Developer and publisher Look North World has raised an additional $2.25 million in seed funding, bringing the total raised to $4.5 million. The round was led by London Venture Partners, with participation from Bandai Namco Entertainment 021 Fund, Overwolf, Crush Ventures, the venture arm of Crush Music, Hasbro, Pix Capital, and Hibbard Road Partners. Funding will support development of original titles, of which the studio currently has 15 in development, and researching how games are built using user generated content. Read more ..read more

The UK's performing arts and entertainment union Equity has shared its support of SAG-AFTRA's video game strike announced yesterday. In a statement issued on its website, assistant general secretary John Barclay said Equity "stands in total solidarity" with its sister union that has "taken the brave decision to authorise a strike against US video games companies." "Voice and performance capture artists are a vital part of this multibillion-dollar industry, bringing life to characters that make games successful," said Barclay. Read more ..read more

Valve has introduced several changes to how demos are handled on Steam, as well as how developers can better get them in front of potential players. Perhaps the most notable addition is that studios can now set up separate store pages for their free demos, where they can post screenshots, trailers and specify the contents of this download. These pages will also automatically link to the full game's store page for wishlisting or purchase. In the announcement post, Valve said these pages are optional and can be taken down at a later date if the developer chooses. Studios will need a full writte ..read more

As part of Hasbro's Q2 financial results, CEO Chris Cocks has expressed the company's commitment to focus on "digital play," mentioning a $125 million capital envelope for video games, and one to two new releases yearly from late 2025/early 2026. In the Q&A portion of Hasbro's earnings call (as transcribed by Seeking Alpha), Cocks noted that the recent appointment of John Hight as president of Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming, as well as an increasing number of execs with video games background to the company's board, is in line with the company's strategy. He mentioned the aim to ..read more

The upcoming movie adaptation of Bioshock has seen its budget slashed as Netflix focuses on making it a smaller, "more personal" project. Variety reports the revelations come from a Thursday panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, where the film's producer Roy Lee said the BioShock project was being "reconfigured" following a change in leadership at the streaming firm. In March, Netflix named Dan Lin as its new film boss, with the producer of the company's live action Avatar: The Last Airbender remake replacing Scott Stuber, who was in charge when the BioShock film was announced back in 202 ..read more

Elden Ring has jumped 18 places to No.3 in Newzoo's overall revenue charts for June, following the release of its Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. The FromSoftware title also broke into the Top 20 of the data firm's monthly active user engagement charts at No.13, jumping from its No.27 position in May. Fortnite and EA Sports FC 24 remained in the top two spots of Newzoo's revenue chart across all platforms, while Destiny 2 moved up three places from No.8 to No.5. Read more ..read more

Gradually, then suddenly. Ernest Hemingway was talking about how people go bankrupt, which admittedly gives this quote a somewhat grim tone, but it's often used as an apt description for all sorts of change, from political and social movements to personal success. It's really an encapsulation of the concept of a tipping point; that there can be many years of seemingly unrewarded slog when it seems like change is impossible, only to suddenly reach an inflection point where everything accelerates and change now seems inevitable. Read more ..read more

Paradox Interactive's profits have significantly dropped by 90% following the cancellation of Life By You. The publisher released its second quarter financial results on Thursday, in which it saw profits drop to SEK 28.9 million ($2.6 million) compared to SEK 292.9 million ($27.1 million) during the same period last year. Write-downs of development costs for Life By You amounted to SEK 208 million ($19.2 million), which are included in the operating profits. Read more ..read more

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The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has called a strike, effective at 12.01am tomorrow (July 26). The strikes comes after the SAG-AFTRA National Board unanimously agreed earlier this week to permit its chief negotiator to call an immediate strike at will in a bid to protect voice actors fighting for job security as more and more studios explore generative AI. National executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, acting under the authority delegated by SAG-AFTRA, says the strike comes "after more than a year and a half o ..read more