industry
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....
MMO Business Roundup: BioWare lawsuit, Nintendo multiplayer sunset, Twitch layoffs
Welcome back to another roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news. Numbers numbers numbers.
BioWare
Remember the hefty BioWare layoffs back in the summer? A group...
MMO Business Roundup: MY.GAMES’ CEO, Valve’s antitrust fine, and research on China’s gaming regulations
Welcome back to another quick roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent business news. Numbers numbers numbers. In fact, this edition has the whole trifecta: business,...
Sony Interactive’s Jim Ryan steps down next March after three decades of PlayStation
Last night, Sony Interactive Entertainment's Jim Ryan announced he's stepping down from the CEO role after 28 years with the company - the last...
Layoffs hit Blizzard’s Hearthstone team as Chris Metzen upgrades to new World of Warcraft exec title
Tuesday marked another dark day for the teams at Blizzard once again, with news coming out that the studio is being hit with more...
Unity begins backtracking on new runtime fees, but it hasn’t addressed indies
Yesterday, we covered Unity's surprise announcement that it was instituting a "runtime fee" that would charge developers as much as 20 cents per download...
The ESA is no longer working with ReedPop for the theoretical next E3 event
Well, if you were dreading the possibility of E3 coming back in 2024 under ReedPop's direction, you no longer have to worry about that....
Rumor: RuneScape studio Jagex might be up for sale again, the fourth time in less than a decade
The uproar over RuneScape's new monetization mess has a new angle today as apparently the future of UK-based Jagex is up in the air.
According...
Veteran games studio Volition is shuttered as part of Embracer’s restructuring
It's not an MMO studio, but it's still a significant loss for gaming that Volition is being shut down. The studio was owned by...
Embracer Group’s botched $2B deal was with Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group
If you're a fan of the games put out by Cryptic Studios or just Gearbox Publishing in general, you probably have not forgotten that...
BitCraft developer releases source code for its SpacetimeDB backend engine to everyone on Github
How has the 20-person Clockwork Labs studio been able to put together its sandbox MMORPG BitCraft? With the use of its bespoke backend engine...
