Steam was added to the unified registry of prohibited resources in Russia and then removed; the peak online users of Concord on Steam did not even reach a thousand people; the creators of Black Myth: Wukong announced that over four years, the game's team expanded more than fivefold. Here's what happened in the gaming industry over the weekend.
▫️Late last week, Roskomnadzor added the Community section of the Steam platform to the list of sites with information prohibited for distribution in Russia. However, less than a day later, it disappeared from the registry. The reasons for Steam's addition and subsequent removal from the registry were not explained. This is not the first time it has occurred. The last time Steam communities were included in the unified registry of prohibited resources in the country was in February 2024. As explained by Roskomnadzor at the time, prohibited information was found on Steam, but the platform promptly removed it at the agency's request.
▫️This Sunday, Steam set a new record for concurrent users. According to SteamDB, on the evening of August 25th, 37.26 million people were on the platform simultaneously. The previous record of 36.92 million users was recorded on June 30th during the Steam Summer Sale.
▫️Valve officially confirmed the existence of the multiplayer shooter Deadlock. It created a project page on Steam, permitted public discussions about the game, and lifted the ban on showcasing screenshots and gameplay videos. The company emphasized that Deadlock is still in the early stages of development, and access to game testing is only available by invitation. Valve did not disclose when Deadlock will be released. It's noteworthy that after the "announcement," Deadlock's audience grew significantly. At the time of writing, the shooter's peak online count is 89,203 people.
▫️The release of Concord, a multiplayer shooter from Firewalk Studios, took place on consoles and PC. At least on Steam, the launch was unsuccessful. According to SteamDB estimates, at its peak, Concord attracted only 697 concurrent players. However, the project's rating on Steam is "mostly positive," with Concord praised in 72% of 373 reviews. The game's rating on its PlayStation Store page is 2.86 out of 5, based on 8,000 reviews.
▫️A representative of Game Science studio told PC Gamer that at the time of the Black Myth: Wukong announcement in 2020, the game had only 20 people working on it. The studio understood that more employees were necessary to create the envisioned game and actively sought out individuals. Game Science admitted that this was challenging in China, as most local teams specialized in mobile games. Through the announcement trailer, Game Science hoped not only to attract gamers but also to interest developers worldwide who would later agree to join the Black Myth: Wukong team. It seems they succeeded. By the end of the development, the Black Myth: Wukong team comprised over 100 specialists.
▫️The Take-Two owned studio Visual Concepts South conducted layoffs, as reported by Game Developer based on social media posts from former studio employees. According to the information, art department staff, programmers, and producers were impacted by the cuts. The exact number of job losses is unknown. Visual Concepts South participated in developing several games in the 2K NBA series but is best known for the LEGO 2K Drive racing game.