Speaking at Devcom today, Red Meat Games creative content strategist Judy Ehrentraut discussed the importance of ethically training generative AI models, and how certain tools can be utilised during game development.

"AI is the biggest buzzword and it's either hyped as the new way to solve every productivity problem, or it's received with a groan," Ehrentraut acknowledged.

"I think both of these takes are really valuable, because disruptive technologies are not necessarily good or bad. It depends on how they are used, and it really depends on the approach that we take and whether it's ethical or not."

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Speaking at Devcom, Stray Fawn co-founder Philomena Schwab shared how the Zurich-based studio has survived for the past eight years, from refusing to partner with a publisher to the importance of community support when developing a game.

Schwab emphasised that Stray Fawn prides itself on being an independent studio, with no publisher or external investors.

Even when its first game, genetics survival title Niche, started getting publisher interest after crowdfunding success, the studio continued to decline offers. This was due to previous experience from making a mobile game which had a publisher that didn't go so well.

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Climax Studios has opened a new location in Edinburgh.

The studio opened its doors in February, and has been recruiting a team over the past few months.

The co-developer plans to continue hiring to further support the studio and "better collaborate with partners" which include firms such as Microsoft and Sony.

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Trigger warning: This article contains references to rape and sexual assault

Games industry performers have raised concerns of being asked to act out explicit sexual content without notice.

In a recent report by BBC News, actors said that the "cultural secrecy around projects" results in scripts not being shared until the day of filming.

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The Sunday Times has published its first Gaming Rich List 2024, which includes the top 30 richest game developers and players in the UK.

Playrix founders Igor and Dmitry Bukhman topped the list, who have earned an estimated £12.54 billion. They also ranked at No.27 on The Sunday Times Rich List 2024.

Improbable co-founder and CEO Herman Narula came in second with £780 million, followed by King co-founder and former CEO Riccardo Zacconi at £410 million.

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North Beach Games has announced the opening of a new studio in Prague, and development of Stranded Deep 2.

The new studio is led by CTO and creative director Sam Edwards (Beam Team Games, creator of Stranded Deep), and general manager Tomáš Pšenička (Keen Software House, creator of Space Engineers).

The core development team will work primarily on-site in Prague, with support for remote staff working globally. It will focus on creating and supporting survival crafting games.

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Riot Games has re-organised its leadership in its esports and entertainment segments.

Current esports president John Needham has been appointed president of publishing and esports, and will "create new integrated experiences" that will combine its esports, music, and creative publishing sectors.

Needham was hired as managing director of Europe in 2017, and has since held various leading roles. Prior to Riot, he was head of European publishing at Lionhead and CEO of Cryptic Studios.

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A new report from Niko Partners, in partnership with the Saudi Esports Federation, says that markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council accounted for $2.24 billion in player spending in the Middle East and North Africa last year.

The Localisation in the MENA Region white paper provides "insights about approaches to localisation" in MENA countries, with a specific focus on GGC markets which include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The report forecast that the compound annual growth rate of player spending will grow by 7.7% to reach $3.48 billion in 2028, while the number of gamers is estimated to reach 38.9 million with a growth rate of 2.9%.

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Adam Boyes is leaving Iron Galaxy after eight years with the developer.

Boyes announced his departure in a blog post, in which he detailed that he'll be leaving his position by the end of the year.

Boyes became CEO of the studio in June 2016 having previously held leadership roles at PlayStation, Capcom, Midway Games, and Electronic Arts.

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Genvid's Silent Hill: Ascension has won the award for Outstanding Innovation in Emerging Media Programming at the 76th Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

The interactive streaming series ran from October 31, 2023 to July 15, 2024. Comprised of 22 episodes, the series followed a choose-your-own-adventure style narrative with story outcomes decided by viewers.

Silent Hill: Ascension was developed in Unreal Engine utilising the platform's MetaHuman Creator.

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Google has opened applications for its 2024 Indie Games Fund.

A group of Latin American game studios will receive a share of $2 million, with each recipient receiving between $150,000 to $200,000.

The fund is open to indie game developers that have already launched a game on Google Play or other mobile platforms, PC and console.

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Game publisher Reforged Studios has acquired Ground Shatter and Extra Mile Studios.

Ground Shatter is led by founder and director James Parker, and is the developer behind roguelike deck-builder Fights in Tight Spaces.

Extra Mile Studios is led by Bobby Farmer, and is known for providing co-developer services on Revolution Software's Broken Swords series.

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Mad Crusader has announced it will invest $30 million in premium AA game IPs developed in its incubation program.

The Cyprus-based company will share the investment in four rounds within two years, which will support graduates in developing initial concepts into commercial IP products.

Investors and residents of the incubator program "will have an equity stake in the product, and an equity share in Mad Crusader's game development holding."

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Valve has confirmed SteamOS support is coming to the Asus ROG Ally and other third-party handhelds.

As reported by The Verge, Valve designer Lawrence Yang confirmed the news after an update had been spotted in the latest SteamOS patch notes.

"The note about ROG Ally keys is related to third-party device support for SteamOS," said Yang. "The team is continuing to work on adding support for additional handhelds on SteamOS."

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TerraTech developer Payload Studios has announced a wave of layoffs affecting 25% of its workforce.

CEO and founder Russ Clarke shared the news on LinkedIn, citing the "struggles of affecting the wider industry" for the decision.

"We tried very hard to avoid this, and I won't pretend that we got everything right over the last few years – but ultimately the games market has been very tough in recent times, and shows little sign of getting easier," Clarke wrote.

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Antstream Arcade is coming to PlayStation, making it the first third-party cloud gaming service on the platform.

Announced during Antstream's August 2024 Connection presentation yesterday (August 14), the retro game service will be available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

It will cost $39.99 for an annual pass or $99.99 for a lifetime subscription, with an official launch date to be announced in the coming weeks.

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Eschatology Entertainment has raised $11.3 million in series A funding, led by Krafton.

The funding round also included participation from GEM Capital and The Games Fund, both of which invested $4 million in the game studio in 2022 which supported initial development and hiring.

This new investment will be used to help launch the release of its first title, a Souls-like first-person-shooter set in the apocalyptic Wild West.

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Intel has sold its 1.18 million share stake in British semiconductor company Arm.

Disclosed in a regulatory filing, Intel reportedly raised an estimated $146.7 million from the sale based on Arm's average stock price between April and June, according to calculations by Reuters.

Arm debuted on the Nasdaq Fund Network in September last year, ending its first day of trading at $63.59 following an IPO price of $51. It was the fifth most traded stock in the world during its debut.

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Baldur's Gate 3 has won the award for Best Game or Interactive Work at the Hugo Awards.

It is the second video game in history to do so, the first being Hades when the award was introduced in 2021 as a temporary category.

The World Science Fiction Convention, who present the awards, voted to make it permanent last year as reported by PC Gamer.

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A new report by mobile game company Sandsoft says that 81% of mobile developers are working on a new title, while 83% have raised capital to develop, launch, or market a game.

The Publisher Perception Report, made in partnership with Atomik Research, surveyed 454 developers across the USA, Spain, and France between June 4 and June 10, 2024.

The majority of developers (47%) are testing a prototype, while 9% are at the soft launch stage. Hybrid-casual is the most popular genre in development (43%) followed by casual (34%).

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Japanese game company Marvelous has announced structural changes within its subsidiaries Marvelous USA and Xseed Games.

Xseed will continue to publish third-party titles including upcoming games The Big Catch and Moonlight Peaks, while Marvelous USA will focus on publishing Marvelous games such as Story of Seasons and the Rune Factor series.

Marvelous USA will also provide its parent company with business, operational, and marketing support to its arcade business unit which is expanding to the West with Naruto Emblem Battle.

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Newzoo has estimated that the global games market will reach $187.7 billion in 2024, a 2.1% increase year-on-year, according to its latest report.

This is slightly lower than the market analysis firm's initial forecast earlier this year, in which it predicted that the global games market would reach $189.3 billion.

Newzoo has also forecast the compound annual growth rate from 2022 to 2027 will grow by 3.1% with the market expected to reach $213.3 billion in three years.

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Konami's Powerful Pro Baseball 2024-2025 was Japan's best-selling title in July, moving a combined total of 260,000 units during the first two weeks following its launch on July 18.

Released on Switch and PS4, the title beat its predecessor eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2022 which had a combined total of 202,000 units according to Famitsu's latest sales data.

July's best-selling title Luigi Mansion 2 HD moved down a spot to No.2 with 71,000 copies sold, while Mario Kart 8 climbed back to No.4 having shifted 37,000 units.

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Keywords Studios has acquired Wushu Studios for an undisclosed sum.

The Liverpool-based studio was founded in 2017 by Alan McDermott and provides work-for-hire services to publishers and developers in addition to porting, remaster, and live support services.

Wushu has worked on games including Baldur's Gate 3, Fall Guys, Forza Horizon 5, The Ascent, and State of Decay 2.

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The Borderlands movie made a global box office total of $16.5 million during its opening weekend.

As reported by Variety, the film had a production budget of $115 million alongside marketing and distribution costs of $30 million. The adaptation made $8.8 million in the US box office, which amounts to 6% of what it cost to make.

According to studio sources, 60% of the movie's production costs were covered by international presale tickets.

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Generative AI platform Reforged Labs has raised $3.9 million a seed funding round led by global venture capital firm DCM.

The firm, which provides AI tools to game studios for video advertisements, aims to use the funding to further develop its technologies so it can extend its services to more clients.

Reforged Labs saw additional contributions from Y Combinator, Epakon Capital, Goodwater Capital, Phoenix Fund, and Asymmetry Ventures.

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Online games platform Arkadium has launched a publishing service for browser games.

The firm is offering third party publishing to browser-based developers following the success of its developer program which opened in April.

Arkadium has also established a new $1 million fund which will provide developers financial support and resources.

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Remedy has published its financial results for the first half of 2024, and reported an increase in revenue and "improved profitability" compared to the same period last year.

It also announced that, while Alan Wake 2 has yet to generate royalties, the game has recouped most of its development and marketing expenses since its release last October.

Q2 2024:

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Xsolla has opened a new office in Montreal in partnership with advertising firm GameAddik.

This is the Xsolla's first office in Canada, and will serve as its operations hub for the region. It aims to expand operations by hiring up to 50 new regional employees over the next two years.

The firm is planning to hire roles across business development, customer support, and technical services.

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Unity has released its financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2024, showing a decrease in revenue which "exceeded previous guidance" of between $420 million and $425 million for Q2.

It also announced the departure of CFO Luis Visoso, who joined the firm in 2021, and the appointment of current chief accounting officer Mark Barrysmith as interim CFO, followed by another two executive hires.

Create Solutions was the biggest revenue for Unity's business this quarter, which came primarily from game subscriptions (which grew 14%) and industries – the latter making up 18% of Create Solutions total revenue.

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Roblox has been banned in Türkiye following a decision made by the government yesterday.

As reported by our sister site Eurogamer, the country's Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç announced on social media that the platform had been banned "due to content that could lead to the exploitation of children."

In response, Roblox said: "We respect the laws and regulations in countries where we operate and share local lawmakers' commitment to children. We look forward to working together to ensure Roblox is back online in Türkiye as soon as possible."

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Last month, My Games announced the launch of its new publishing label Knights Peak Interactive.

Led by vice president of publishing Eugenio Vitale, global brand and marketing director Mario Gerhold, and creative director Jan-Eric Lauble, Knights Peak is focused on premium PC and console titles. The label has already signed five projects, and plans to publish three this year.

We speak to Vitale about My Games' decision to launch its publishing label, with the executive telling us Knights Peak is a way for the company to add a new pillar to its business, focusing on the publishing of premium titles from second and third party studios.

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Nazara Technologies has acquired UK based Fusebox Games for $27.2 million.

Founded in 2016, Fusebox is a mobile free-to-play studio based in the UK. It publishes interactive story titles including Love Island, and has similar games in development based on other global television IPs.

"We see a large opportunity in building an IP based global gaming business that benefits from our core base in India where we can support global studios through enhanced user acquisition strategies, data analytics, live operations, and new initiatives," said Nazara CEO and founder Nitish Mittersain.

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Bandai Namco has published its first quarter financial results, and has recorded a significant increase in both its net sales and profits.

For the three months ended June 30, 2024, net sales increased by 24.8% year-over-year to ¥280 billion ($1.9 billion), while profit rose by 56.3% to ¥34 billion ($233 million).

The publisher saw a boost in its digital entertainment sales, which increased by 55.8% to ¥106 billion ($725 million).

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Mobile developer Jam City has been affected by layoffs.

A representative confirmed to Polygon's Nicole Carpenter that 10% of its staff were made redundant last Friday (August 2), estimated to be around 85 people.

Carpenter shared an email sent to staff by Jam City CEO Josh Yguado, who attributed the decision to the current market situation.

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A new AA studio has reportedly been set up within Blizzard.

That's according to a report by Windows Central, which said Microsoft and Activision had allegedly "approved the creation of a new team" within Blizzard mostly made up of employees from mobile developer King.

Sources told the publication that the new studio will work on AA games "based on existing franchises within the Blizzard universes", highlighting games such as World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and StarCraft.

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Game Informer has been shut down after 33 years in publication.

As reported by Kotaku, staff were reportedly called into a meeting on Friday (August 2) by parent company GameStop where they were informed of the closure, that the entire team was laid off, and that severance packages would be put in place.

GameStop shared a statement to social media the same day, announcing that the site was shutting down.

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Elden Ring topped Circana's US charts for June, with sales boosted by the release of its Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

The From Software title was the best-selling game across PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam. The last time Elden Ring was the best-selling game in the US was in May 2022 following its release.

It was also the most-played game on Steam according to Circana's engagement charts for June, while Fortnite took first place on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.

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Paradox Interactive has indefinitely delayed Prison Architect 2 ahead of its initial release date this September.

In a blog post, the development team behind the sequel cited that the game needed improvement in its performance and content.

"Our continuous internal reviews and beta test groups have highlighted areas that we need to focus on more which we need to address before launch to ensure players get a good experience in the game," it wrote.

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Intel had announced it is reducing its global workforce by around 15,000 employees.

As detailed in its Q2 2024 financial results published yesterday, Intel revealed a $10 billion cost reduction plan which will include a more than 15% reduction in headcount "to resize and refocus" the company.

The majority of layoffs will be completed by the end of 2024, it said.

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Nintendo reported a significant decrease in sales and net profit for the first quarter of FY2025, in what marks the eighth year of the Nintendo Switch console.

The publisher saw decreases across all segments, which it attributed to Q1 2025 being relatively quiet in terms of releases compared to the same period last year, which saw the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

For three months ended June 30, 2024:

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Meta published its second quarter earnings today, and has recorded a loss of $4.5 billion in its AR/VR Reality Labs division.

This is the second reported loss of the year in this segment, with Reality Labs reporting a loss of $3.8 billion during its first quarter. Its Q2 revenue was up 28% year-over-year, largely driven by sales of Quest headsets.

Expenses in this segment increased 21% year-over-year to $4.8 billion due to "higher-headcount related expenses and Reality Labs inventory costs."

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At Develop Brighton last month, Criterion general manager Charity Joy gave a talk on the art of leading people who are themselves managing other leaders, sharing the tools she's picked up along the way in her career in game development.

Joy emphasised the importance of curiosity, trust, and clear communication when it comes to supporting managers, and provided strategies for delivering effective feedback and aligning people across an organisation – especially when guiding people in areas of expertise you may not otherwise have.

Having a curious nature and the ability to be open and ask questions is important when you're leading leaders. But Joy noted that a "sense of knowing" can get in the way of this curiosity.

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The East Asia games market generated $30.1 billion in 2023, and is expected to decline by 2.9% in 2024 to $29.2 billion according to a new report by Niko Partners.

The East Asia Games Market Model report covers Japan and Korea, markets that also saw a slight increase in their number of gamers in 2023, to 96.3 million players.

Mobile was the largest segment, accounting for 68.4% of revenue in the region.

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Web-based mobile distribution platform Dotplay has secured $1 million in a pre-seed funding round.

Led by venture capital firm Transcend Fund, the investment will be used to develop its platform further and expand its core team of developers and engineers.

Dotplay was co-founded by CEO Iskander Pataudi (former director of core product at AppLovin's Lion Studios) and CTO Bartosz Alksnin (former lead developer at King) in March 2024.

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Over 90% of Call of Duty players play less when skills-based matchmaking is deprioritised, according to new research published by Activision.

In a recently released white paper, the publisher researched how skills-based matchmaking affects its player base. This form of matchmaking looks at how a player's skill is defined so they can be matched with similar players during a game.

The publisher ran a test in early 2024 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, in which 50% of players experienced a decrease in skills-based matchmaking.

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SAG-AFTRA has confirmed that Grand Theft Auto 6 is exempt from the video game strike due to a previous agreement.

As reported by Kotaku, any title in development before September 2023 is exempt from the strike, as well as live-service games.

"We're obviously not happy about that," SAG-AFTRA chief contracts officer Ray Rodriguez told Aftermath. "That language was bargained into one of the legacy interactive media agreements before [the] merger [of SAG-AFTRA]. It's language that the merged union basically inherited, that I think is insane. But it's there."

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