GamesIndustry

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.

Sometimes this column lets us look back on a problem facing the industry and see who was right, who was wrong, and how different a situation seems with the benefit of hindsight.

Other times it's a reminder that some problems are just intractable and the games industry will be probably be grappling with them in different ways for as long as people play games. This is one of those other times.

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Sony has revealed details for its new dedicated remote play system, the PlayStation Portal.

It will allow PlayStation 5 owners to play titles installed on their consoles without using a TV screen. Consumers will need to connect to their home console via Wi-Fi.

The PlayStation Portal includes an 8-inch LCD screen that can display 1080p resolutions at 60fps. It includes a 3.5mm audio jack for wired audio, such as headphones. The remote play device will also support the Dualsense controller.

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The launch of Starfield is the start of a "multi-year relay race of first-party titles," Xbox has told GamesIndustry.biz.

Speaking at Gamescom, where the company has been showcasing the sci-fi RPG extensively, Xbox chief marketing officer Jerret West said the Bethesda game marks the start of a prolonged period of regular new Xbox exclusives.

"This is, in my mind, the doorway, almost like a starting gun, to what I think is going to be a multi-year relay race of first-party titles," West told us.

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This year's Devcom Developer Conference saw 3,400 participants attend the event in Cologne, Germany.

Last year’s numbers of 3,500 participants included additional side events. The organisers said Devcom 2023 reached a new record for conference attendees.

According to participant feedback, the top reason for attending Devcom this year was networking, followed by attending talks hosted by more than 250 speakers across 160 sessions during the three day period.

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More major platfrom holders, investors and publishers have signed-up to the GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit at PAX this month.

Xbox, Fellow Traveller, Curve, Tencent, 101XP, Rogue Games Crunching Koalas and Offworld Industries are the latest companies looking to meed indie developers at the event.

The Investment Summit at PAX will take place at the Seattle Convention Center on Thursday, August 31st. Tickets are on sale now and start from $50 + booking fee.

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Canadian video games companies have just one month to enter the GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards 2023.

The deadline for all submissions is Friday, September 22nd. Those in the UK have until this Friday, and US participants have until Friday, September 8th.

The Canada winners will be announced in early November. The awards are open to all games companies with offices in Canada, including developers, publishers, service companies, retail and media, and you can submit your company through here.

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Video Games Europe, the continent's largest trade body, has released an extensive report offering insight into the full size and impact of the games industry in the region.

This is the fourth Key Facts report published by the organisation – formerly the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) – and draws on data from Ipsos Mori, GSD, GameTrack and the EGDF-VGE insights report.

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Cloud gaming firm Return Entertainment has appointed Vesa Jutila as its CEO.

He joins as the studio aims to expand its business operations and industry experience.

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Geoff Keighley hosted Gamescom Opening Night Live today, and much like Summer Game Fest before it, the event was dominated by new looks at previously announced titles.

The event opened with composer Inon Zur performing music from Starfield before Todd Howard came out to talk more about the game, which launches September 6.

It wrapped up with a conversation with Remedy creative director Sam Lake about Alan Wake 2 and a new look at the game's use of live-action footage in gameplay ahead of its October 27 release.

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Applications are now open for the second Latin American Games Showcase.

Games developed by Latino game studios or created in the Latin American region will only be considered for selection.

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Rocket Science has expanded to Europe as its established a new headquarters in the capital of Wales.

With the new location, the company aims to support European clients and expand its market presence.

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Atari has taken the wraps off the Atari 2600+, a modern reinvention of its most popular home console.

Set to ship in November, the Atari 2600+ plays original Atari 2600 and Atari 7800 cartridges. It also comes with a 10-Games-in-1 cartridge featuring some of the system's staples, such as Combat, Adventure, Missile Command, and Yar's Revenge.

The Atari 2600+'s video output has also been updated, with widescreen support and an HDMI cable.

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Ben Kvalo, formerly of Netflix, and Rob Martin, XSET alum, have unveiled a new publishing company Midwest Games.

Midwest Games' executive team includes Jennifer Corbett, previously vice president of Crunchyroll, will serve as the studio's chief marketing officer.

Meanwhile, Chris Klimecky, former ProbablyMonsters principal producer, will be the developer's chief project officer.

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On today's GI Microcast, Chris Dring and James Batchelor discuss the latest developments in the ongoing saga that is Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

This morning it was announced the CMA has fully blocked the original deal, but a modified deal is now undergoing a phase one investigation with the aim to have a final decision on the transaction by October 18. The biggest change is that this deal excludes cloud gaming rights, which have been divested to Assassin's Creed publisher Ubiosft.

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Microsoft has ended production of Azure Kinect, the successor to the Xbox peripheral, drawing a line under the motion-sensing camera's lifespan.

As announced in a blog post, the company will stop selling its latest version of the hardware this October or until stocks last.

In 2019, Microsoft introduced the Azure Kinect Developer Kit, aiming it at manufacturing, retail, and healthcare markets rather than gaming.

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Virtuos today announced the launch of a new Prague studio, the fourth such studio in its Virtuos Labs network.

Virtuos Labs – Prague will provide engineering support for developers whether they are working on commercial engines or tech developed in-house, with a focus on networking, UI, mobile, and optimization tasks.

The new office will be overseen by general manager Jan Herodes, whose prior work includes stints at Disney Interactive Studios, Bohemia Interactive, and Keen Software House.

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Behaviour Interactive has acquired the Netherlands games studio Codeglue.

With the acquisition, Codeglue will be rebranded into Behaviour Rotterdam.

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At Devcom yesterday, a panel of experts from across the African games industry called for the wider business to address the biases and misconceptions they have about the continent's games markets.

The talk was hosted by Games Industry Africa co-founder and Starbreeze VP of business development Vic Bassey, and featured Africa Games Week co-founder and RenderHeads CEO Nick Hall, RocketRide business development manager and IGDA board member Limpho Moeti, and Maliyo Games founder Hugo Obi.

Reacting to a question from the audience, the panel advocated for the games industry at large to educate itself on Africa's markets. The topic came up after an audience member said in earnest that they were not really aware that there was a games industry in Africa, or people interested in games, touching upon the visibility issues impacting the continent. They further asked how devs from Europe can help change that image.

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The Pokémon Company made $11.6 billion in licensed goods during 2022, according to a License Global report.

The consumer product and licensing research firm's annual Top Global Licensors report ranked 84 brands in global retail sales last year, with The Pokémon Company sitting at No.5 in the Top Ten.

Sales at the Japanese firm generated $11.6 billion (£9.1 billion) in licensing and merchandise profit in 2022 — an increase of 36.5% compared to $8.5 billion (£6.6 billion) made in 2021. Having made an additional $3.1 billion (£2.4 billion) in revenue, The Pokémon Company ranked No.2 under brand growth.

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In the future, will we be streaming our video games rather than downloading them?

And if that were to happen, is Microsoft destined to become the all-powerful force in video games?

Those are the two questions that sit at the heart of the CMA's decision to block Microsoft's bid to buy Activision Blizzard.

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At a glance

Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been restructured and is once again under investigation – and Ubisoft is now embroiled in the biggest deal in industry history.

Both Microsoft and the Competition and Markets Authority – the UK regulator that blocked the deal earlier this year – announced this morning that a new deal has been submitted for the latter's consideration.

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Games Done Quick's Flame Fatales has raised over $110,000 for the Malala Fund.

The all-women and non-binary speedrunning event was held online from August 13 to August 20.

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Sony's Gran Turismo movie has amassed $22.7 million in theatre revenue.

As reported by Deadline, the film, inspired by British pro racer Jann Mardenborough, reached ten days after its release in the US.

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At Devcom today, the team behind Return to Monkey Island shed light on the project's origins and development.

The panel discussion was called 'Beneath The Return of Monkey Island: Q&A with LeCrew', and featured game designer veterans Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman and David Fox – who have all worked on the original Monkey Island titles, as well as the latest one – alongside Return to Monkey Island art director Zoe Nguyen Thanh and creative director Rex Crowle.

With 13 years between the last entry in the franchise and the release of Devolver-published Return to Monkey Island, and over 30 years since Gilbert was last involved in the series, one of the questions that came up during the panel is how exactly the team got together.

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Gunfire Games' Remnant 2 wasted no time in topping the charts, claiming the top spot in Circana's July Top 20 despite releasing with just four days left in the reporting period.

Circana today released its monthly US sales report, showing consumer spending on games was up 1% year-over-year to $4.19 billion, thanks to a 2% uptick in spending on content and an 8% jump in accessory sales.

However, those gains were slightly offset by a 19% year-over-year decline in hardware.

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A new report by Niko Partners has revealed that consoles are the most popular platform for young gamers in Japan.

The market research firm's annual Japan Youth Gamers report surveyed more than 300 parents of gamers aged six to 18 and over 90 gamers between the ages of 16 and 18.

Console is the most popular format among Japanese gamers, used by 72.3% of the group, followed by mobile gaming at 63.5%. Only 14.7% of respondents played on PC.

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What do the following games have in common?

Animal Crossing: City Folk, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, Call of Duty: World at War, Fable 2, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Gears of War 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Left4Dead, LittleBigPlanet, Mirror’s Edge, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, Need for Speed: Undercover, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, Resistance 2, Shaun White Snowboarding, Sonic Unleashed, Tomb Raider: Underworld, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2009.

All of them, along with another 70 games, came out within four weeks of each other in October and November 2008.

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Mario has lost his voice, as Nintendo of America announces that Charles Martinet will no longer record character voices for its games.

In a post on social media, the platform holder said Martinet is moving into the newly-created role of Mario Ambassador.

"With this transition, he will be stepping back from recording character voices for our games, but he'll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all," the company wrote.

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Made on Earth Games has raised $3.25 million in a seed funding round.

The investment will be towards releasing the mobile developer's title Everbright, currently in open beta.

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Google has banned Luck Be a Landlord from its app store in 13 countries, according to the game's developer.

In a blog post, TrampolineTales developer Dan DiIorio shared that Google Play Support told him games that "simulate gambling, or games of chance or skill that are conducive to gambling are prohibited" in a selection of locales.

The roguelike deckbuilding game sees players use a slot machine to "earn rent money and defeat capitalism," per the game's description. According to its Steam Page, Luck Be a Landlord doesn't include real-world money or microtransactions.

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When Netspeak Games was founded in 2021, the developer did not know what kind of game it was going to create.

"We knew we wanted to make something multiplayer. We knew we wanted it to be cross-platform, and we also knew we wanted to use Unreal Engine," CEO Callum Cooper-Brighting told GamesIndustry.biz "They were the 'constraints' we gave ourselves."

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At Devcom's keynote today, Funcom's lead UX designer Anna Brandberg made a case for taking the time to truly understand players.

In a talk entitled 'The Psychology of Play: The Power of Understanding Your Players', Brandberg — who's worked on The Sims, Candy Crush Saga and, most recently, Metal: Hellsinger— encouraged developers to think about the player's journey and emphasised the need for your vision to align with players' vision.

"Often the focus is on ourselves, our own talent and our own achievements and making our own big, special games that are going to change the world," she said. "But in fact, what I'm going to talk about today is the opposite of that. I'm going to tell you [to] stop focusing on yourself entirely. And to start thinking about someone else.

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An independent games firm has teamed up with an investment company to create a new group that will become home to a variety of European games businesses.

Prestiged is the new entity formed by Remote Control Productions and Acutus Capital Partners, which also become the group's founding members. The company is now seeking potential new members.

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The Top Three best-selling boxed games have changed this week, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe taking the top spot.

Mario Kart pushed Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga down to No.24 due to a price promotion, with Lego Star Wars experiencing a 77% decrease in sales week-on-week, GfK reported.

Grand Theft Auto 5 is at No.2 following a 1% increase in sales week-on-week.

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David Vonderhaar has left Treyarch after nearly two decades at the Call of Duty studio.

The studio design director announced his departure via a LinkedIn post, where he said he is now working on "an undisclosed project I can't discuss yet," describing it as a "rare and unique opportunity."

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11.6 million console and PC games were sold in July across Europe, up 34% over the same period in 2022.

Digital downloads represented nearly 7.9 million of that (up 60%), while physical was 3.75 million (up 0.2%).

This is according to GSD data, which includes digital sales from most AAA games publishers in every European country. It also includes physical sales of games in the big European markets. For the full breakdown of countries and publishers, see bottom of the article.

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Hi-Rez Studios, the developer behind Smite, has updated its policies for voice actor contracts and the use of generative AI technology.

CEO Stewart Chisam announced the change on social media as he rebuffed allegations that the studio was using AI to clone voice work.

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Embracer Group has published its financial results for Q1, showing growth in net sales in all but one operating segment.

Here's what you need to know for the period ending June 30, 2023:

Embracer's net sales saw 20% organic growth, which was attributed to Dead Island 2's sales for its PC/Console segment.

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Digital Development Management (DDM) released its regular report on games industry investments, mergers, and acquisitions today, with the second quarter showing across-the-board declines from a first quarter that was already the worst in more than four years.

Investments were down 34% to $676 million, even though the number of deals tracked was only down 14% to 127. Blockchain gaming investments were particularly hard hit.

"As if the prolonged crypto winter wasn't softening blockchain investments enough, the SEC clamping down on blockchain regulation caused investments to plummet even further to $243 million across 45 investments," DDM said in its report.

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