Newzoo has published a forecast for the games market for this year. The company’s experts believe that the revenue from the games by the end of 2018 will amount to $ 137.9 billion. This is 13.3% more than the industry earned last year.

The Chinese IT giant expects to increase its stake in Bluehole to 11.5%. Now Tencent is considering the possibility of outbidding the developer’s shares from venture funds for $ 468 million.

The head of games at Microsoft, Phil Spencer, said that in the near future the company does not plan to develop its own game in the battle royale genre.

The development team from Oulu — Fingersoft — recently celebrated a new milestone. Her series of games about overcoming roller coasters on Hill Climb Racing cars began to have more than a billion downloads.

The Sensor Tower analytical platform has studied the impact of different features in the App Store gaming section in iOS 11 on title downloads. It turned out that promotion through features increases the installation of the game up to 450%.

The creators of the free-play MOBA action movie Super Monday Night Club decided to close the project. It turned out to be unprofitable for Uber Entertainment to support the game after the entry into force of the GDPR — the regulation on the protection of user data, which will begin to operate in the European Union from May 25.

Artist and designer Charles Zembillas admitted that he was disappointed with Activision publishing. The company did not inform him about the upcoming remaster of the Spyro The Dragon platformer, although it was he who created the main character and other characters of the original series.

The independent analytical resource Steam Spy has introduced a new feature — the service has a database of developers and publishers of video games on Steam.

Ken Wong, the leading designer of the mobile indie hit Monument Valley and creator of the interactive novella Florence, believes that frituplay is not a prerequisite for a successful mobile game. In his opinion, people are ready to buy high-quality titles.

As part of White Nights Prague 2018, Sjoerd De Jong from Epic Games demonstrated how it is possible to quickly create a cinematic video on the Unreal Engine.

Mobile advertising mediation platform Appodeal received $8 million from a group of investors led by the Moscow business incubator Impulse VC.

The fresh Frostpunk project from the Polish indie studio 11 bit studios has successfully started. In the first 66 hours after the release, the developers have implemented more than 250 thousand game copies. According to the studio, the sales revenue has already recouped all the costs of creating and promoting the game.

Sony has reported financial results for 2017. The company reported that 19 million PlayStation 4 consoles were sold last year. Since the release of the latest generation of PlayStation in 2013, Sony has sold more than 76 million PS4s worldwide.

Among the numerous imitators of Clash Royale, the golf simulator Golf Clash has achieved the greatest success. The game is among the top twenty highest-grossing mobile games in the United States and earns more than $ 10 million per month. Why she succeeded,” Adam Telfer, co—founder of Chatterbox Games, told GDC.

Microsoft reported earnings for the third fiscal quarter of 2018, which ended for the company on March 31 of this year. The Xbox division’s revenue during this period reached $2.251 billion. This is 18% more than at the same time last year.

California-based video game developer and publisher Daybreak Game Company has laid off an unspecified number of employees. The company is known as the creator of the multiplayer action movie H1Z1 — one of the first popular games in the “battle royale” genre.

The military tactical thriller Arma III has sold more than 4 million copies. This was announced by the game developer Bohemia Interactive.

Video from the report at White Nights Prague 2018 by Nikita Buyanov, Chief Operating Officer of the St. Petersburg studio Battlestate Games. Nikita shared his experience of preparing for the publication and independently launching the hardcore shooter Escape from Tarkov.

The head of the Belarusian Wargaming company. net Victor Sour (Victor Kisly) told about plans for the future. According to him, Wargaming intends to develop and support the flagship title World of Tanks for the next two decades.