The release of Phantom Blade Zero provides an opportunity not only to examine the impressive metrics of the new Chinese blockbuster but also to discuss the two decades leading up to this project. From RPG Maker, mobile platforms, investments from Tencent, financial discipline, and creative compromises.

Microsoft reported a decline in its gaming business revenue for the third calendar quarter of 2026. Xbox revenues decreased by 2% year-over-year, down to $5.38 billion. Both console sales and content with services showed negative trends.

The number of games released on Steam through the Early Access program continues to rise, and for many studios, such a launch has already become comparable in significance to a full release. According to SteamDB, by mid-October 2026, 2,924 games were released in Early Access on the Valve platform — 18% more than in 2025 and 60% more than in 2020.

Microsoft has extended consultations about the future of Arkane Lyon, the French studio known for Dishonored and Deathloop, by a month. Initially, the process was expected to conclude by November 13, but the new tentative deadline is December 13. If a solution is not found, the studio faces closure and 217 employees risk losing their jobs.

The cumulative revenue from the Call of Duty series since its inception in 2003 has surpassed $40 billion. Asha Sharma, head of Xbox, announced this on October 26 while commenting on the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.

BioWare existed for nearly 32 years. The end of its story clearly demonstrates that games are not created by signs and logos, but by people. Today, we will trace how systemic issues gradually led the studio to lose its creative continuity and economic appeal to its owner.

The developers of GameMaker have announced a change to the engine’s licensing model.

The co-op game Peak arrived on consoles on October 22, 2026. Its price was set at $9.99 compared to $7.99 on PC. One of the game’s developers, Nick Kaman, explained why the team decided to increase the price.

On October 22nd, Epic Games announced the AI MegaJam, a competition focused on game creation using neural networks. However, the announcement stirred some discontent among developers. The same day, the company altered the participation rules.

Like many mature markets, Finland is experiencing a transitional period. On one hand, the industry is still quite polarized. On the other, it has become noticeably more diverse over the past few years. However, it’s far from certain that the creators of notable indie hits in recent years will be able to build sustainable businesses.

The founder of Liquid Swords, Christofer Sundberg, confirmed the closure of the studio that released the action game Samson. Despite the company’s bankruptcy, he intends to remain in the gaming industry and is already considering forming a new team.

The indie game market can feature extremely unfavorable publishing agreements for developers. Co-founder of Innersloth (Among Us) and head of the Outersloth fund, Forest Willard, discussed this issue.

The studio Look North World, headed by Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian, has released its first game for Roblox in early access. This game is a free-to-play extraction shooter called Drifters. Prior to this, the company specialized in developing games for Fortnite.

Horror games represent a market with steady demand, a relatively low entry barrier for developers, and established rules. In our new report, we aim to examine how attractive this niche remains from a commercial perspective. As always, we include plenty of tables, data, and interesting observations.

For some publishers, working with influencers has become a separate branch of marketing. But how do you choose the right blogger who will truly engage your audience with your game? We explore this with the Head of Marketing at ESDigital Games, Ilya Svanidze, and the lead influencer manager at Polden Publishing, Artem Akimkin.

Most companies have traditionally considered the brands they’ve created or acquired in the past to be their most valuable assets. However, nowadays, what’s more important may be what they are capable of achieving in the future. The release of Gears of War: E-Day is an excellent opportunity to discuss how individual studios are transforming into independent and far more valuable IPs.

Ace Combat is in many ways a unique franchise, and the release of the new installment has become an excellent opportunity to discuss the state of the flight game market. We have analyzed a large amount of data and prepared a detailed report—complete with illustrative tables, graphs, and some not-so-encouraging conclusions.

September turned out to be one of the most eventful months of 2026, especially in terms of the variety of blockbuster releases on PC and consoles. More about the metrics of several dozen key releases can be found in our traditional segment.

The editorial team at App2Top has repeatedly approached developers for opinions on neural networks and received the most polarized responses. From “it’s random that desperately needs human intervention” to “soon AI will create a grand hit for me.” To find out what is closer to reality, we’re discussing with representatives from MidHard, Beresnev Games, Playkot, and other studios.