European human rights advocates have proposed banning premium currency in games, a company co-founded by Rockstar Games' Dan Houser has formed a studio with developers from Immortals of Aveum, and We Harvest Shadows has been added to over 100,000 wishlists. Here's what happened in the gaming industry over the weekend.
We Harvest Shadows
- Absurd Ventures, a studio owned by Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar Games, has launched a branch called Absurd Marin. The new team comprises about 20 people who previously worked at Ascendant Studios, the creator of the magical shooter Immortals of Aveum. Absurd Marin is led by Bret Robbins, the founder and game director of Ascendant Studios. It is reported that Absurd Marin has already started developing its debut game, which will be a narrative-driven action-adventure based on a new IP.
- The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has spoken out against the use of premium currency in games. They argue that the concept of in-game microtransactions in general, and premium currency in particular, is deceptive because developers do not allow consumers to understand the real value of in-game content. Moreover, it is claimed that developers pressure users into spending as much money as possible. BEUC has called on the European Commission to ban premium currency, at least for children, or to begin regulating its use if a ban proves to be insufficiently justified. BEUC has also filed a complaint against Epic Games, Electronic Arts, Roblox, Activision Blizzard, Mojang Studios, Supercell, and Ubisoft, accusing them of misleading players.
- Steam has once again set a record for the number of concurrent users on the platform. According to SteamDB, on September 15th, the Steam online user count reached 37.79 million. It is noteworthy that Steam has broken its own record for the third time in the last 30 days—on August 25th, the peak online count surpassed 37.26 million, and on September 8th, it rose to 37.63 million.
- We Harvest Shadows, a farm simulator set in the wilderness, is being developed by solo developer David Wehle. Recently, the creator shared that it only took We Harvest Shadows 22 days to reach over 100,000 wishlist additions on Steam. Wehle admitted that he was astounded by this achievement, as he did not expect to see these numbers for at least a year.