Analytics

Despite many great releases, 2023 hasn’t been all that good (to put it mildly) for people making games. Here are the prevailing sentiments among developers about the current state of the market and the possible future.

SuperScale has published the report Good Games Don’t Die, which was commissioned by Atomik Research. As part of the survey, analysts spoke with 504 mobile game developers from the UK and the USA.

Niko Partners has updated its China Games Market 2023 Half-Year report, sharing new projections for the full year. The country is expected to see a rise in video game revenue after its first-ever decline in 2022.

The Roblox platform has reached a new milestone. According to the estimates of the analytical service AppMagic, in November, total user spending in the mobile version of Roblox exceeded $ 7 billion. Important: this is the amount before the company pays the fees and taxes.

Newzoo has updated its 2023 forecast for the global games market, also analyzing the top 10 game publishers by revenue. Tencent, Sony, and Apple remain the leaders, but big shifts are expected in the second half of the year due to the completion of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Monster Strike, a mobile hit game by Mixi, has reached an impressive milestone 10 years after its launch. Its revenue has surpassed $10 billion in Japan alone.

Italian publisher Digital Bros, parent company of 505 Games, has announced a round of layoffs. The move will affect around 30% of its global workforce.

Based on the AppMagic database, the App2Top editors have prepared material about the most downloaded and highest-grossing mobile games of the past month.

The guest of the new episode of the Games and Names podcast was Thomas Kriebernegg, co-founder of the page optimization service in App Radar app stores.

The South Korean company WeMade Entertainment has made a successful exit. In 2018, it bought 4.2% of Shift Up’s shares for $7.4 million and in 2023, sold them for $53.9 million.

Many American advertisers abandoned the Unity advertising network after the company introduced a new pricing policy on September 12. According to Sensor Tower analysts, in the week from September 11 to 17, their number in the Unity network decreased by 15%.

Sensor Tower analytical company has released a report on the South Korean mobile games market. It covers the period from January to September 2023.

Valve is in no hurry to officially disclose Steam Deck sales, so analysts share data for it. Simon Carless tried to find out how many people bought this portable PC.

The American Entertainment Software Association decided to find out what motivates people to play video games. To do this, she, in cooperation with gaming associations from other regions, interviewed 12.8 thousand gamers from 12 countries.

Total user spending in Scopely mobile games has exceeded $7.6 billion, according to AppMagic analysts.

The analytical company Newzoo studied the success of Remnant II in August. We have selected the main thing from the report.

Based on the data of the AppMagic analytical service, the editors of App2Top have prepared material about the most downloaded and highest-grossing mobile games of the past month.

The All-Russian Reading Day was held on October 9. On this occasion, Astrum Entertainment asked more than 2,300 gamers what they read and games based on which books they would like to see.

In the third quarter of 2023, venture capital companies invested $ 700.3 million in games, Bloomberg reports, citing PitchBook data. This is the lowest figure since the second quarter of 2020.

Indie developer David Szymanski, best known for his work on games like DUSK and Gloomwood, has shared some thoughts on Game Pass. He believes that the dominance of one subscription service could hurt the indie games market.

Analytical company data.ai She shared preliminary figures on the mobile games market for the third quarter of 2023, which will end on September 30. We have selected the main thing from the report.

Based on the AppMagic data, the App2Top editors have prepared material about the most downloaded and highest-grossing mobile games of the past month.

From January to August 2023, Russians spent 135 billion rubles on video games, according to a study by XYZ School. They gave 21% of the amount, or 28 billion rubles, to resellers and intermediary platforms.

American consulting company Bain & The company conducted a study on the use of generative AI in game development. To do this, she interviewed 25 top managers from gaming companies from around the world.

Square Enix shares have plunged nearly 30% since June. The commercial performance of Final Fantasy XVI and recent financial downturns have some market analysts worried about the company’s long-term prospects.

Newzoo has shared some data on the highest-grossing and most played games on Nintendo Switch for July 2023. Pikmin topped revenue charts, while Mario Kart 8 continued to show strong numbers even more than six years after launch.

Strategy Partners consulting company predicts a steady growth in the Russian IT market. She expects its volume to more than double over the next seven years.

A wave of layoffs affected the analytical company Sensor Tower. The TechCrunch portal reports that over 40 people have lost their jobs.

Sensor Tower has released a new report on puzzle mobile games, as well as their revenues and downloads over the past 11 years. Analysts also explored the performance of various sub-genres and the top-grossing titles in the market.

Puzzles are one of the most popular genres of mobile games. Sensor Tower analysts looked at what results it has achieved over the past 11 years* and listed the most successful subgenres.

More than half of parents living in Russia believe that video games do not harm their children. This conclusion was reached by Astrum Entertainment, which interviewed 6 thousand people.

The IATSE trade union, which unites representatives of the entertainment industry, conducted a survey among game developers. According to its results, it turned out that over the past two years, 50% of respondents had to recycle at least once.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has opened up about the use of AI tools in game development. He also threw shade at Steam, saying that the EGS doesn’t ban titles for “using new technologies.”

Spyro Reignited Trilogy, a remaster bundle for the classic platformer series from Insomniac Games, has hit a major milestone by selling 10 million copies globally. Let’s take a look at how these figures compare to the original titles.

Discoverability expert Simon Carless has shared some interesting insights into why some games, even quality ones, fail commercially in today’s market. It might be due to the oversaturation of certain genres, but the issue seems to be much more complex.

Despite the disappointing Season 1 and other post-launch issues, Diablo IV seems to be performing well for Blizzard in terms of revenue and player engagement. Here are some new stats about the game and its position in the market.

Marvel Snap has been a huge hit for developer Second Dinner and publisher Nuverse. Let’s dive into the numbers to see the game’s road to $100 million in revenue.

In 2023, gamers from all over the world will spend about $ 194 billion on video games, analysts predict data.ai and IDC. Of this amount, $108 billion will be spent on games for mobile devices.

Earlier this year, Motorsport Games was accused by dozens of employees at its Russian office of not paying them for months. At least two of them have won their lawsuits against the company.

Imagendary Studios, led by a group of industry veterans, has reportedly been hit with mass layoffs, which affected most of its 54-person staff. The company hasn’t announced a single game in its three years of operation.

The Day Before, an upcoming multiplayer survival game developed by Fntastic and published by Mytona, is still the subject of a trademark dispute. However, the companies could use the new registered brand to eventually bring the title back on Steam.

NetEase has released its financial report for the second quarter of 2023 ended June 30. The Chinese tech giant posted revenue and profit growth thanks to the steady performance of its gaming business.

Star Citizen still has no approximate release date, but its developer Cloud Imperium Games continues to receive massive support from players and enthusiasts. Here is everything to know about the game’s latest milestone.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon has just been released globally to positive reviews from critics and players. On Steam, the game is now having one of the biggest launches in the history of FromSoftware.

The situation around Dark and Darker has taken an unexpected turn. Although the legal fight between Ironmace Games and publisher Nexon is not yet over, PUBG maker Krafton is now considering creating a mobile game based on this IP.

Developers of anti-tamper solution Denuvo have announced a new feature that would prevent users from manipulating files in games made with Unreal Engine. Branded as another way of fighting against pirates and fraudsters, it poses a real threat to modding.

The European gaming market continues to grow, according to the report of the organization Video Games Europe (formerly ISFE). According to her, last year the market revenue increased by 5% to €24.5 billion.

Magic shooter Immortals of Aveum has just been released globally. The initial metrics for the AAA game, developed by Ascendant Studios and published under the EA Originals program, don’t look promising.

Consultant and experienced developer Rami Ismail has shared his thoughts on the state of the games industry, while expressing some fears and concerns. He tried to outline the issues of the existing system where funding decides what gets made.

There are 5 million gamers between the ages of 6 and 18 living in Japan, according to Niko Partners. According to the latest report of the analytical company, they are more interested in foreign titles than adult gamers and rarely use a PC for games.