Steam is the most popular gaming platform of the last two years. This conclusion was reached by the PR manager of TweakTown, who compared the MAU of four large console and desktop platforms.

The Public Investment Fund (PIF, aka Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund) continues to invest in video games. He invested $235 million in Korean NCSOFT, thereby becoming its second largest shareholder.

Last week, Steam Deck returned to the Steam bestseller chart and very successfully — it immediately got to the second line of the rating. The first place has been taken by one of the editions of Elden Ring for the third week in a row.

A series of restrictions from Google continues. Russian companies and private users can no longer create new accounts in AdSense, AdMob, Google Advertising Manager and Google Cloud.

The revenues of the American gaming market continue to decline. NPD Group analysts report that in February Americans spent 6% less on video games, hardware and accessories than a year ago. As for individual games, the sales leaders were Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West.

The Versus.Legal law firm has collected up-to-date information as of March 11 about the current restrictions that IT companies operating in Russia may face.

Apptica analytical service has prepared a report on the applications that appeared in the App Store this winter. At the same time, experts shared the forecast for spring. We tell them what they found out.

From today, Russian users can download only free games and applications in the App Store and Google Play. Both stores have stopped accepting payments by cards of domestic banks.

Yesterday, several other gaming companies announced that they were leaving the Russian and/or Belarusian markets. The list includes Sony Interactive Entertainment, WarnerMedia, Rovio and others.

Supercell, which previously supported Ukraine, announced its withdrawal from the Russian and Belarusian markets. The company has already removed titles from stores in these countries.Supercell made such a statement today on its social networks and on the official Braw Stars website.

New pool of gaming vacancies from App2Top.ru . This week they are wanted: a product manager at Deus Craft, a leading game designer at Game Insight and a PR manager at WN Media Group. 

Vlad Suglobov, the head of G5 Entertainment, in an interview with Affärsvärlden told about the situation in the company and the immediate plans. In particular, the mobile publisher is launching operations in two more countries.

Chinese gaming companies risk facing even tougher regulation from the authorities. This time, politicians have proposed a number of additional measures, including bringing parents to justice and a complete ban on games for minors.The issue of regulation of the gaming industry was raised during the recent sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the People’s Political Consultative Council of China (CPPCC).

Take-Two is facing a new $5 million class action lawsuit related to loot boxes in NBA 2K series games. According to parents, such gambling mechanics deceive young users and mislead them.The lawsuit was initially filed on behalf of a minor player and his guardian on January 11.

Valve has summed up the results of 2021 for its digital Steam store. In many ways, it was more successful than the previous year. For example, the platform has increased the number of active users, and those, in turn, have spent more money on games.

An international company with Ukrainian companies, Room 8 Group, specializing in outsourcing, has decided to terminate cooperation with specialists from Russia and Belarus. Separately, she said that she would direct all her profits for 2022 to help Ukrainian citizens and refugees.Image: instagram Room 8 Group

Twitch has announced that it will stop making payments to Russian streamers for now. The reason is sanctions against Russian banks and problems with payment methods.

Activision Blizzard recognized the problem of attracting personnel. In the context of litigation and increased pressure, it is difficult for a company to retain old and hire new qualified employees. If the difficulties drag on, it will hit the whole business hard.This was reported by Axios with reference to the recently published Activision Blizzard report for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Russian users will no longer be shown targeted ads on Facebook. Meta has suspended its placement in the country. She also stopped working with any advertisers from Russia.