M&A and Investment

Developers from Facepunch Studios announced that sales of the survival game Rust have exceeded 20 million copies. This is only on Steam. With other platforms taken into account, the number of copies sold should be even higher.

Currently, South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance is the second-largest shareholder of the NXC holding, which manages the Nexon corporation. However, the situation may soon change. The ministry has decided to divest its stake and has initiated the stock trading process.

Hobby World's board game publishing portfolio now includes its first video game asset. The company has become the owner of LLC "Fogame"

Keleops, a digital publishing firm, has purchased Kotaku from G/O Media in a confidential transaction conducted entirely in cash

Metacore Studio, known for the mobile puzzle game Merge Mansion, has reported its financial results for 2024. The company proudly announced that the team has, for the first time, turned a profit, with an annual profit of 18.7 million euros.

Last Thursday, June 26, the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach took place. Kojima Productions has not yet shared any figures about the game, so the analytical service VG Insights did so instead

Publisher Hooded Horse and studio Sad Socket are pleased with the launch of the strategy roguelike 9 Kings, where players must build a kingdom. Within a month of early access, the game sold over 400,000 copies

The UK Government has introduced a new $40.5 million (£30 million) fund and committed to expanding the UK Games Fund to bolster the development of video games in Britain.

Sensor Tower continues to expand its portfolio. It announced the acquisition of Playliner, a mobile analytics service focused on LiveOps.

Recently, the studios Aggro Crab and Landfall — creators of Another Crab’s Treasure and Content Warning — released a cooperative game called PEAK on Steam, where players need to conquer mountains. The new release had a successful start, selling 100,000 copies on its first day.

During the week from June 10 to June 17, Counter-Strike 2 continued to lead the overall top-grossing product chart on Steam. Meanwhile, in the chart exclusively for paid projects, Stellar Blade claimed the top spot, displacing Dune: Awakening.

Over the past two months, the Singaporean fund 3D Investment Partners has been actively purchasing shares of Square Enix. Recently, it increased its stake in the Japanese company to 10.01%, making it the second-largest shareholder

Bigger Games, a mobile development company, announced the successful acquisition of $25 million in its Series A funding round, with Goodwater Capital taking the lead.

The South Korean studio Shift Up is pleased with the release of Stellar Blade on PC. The game reached Steam and the Epic Games Store on June 12 and sold over a million copies within the first three days.

In Japan, hardware sales for the Nintendo Switch 2 have nearly hit the one million mark, marking the largest console launch in the country's history.

The trade association TIGA has reacted to the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer's spending review, describing the government's pledge to boost funding for the creative sectors as "encouraging."

Very soon — June 19-20 — the WN Conference will take place in Istanbul. We're sharing the event program. Among other things, there will be a panel on developers transitioning from creating hyper-casual games to projects for Steam

SAG-AFTRA has come to a provisional agreement with a negotiating group that comprises several of the industry's top studios and publishers

A recent report from Ampere Analysis forecasts that more than 13 million players will buy a Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025

In July of last year, the studio Arrowhead sold 15.75% of its shares to Tencent, according to Di Digital. The publication claims that the deal valued the market worth of the creators of Helldivers 2 at 5.1 billion Swedish kronor, or 533 million dollars at the current exchange rate

The number of copies sold of Elden Ring Nightreign has exceeded 3.5 million, reports FromSoftware. The game reached this milestone four days after its release, which took place on May 30

The editorial team at App2Top discussed what indie means, how many game developers there are in Russia, and what their main problem is with the co-founder of the marketing agency FatPony, the head of publishing at Indie GO Fund, and the author of the Telegram channel "Tired Publishing," Danila Kamenev

Publisher Koei Tecmo and developer Team Ninja have announced that the total sales of the Nioh series have exceeded 8 million copies sold. How the sales are distributed between the first Nioh and its sequel has not been specified

Apple has purchased RAC7, the developer of the game Sneaky Sasquatch.

For the first time in history, Apple Corporation has included a game studio. The Canadian RAC7, which consists of two people, was selected

Games Workshop revealed it is awarding a £20 million bonus to its staff after disclosing its latest financial performance.

On May 8, a new crime simulator, Cash Cleaner Simulator, was released on Steam by the indie studio Mind Control Games. The game, which focuses on money laundering, caught the attention of gamers, and by the end of its debut week, its sales exceeded 100,000 copies

Catalis Group sold its subsidiary, the British publisher Curve Games, to the Indian technology company Nazara Technologies. The latter's portfolio includes games like Human Fall Flat, The Ascent, and For The King

Studio 42, a mobile development company, has secured $3.6 million in seed funding. The round was led by Play Ventures and saw contributions from GEM Capital and Arcadia Gaming Partners.

The amount he intends to invest over the next 12-24 months

Brightika, a publisher known for its mobile gaming endeavors, is branching out into PC and console markets, backed by a $3 million investment.

Gun Interactive, the developer of the asymmetric multiplayer horror game The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, is set to conclude its work on the title. The game will cease receiving any new content or support beyond May 2025

Spilled! is a relaxing game where players control a small boat to clean up the world's oceans of spilled oil and various types of trash. It was created by a developer named Lente, who dropped out of school two years ago and has since been living on a similar boat. According to her, the game's release has been successful.

Turkish-based mobile developer Fuse Games has secured a $7 million investment. The funding round was led by venture capital firm Griffin Gaming Partners, with contributions from Lakestar, NFX Capital, and Actera.

NCSOFT has decided to support emptyvessel, a studio founded last year by veterans from id Software, Naughty Dog, Activision Blizzard, and several other renowned teams. It recently became a strategic investor in the studio.

The French JRPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 took 12 days to surpass 2 million copies sold. This was announced by the studio Sandfall Interactive on the game's official X account

NCsoft has undertaken a "strategic equity investment" in Empty Vessel, a studio located in Texas.

Valnet, the owner of The Gamer and Game Rant, has acquired Polygon, a website focusing on video games and pop culture. Following the acquisition, several veteran staff members have announced their departures, either due to being laid off or opting to leave.

After the release of Jason Schreier's book on the history of Blizzard, we once again pondered how many studios have been founded by alumni from this renowned company. It turns out that their number has surpassed 50 — with about half of them ceasing to exist for various reasons. We will discuss most of them

Capcom announced updated sales figures for the Resident Evil 4 remake. They reported that since its release on March 24, 2023, the game has sold over 10 million copies

At the close of spring, the fourth session of the "Gaming Industry" business conference will open its doors. This time, it will be in one of the largest cities in the Far East of Russia. Approximately 300 participants are expected at the event. We are sharing the first details

Blue Ocean Games has announced the launch of a new venture fund, securing $30 million to support independent game developers.

Motorsport Games, the developer of Le Mans Ultimate, has received an investment of $2.5 million, with virtual reality firm Pimax leading the funding round.

At the "Gaming Industry" conference, there was a presentation and review of independent developers' games — the Indie Pitch. Young teams showcased their games to experts from the Agency for Creative Industries (ACI) and the Indie GO Fund.

Agonalea Games, a mobile development company located in Buenos Aires, has secured $2 million in seed funding with support from Mika Games.

The mobile puzzle game Merge Mansion, where players need to tidy up an old mansion and unravel family secrets, continues to generate substantial income for its creators. Studio Metacore announced that the game has already earned over 600 million dollars

What could publishers do to better support indie developers? This question was posed by Inverse journalists to the winners of The Game Developers Choice Awards 2025. According to one of the executives at Playstack, publishers need to start taking a more straightforward approach to allocating funds for games

Krafton has purchased a majority interest in the Indian gaming company Nautilus Mobile for $14 million.

At the end of March, the indie studio Kylyk Games, consisting of three people, released their first game, Urban Jungle, on Steam. The game designer of the project, Kyunnay Vinokurova, shared its initial performance metrics on LinkedIn

Kameha Ventures, a venture capital firm, has introduced a €25 million ($27 million) investment fund aimed at fostering game development in Europe.