[Last week in games] Unity cancels Runtime Fee, Microsoft cuts 650 jobs in its Xbox games division, and more news!
News in games that caught our eyes in the last week [9 to 15th of September 2024]
INDUSTRY NEWS
Developers behind 80 games sign deals with SAG-AFTRA (gamesindustry.biz)
Saudi Arabia's PIF to transfer gaming Stocks to Savvy Games Group (pocketgamer.biz)
Dutch Game Garden shutting down next year (gamesindustry.biz)
Breaking Down the Biggest Trends Shaping the Mobile Gaming Landscape (gamerefinery.com)
Top 3 Mistakes Gaming Startups Make - According to the VCs (deconstructoroffun.com)
Behind the scenes: How pre-production allowed us to occupy a mid-core niche with a loyal audience (pocketgamer.biz)
Korea clears bill to regulate overseas gaming firms (pocketgamer.biz)
Apple believes legacy console ports and an Honor of Kings spin-off will "take iPhone gaming to the next level" (mobilegamer.biz)
SAG-AFTRA signs interim agreement with 80 games to ensure AI protections (pocketgamer.biz)
“Treating what we are building not just as a game but as a social platform is very rare" (pocketgamer.biz)
Unity cancels Runtime Fee (gamesindustry.biz)
How Zynga went from “the worst operating company in the industry” to a $12.7bn sale (mobilegamer.biz)
Why India's mobile gamers are more willing to spend in battle royale hits Battlegrounds Mobile and Free Fire (pocketgamer.biz)
Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review August 2024 (gamerefinery.com)
INVESTOR
InMobi lands $100 million for AI-driven expansion and acquisitions (pocketgamer.biz)
Drama Studios announces new $2.5m seed series investment round (gamesindustry.biz)
Redly Games is Helsinki’s latest Supercell-backed startup (mobilegamer.biz)
Mother Games launches with $5M for mobile game Le Zoo (venturebeat.com)
Kinetix launches its $1 million fund initiative to accelerate AI-UGC in games (pocketgamer.biz)
Magify raises $1.1M for business intel and live ops for game studios (venturebeat.com)
Campfire raises $3.95M for generative AI game tool Sprites (venturebeat.com)
Turkey's Cypher Games raises $10m to take on match-3 market filled with "too many average-quality titles" (pocketgamer.biz)
52 Entertainment welcomes "millions of new players" through Blackout acquisition (pocketgamer.biz)
PUBG developer Krafton invests $89.5m in audio and short-form video streaming firm Spoon Labs (pocketgamer.biz)
Nazara invests $2.2 million in gaming community platform STAN (pocketgamer.biz)
Mother Games raises $5 million to fuel its games ambitions (pocketgamer.biz)
MARKET DATA
Street Fighter 6 reaches 4 million units sold (gamesindustry.biz)
Lifetime Netflix Games downloads pass 210m, GTA: San Andreas hits 25m, says Appmagic (mobilegamer.biz)
Dream Games' Royal Match has passed $3bn, says Appfigures (mobilegamer.biz)
Powerful Baseball Pro remains No.1 for second consecutive month (gamesindustry.biz)
Warhammer 40K: Space Marines 2 hits 2 million players in 24 hours (gamesindustry.biz)
Borderlands movie only made $31m at global box office (gamesindustry.biz)
Data digest: AFK Journey spikes, Stillfront splits, Blackout's buyout, Roblox’s wild ambitions, fresh market stats, more (mobilegamer.biz)
NEW GAMES
New games now: Balatro, Sonic Rumble, Total War, Marvel Snap takes China, another Square RPG dies, more (mobilegamer.biz)
Midnight Girl, the comic-inspired adventure game, is coming this month (pocketgamer.com)
The Abandoned Planet is an astral adventure into uncharted space, pre-registration now open (pocketgamer.com)
Venue is an interior design game that lets you remodel The Chainsmokers' in-game studio for a limited time, out now (pocketgamer.com)
The Ragnarok recreates the OG MMORPG on mobile, now open for pre-registration (pocketgamer.com)
Tencent’s upcoming RPG Honor of Kings: World set for 2025 release date (pocketgamer.biz)
The Elder Scrolls: Castles lets you build your dynasty from scratch, out now on iOS and Android (pocketgamer.com)
Coffee Stain's Satisfactory launches after five years in early access (venturebeat.com)
Honor of Kings: World is an upcoming RPG set in Tencent's hit MOBA, new gameplay out now (pocketgamer.com)
Maid of Sker, the Welsh-set horror game, is out now on iOS and Android (pocketgamer.com)
Flappy Bird is officially returning later this year, with an iOS and Android launch in 2025 (pocketgamer.com)
Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince has finally landed on Android and iOS (pocketgamer.com)
Stronghold Castles, the epic city building sim, is heading to Android and iOS soon (pocketgamer.com)
Sega’s Yakuza Wars is revealed to be a mobile game (pocketgamer.biz)
Earn Alliance launches Magic Muffins game on Telegram (venturebeat.com)
PUBLISHER NEWS
Roblox CEO hopes users capture a tenth of global gaming revenue on the path to a billion players (venturebeat.com)
Roblox to share more revenue with creators for paid games (theverge.com)
Jabali launches AI game engine Project Makina in closed Beta (pocketgamer.biz)
Roblox developers to earn real currency on PC later this year (pocketgamer.biz)
Lost Boys Interactive to lay off 139 staff (gamesindustry.biz)
Merge Games closes Chelford office and announces layoffs (gamesindustry.biz)
Roblox is on a mission towards one billion DAUs and "10% of all gaming revenue" (pocketgamer.biz)
Ubisoft's share price tumbles again as minority investor calls for the company to go private (gamesindustry.biz)
Microsoft cuts 650 jobs in its Xbox games division (pocketgamer.biz)
Claynosaurz and Gameloft partner on mobile game starring titular dinos (venturebeat.com)
Valve introduces improved parental controls with Steam Families (gamesindustry.biz)
Nexon establishes Dave the Diver developer Mintrocket as a new wholly owned subsidiary corporation (gamesindustry.biz)