Meta reported its first quarter earnings after the close of trading yesterday, showing continued losses in its AR/VR Reality Labs division that were more then offset by growth and profitability in the rest of the business. Meta's story largely continued as it has, with the VR/AR division dragging on the success of the its various services like Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, but not enough to keep the company from growing both revenues and profits. Despite losing money at a rate of more than $1 billion per month since June of 2022, Meta affirmed its commitment to Reality Labs, s ..read more

It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly a decade since Stefano Petrullo formed Renaissance PR. Petrullo was well known to the UK games industry back in 2015, primarily for handling PR for Ubisoft, which included promoting games like Watch Dogs, Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry. He was well positioned to make the transition to being independent, but the rise of Renaissance in the years since has been nothing short of astounding. It has had almost 100 clients in that time, ranging from giants like Atari, Plaion, Team17 and Tencent, to indie giants such as Bulkhead, Curve, and Square Enix Collective ..read more

Game development is, in some ways, more accessible than ever. Between the ease-of-use of engines like RPG Maker to the release of titles like Game Builder Garage that gamify the act of development itself, there are countless ways into game development that do not require previous experience of coding or design. The opportunity for creation with engines like Unreal, Unity and more is enormous. But – just as with issues with accessible gaming itself – there are still obstacles to be overcome when it comes to making those engines available for everyone to use. That has huge implications for the ..read more

Facepunch Studios has received takedown notices from Nintendo and is currently in the process of removing all Garry's Mod content related to IP owned by the platform holder. The developer posted an update on Steam altering its community to the takedown notice, adding that all Nintendo-related workshop items will be removed. Garry's Mod, first released in 2006, is a sandbox title that allows users to create their own in-game items, or use assets from Valve's titles such as Half-Life, and experiment with them. Read more ..read more

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Steam has changed its refund policy, with pre-release playtime now factored in when considering eligibility for a refund. In a short update posted on its website, Valve simply said the change applies to games that are in pre-purchase and offer 'advanced access', adding: "Playtime acquired during the Advanced Access period will now count towards the Steam refund period." Previously, players were allowed to claim a refund if they had spent less than two hours in a game after release. Now, if they get access to the title prior to its launch, any time played during that period will count towards ..read more

Linden Lab, the developer of Second Life, has sold its payments business, Tilia, to Thunes. In the transaction with the global payments processor, Tilia will be rebranded to Thunes and remain in San Francisco. Thunes and Linden have also agreed to an exclusive five-year partnership as part of the acquisition deal. Payment processing and payouts will be provided to Linden. Read more ..read more

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox The games industry moves pretty fast, and there's a tendency for all involved to look constantly to what's next without so much worrying about what came before. That said, even an industry so entrenched in the now can learn from its past. So to refresh our collective memory and perhaps offer some perspective on our field's history, GamesIndustry.biz runs this monthly feature highlighting happenings in gaming from exactly a decade ago. When Sony and Microsoft successfully broke into the console industry with the PlayS ..read more

This series of Playable Futures articles considers how the design, technology, people, and theory of video games are informing and influencing the wider world. You can find all previous Playable Futures articles here. The relationship that video games share with brands and advertising is a long-term one.Early examples such as Coca-Cola's boldly assertive Pepsi Invaders, or Johnson & Johnson's Tooth Protectors – both clones of Atari classics released in 1983 – wrestled with how to represent products and brands within the context of primitive visuals and limited technological muscle. After ..read more

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