Dubai wants to enter the top ten largest metaverse economies in the world. According to Bloomberg, the city authorities have launched a strategy under which the number of companies engaged in the metaverse and blockchain should grow fivefold in five years.

In mid-July, the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) talked to Russians about video games. It turned out that almost a quarter of respondents are interested in them.

The HoYoverse brand is based in Singapore. The developers have opened a new office that will be responsible for publishing and operating studio games around the world, and will also help develop new projects.

The management of Electronic Arts (EA) announced that the chief technical officer Ken Moss (Ken Moss) has decided to resign. As soon as he leaves the company, EA will divide his position into two and give it to Maria Radulovic-Nastic and Matt Tomlinson.

Square Enix has shared new figures about Final Fantasy X. The Japanese publisher reported that digital sales and physical shipments of the entire series have crossed the milestone of 20.8 million copies — it took 21 years.

In March, the Australian state-owned company Screen Australia opened the Games: Expansion Pack fund to support independent game studios. Yesterday she announced her first investment. Immediately 31 indie developers received a total of 4 million Australian dollars (2.7 million US dollars).

MetaX, a company developing VR and AR applications, has accused Meta* Corporation of violating the “META” trademark. She said that she had been developing this sign for more than 12 years “through blood, sweat and tears”, and because of the rebranding of Facebook* she faced serious problems.

Employees of the QA department at Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions) were inspired by the example of Raven Software and also decided to unionize. They announced that they had applied to the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The Digital Markets Act, or DSA, has forced Google to review its mobile store policy. The company said that starting from July 19, developers will be free to use third-party payment systems and pay a lower commission on Google Play. But only in non-gaming applications and for users from the European Economic Area.

In October 2020, Riot Games released League of Legends: Wild Rift on smartphones. Now this game earns more than all the other mobile titles of the company combined. According to Sensor Tower analysts, to date, App Store and Google Play users have already spent $505 million in League of Legends: Wild Rift.

Drake Star company told how the first half of 2022 passed for the gaming industry. She estimated that the volume of investments, public offerings, as well as M&A transactions announced and/or closed during this time reached a record high of $107 billion.

The District Court of California was not convinced by the arguments of a group of gamers who accused Sony of monopoly a year ago. Judge Richard Seeborg upheld the company’s appeal, but indicated that the plaintiffs could still try to appeal the verdict.

The developers of Forge of Empires and Elvenar decided to increase transparency in the company. InnoGames has published a list with annual salaries (before taxes) for 80% of positions. However, it is relevant only for Germany — in other countries, InnoGames employees can receive a different salary.

In Russia, Apple was officially recognized as a monopolist. The Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS) ruled that the company is abusing its dominant position in the market because it does not allow developers to inform App Store users about alternative payment methods.

Another developer decided to quit. Charles Boyd, Star Wars Creative Director: The Old Republic, announced that from August 5 it will no longer work in BioWare.

Studio 343 Industries is losing footage again. This time it was left by Nicolas Bouvier, the art director of Halo Infinite.

One of the Roblox employees was subjected to a hacker attack. According to Motherboard, with the help of phishing, the attackers got 4 GB of the company’s internal data, including email addresses and identity documents of Roblox developers.

Bungie will be suing streamer Luca Leon, who specializes in Destiny 2. The studio accused him of using cheats, circumventing bans with 13 new accounts, selling logos and threatening employees.

Rostec can develop a domestic game engine. Sergey Chemezov, the head of the state corporation, asked the Ministry of Finance to support the initiative and help with financing. In particular, he offered to transfer the funds of the Rosinfokominvest fund to Rostec.