News January 19, 2023

Microsoft asked the court to “freeze” the lawsuit of gamers who opposed the deal with Activision Blizzard

Microsoft continues to defend the purchase of Activision Blizzard. As noted by Stephen Totilo from Axios, she recently asked the court to postpone consideration of a lawsuit from 10 American gamers until the proceedings with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are completed.

News January 19, 2023

Drake Star: in 2022, the gaming industry has updated the record for the volume of transactions

Drake Star estimates that in 2022, the volume of announced and/or closed M&A agreements, investments and public offerings in the gaming industry amounted to $127 billion. This is 78.8% more than a year earlier.

News January 19, 2023

Media: Riot Games took up the cuts

Journalist Jacob Wolf reported that Riot Games has also started firing employees. According to him, the cuts take place in the HR, support and esports departments.

News January 19, 2023

The head of Ubisoft apologized for trying to shift responsibility for the fate of the company to employees

Last week, Yves Guillemot made an unfortunate statement. In a letter to employees, he indicated that the fate of Ubisoft is in the hands of developers, and urged developers to give their all. Now the head of the publishing house has apologized for incorrectly chosen words.

News January 19, 2023

Layoffs at Microsoft affected the gaming division

On January 18, Microsoft confirmed that it would lay off 10,000 people. As it became known to the media, among others, developers from Bethesda, 343 Industries and The Coalition were reduced.

Industry January 18, 2023

“It turned out to introduce game dev into the agenda of public discussion, and not just condemnation,” Vasily Ovchinnikov from RVI about the main thing for 2022

We continue the series of interviews in which we summarize the results of 2022 together with top managers and experts of the gaming industry. This time we talked with Vasily Ovchinnikov, the head of the “Organization for the Development of the Video Game Industry” (RVI).

News January 18, 2023

Xsolla transferred its business in Russia to an American legal entity

On January 17, the American Xsolla Holding Company became the almost complete owner of the three Perm “daughters” of Xsolla. As RB writes.RU with reference to data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, she now owns shares in the amount of 99.99% in LLC “Ixolla”, LLC “System Projects” and LLC “Ixolla Games”.

Industry January 18, 2023

“We have learned how to make hits on a regular basis,” Oleg Beresnev from Beresnev Games about the main thing for 2022

We continue to summarize the results of last year together with the top managers of the gaming industry. Next up is an interview with Oleg Beresnev, founder and CEO of Beresnev Games.

News January 18, 2023

European developers supported the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard

The European Federation of Game Developers (EGDF) has published an appeal in which it expressed support for the sale of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft. She said that the deal will bring more benefits to the gaming industry than harm.

News January 18, 2023

NetEase about Blizzard games publishing in China: “We were offered unequal and unfair conditions”

On January 17, Blizzard Entertainment announced that it had asked NetEase to temporarily extend the partnership, but was refused. Soon, the Chinese company issued a response statement in which it criticized the terms of the deal and the developers themselves.

News January 18, 2023

VK allowed to upload paid applications to RuStore

VK has added a new type of monetization to RuStore. Paid applications have become available in the marketplace.

News January 18, 2023

Unity will lay off almost 300 people amid the merger with ironSource and problems in the global economy

Unity is also making cuts. She announced that she would lay off 284 people.

News January 18, 2023

Media: Microsoft is going to lay off 11 thousand people. UPDATED

Sky News, citing sources, reported that Microsoft plans to cut 5% of the corporation’s staff. It is assumed that the dismissals will be announced in the near future.

News January 17, 2023

FAS fined Apple 1.17 billion rubles due to App Store policy

Apple must pay a fine of $17 million or 1.17 billion rubles in Russia. The fine was imposed by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS), — the agency was not satisfied that Apple was imposing the App Store payment system on developers.

Analytics January 17, 2023

AppMagic spoke about the situation with hyper-casual games in the fourth quarter of 2022

AppMagic analysts have published a report on hyper-casual games. They listed the 10 most popular games in the fourth quarter of 2022, and also shared key trends.

News January 17, 2023

Annual revenue of the Chinese gaming market fell for the first time in 20 years

In 2022, China’s gaming market earned $40.1 billion, which is 10.3% less than the previous year. As noted by SCMP with reference to the data of the Association of Audio-Video and Digital Publishers of China, previously for two decades the market revenue only grew.

News January 17, 2023

NetEase refused to renew the agreement on the publication of Blizzard games in China

Blizzard Entertainment wrote on Weibo that it tried to extend the agreement with NetEase for another six months, but without success.

News January 17, 2023

The Callisto Protocol was removed from sale on Russian Steam. UPDATED

On January 16, The Callisto Protocol stopped selling on Steam to residents of Russia. Neither the publisher Krafton nor the developers from Striking Distance Studios have publicly announced the suspension of sales, but the page with the game no longer opens in the region.

News January 17, 2023

In a month and a half, the mobile version of Vampire Survivors has been downloaded over 3 million times

Mobile Vampire Survivors is popular. Portal MobileGamer.biz With reference to the data, AppMagic reported that in the period from December 8 to January 16, the game collected 1.47 million downloads on Google Play and 1.68 million downloads on the App Store.

News January 17, 2023

Media: an employee of Motorsport Games threatened to merge the sources of four games if the studio does not pay the salary debts

At the beginning of the month, the Insider Gaming portal reported that the American studio Motorsport Games has not been paying employees from Russia since October 2022. Then the developers said they were going to go to court. But it seems that recently one of them decided to move to more aggressive measures.

All publications of the author

Microsoft asked the court to “freeze” the lawsuit of gamers who opposed the deal with Activision Blizzard

Drake Star: in 2022, the gaming industry has updated the record for the volume of transactions

Media: Riot Games took up the cuts

The head of Ubisoft apologized for trying to shift responsibility for the fate of the company to employees

Layoffs at Microsoft affected the gaming division

“It turned out to introduce game dev into the agenda of public discussion, and not just condemnation,” Vasily Ovchinnikov from RVI about the main thing for 2022

Xsolla transferred its business in Russia to an American legal entity

“We have learned how to make hits on a regular basis,” Oleg Beresnev from Beresnev Games about the main thing for 2022

European developers supported the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard

NetEase about Blizzard games publishing in China: “We were offered unequal and unfair conditions”

VK allowed to upload paid applications to RuStore

Unity will lay off almost 300 people amid the merger with ironSource and problems in the global economy

Media: Microsoft is going to lay off 11 thousand people. UPDATED

FAS fined Apple 1.17 billion rubles due to App Store policy

AppMagic spoke about the situation with hyper-casual games in the fourth quarter of 2022

Annual revenue of the Chinese gaming market fell for the first time in 20 years

NetEase refused to renew the agreement on the publication of Blizzard games in China

The Callisto Protocol was removed from sale on Russian Steam. UPDATED

In a month and a half, the mobile version of Vampire Survivors has been downloaded over 3 million times

Media: an employee of Motorsport Games threatened to merge the sources of four games if the studio does not pay the salary debts