Monetization

Devolver Digital has released its report for the first half of 2023 ended June 30. The company posted a decline in both revenue and profit, also outlining its outlook and strategy for the future.

The Game Pass audience can exceed 30 million people. This figure was indicated in the LinkedIn account by Craig McNary, senior director of Xbox brand marketing.

In the wake of recent changes to Unity’s pricing policy, several game developers have decided to completely turn off Unity Ads and ironSource monetization across all of their titles. Companies like Azur Games and Voodoo are calling for per-install fees to be canceled, urging their colleagues to join the protest.

Against the background of changes in Unity’s pricing policy, a number of gaming companies have decided to disable the monetization of Unity Ads and ironSource in all their games. They demand to cancel the new installation fee. Among the signatories of the appeal are Azur Games, Voodoo and many others.

The media reported that those gaming companies that will start using the Unity LevelPlay Mediation advertising platform will not have to pay a fee from each download.

Unity has announced a new pricing policy. Starting next year, if a number of conditions are met, the company will charge for each installation. Important: the installation will also be considered a reinstall (maybe it won’t be considered).

On August 30, Sony announced that it would raise the cost of an annual PlayStation Plus subscription by a third in September. Investors took this decision well: at Friday’s trading, the company’s stock price rose by 3.4%.

Starfield is now available for owners of the Premium edition, already attracting hundreds of thousands of players. Let’s take a look at the game’s early launch numbers and how they compare to other titles from Bethesda.

The Boosty service may have a new owner. According to Kommersant’s sources, MY.GAMES is going to transfer Boosty to a separate Russian legal entity and then sell it. According to the plan, the sale should take place before the end of the year.

Singapore-based tech giant Sea has issued a financial report for the second quarter ended June 30. Here are all the figures related to its gaming arm, Garena, known for its mobile battle royale Free Fire.

Overwatch 2 has been widely criticized by players after its launch on Steam, making it the lowest rated game on the platform. But here is why most negative reviews are coming from Chinese users.

Unity has released its financial report for the second quarter ended June 30. The company is showing strong revenue growth, while its net loss continues to decrease.

The latest WN Connect took place on July 27 in Shanghai, China. Here are some results of the event that was held in connection with ChinaJoy, the largest digital entertainment conference and expo in Asia.

Capcom remains one of the most successful Japanese game companies. And the steady growth in its share price only strengthens the company’s position among competitors.

What are hybrid-casual games and how are their monetization loos different from hyper-casual? Voodoo head of publishing Thibault de Vésinne-Larüe has opened up about the company’s approach and what metrics it looks at when launching new titles.

In July, platform ByteBrew, branded as an all-in-one solution for working with mobile applications and games, celebrated its second anniversary. To commemorate the occasion, the company has shared some statistics.

Mobile action game Devil May Cry: Peak of Combat, previously available only in China, is approaching its global launch. Here are some metrics and other details about the title developed by Chinese studio NebulaJoy and supervised by Capcom.

At the end of 2019, the head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty, suggested that Microsoft increase annual spending on the purchase of games for Game Pass to $2-3 billion. In his opinion, this would help to take Sony out of the game subscription business, since in a few years there would be a shortage of valuable content on the market.

New month, new episode of Games and Names — a podcast about the games industry from AppMagic (launched in partnership with WN Media Group). It features Product Madness senior game designer Jesse Kroon discussing the issue of game clones, as well as the fine line between drawing ideas to create new experiences and dishonestly copying other titles.

According to gaming expert Simon Carless, to do this, you need to multiply the number of subscribers on the Steam game page by a certain value. In his newsletter, he shared the current multipliers for 2023 (based on a survey of more than 125 developers):

VK has officially allowed self-employed developers to monetize applications in RuStore. The company talked about plans to do this two weeks ago.

WN Media Group has launched WN Game Finder, a new game searching and business matchmaking service. Its main goal is to help publishers and investors filter titles and make it easier for game developers to find funding for their projects.

Astrum Entertainment will start monetizing streams. Kommersant noticed that in early May she registered a special service, which she called AdvertDA.

Review bombing is often considered useless and destructive behavior, but War Thunder players have come out as a united front against the recent monetization changes. Thousands of community members forced developer Gaijin Entertainment to back down and listen to the criticism.

The AppMetrica analytical service has received an update. It has a tool for tracking subscriptions.

Unity has initiated a new wave of layoffs, according to the latest report. This will be the company’s largest round of job cuts in the past 12 months.

Danish studio Sybo is on a mission to expand its Subway Surfers franchise. The company recently released a new game under the Subway Surfers brand. The new game is called Subway Surfers Blast, which is a clone of Toon Blast.

Capcom has no plans to break its winning streak, as it prepares to launch AR mobile game Monster Hunter Now from Pokémon GO developer Niantic. The new announcnemnt has sent the company’s shares skyrocket.

It is difficult for smaller mobile devs to avoid problems that can affect the development and lifecycle of their games. ZiMAD M&A manager Yana Vesnina discusses the key challenges and shares some professional tips in an article for Game World Observer.

Take-Two Interactive may have made a new purchase. The network noticed that the subscription service GameClub, which specializes in retro mobile games, came under the control of the company.

The third material, completing a series of articles about the monetization strategy of Belka Games. It is dedicated to the company’s work with advertising, the cultivation of personnel and trends in the niche.

The second material by Evgeny Gilmanov, head of monetization at Belka Games, is about the principles that guide the development and implementation of a monetization strategy in the company.

Sensor Tower has released its State of Mobile Gaming 2023 report. This is a deep analysis of key market trends, as well as top performing genres, titles, and monetization strategies. Here are some findings from the study.

The head of monetization at Belka Games, Evgeny Gilmanov, opens a series of materials about the principles that guide the company in developing and implementing a monetization strategy.

Administrators of the official Atomic Heart community in VK asked subscribers where they purchased the shooter. Almost a third of the survey participants replied that they bought it in VK Play.

InvestGame has published a report on deal activity in the games industry in 2022. Analysts highlighted the biggest trends and offered their investment forecasts for the near future.

Robot Teddy, Thunderful Games' self-publishing support agency, has announced additions to its executive team.Joining the company are Amanda Farough, Mike Futter, Alessandro Bovenzi, Hans van Brakel, and Naaila Mohammed. Read more

Honkai: Star Rail, the upcoming game from Genshin Impact developer miHoYo, has already attracted millions of players in the months leading up to its launch. This is due to the recently launched pre-registration event.

Amazon will hold a special workshop at the upcoming WN Belgrade’23 conference. The talk, aimed at a non-technical audience, will guide attendees through the different stages of a game’s lifecycle and provide insights into monetization, retention, and other metrics.

When announcing the shutdown of Apex Legends Mobile, Electronic Arts stated that it no longer lived up to the bar for quality. The reasons, however, must be more complex given that the game has been one of the highest performing titles in the company’s mobile portfolio.

The Game Developers Conference (GDC) has released the results of its annual survey about the current state of the games industry. Here are the key takeaways from the study, including devs’ views on the metaverse and consolidation.

A major acquisition in mobile gaming is looming on the horizon. Israeli giant Playtika has made an offer to buy Finnish developer Rovio, best known for the Angry Birds franchise.

In 2022, the global games industry set a new record for the number and value of closed or announced deals. All thanks to Microsoft’s historic bid to acquire Activision Blizzard, but there have been a few other noteworthy investments as well.

The European Parliament has decided to take action against loot boxes and other issues in the games industry to better protect consumers. The members also proposed several measures to stimulate market growth.

The launch of the free mobile version of Vampire Survivors has brought millions of new players to one of the most popular and addictive indie games of 2022. Here are the key numbers for iOS and Android.

The ResearchAndMarkets portal published a study on the market of games distributed by subscription. According to analysts’ forecast, by 2031, the turnover of this market will reach $55.94 billion.

The other day, an analyst at Benji-Sales suggested that High on Life showed the best start in Game Pass for 2022. Microsoft confirmed his observation and named two more achievements of the comedy shooter.

Microsoft continues to try to appease antitrust regulators. Bloomberg sources report that the corporation has offered Sony the right to distribute Call of Duty series games as part of a PS Plus subscription.

A group of UK researchers have conducted a study of games with loot boxes and other chance-based rewards. They identified the harm these mechanics cause to children and shared their recommendations for solving this problem.

Tim Cain, who needs no introduction to any die-hard RPG fan, has recalled the development of the first Fallout, its RPG system, and the importance of creating reactive worlds. He also discussed how the games industry has changed since the 90s.