GDC 2024 begins with keynote on diversity and inclusivity
Old habits die hard in the business of game development, and industry figureheads are making a point of calling for more inclusivity at this yearβs conference and beyond. The annual Game Development Conference kicked off yesterday, and thousands will be attending to partake in the weekβs round-tables, lectures, tutorials, and...
Current in Gaming
Warner Bros. Discovery to double down on live-service games
Despite the publisher releasing Hogwarts Legacy last year to great success, Warner Bros. Discoveryβs head of gaming says live-services and mobile will be its main focus moving forward. If youβre into video games, itβs likely you picked up - or at least saw gameplay of - Hogwarts Legacy last year. Despite...
Whatβs up with the constant gaming layoffs in 2024?
The gaming industry has never exactly been synonymous with job security, but what is causing this unprecedented amount of layoffs in 2024? By 2027, the gaming industry is slated to be worth a staggering $282 billion. That said, what on Earth is going on with the continuous layoffs being reported...
Disney invests $1.5bn in Epic Games to create new Fortnite universe
Disney has just secured a $1.5bn stake in Epic Games to develop a new Fortnite universe incorporating all of its major properties β including Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, ESPN, and more. Epic Games has done it again! The latest major coup for the publisher comes in the form of a hefty...
Xbox gamers are not happy about full-screen ads
Unexpected changes to the Xbox dashboard have become commonplace in recent years, but the unsolicited introduction of full-screen ads is arguably the worst to date. If thereβs one unforgiving community you really donβt want to antagonise, itβs gamers. A bona fide way of doing so is to immediately interrupt our sessions...
Hackers leak more than a terabyte of Insomniac Gamesβ private data
A week after unsuccessfully blackmailing Sony for a $2 million payout, a ransomware outfit has leaked a trove of internal data from Insomniac Games totalling 1.67 terabytes. Oh, to be a game developer. In what is becoming an alarmingly regular occurrence, yet another major game studio has fallen victim to an...
βThe Day Beforeβ shuts down four days after launching
Our hunch was correct. After five years of so-called development, post-apocalyptic MMO βThe Day Beforeβ has vanished from stores four days into release. Its studio, Fntastic, has also liquidated. All signs point to a scam. A few hundred days late, and more than a buck short. RIP βThe Day Beforeβ (Dec 2023 β Dec 2023). So, it turns out The Day Before was actually real, it just delivered absolutely nothing that...
Game industry to surpass $300bn and 3.8bn players by 2030
The gaming industry is expected to reach a global annual revenue of $300bn and 3.8bn active players by 2030, according to research from Midia.
The gaming industry is the undisputed king of the entertainment farmyard, boasting three times the revenue of music and almost four times that of the silver screen, but how will the lay of the land look by 2030?
Spoiler alert: Gaming will remain firmly on top.
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Shell partners with Fortnite to push gasoline
In arguably the most brazen example of gross product placement in recent times, Shell is pushing gasoline propaganda through the vehicle of Fortnite.Β What are kids most worried about, climate change... what do kids really like, Fortnite. Roll out the prop!Β In what feels like a work of fiction Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker may have written, oil giant Shell has recently partnered with Fortnite to push its new βV-Power Nitro+β...
Developer protests force Unity to backtrack on greedy policy change
More than 500 game developers signed a collective letter threatening to turn off Unity ad monetisation in response to greedy and blindsiding policy changes announced earlier this month. Unity is already backtracking. Game developers are refusing to be taken for a ride, and weβre here for it. Earlier this month, Unity Technologies β the company behind the cross-platform game engine Unity β blindsided hundreds of game developers with a slew of...
