ended on March 31, 2023:

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Activision Blizzard today released its Environmental, Social, and Governance report, detailing the company's efforts to improve representation in the company and reduce its environmental impact in 2022.

"Gaming is a cultural force, and for that force to reach as far as possible, we must attract and retain a highly talented and diverse workforce and build a welcoming and inclusive workplace," Activision Blizzard chief administration officer Brian Bullatao said in the preface of the report.

Given the gender discrimination lawsuit Activision Blizzard has been facing since 2021, diversity has been a known issue for the company. On that front, the company said that it had increased the percentage of employees who identify as women or non-binary to 26% as of November of 2022, up from 24% a year earlier.

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What do you think is the biggest Zelda launch in the UK games industry?

(Pretend I didn't spoil it in the headline)

Breath of the Wild? No, well, actually, yes… I'll come back to that one.

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Auditioning for new voice acting roles is a stressful job on its own – especially if you're hunting for your first official gig.

At times, casting calls can feel like throwing your name into an empty void, or imposter syndrome may keep you from even pressing submit. But what I'm about to share could help you plug those pesky confidence leaks and put your persevering S.S. Voice Acting ship back on course.

Whether you've got a stellar reel or no reel at all, there's plenty you can do to boost your chances of getting your vocal talents into the ears of those in charge of choosing their latest video game cast.

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Development services provider Virtuos has announced the launch of a new studio in Warsaw, Poland.

The new branch of Virtuos Labs is one of three, joining established studios in Lyon and Montpellier, and aims to have a team of 35 people by the end of the year.

The Warsaw team will focus on creating graphics rendering and optimisation technology for use in video games development, complementing the Lyon studio's work on proprietary game engine development and Montpellier's R&D capabilities.

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Unity has released its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2023, with strong revenues for the quarter but losses on the rise year-on-year.

In the shareholder letter published alongside the results, Unity noted a strong Q1 2023 which exceeded revenue guidance previously shared (the company was expecting revenues of $480 million).

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Hardsuit Labs is the latest acquisition by the ever-growing Keywords Studios.

The services empire today announced it had added the Seattle-based developer to its portfolio for an undisclosed sum. Hardsuit will be part of its 'Create' services line and continue to provide co-development and porting for other games first.

Founded in 2015, Hardsuit has previously worked on various Call of Duty and Gears of War titles, as well as games such as State of Decay and Crash Bandicoot 4, providing services such as design and engineering support. It is currently working with Epic Games on Fortnite and Fortnite Creative.

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Ubisoft is laying off dozens of customer service employees in the US and UK, as confirmed by Kotaku senior reporter Ethan Gach today.

"Ubisoft's Customer Relation Center team is evolving its organization to focus on where we can have a significant impact while remaining steadfast in our commitment to consistently support our players anywhere in the world," an Ubisoft representative said.

"We estimate that, due to organizational changes, 60 team members from our offices in Cary, North Carolina in the US and Newcastle in the UK could be impacted."

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Bandai Namco's fiscal year financial report says the firm saw an 11% jump as it hit $7.3 billion.

Here's what you need to know for the twelve months ended on March 31, 2023:

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Roblox today released its financial earnings report for the first quarter of its fiscal year, following the company's general trend of growing revenues while posting continued losses.

For the three months ended March 31, 2023:

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Capcom today released its financial earnings report for the year ended March 31, 2023, which saw the company set a new net sales record for the sixth consecutive year.

For the 12 months ended March 31, 2023:

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It was a tough April for the UK PC and console games market, with sales down on games and hardware.

Just under 111,000 consoles were sold in the UK during the month (GfK figures), which is 20% down over March. However, the figures are 20% up over April last year.

PS5 was the No.1 console of the month once again, followed by Nintendo Switch and then Xbox Series S and X.

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Electronic Arts says its future lies in developing "games as a platform," building on the success it has seen with live service models for titles such as FIFA, The Sims and Apex Legends.

During an earnings call following its most recent financial results, CEO Andrew Wilson was asked by an investor about the impact macroeconomic uncertainty has on consumer spending.

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Finding ways to accurately measure success is an ever-moving and sometimes difficult task in itself for studio leaders – but today, I'm able to present a look into two data sets that show changes in Steam feature performance over time and how wishlist value (while still desired) very much depends on Early Access versus 1.0 launch.

Coming in hot off our studio's best launch to date, I wanted to share thoughts and comparisons on our two similar and successful announce-to-launch campaigns for Rockfish Games' flagship titles, Everspace and Everspace 2.

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Life is Strange: True Colors was among the winners in the new Interactive & Immersive narrative category at the Peabody Awards, which recognise excellence in storytelling.

The 83rd Peabody Awards took place yesterday, with Deck Nine and Square Enix's title recognised for "showcasing both empathy as a superpower and the power of games as a medium for emotionally resonant storytelling."

The Peabody Awards also highlighted Lucy and the Wolves in the Walls, a VR title from Fable Studio, "for its sweet insistence that all is not as it seems in the world, that trust and belief transcend age, that neither adults nor children have cornered the market on truth, and for its invitation to be curious at every corner."

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EA released its fourth quarter and 2022 fiscal year earnings report today, with full-year revenues up 6% to reach a total of $7.4 billion.

While the company's Q4 period saw revenues up less than 3%, it also saw a bump of 11% year-on-year for net bookings driven by the EA Sports FIFA series.

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PUBG publisher Krafton's Q1 2023 earnings was up 3% year-over-year, reaching $408 million in consumer spending.

Here's what you need to know about the financial earnings from the three months:

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Private Division, a Take-Two subsidiary, has announced a new publishing partnership with Pokémon developer Game Freak.

The company will publish Game Freak's new action-adventure IP, Project Bloom.

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PlayStation has revealed a new initiative to support emerging independent game makers in India.

The India Hero Project offers developers funding and resources to help developers bring their games to market, including financial help (a minimum of $100,000), marketing, access to dev kits and tech support, plus other promotional opportunities. Developers in India can also make use of PlayStation Studios' internal resources and expertise.

The project covers developers producing games for PS5, PSVR 2 and PC. It will also consider mobile games on a 'case-by-case basis'. Developers can find a full FAQ and also apply through here.

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Since the open beta launch of Black Desert Online in 2014, Pearl Abyss has been synonymous with its flagship MMORPG.

But the Korean company has been working to grow its business, opening offices in North America and Europe, bringing Black Desert Online to consoles and mobile, and more recently announcing plans for three new games: Crimson Desert, DokeV, and Plan 8.

Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz at the Game Developers Conference, Pearl Abyss North America CEO Jeonghee "JJ" Jin explains the reason behind the push.

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GamesIndustry.biz parent ReedPop just made it easier for you to keep up with things in the business of video games.

Today we've added the ability for you to follow topics on all of our sites. Use it to follow video games, companies, or the biggest stories in the industry (for example, the Microsoft ABK acquisition). Simply use the 'Follow' button next to each tag at the bottom of the article.

You'll also have the option to receive an email the next time we publish an article about any topics you follow. Sign into your account settings at the top of the site to select whether or not to receive these.

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Nintendo reported declines across the board in its financial results for the twelve months ended March 31, 2023, with gross profit down 6.4% to ¥885.4 billion ($6.6 billion).

The Switch firm attributed part of its lower performance to hardware issues, particularly the troubles it has had with semiconductor supplies.

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