gaming industry news
Marvel Snap studio secures $100M investment that assures independence and new game creation
Second Dinner, the studio headed by former Hearthstone dev Ben Brode that managed to nail down the Marvel IP to launch its digital CCG...
Unity sheds another 1800 workers from all of its departments in latest layoff round
The contraction of Unity that occurred through last January, May, and November looks to be continuing into this year, as the game engine developer...
Study finds social media game ads don’t properly disclose the existence of lockboxes and in-game purchases
A recent study conducted by legal expert and lockbox researcher Leon Y. Xiao has been completed and it finds that lockbox disclosures in social...
Former Activision-Blizzard exec files lawsuit that alleges the studio fired him for being old and white
Discrimination can certainly take a wide assortment of forms, but the culture that has been fostered within Activision-Blizzard has mostly been one that threatens...
Korea’s FTC fines Nexon $8.9M over MapleStory’s deceptive gear upgrade probabilities
Care for a little smile to start off this first week of 2024? Then feast your eyes on a hefty $8.9M (₩11.6M) fine levied...
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...
Project Boston was Activision-Blizzard’s attempt to create a ‘Steam of mobile’ games store
The point of the Epic v. Google antitrust lawsuit is ostensibly about whether Google is holding a monopoly that prevents competitors like Epic from...
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...
Myth of Empires resolves ARK Survival Evolved copyright lawsuit, paving the way for its return
Who here had "Myth of Empires resolves its legal woes to the point it gets to re-release" on their 2023 bingo card? We certainly...
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....
SAG-AFTRA members overwhelmingly vote in favor of a video game voice actors strike
Over the past few months, Hollywood has been ground to a halt as voice actors and screenwriters hit the picket lines to fight against...
