The sudden dismissal of the leaders of Unknown Worlds turned into one of the most talked-about scandals in the gaming industry in recent times. Here, we detail the conflict and the lawsuit against Krafton. To better understand the legal intricacies, we sought comments from experts at Futura Digital and Semenov&Pevzner.

We’re launching a new interview format — extensive personal stories. We begin with a conversation with Dmitry Morozov, who has been in the industry for over 25 years. He co-founded Panzar and worked on games like “Vangers,” “Perimeter,” “Dungeon Cleaners,” and “Fight Club.” Currently, he is the co-founder and creative director of the Cyprus-based studio Rightsoft Labs, which recently released the mobile battler Mech vs. Aliens. We talked to Dmitry about how funding for development…

Recently, FireFly Studios released Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition on PC—an updated version of the iconic strategy game with enhanced graphics and many other upgrades. In the first 48 hours, the game was purchased over 100,000 times.

In recent years, the staff of Sloclap Studio has grown significantly, reaching over 130 people after the release of Sifu. However, developers have now decided to slow down their growth rate, despite the success of their recently released soccer action game Rematch.

The head of Three Dots Games, Artem Perevoz, wrote an extensive (80-page) open letter detailing the unfair practices of the publisher Take Aim Games. According to him, the company failed to fulfill its obligations, withheld developer payments for months, and ultimately claimed the rights to the puzzle game The Muller-Powell Principle. The other party disputes the allegations — here’s a look at the situation from both perspectives.

Ilya Ulyanov, the Director of Business Development at RuStore, discussed the increase in Chinese advertising expenses in a conversation with the newspaper “Kommersant.”

On July 16, the WN Academy platform hosted the monthly deconstruction show “What’s Up with the Game?” focused on the main survival hit of the season, Dune: Awakening. Experts analyzed the core mechanics and peculiarities of working with franchises, as well as provided an evaluation of the project’s budget.

Details continue to emerge about the conflict between KRAFTON and the former leaders of Unknown Worlds studio. This time, the details have become known from a lawsuit filed against the company by the dismissed developers.

We continue our series of publications about games seeking investments or a publisher. Today, the team from St. Petersburg, TeZee.art, shares about their project. They are developing a vibrant web version of “The Settlers”—the LandLords project.

These figures were mentioned by the Mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, in his blog. He did not specify how much revenue was generated directly by game developers and publishers, excluding other IT professionals.

More and more games in Steam are being created by developers who utilize artificial intelligence during development, reports Ichiro Lambe, head of Totally Human Media and one of the creators of the “Steam Labs.” He noted that their share among new releases in 2025 was about 20%.

In 2022, the Russian subsidiary of Game Insight found itself at the center of a scandal: it decided to close, leaving several hundred employees without pay. This led to a legal proceeding seeking the company’s bankruptcy declaration. Three years later, the chairman of the board of directors of Game Insight, Igor Matsanyuk, claimed that the insolvency practitioner handling the case attempted to illegally enrich himself — “with the active participation or connivance” of the judges.

At the beginning of autumn, one of the largest cities in Cyprus will host a new session of the conference for developers and publishers by WN Media Group. The conference expects guests from Epic Games, Sandsoft, Chibi Phoenix, and many other companies.

While Counter-Strike 2 continues to lead the list of top-grossing products on Steam for the sixth consecutive week, other changes are happening in the chart. Below are the most notable shifts from July 8-15.

In recent years, production budgets for mobile games in Japan have significantly increased, according to a study by the Japan Online Game Association (JOGA). In 2024, the average cost of creating such a title in the country reached 492 million yen ($3.3 million).

Developers from GFA Games announced on the official social media pages of the game that the MMO shooter PIONER has reached a significant new milestone in wishlists.

The MobileGamer portal has obtained details about the layoffs at King, which are part of the major reductions at Microsoft. To gather this information, they spoke with sources close to the company.

The company GDEV continues to highlight the successes of its games. Just three weeks ago, it announced that the mobile game Hero Wars earned $1.7 billion, and now it has shared data regarding the desktop version of the title — Hero Wars: Dominion Era.

The portfolio of the Everplay Group of companies (formerly Team17 Group) has expanded. It announced the acquisition of “all rights and assets” related to the Hammerwatch franchise from the Swedish indie studio Crackshell.