Electronic Arts is introducing another monetization layer to its premier football series with a new Premium Tier of in-game rewards in EA Sports FC 25. According to a report by VG247, this new tier supplements the existing free tier of card packs, players, and cosmetics that gamers unlock by completing in-game challenges. Upon reaching a specified reward level, players will have the opportunity to unlock Premium Tier rewards. EA has not yet announced the pricing for this additional tier but has confirmed that it can be unlocked using either Ultimate Team coins, earned through gameplay, or FC Points, which are acquired with real money
At the "Gaming Industry" conference, Alexander Vasiliev, a partner manager at Yandex's advertising network, spoke. He identified six common mistakes that mobile game developers make during the app monetization phase through advertising
Tencent has announced it will be discontinuing its free-to-play shooter, Synced, exactly one year after its release. Although the company did not specify a reason for the shutdown, it informed players that they could continue to "enjoy the game and use any existing in-game items" until the game's full retirement at 7pm on September 8 (GMT -8). As a result, new registrations and the in-app store have been disabled
Microsoft has revealed plans to raise the prices of its current Xbox Game Pass tiers and to launch a new Standard tier, which will not feature games upon their initial release on the service. According to a post on the company's support site, Game Pass for Console will be discontinued for new subscribers. The new Xbox Game Pass Standard option will be priced at $14.99 per month and is expected to become available "in the coming months"
Nexon has just launched its new online third-person shooter The First Descendant. The game quickly drew a lot of attention from players, many of whom criticized its monetization elements, among other issues.
Guy 'DrDisrespect' Beahm, a prominent streamer and influencer, is facing further setbacks as more partners sever ties following allegations related to his Twitch ban. YouTube has now taken the step of disabling monetization on his channel. A YouTube representative informed Kotaku that the platform has "suspended monetization on DrDisrespect's channel for violating our Creator Responsibility policy." Additionally, the channel, which boasts 4.7 million subscribers, has been excluded from the YouTube Partner Program due to "serious allegations against the creator"
Sony's recent State of Play event saw a significant portion dedicated to the upcoming hero shooter Concord, signaling the company's unwavering commitment to live service games. While the esteemed single-player games that have cemented the reputation of PlayStation's studios remain a staple, they will now share the limelight with emerging live service titles. In a less publicized move, Sony announced that Concord, unlike many in its genre, will not be free-to-play. Following the strategy seen with Helldivers 2, Concord will be priced at $40. Although two games do not constitute a full-fledged strategy, the fact that this pricing approach is applied to both the co-operative PvE Helldivers 2 and the PvP Concord indicates Sony's partial dedication to this model
Dmitry Bobrov, CEO of ZiMAD, told in the tenth issue of the Games and Names podcast about how a mobile game can remain successful for a decade. During the conversation, he also touched upon the importance of subscriptions for the company's key game.
The growth rate of revenue from subscriptions has slowed down. This was stated by Mat Piscatella, executive director and analyst at Circana (formerly NPD).
This was stated by Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in an interview with Windows Central.
Starting in January 2024, most Microsoft employees will no longer receive an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for free. This is reported by The Verge, citing sources.
Microsoft is the latest game company to recently adjust its prices in Turkey and Argentina. This comes just a few months after Game Pass subscription in these countries had already become significantly more expensive.
On average, 2.2 million people launch games from the Netflix catalog every day, CNBC reports, citing data from the analytical company Apptopia. This is less than 1% of the 247.15 million subscribers of the service.
The network noticed that Anders Howard, the chief monetization designer, left Naughty Dog. He was engaged in a multiplayer game in the world of The Last of Us.
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.
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%.
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.
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.
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):
The US video game subscription market is likely approaching a plateau in terms of player spending. This is according to new data from analytics firm Circana.
VK has officially allowed self-employed developers to monetize applications in RuStore. The company talked about plans to do this two weeks ago.
Astrum Entertainment will start monetizing streams. Kommersant noticed that in early May she registered a special service, which she called AdvertDA.
The AppMetrica analytical service has received an update. It has a tool for tracking subscriptions.
Ubisoft has published its financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31. The company posted significant losses and outlined its plans for the future, which include the focus on core-franchises, F2P, and AI adoption.
The Sims 4 has reached a new milestone almost nine years since its launch in 2014. It has officially become the most played game in franchise history.
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.
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.
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.
Facebook and Google are cool, but there are many other traffic sources that can make very good profits. Konstantin Bocharov, a mobile UA lead at performance marketing agency Äppska, has told us about some of the most effective alternative sources, detailing their features and sharing some tips.
Unity is still unprofitable as the company posted a loss from operations of $239 million in the third quarter (ended September 30). The Create Solutions segment, however, showed strong revenue growth.
Mobile games accounted for over 50% of Activision Blizzard’s revenue in the third quarter. Here is how much money Diablo Immortal, Candy Crush Saga, and the company’s other mobile hits have exactly made.
Over 35 million people have already played Overwatch 2, a free-to-play sequel to Blizzard’s hero shooter. That’s an impressive start, but let’s see how these numbers compare to the launches of other successful F2P games.
Unity has officially completed its merger with ironSource. While outlining its future plans, the company also addressed developers’ concerns about monetization and a possible shift to the ad business.
Appodeal has prepared a detailed tutorial on split testing of monetization on its platform.
Hinterland founder and creative director Raphael van Lierop has outlined the factors behind the success of The Long Dark, a survival hit that recently surpassed 10 million players. He also tried to explain the importance of “healthy revenue” for independent developers.
Andraž Oražem, Slovenian dev and founder of one-man studio Alchemy Sheep, has shared with us some ups and downs he faced while making his upcoming roguelike game NecroBouncer. This rollercoaster journey could help many other indie creators avoid making the same mistakes.
New mobile CCG Marvel Snap has already generated over $2 million in its first week. The game developed by Hearthstone veterans is now climbing the download and revenue charts on iOS and Android.
In the first nine months of 2022, 976 deals were announced or closed across the games industry globally. Here are some key takeaways from Drake Star’s latest report, including the top 15 largest M&A deals this year.
Roblox has seen its shares increase by almost 20% after reporting a positive spike in September bookings. It was the biggest one-day jump the company has experienced in recent months.
Mike Minton stated this during TwitchCon. According to him, the distribution of income under the 70/30 scheme will allow everyone to “earn as long as possible.”
