[LATEST UPDATE: March 31st] As the COVID-19 novel coronavirus continues its spread and has hit pandemic level, there has been a growing impact on the game industry. The game sector’s problems, of course, are trivial compared to the millions impacted and the potential danger to millions more across the world.  However, the earlier Taipei Game Show and Mobile World Congress were previously cancelled amidst concerns around the virus, the potential arrival of the next-generation consoles may – or may not – [...]

Fortnite outfit Epic Games has launched a new multi-platform publishing initiative that promises to be ‘developer-first’ in its make-up and delivery. A number of high-profile game studios are already on board with the Epic Games Publishing effort, with Playdead, Remedy Entertainment and gen DESIGN announced as early partners. “We’re building the publishing model we always wanted for ourselves when we worked with publishers,” said Tim Sweeney, Epic Games founder and CEO. “gen DESIGN, Remedy, and Playdead are among the most innovative and talented [...]

Audio-first and audio-only games have to-date offered a fascinating micro niche within the gaming medium. In the late 1990s the visionary musician and game designer Kenji Eno released a game with very few visuals at all for the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast called Real Sound: Kaze no Regret. The idea was that blind and sighted players could enjoy the same experience. A few years later Nintendo debuted SoundVoyager for the GameBoy Advance, which challenged you not to look at the screen [...]

TheGamingEconomy Daily Digest brings you the trending business stories in gaming. In today’s edition: Google opens Playa Vista Stadia studio; Esports Players League completes USD$1m seed round; and Phoenix Games acquires Studio Firefly. Google opens Playa Vista Stadia studio Google has opened its second studio specifically focused on making games and entertainment content for the Stadia cloud platform. The studio will be based in Playa Vista, California, joining the existing operation in Montreal, Canada. Former Sony Santa Monica lead Shannon Studstill is to [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Google rolls out hypercasual platform for low spec devices and networks; CD Projekt now Europe’s second-largest game company; and Oculus making ‘significant headway’ against HTC’s VR effort. Google rolls out hypercasual platform for low spec devices and networks Google’s experimental tech ‘workshop’ Area 120 has launched Gamesnacks, a new HTML5-based mobile gaming platform that supports lower-spec phones, as well as networks such as 2G and 3G. Geared towards fast [...]

The classic video game arcade has almost become a trope for nostalgia. They appear across contemporary fiction as shorthand for a fondly remembered version of the 1970s and 1980s. The arcade’s ‘passing’ is often lamented in tandem with warm, fuzzy memories of growing up in those decades; even if that lamenting started while arcades were still active. Indeed, arcades are still active. Here in the UK there may be very little of any ‘arcade industry’ remaining, and that is true at many [...]

English Heritage yesterday found itself at the centre of something of a social media storm when it was noted that a recent marketing campaign by the history charity took a swipe at gaming. As highlighted in a tweet by Paul Kilduff-Taylor of indie developer Mode7, an English Heritage leaflet targeting parents asked on its cover: ‘isn’t it time to make their virtual world history?’. The message of the leaflet seemed to be explicitly leaning into the notion that youngsters should be [...]

In this special contributed feature by Wilhelm Voutilainen, senior game analyst at GameRefinery looks at what we can learn about mobile gaming by looking back to the previous year, pulling insights from the company’s considerable pool of data. — So here we are in 2020 – not just a new year, but the start of a whole new decade. We’ve returned to our desks full of heady optimism, and focused on the future. Looking back at the past year can often be [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: COD and King see Activision Blizzard exceed projected revenues; Ubisoft revenues trump revised forecasts, despite year-on-year drop; and Take-Two GAAP revenue down USD$300m YOY for it’s closing 2019 quarter. COD and King see Activision Blizzard exceed projected revenues Both Call of Duty and King’s suite of mobile games have seen Activision Blizzard’s revenues for the recent financial quarter close higher than expected, after the gaming giant previously lowered [...]

Today games industry trade body UKIE launched its new report, The UK Games Industry Census. Top of the list of its findings was the fact that the UK game industry is still predominantly male, white and relatively young. The census was independently conducted by the University of Sheffield, and pooled insight from approximately 20% of the UK’s full time game development staff, making it the largest and perhaps most thorough of its kind. While there may be few surprises for an [...]