News November 17

GDC: 60% of game developers in the US reported an increase in salaries, with an average pay of $142,000 a year

The median salary is lower—$129,000.

News November 17

Games featuring AI-generated content earned $660 million on Steam, according to analytics

Meanwhile, the proportion of such games on Steam has increased to 8%. Now there are 10,258 of them.

News November 17

Microsoft has opened access to the guidelines for releasing games in the Xbox ecosystem to all developers

Previously, the instructions were only accessible to corporate-approved teams—and only after signing a non-disclosure agreement.

News November 17

Weekend Highlights (November 15-16)

Bungie resolved a dispute with a writer over plagiarism, Escape from Tarkov was released on Steam with “mostly negative” reviews, and over 2 million people played the global edition of Where Winds Meet in a single day — here’s a rundown of the major events in the gaming industry over the past weekend.

Premium Law November 14

Checklist for Choosing a Jurisdiction for Gaming Studios: A Comprehensive Guide with Lawyer Commentary

The video gaming market is global, and in the current macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, choosing the right jurisdiction is particularly relevant. With insights from experts at Futura Digital and Prospectacy, we present a detailed guide analyzing the most relevant locations, key aspects, trends, and potential pitfalls.

News November 14

Analytics: In the incomplete year of 2025, games on Steam have earned over $16 billion — a record

The year 2025 has already become the best year in Steam’s history in terms of game revenue, claims the analytical company Alinea Analytics.

News November 14

KRAFTON has offered some employees the option to resign amid the company’s focus on AI

The South Korean company KRAFTON has initiated a voluntary resignation program, as reported by Business Korea. It has also temporarily halted the hiring of staff for teams that are not involved in developing original IP and artificial intelligence technologies.

News November 14

Crystal Dynamics laid off several dozen employees

For the third time this year, Crystal Dynamics studio has announced layoffs. This time, they have parted ways with 30 employees.

News November 14

Ubisoft requested a suspension of trading of its shares and postponed the release of its financial report

On the evening of November 13, Ubisoft was supposed to release its report for the first half of the current fiscal year but changed its mind at the last moment. The release was postponed just 15 minutes before the scheduled publication time.

News November 13

Valorant Mobile and Dying Light: The Beast helped Tencent increase its quarterly gaming revenue

The parade of financial reports continues. Next in line is the Tencent report for the third quarter of 2025, ending on September 30.

News November 13

The Cocos engine was purchased for $72 million

Now it belongs to the Chinese company SUD, which is developing a cloud platform for app gamification.

News November 13

Weak sales of new releases and an overall decline in revenue are the main highlights from Embracer Group’s report

Embracer Group reported for June-September 2025. This is likely the last or one of the last financial reports before the final division of the holding into three public companies.

News November 13

The authors of Dispatch aim to achieve a three-year sales plan within three months

The interactive animated series Dispatch from Telltale veterans is selling much faster than its creators anticipated. Co-founders of AdHoc Studio, Nick Herman and Michael Choung, discussed this in an interview with the portal GamesIndustry.

News November 13

Rockstar Games is being sued over dismissals

The British union, Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), has filed a lawsuit against Rockstar Games. The reason for this is the dismissal of several dozen developers in early November—believing that the studio acted unlawfully.

News November 12

Some developers of the extraction shooter Exoborne will be laid off

The Sharkmob studio is preparing to conduct layoffs at its division in Malmö. It announced this in a statement to the GamesIndustry portal.

Premium Industry November 12

Why is NetEase massively divesting from Western assets and what does it mean in the context of the Chinese market

Just in the past few weeks, NetEase has cut funding for three Western studios. We explore what compels the company to reconsider its investments, what ties the affected teams together, and how applicable this trend is to other Chinese publishers.

News November 12

The restaurant earned half a million dollars in less than a week

The game has already recouped its development costs.

News November 12

In Russia, they ultimately won’t implement a GOST standard for video games

Rosstandart has denied the claims about plans to develop a national standard with criteria for video game classification. Such reports emerged in mid-October.

News November 12

Andrew Wilson will receive over $100 million following the sale of EA. UPDATE: that’s not exactly the case

The report by Electronic Arts (EA) to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shed light on the payouts due to its executives as a result of the upcoming sale of the company. For instance, it was revealed that CEO Andrew Wilson will receive a rather substantial sum.

News November 12

Deconstruction of Fun: a total of around $150 million was spent on Squad Busters. And this amount was not recouped by Supercell

On October 30, Supercell announced the closure of the project Squad Busters after two years of operation. This is the first title the company decided to “kill” after a global release. Mobile industry veteran Michail Katkoff, in his blog Deconstruction of Fun, estimated how much the Finnish hit factory’s recent failure might have cost.

All publications of the author

GDC: 60% of game developers in the US reported an increase in salaries, with an average pay of $142,000 a year

Games featuring AI-generated content earned $660 million on Steam, according to analytics

Microsoft has opened access to the guidelines for releasing games in the Xbox ecosystem to all developers

Weekend Highlights (November 15-16)

Checklist for Choosing a Jurisdiction for Gaming Studios: A Comprehensive Guide with Lawyer Commentary

Analytics: In the incomplete year of 2025, games on Steam have earned over $16 billion — a record

KRAFTON has offered some employees the option to resign amid the company’s focus on AI

Crystal Dynamics laid off several dozen employees

Ubisoft requested a suspension of trading of its shares and postponed the release of its financial report

Valorant Mobile and Dying Light: The Beast helped Tencent increase its quarterly gaming revenue

The Cocos engine was purchased for $72 million

Weak sales of new releases and an overall decline in revenue are the main highlights from Embracer Group’s report

The authors of Dispatch aim to achieve a three-year sales plan within three months

Rockstar Games is being sued over dismissals

Some developers of the extraction shooter Exoborne will be laid off

Why is NetEase massively divesting from Western assets and what does it mean in the context of the Chinese market

The restaurant earned half a million dollars in less than a week

In Russia, they ultimately won’t implement a GOST standard for video games

Andrew Wilson will receive over $100 million following the sale of EA. UPDATE: that’s not exactly the case

Deconstruction of Fun: a total of around $150 million was spent on Squad Busters. And this amount was not recouped by Supercell