The California Assembly approved a bill on online game preservation, Mina the Hollower has a budget of $5 million, and Path of Exile 2's online presence on Steam increased more than 18 times thanks to a major update. Here are the main events in the gaming industry over the past weekend.
- The American bill AB 1921, also known as the Protect Our Games Act, is one step closer to being enacted. The California State Assembly approved the document with a majority: 43 voted in favor, and 16 opposed. Now, AB 1921 will be reviewed by the state senate and governor of California. As a reminder, AB 1921 is essentially similar to the more prominent Stop Killing Games initiative. The bill proposes to require developers to announce the shutdown of online game servers at least 60 days in advance, after which they must either release an offline mode or refund gamers.
- Co-founder of indie studio Yacht Club Games, Sean Velasco, gave an interview to Bloomberg. During the conversation, he revealed that the development of the platformer Mina the Hollower cost $5 million, significantly exceeding the budget of the team's previous games. Such large production expenses have become a serious issue for Yacht Club Games. It is worth noting that back in late 2025, Velasco stated that the studio's future depends on the success of Mina the Hollower. He does not retract his words now but remains optimistic, helped by the game's initial results. Velasco reported that within 24 hours of its release, it sold 55,000 copies on Steam alone. "If we don't sell a million copies in the end, I'll be disappointed," said the developer.
- Late last week, Path of Exile 2 received a content update called Return of the Ancients, the largest in the game's history. Its release, combined with free weekends, encouraged hundreds of thousands to return to the action RPG. According to SteamDB data, on Sunday, May 31, the online presence of Path of Exile 2 on Steam reached 421,596 players — 18.2 times more than before the debut of Return of the Ancients. However, a record was not set — in December 2024, when Path of Exile 2 entered early access, the peak number of concurrent players in its Steam version was 578,569. It may be that this figure can only be surpassed after the full release.