Dynasty Warriors: Origins had a strong launch on Steam, loot boxes in Genshin Impact were banned from being sold to kids in the US without parental consent, and Marvel Snap and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang became casualties of the TikTok ban in the US. Here are the main events in the gaming industry from the past weekend.
Marvel Snap
- On Friday, January 17, Dynasty Warriors: Origins was released on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. Steam users warmly received the game. By Monday morning, it had garnered over 4,700 reviews, 94% of which were positive. According to SteamDB, on its peak day, January 19, there were 69,483 concurrent players in the Steam version of Dynasty Warriors: Origins — the best result for 2025 releases so far and the second-best result for Koei Tecmo's games portfolio, right after Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty with a peak full of 75,906 players.
- Rumors have been confirmed. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Hoyoverse have indeed settled a dispute regarding Genshin Impact. Previously, the developers were accused of misleading gamers about the chances of obtaining five-star characters. Also, Hoyoverse violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting children's data and sharing it with ad networks. Although Hoyoverse has not fully admitted guilt, it agreed to pay a $20 million fine and make other concessions. Specifically, Hoyoverse must now 1) ban players under 16 in the US from buying loot boxes in Genshin Impact without parental consent, 2) stop misrepresenting the drop rates and actual cost of items from loot boxes, 3) provide an option to purchase loot boxes with real money. Note: while the FTC uses the term "loot boxes" in its public statement, Genshin Impact does not feature traditional loot boxes; instead, it utilizes a more complex gacha mechanic.
- On January 19, some games by the Chinese company ByteDance, including Marvel Snap and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, stopped working in the US. This occurred following the temporary ban of TikTok, which is also owned by ByteDance, in the country. According to Marvel Snap developers, they did not expect the TikTok ban to impact their game. Although TikTok has since resumed operations in the US, Marvel Snap remains unavailable — developers promise to restore access to the game within a day. There is no information yet on whether Mobile Legends: Bang Bang has returned to the US.
- CI Games CEO Marek Tymiński announced on the social network X that the audience for the 2023 release Lords of the Fallen has exceeded 4 million. He did not specify how many players purchased the game and how many played through Game Pass subscriptions.