The main thing for the weekend (March 2-3)

Steam has updated the online record, Apple has changed its mind about stopping support for progressive web applications on iOS in Europe, the number of gaming companies has grown in Brazil - we tell you what happened in the gaming industry over the weekend.

• On March 3, the peak online Steam reached an all-time high: 34,649,583 people were on the site at the same time. Note that at the time of setting the record, most users were simply registered in the system, and there were much fewer people directly in the games — 11,146,564.
• Apple still won't disable Progressive Web applications (PWA) for users from EU countries. The 9to5Mac portal noted that the company has updated the rules for developers and indicated that it will continue to support PWA in the region. But she stressed that the PWA should rely on Apple's WebKit browser engine. Earlier, in accordance with the law on digital stores in the European Union, the company allowed the use of not only WebKit, but also other engines in iOS browsers.
• Naughty Dog fired senior artist Santiago Gutierrez as part of the restructuring of Sony's gaming division. He worked at Naughty Dog for almost 18 years and during that time had a hand in all the major games of the Uncharted and The Last of Us series. According to the specialist, the dismissal was a serious blow to him. "The sadness of being fired is associated not only with the loss of my job, but also with the loss of a sense of purpose, a community, a team that I love with all my heart... a routine that has become an integral part of everyday life. All this causes a deep feeling of disorientation and irresistible longing, which is felt for a long time after disconnecting from the internal Internet network, because I was not even allowed to say goodbye to everyone in person... after 18 years. What did I do wrong?" Gutierrez wrote on LinkedIn.
• The Abragames Association, in partnership with the ApexBrazil agency, has published an annual report on the Brazilian gaming industry. According to it, at the end of 2023, there were 1,042 gaming companies in the country, employing a total of 13,225 people. For comparison, in 2022 there were 1,009 gaming companies in Brazil with a total staff of 12,441 people. The researchers also estimated that by the end of 2022, the revenue of the Brazilian gaming industry amounted to $ 251.6 million. How much it amounted to at the end of 2023 is not reported.