industry
Star Citizen studio CIG claims increases in revenue, salaries, headcount, and costs in 2022 financial year report
The 2022 fiscal year for Star Citizen and Squadron 42 developer Cloud Imperium Games can best be described as "all the numbers were bigger":...
Rumor: With Kotick gone, Blizzard and NetEase might repair year-long rift over China publishing
Readers likely remember that 2023 started off with a tire fire as Blizzard and NetEase had a particularly nasty dissolution of a licensing deal...
Chinese regulators go into damage control mode after proposed gaming restrictions burn $80B in market value
Last week we reported on some newly drafted restrictions by Chinese regulators that were aimed at curbing game time, limiting rewards for spending and...
China’s government drafts new restrictions on gaming time, spending and login rewards, and lockboxes
The Chinese government has decided to once more consider a tightening of the thumbscrews on gaming, as regulators in the country have issued a...
QA employees accuse Activision-Blizzard of a ‘soft layoff’ after studios mandate a return to offices in January
Activision-Blizzard is once again electing to mistreat its QA employees according to a statement from the A Better ABK proto-union, which accuses the company...
Activision-Blizzard settles its 2021 California Civil Rights department lawsuit for $50M
Who here wanted one final reminder before the end of the year that we live in a cursed capitalist hellscape where justice can be...
Epic wins its lawsuit against Google as jury finds Google Play engaged in monopolist practices
The long-running lawsuit between Epic and Google has been decided, and it's been a slam dunk win for Epic Games: A jury found that...
MMO Business Roundup: Lockboxes, Twitch Korea, and the FTC’s latest MS/ABK merger appeal
Welcome back to another roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news.
The FTC vs. Microsoft and ABK - Surely you didn't think that "signing the...
Sony Interactive Entertainment and NCsoft announce a ‘strategic’ partnership
What exactly are Sony Interactive Entertainment and NCsoft doing together? Painting each others' nails? Plotting the destruction of their most hated of all animals,...
MMO Business Roundup: NetEase’s Worlds Untold, Embracer, Ubisoft, unionization, and Epic v. Google
Welcome back to another quick roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry and business news. Numbers numbers numbers!
NetEase - The Chinese megacorp NetEase just can't...
MMO Business Roundup: Gaming addiction, GTA6, Ubisoft layoffs, Epic v. Google, and more
Welcome back to another roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news. There's been a lot this week, so we'll keep 'em brief!
Addiction: A woman...
Former Trion boss Scott Hartsman cautions studios to reconsider live service games
Former Trion Worlds CEO Scott Hartsman has a few words of advice for any studio contemplating the creation of a live service game: Maybe...
Raph Koster has been warning about the death of games innovation longer than most MMOs have been alive
Veteran MMO developer Raph Koster is no stranger to talking about money in gaming. Our own readers will recall that all the way back...
The Epic Games Store is apparently still not profitable for Epic Games
It's now been five years since Epic Games launched the Epic Games store with an eye toward dethroning Steam, as epitomized by the fact...
Xbox announces plans for AI-based gamedev tools that generate game dialogue and quests ‘at scale’
The invasion of generative AI text and large language model (LLM) tools like ChatGPT into game development and design has gotten the backing of...
Nitrado CEO claims ARK Survival Ascended ‘would never have existed’ without its $4M loan
The twisty, tangled, muddy mess between Nitrado, ARK: Survival Ascended publisher Snail Games, and the wider business of private server hosting continues to present...
Modders declare petition victory as ARK Survival Ascended team lifts server hosting exclusivity restrictions
Remember when ARK developer Studio Wildcard announced a seven-year partnership with Nitrado for private server rental for the just-released ARK: Survival Ascended, which ended...
Roblox is forcing remote staff back into the office next year
Roblox is joining the growing chorus of tech companies attempting to force staff - some hired as remote workers - back into physical offices...
Microsoft eyes October 13 completion date for its Activision-Blizzard buyout
Microsoft appears to be fairly certain that its multi-billion dollar acquisition of Activision-Blizzard will go through, as a company source reports that it's looking...
Former Ubisoft execs and employees were detained by French police over sexual misconduct allegations
It looks as if the French authorities are moving against Ubisoft employees who were among those accused in the studio's wide-reaching sexual misconduct exposé....
