Main events over the weekend (August 24-25)

Steam was added to Russia's unified register of banned resources, only to be removed quickly afterward. The peak online presence of Concord on Steam didn't even reach a thousand people, and the creators of Black Myth: Wukong stated that over four years, the game's team expanded more than fivefold. Here's what happened in the gaming industry over the weekend.

Concord

• Late last week, Roskomnadzor added the Community section of the Steam platform to the list of sites with information prohibited for distribution in Russia. However, it disappeared from the register in less than a day. The reasons for adding and then removing Steam from the registry remain unexplained. Such incidents are not new. The last time Steam communities were added to the country's banned resource register was in February 2024. As Roskomnadzor explained at the time, prohibited information was found on Steam, but the platform promptly removed it upon the agency's request.
• Last Sunday, Steam set a new record for online presence. According to SteamDB, 37.26 million people were simultaneously online on the platform on the evening of August 25. The previous record of 36.92 million people was recorded on June 30 during the Steam summer sale.
• Valve officially confirmed the existence of the multiplayer shooter Deadlock. They created a project page on Steam, allowed open discussions about the game, and lifted the prohibition on showcasing screenshots and game videos. The company emphasized that Deadlock is still in the early stages of development, and access to game testing is by invitation only. Valve did not specify when Deadlock will be released. It’s worth noting that, following the "announcement," Deadlock's audience increased significantly, with the peak online presence of the shooter currently at 89,203 people.
• The multiplayer shooter Concord, developed by Firewalk Studios, was released on consoles and PC. At least on Steam, it turned out to be a flop. According to SteamDB estimates, Concord managed to attract only 697 players online simultaneously at its peak. However, the game’s rating on Steam is "mostly positive," with 72% of 373 reviews praising Concord. On the PlayStation Store page, the game has a rating of 2.86 out of 5 based on 8,000 reviews.
• A representative of Game Science studio told PC Gamer that when Black Myth: Wukong was announced in 2020, the game was being worked on by only 20 people. The studio understood that to create the envisioned game, they needed more staff, so they actively searched for candidates. Game Science admitted that it was challenging to do so in China, as most local teams specialized in mobile games. By releasing the announcement trailer, Game Science hoped to attract not only gamers but also developers from around the world who would join the Black Myth: Wukong team. It seems they succeeded; by the end of the game's development, the team had over 100 specialists.
• Take-Two's studio Visual Concepts South conducted layoffs. This was reported by Game Developer, citing posts by former studio employees on social media. According to their information, employees from the art department, programmers, and producers were affected. The exact number of people who lost their jobs is unknown. Visual Concepts South was involved in developing several games in the 2K NBA series but is best known for the LEGO 2K Drive racing game.