Weekend Highlights (June 15-16)

The studio that created Wizard with a Gun has shut down, Russian authorities have begun searching for developers of a domestic gaming console, and Banana has entered the top 15 games with the highest online player count in Steam history. Here’s what happened in the gaming industry over the weekend.

Wizard with a Gun

• The founder and president of Galvanic Games, Patrick Morgan, announced the closure of the studio. Despite the promising start of Wizard with a Gun, the game's sales were insufficient to sustain Galvanic Games' operations. Morgan thanked publisher Devolver Digital for their partnership and sadly noted the studio's closure after its most productive year. He urged gaming companies seeking employees to consider the resumes of Galvanic Games’ specialists.
• The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation reported to RBC newspaper that they have begun searching for creators of a domestic gaming console. Officials are currently communicating with potential manufacturers and determining the resources and support measures needed for the project. "If the decision to proceed is made, the process of developing the gaming console will need to be synchronized with the development or adaptation of games for it," added the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
• On Sunday, June 16, the peak online player count for the clicker game Banana on Steam exceeded 798,000 people. As a result, the title ranked 11th among the most popular games in the platform’s history, surpassing Goose Goose Duck (702.8 thousand people), Apex Legends (624.4 thousand people), and Valheim (502.3 thousand people) in terms of online players. It is noteworthy that the player count for Banana continues to grow—by the time of writing this news, it had reached 830,234 concurrent users. It is important to remember that, according to Banana’s creators, a significant portion of the audience consists of bots created by users in an attempt to increase their chances of receiving rare drops.