The main thing for the weekend (November 19-20)
The media learned about VK’s plans to develop its own game engine by the end of 2025, one of the composers of God of War: Ragnarök said that she was not indicated in the credits of the game due to non-compliance with the “minimum criteria”, and the French authorities extended the tax benefits program for game developers for six years, – we tell you what happened in the gaming industry this weekend.
Kommersant reported that VK plans to release a game engine by the end of 2025. At the same time, the company decided to finance its development itself, without attracting government subsidies — it estimated the cost of producing the engine at 2.8 billion rubles. VK expects to earn money by selling licenses for the commercial version of the engine, including by subscription. VK is also going to sell add-ons to the engine and conduct paid consultations.
Composer Jessica Mao complained that she was not mentioned in the credits of God of War: Ragnarök. According to Mao, she did music for several important scenes in the game, but this apparently wasn’t enough for Santa Monica Studio. The studio stated that the composer did not fall under certain “minimum criteria” for inclusion in the credits.
Rockstar Games has updated the rules for third-party RP servers GTA Online and Red Dead Online, prohibiting gamers from commercial operation of servers. The studio stressed that now, among other things, it is forbidden to sell loot boxes for real money and use NFT with cryptocurrency.
NetEase has invested in the Norwegian startup PlayPulse, specializing in exercise bikes and games for them. The size of the investment is not disclosed.
▪️The research company Grand View Research has published a report on the subscription gaming market. According to it, by 2030, the market revenue will reach $24.1 billion. For comparison: in 2022, the market should earn only $9.21 billion. It is expected that the highest average annual growth rate in the period from 2022 to 2030 will show the segment of mobile games – 16.8%.
The French government has announced that it is extending the tax program for gaming companies until December 31, 2028. Recall that this program allows local developers to cover up to 30% of the cost of creating games. Since its launch in 2008, 150 French studios with 370 games have received tax benefits.
