Marketing

A new deal in the mobile services market. The Appodeal marketing platform has announced a collaboration with the Pollen VC Rapid Capital Fund.

There is a new deal on the mobile services market landscape. Marketing growth platform Appodeal has announced a partnership with velocity capital firm Pollen VC.

When testing ads and creatives, a prototype’s marketability is a thing that shouldn’t be underestimated. In a new column for Game World Observer, ByteBrew Chief Strategy Officer Christopher Lefebvre explains what marketability is and what metrics developers should pay attention to.

Mobile marketing and monetization platform AppLovin has launched a new project to help Unity developers switch to other engines like Unreal and Godot. It can already speed up code translation, and tools for asset and plugin migration are also in the works.

Over the past week, there have been many developers who have decided to abandon the Unity engine and switch to other platforms. To help them, AppLovin has released Unifree, a tool that allows you to transfer the code of games written for Unity to the Unreal Engine, Godot and Cocos engines.

It has been a while since Microsoft officially shared the number of Game Pass subscribers. So we can only rely on indirect data to assess whether the service is growing.

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.

Today Yandex has released the Yandex Mobile Ads SDK 6.0. In this version of the SDK, a new advertising format has appeared — advertising when opening an application.

A new course will start on the WN Academy training programs marketplace next Tuesday. It is dedicated to the development and launch of advertising campaigns. The author is Kirill Oreshkin, who previously worked at Wargaming and Zorka.Agency.

In mid-October, the capital of Georgia will host MAMA, a conference on mobile analytics and mobile marketing. According to AppsFlyer, the organizer of the event, 350 participants are expected.

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.”

Erik Peterson, responsible for business development at Valve, has shared some insights into visibility and discovery mechanisms on Steam. Here is how the company helps devs reach players and connect users to games.

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.

Embracer Group, which was once on an endless shopping spree, is now dumping its first-party studios as part of the ongoing business restructuring. This time, the victim was Red Faction and Saints Row developer Volition, not to mention layoffs at Gearbox Publishing.

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.

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.

Yandex continues to develop the AppMetrica service. It has added tools for conducting A/B testing, as well as for making changes to the application without releasing its new version.

WN Media Group has announced a new WN Connect event to take place next Wednesday in Istanbul, Turkiye. Representatives of companies such as Google, Udo Games, Xsolla, 23 Studios, and Game Factory are expected to attend.

CD Projekt has released its financial report for the first half of 2023 ended June 30. Despite a decrease in revenue and net profit, the company remains optimistic due to the upcoming release of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty and the progress on the next Witcher game.

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.

Blackbird Interactive is another game studio that has been recently hit with job cuts. It appears that the Homeworld 3 developer has laid off dozens of people, including some senior staff.

Canada-based indie developer Sabotage Studio has just released Sea of Stars, a turn-based RPG in the style of classic Japanese titles. Let’s take a look at its launch numbers.

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.

BioWare has announced a team restructuring, which includes job cuts. Although the studio ensures that this move won’t affect the development of Dragon Age and Mass Effect, some of its most experienced devs have been laid off.

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.

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.

Microsoft is now trying to restructure its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard to finally get approval from the UK regulator. That’s why the company has announced a new cloud gaming agreement with Ubisoft.

Circana (formerly The NPD Group) has shared its monthly breakdown of the US video game market. Let’s take a look at some data on the best-selling titles and consoles of July 2023.

Market intelligence platform InvestGame has shared a new report on deal activity in the games industry for the first half of 2023. Here are the key findings about the turbulent and generally deteriorating landscape.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has been a massive success for Larian Studios, topping Steam charts and receiving widespread acclaim from the press. Although the company hasn’t officially disclosed sales, there is a report hinting at possible figures.

The enhanced version of Quake II came out last week, offering updated graphics and even new content. Looking at all the technical and QoL improvements, it is safe to say that other companies would be better off taking a similar approach to rereleases and remasters of their old games.

NetEase has established a new first-party studio, T-Minus Zero Entertainment. The team will be led by Rich Vogel, an industry veteran known for his contributions to a number of MMO titles such as Ultima Online and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

NCSoft is stepping into the AI field by announcing a set of in-house language models to optimize game development. The South Korean publisher is now offering a one-month free trial to users across the globe.

The Government of the Russian Federation should prepare proposals to promote the games developed in Russia and the domestic software used in them in the BRICS countries and other foreign markets. This instruction was given by Russian President Vladimir Putin following a visit to the exhibition “Development of the Creative Economy in Russia”.

Valve continues to adjust its pricing policy and recommendations. With the latest update, Steam developers will have new minimum price thresholds for currencies other than the US dollar.

Some people who worked on translating Baldur’s Gate 3 into Brazilian Portuguese for several years ended up missing from the game’s credits. However, Larian Studios has managed to quickly resolve the issue and get the localization firm to fix it.

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.

Netflix continues its gaming push by announcing beta testing of its cloud streaming service. The company plans to bring its titles to more devices, including TVs and PCs.

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.

History is cyclical, and this is true for the games industry as well. Veteran developer and former BioWare producer Mark Darrah has shared his thoughts on companies that repeat the same mistakes over and over again when trying to make their own Ultima Online or Destiny.

Hundreds of thousands of players continue to flock to Baldur’s Gate 3 every day, even almost two weeks after its launch. The latest game from Larian Studios has just broken its own record for peak concurrent users.