On the morning of December 5th, Nintendo set a new record for its stock value. At the start of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the price of one share was 9,332 yen ($62.3).

The studio Byterunners and publisher Movie Games reported that Drug Dealer Simulator 2 has been purchased by over 200,000 people worldwide. This milestone was achieved in just over five months since the game’s release.

Marketing expert Raj Patel has calculated that since the beginning of the year, gaming companies have announced layoffs of nearly 17,000 people. This number significantly exceeds the figures from the past several years.

The marketing company AppsFlyer published a report on mobile app monetization for the third quarter of 2024.

Torn Banner Studios has announced a restructuring. As part of this, the studio laid off an unspecified number of employees.

The South Korean company Smilegate, known for Lost Ark and Crossfire, has made strategic investments. It has invested in Absurd Ventures — the studio of Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser.

Another game development studio has closed down. The Canadian indie collective Sweet Bandits Studios announced its shutdown after eight years in operation.

Ubisoft has announced its decision to shut down XDefiant. The shooter has already disabled new user registrations and the ability to make in-game purchases with real money, and its servers will cease operations on June 3, 2025.

The Polish publisher PlayWay released its financial report for January-September 2024. The company announced that House Flipper remains its main hit even six years after its release.

CrazyLabs announced that its games have been downloaded over 7 billion times in total.

A UK court has permitted a class-action lawsuit against Apple Corporation regarding the commission rates in the App Store.

The Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) is calling on game developers to join their initiative to create an inclusive environment for visually impaired and blind gamers. To support this, the organization has released guidelines on integrating relevant features into their projects.

Last week marked the beginning of the autumn sale on Steam, significantly altering the landscape of the platform’s top-grossing products chart. Here’s what we observed.

The head of President Studio, Karol Konieczko, announced that Crime Scene Cleaner has surpassed 500,000 copies sold. It took the game less than four months to achieve this milestone.

Gamers spend a lot of time watching gaming video content on platforms like Twitch and YouTube. On average, they watch videos for 8.5 hours weekly, according to a study by MIDiA Research.

SayGames has completely ceased its operations in Belarus. The portal deb.by observed in the “Kartoteka” database that on November 14, 2024, the mobile publisher finalized the liquidation process of LLC “Kazigulni”—its Belarusian legal entity.

The company NetEase has laid off some employees, according to Chinese media reports. The layoffs reportedly took place at the Shenzhen office and primarily affected developers who were working on the mobile shooter Operation Apocalypse (天启行动).

A law will come into effect in Vietnam that controls the information disseminated on the Internet, including its impact on the video game market. This was reported by the analytical company Niko Partners.

The American company Motorsport Games announced that as of December 31, 2024, sales of several of its games will cease. It will remove all its NASCAR-branded projects and DLC from the shelves of digital stores.