Sweden – July 8, 2021 – The founders of Arrowhead Game Studios, the team behind one of the world’s biggest international game successes with the game Magicka, is now investing in the company Mind Detonator whose business concept is to capture talent at a very early stage and build the next generation of gaming developers far from the big cities. “Mind Detonator is a fantastic initiative that gives us a chance to give back and create an opportunity for more people to be part of a journey equally as fantastic as our own. I really wish there was something similar when we started our business”, sa ..read more

Deal gives studio more access to development resources BERLIN – June 22, 2021 – Berlin games studio YAGER and Tencent Holdings Ltd. said today they’re deepening their strategic cooperation through a new agreement involving additional investment.   The deal will see Tencent take a majority stake in YAGER, with the German game producer maintaining its independence. It will, at the same time, gain greater access to the tech giant’s development and other resources, along with strategic consultation. The existing company structure and management will remain with no changes.   “Tencent’s n ..read more

About 75% of the pandemic-driven increase in mobile games will persist indefinitely, according to a new report by market researcher IDC and digital ad platform LoopMe. The study analyzes one of the biggest questions about pandemic gaming: whether players who picked up the gaming habit during lockdown will continue playing games once they can go outside more and resume other social activities. Based on a survey of thousands of smartphone users, 63% of respondents said they played more games. According to users’ answers followup questions, the researchers estimated that 75% of the net gain in mo ..read more

Deal would see Chinese consortium take at least 18% of Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming developer Sina Corp is looking to expand its presence in gaming, as Reuters is reporting that a consortium led by the Chinese online giant is in talks to purchase a stake in Yoozoo Games. According to the report, Sina Corp, its spun out social network Weibo Corp, and a Shanghai statement investment firm are in discussions to acquire at least 18% of the Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming developer. Last week, the market value of that stake totalled about $447 million. Yoozoo Games founder Lin Qi died of pois ..read more

Roblox and Warner Bros. Pictures are bringing a big party to Roblox to celebrate In the Heights, the new musical film from Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. San Mateo, California-based Roblox has created an immersive experience that simulated the Washington Heights neighborhood from the film so that players can attend a big virtual launch party for the film. Players can party inside the space and then on June 10 and June 11, they can participate in special launch party activities. It’s the pandemic’s equivalent of a Hollywood premiere. Roblox went public in March at a $41.9 billion valuatio ..read more

Some indie developers are implying they have difficulties selling games on PlayStation consoles. That conversation started today in part because of social media posts from indie studios who allege that Sony’s services and backend tools (or lack thereof) make it difficult to succeed on the platform. That doesn’t mean no indie games see success on PlayStation — but Sony does not seem to prioritize smaller games. That lack of support from Sony means some studios see a bigger return on investment on competing platforms that have a smaller hardware install base. At least, that is the split that Whi ..read more

The game industry has a lot more unicorns — or startups valued at more than $1 billion — than it ever did before, according to game industry advisory firm Games One. Those unicorns are now worth more than $192.2 billion. Games One founder Evan Van Zelfden said in an interview with GamesBeat that the list of private game companies that have reached unicorn status show that there is a good pipeline of game companies headed toward initial public offerings (IPOs) or acquisitions. But they’re still relatively rare animals in the world of technology. The average gaming unicorn is 13.2 year ..read more

Tencent is busy taking applications for its fourth annual Tencent Games Without Borders Awards, which celebrates the best indie games from around the world. The applications opened on March 22, and they close on June 30. This year the entire process takes place online. This is becoming a bigger deal, and it’s a way for the world’s biggest game maker to give back to the game developers who make it successful. As it has grown, the program has helped draw attention to the games that would otherwise get missed in the sea of noise around the industry. And it helps surface developers who need to bre ..read more

Players of mobile game “High Heels!” will be able hit the in-game runway wearing apparel from the fashion designer and social activist. Fashion designer Kenneth Cole and interactive entertainment provider Zynga have announced a partnership to debut the Kenneth Cole PRIDE 2021 collection in the video game “High Heels!” “At Zynga we believe, unequivocally, that our strength is in our diversity and that we are called to celebrate our differences,” says Frank Gibeau, chief executive officer, Zynga.  We are proud to stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community in celebration of Pride Month. W ..read more

China’s game market will reach $55 billion and 781 million gamers by 2025, according to two new reports by market researcher Niko Partners. Niko Partners said the reports showed that mobile is by far the bright spot over PC gaming. China’s domestic mobile game revenue was $29.2 billion in 2020, up 30.9% from a year earlier. This is the highest annual growth rate for China’s domestic mobile game revenue since 2017. Mainland China had 681.7 million mobile gamers as of the end of 2020, up 7% from a year earlier. That is projected to reach 748 million in 2025. Mobile game revenue also grew 31% in ..read more