Today, the concept of metaverses in the gaming industry is becoming increasingly popular. Microsoft reported that the authors of content for Minecraft have already earned over $350 million on it. And individual game developers for Roblox earn hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars a year. We tell you what metaverses are and why developers are actively investing in them.

Russia’s largest bank “Sber” will undertake the development and publication of video games. To do this, he launched the “Sber Games” direction within the framework of the subsidiary company “Sberintertainment“. Alice Chumachenko, founder and former CEO of Game Insight, became the co-founder and CEO of the gaming business.

Electronic Arts has once again got into a scandal related to loot boxes. The network published an internal document of the company, which directly says that the developers are doing everything possible to force gamers to use the FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) mode. That’s just EA itself calls it all a “sensational story with a distortion of facts.”

The well-known game analyst Benji-Sales compared the ratings of The Oscar and The Game Awards over the past few years. The last TGA had a large audience almost 9 times, while the popularity of the main film award is rapidly falling. However, comparing these ceremonies in this way is not entirely correct.Geoff Keighley and Josef Fares at TGA 2017

The post-IDFA era has arrived. The iOS 14.5 update was released yesterday, which “blocks the oxygen” to the advertising identifier. From now on, iOS applications should ask the user at the first launch whether he agrees to share personal data.

Sony continues to actively develop ideas that, in theory, can facilitate the passage of even the most complex and demanding games. The corresponding patents of the company speak about the movement in this direction. Among them is an expert assistance system, difficulty adjustment based on machine learning, as well as an AI assistant for passing certain sections of the game.Demon’s Souls (2020)

Today it became known about the government’s plans to establish a special fund to support games that popularize Russian history and culture. It is reported that the main initiators — Mail.ru Group and Yandex, and the project itself can work by analogy with the Cinema Fund.The initiative was included in the latest edition of the second package of measures to support the IT industry, Kommersant reports.

Now you can download not only games, but also software from the Epic Games Store. The store even has a special section for them. There are only six programs available in it so far, but Epic Games promises that there will be more of them over time. One of their first programs of the section was itch.io — store of indie games without DRM.

Valve has announced the official release of two new features on Steam at once. Playtest and simplified game search came out of beta. We share details about each of them.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is introducing a special esports program. It will be held in cooperation with international sports federations and game publishers before the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo. Among the disciplines are baseball, cycling, rowing, sailing and motorsport.Gran Turismo Sport

In the conflict between the studio Frogwares and the publisher Nacon, which began after the release of The Sinking City, new details have emerged. Relations between the companies began to deteriorate even at the development stage. The key problems are a lack of trust and communication, a dispute over money from an exclusive deal with EGS, unpaid royalties, as well as a secretly developed port for the Nintendo Switch.The investigation was published on April 20…

Apple has announced the release date of iOS 14.5 — April 26, 2021. Recall that it is with this update that a new privacy policy will come into force on the platform, which will allow users to block the IDFA advertising identifier.

Since its foundation, Techland has remained a closed company. However, now the developers of Dying Light have become a “joint stock company”. This may indicate that the company is preparing to enter the stock exchange.Dying Light 2

The gaming startup Manticore Games has become one step closer to creating a full-fledged metaverse of games. The Core platform, which is considered a potential competitor to Roblox, has completed open testing and appeared in early access exclusively for the Epic Games Store.

IO Interactive shared its plans for the development of the company. She has already opened the third studio in a row, which will help them, among other things, in working on an unannounced project on a new IP. In addition, the authors of the Hitman series have announced their intention to engage in publishing.This was announced by the CEO of IO Interactive Hakan Abrak (Hakan Abrak) in an interview with the publication GamesIndustry.biz .

Many experts in the gaming industry are afraid that they will not be able to save enough money and retire. Some even think that they will have to work until they die. Both indie developers and industry veterans, like game designer Josh Sawyer, shared their opinions on this topic.

Epic Games has announced the release of the MetaHuman Creator editor in early access. It allows you to create realistic human models in a few minutes.

Creative Assembly continues to expand. Now 800 people work in the company’s three studios, which makes the authors of the Total War series the largest game developer in the UK.Photo: Creative Assembly

The Kongregate game portal is gradually moving away from publishing ambitions and is paying more and more attention to internal development. According to the company’s management, now it intends to focus on creating idle games popular among its users. Many of the new projects will be made under license.