The State Duma called for The Sims 4 to be banned in Russia, Google denied rumors about the closure of Stadia, and the Indonesian authorities blocked Steam, Epic Games Store and a number of other platforms — we tell you what happened in the gaming industry this weekend.
▪️Google announced that from the end of August, applications whose icons, names and descriptions deceptively hint at a connection with other developers will be banned on Google Play. The company also indicated that it plans to introduce changes to the rules related to advertising in games.
Tatiana Butskaya, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, proposed banning The Sims 4 in Russia. The reason was a bug that caused the characters-relatives in the game to want to enter into romantic relationships with each other.
▪️Concept artist Sail Lin has accused the creators of Call of Duty: Warzone of stealing a design for a skin with a Samoyed dog. He said that he drew the image in December 2019, and in July 2022, Raven Software presented a similar skin. The studio has not publicly commented on the allegations, but has removed the controversial images from the game’s website.
A few days ago, the network started talking that Google intends to completely close Stadia by the end of the summer. However, the company denied the rumors. She assured that she is not going to abandon the service and plans, on the contrary, to release more games.
▪️Indonesia has restricted access to several online platforms, including Steam, Epic Games Store, Origin, Yahoo and PayPal. This was due to the fact that the companies that own them have not registered a business in the country. It is reported that shortly after the ban, at least Valve decided to still get a license from the local government. The Indonesian authorities have also contacted the rest of the companies.
Activision Blizzard continues to experiment with monetization. They write on Reddit that the company has begun to ask gamers how much they are willing to pay for skins in Overwatch 2. For example, whether they agree to give $45 for mythical looks and $25 for legendary ones.
▪️StreamElements and Rainmaker.gg has prepared a new report on streaming services. They said that in June Twitch users watched broadcasts for 1.7 billion hours. This is 6% less than in May. At the same time, Facebook Gaming* users spent 425 million hours streaming (+21%), and YouTube Gaming users – 290 million hours.
▪️Diablo Immortal has already been downloaded 30 million times. The last time the developers shared the success of the title a week ago, before its release in China. Then the number of Diablo Immortal installations was 20 million.
*Belongs to the Meta company banned in the Russian Federation.