RPGs have always been one of the most difficult and risky genres in terms of production. Here is what Owlcat Games founder and CEO Oleg Shpilchevskiy has to say about the challenges posed by rising costs, as well as the success of Baldur’s Gate 3 and its impact on the industry.
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M&A and Investment
All news and articles about the financial side of the games industry. Private funding, public placements, VC investments, and M&A deals.
Vedomosti newspaper discovered in the SPARK-Interfax database that in October 2023 Mikhail Akulov, one of the founders and CEO of the Hobby World board game publishing house, registered Novodel LLC. According to the description, the company specializes in the development and publication of video games.
According to the documents published on the web, it can be concluded (assumption) that, in fact, Saber Interactive bought itself from the Embracer Group.
The Swedish holding company Embracer Group announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell a number of Saber Interactive assets for 2.57 billion Swedish kronor or $ 247 million.
It became known about the new investment of The Games Fund. This time, the venture fund invested $ 1.5 million in the Roar Games studio.
The Resident Evil 4 remake, one of the most successful games of 2023, has reached a new milestone. It has now cemented its place among the best-selling titles in the entire franchise.
Monster Hunter: World has reached a new sales milestone. Six years after its launch, it remains the most commercially successful game in the franchise, which has just celebrated its 20th anniversary.
It’s always great to see indie games succeed in the market. Backpack Battles, an auto-battling RPG with an interesting hook, is doing really well on Steam right now, exceeding the expectations of its creators.
Ori has been one of the most successful Metroidvania series of all time. And Moon Studios probably wouldn’t be in the industry today if it weren’t for the first game’s commercial performance.
Balatro has been a smash success for solo developer LocalThunk. The poker deck-building roguelike has reached a new milestone, selling over 500k copies in 10 days.
As many game companies around the world continue to cut jobs, Capcom has announced its decision to raise salaries for its Japanese employees. The move will impact both current workers and new graduate hires.
Tropic Haze, the maker of Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu, has agreed to settle with the Japanese company. One of the terms is an admission that the software was “primarily designed” to circumvent copyright protection.
The fate of 91Act, a Chinese studio behind the new action roguelike BlazBlue Entropy Effect, has taken an unexpected turn. The studio’s head had to lay off the entire staff due to financial issues, but now he has decided to start rehiring devs after the game’s sudden success.
Embracer Group might divest another of its operative groups as part of its cost-cutting restructuring. It has been reported that Gearbox Entertainment, best known for the Borderlands series, is close to being sold out.
This happened after 19 years of working as a division of Activision. The information is official. This was announced on the studio's website.
Embracer Group continues its cost-cutting restructuring program. The new move might affect one of its largest operative groups, Saber Interactive.
The management of Playtika stopped looking for a buyer for the company and decided to actively take up M&A. At an investor event, Craig Abrahams, President and CFO of Playtika, announced that the company plans to conclude one or two deals per year.
Stardew Valley has reached an impressive milestone, surpassing 30 million copies sold globally. Here is how the figure compares to other successful indie games.
The launch sales of the Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor car scooter exceeded all the expectations of the developers. Funday Games announced that the game has reached the mark of half a million copies sold just a week after it was released in early access.
Following the announcement of the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, FromSoftware has updated sales figures for the original Elden Ring game. It seems that players continue to actively buy the studio’s action RPG.
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader has reached its first sales milestone one month after its global launch. Let’s take a look at its launch figures and recall the commercial performance of Owlcat Games’ previous titles.
Alan Wake 2 has become the fastest-selling game in the history of Remedy Entertainment. The psychological horror title has sold 1.3 million copies in more than three months.
Tekken 8 has reached an impressive milestone in less than a month after its launch. Bandai Namco’s title also joined other successful Japanese games launched since the beginning of 2024.
To celebrate Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s sixth anniversary, Warhorse Studios has shared updated sales figures for its medieval RPG.
With over 1 million copies sold, Granblue Fantasy: Relink has now joined a list of other successful Japanese games to cross this mark in 2024.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance bought 6 million times
· a month agoOn February 13, the role-playing action game Kingdom Come: Deliverance turned six years old. In honor of the birthday, Warhorse Studios announced that the number of copies of the game sold exceeded 6 million copies.
It seems like Helldivers 2 is exceeding expectations after its strong launch last week. The game has already sold around 1 million units in less than a week.
Take-Two has published a financial report for the third quarter ended December 31, 2023. The company is now working on a cost reduction program, which doesn’t involve job cuts.
Microsoft Corporation has responded to a complaint from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about layoffs in its gaming division, a significant part of which falls on Activision Blizzard. She said that Activision Blizzard was already preparing to cut staff.
The Acquire studio, which together with Square Enix developed the Octopath Traveler series of games, became part of the Japanese Kadokawa holding. The holding company announced the transaction in its latest financial report.
Epic Games received $1.5 billion investment from Disney
· a month agoDisney Corporation announced the purchase of a stake in Epic Games for $ 1.5 billion. Together, the companies want to create a "new universe of games and entertainment" within Fortnite.
Epic Games has just received a $1.5 billion investment from Disney. Together, the companies will work on a multiyear project to create new games and other entertainment experiences as part of an “expansive” universe within Fortnite.
Paradox Interactive has published its financial report for the full year ended December 31, 2023. Despite strong revenue growth, the Swedish company is not satisfied with the quality and commercial performance of some of its games.
RuneScape developer Jagex might be sold to Luxembourg-based private equity firm CVC Capital Partners. The studio’s current owner Carlyle Group has been looking for potential buyers for several months now.
Nintendo has released its financial report for the third quarter ended December 31, 2023. The Japanese gaming giant also updated the sales figures for its first-party games such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League had a strong commercial debut, but mixed reviews and its player count on Steam raise questions about the game’s long-term success. And players may also be wondering what the future holds for Rocksteady Studios.
V Rising is finally coming out of Early Access, along with the upcoming release on PlayStation 5. To celebrate the milestone, Stunlock Studios has also disclosed the game’s lifetime sales.
The launch of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth turned out to be successful for Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. The game has already sold over 1 million copies.
Lithuanian Nordcurrent has signed a deal with Starbreeze Entertainment. She bought out the company's portfolio of Cinemaware games, a developer that flourished in the second half of the 1980s.
Capcom has shared its financial results for the nine months ended December 31, 2023. The company’s video game business continues to grow, driven by strong sales of Street Figther 6 and back catalog titles like Resident Evil and Monster Hunter.
An update has appeared. Eidos Montreal has confirmed the cuts.
The current head of Roblox Studio, Stefano Corazza, announced that his company has joined the Blender Development Fund.
Palworld has already been bought more than 5 million times
· 2 months agoThe creators of Palworld have announced that the game has crossed the next millionth milestone. It took three days for the Pokemon action game to sell 5 million copies.
Despite the difficult time for the industry, investments in game studios continue to flow. The Game Fund venture fund has announced a deal with Obelisk Studio. The latter received $2 million to develop the first independent product, the AA horror Displacement.
Ghost Ship Games has shared an annual recap for Deep Rock Galactic. The studio disclosed its hit co-op title’s sales and other metrics such as DAU and MAU.
Polish analysts have disclosed the estimated value of the deal between Tencent and Techland. It was the largest M&A transaction of 2023 in the country.
In July 2023, Tencent bought a key stake in the authors of Dying Light. The amount of the transaction was not officially disclosed. According to the Polish consulting company Navigator Capital and the analytical platform Fordata, the purchase of shares cost Tencent 6.3 billion zlotys or $1.58 billion.
ByteDance is reportedly seeking options to sell its video games and other assets related to its gaming business. Chinese tech giant Tencent has been named among potential buyers.
Some of the ByteDance games may be sold to Tencent
· 2 months agoByteDance is trying to sell its games and other gaming assets. According to the Chinese publication LatePost, she is negotiating their sale with several companies. Tencent is on the list of potential buyers.
Hogwarts Legacy has surpassed 22 million units sold, according to Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment president David Haddad. This makes it the best-selling video game of 2023.
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House Flipper 2, the long-waited sequel for successful sim game from PlayWay, has just launched globally. Let’s take a look at its metrics and compare them to other titles in the Polish publisher’s portfolio.