The Chinese action RPG Phantom Blade Zero, developed by S-GAME, showcased one of the biggest launches in Steam history. On October 30, the game reached 731,026 concurrent users (CCU). This achievement placed it at 15th in the platform’s historical rankings.

The release of Phantom Blade Zero is an opportunity not only to analyze the impressive metrics of the new Chinese blockbuster but also to discuss the two decades that led up to this project. Through RPG Maker, mobile, investments from Tencent, financial discipline, and creative compromises

Studio Atelico has introduced its Atelico AI Engine to Early Access.

WN Media Group announced the next WN C-Level Summit, an event for owners, founders, and top executives of gaming companies. This year, the summit will take place on December 10 in the capital of Georgia

Maddy Makes Games, an independent game developer, has removed its titles Celeste and TowerFall from the Xbox platform in alignment with the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement

Indie studios should fund game development in stages, increasing expenditures as demand is confirmed. This opinion was expressed by Nicholas Lovell, the Director of Product and Strategy at the British studio Spilt Milk Studios, known for Trash Goblin.

Current and former employees of Electronic Arts have criticized the company's management for imposing generative AI amid layoffs. According to them, the management aims to maintain previous production levels with a smaller number of employees by actively integrating neural networks into the workflow.

In the third quarter, Roblox exceeded financial predictions, reporting a 16% increase in revenue compared to the previous year, reaching $1.6 billion.

The Chinese action RPG Phantom Blade Zero by S-GAME studio showcased one of the biggest launches in Steam's history. On its release day, October 29, its peak concurrent players reached 723,876. This allowed the game to secure 15th place in the platform's all-time rankings

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) released a study on illegal gambling in the country, casting doubt on the notion that the use of unlicensed operators directly displaces activity at licensed companies

The company Playgama introduced the AI Game Index—a service that compares AI models and game development tools based on the behavior of real players. Unlike traditional AI benchmarks that evaluate the completion of individual tasks, it takes into account user engagement in published projects

The shooter Gears of War: E-Day, released by Microsoft on October 6, has sold over 400,000 copies on PC and Xbox. This was reported by The Verge journalist Tom Warren, citing his own source

Xsolla announced the acquisition of the Italian platform GamePix, which specializes in the publishing and distribution of browser games

Google manually restricted search ranking positions for a number of publications associated with Clickout Media.

Following a recent merger, Skydance Corporation has instituted a policy requiring employees to be present in the office five days a week. Additionally, the company is providing a Voluntary Buyout Program (VBO) for its workforce.

The developers of the action-platformer Heart Abyss revealed that the publisher decided to keep an image created with the help of a neural network on the game's main page in Steam, even though the team had an alternative drawn by an artist. The reason was the results of advertising promotion: the AI art turned out to be more clickable

Capcom released its financial results for the six-month period ending on September 30, 2026, showing gains in all areas. Notably, the company experienced a 67.5% increase in ordinary profit, reaching ¥61.2 billion ($387.2 million)

Valve acknowledges that the proliferation of generative AI has exacerbated the issue of game cloning on Steam. However, the company does not intend to combat this by banning specific tools or tightening publication rules.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has once again taken aim at Valve. This time, he claimed that the creators of Steam have been holding back the development of the entire gaming industry for many years.

Microsoft surpassed expectations in the first quarter, revealing a revenue of $92.3 billion alongside growth in both net income and earnings per share

Microsoft reported a decline in gaming business revenue in the third calendar quarter of 2026. Xbox revenue decreased by 2% year-over-year, dropping to $5.38 billion. Both console sales and content with services showed negative trends

The digital store GOG announced the launch of its own publishing branch. It has been named Retrovibe by GOG and was created in collaboration with the independent Polish publisher Retrovibe

BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk believes that the change in ownership of Electronic Arts ultimately determined the studio's fate. In his opinion, EA's new investors are primarily interested in commercially predictable projects, whereas the development of large-scale role-playing games, for which BioWare is renowned, demands too much time and resources

The cyberpunk shop owner simulator Probably Stolen sold over 200,000 copies just a few hours after its release on Steam. This was announced by Questing Goose Studio, the developer of the game, with support from the publisher tinyBuild

PressEngine, a platform specializing in PR and influencer marketing, is introducing The Pre-Show, an event designed to connect developers directly with media and content creators in person

Runic Forge, the publisher known for Hearth and Hamlet, has changed its name to Pythia Games

In this regard, the country ranks third in South America after Brazil and Chile.

This time, the Steam demo festival kicked off with alarmist statements about the overwhelming number of projects created using AI. However, the results present a much more interesting and complex picture. Learn more about this, as well as the top performers in terms of wishlists, subscribers, and other metrics, in our comprehensive report

Playrix shared statistics for Homescapes on the occasion of the game's ninth anniversary. Since its release in September 2017, the puzzle game has been downloaded 773.5 million times

The analytics company Sensor Tower examined how mobile game ad impressions are distributed across platforms in the United States.

Wardogs by Bulkhead outperformed EA Sports FC 27, leading Newzoo's September ranking for PC revenue.

The Video Game Industry Development Organization (VGIDO) has prepared a draft memorandum that could form the basis for future video game legislation in Russia. Among the proposals are restrictions on in-game purchases by minors, extrajudicial blocking of websites with cheats, and the creation of a mechanism for resolving disputes between players and companies.

The Russian company Game Art Pioneers announced a complete restart of the development of DISTORTION — a role-playing game that was previously planned to have a budget exceeding $100 million. The reason for reconsidering the project was the team's lack of a definitive vision of what the game should be like.

Helen Chiang, who took on the role of Xbox's inaugural Chief Operating Officer, has departed the company just three months after her appointment

The number of games released on Steam through the Early Access program continues to grow, and for many studios, such a launch has already become as significant as a full release. According to SteamDB, as of mid-October 2026, 2,924 games have been released in Early Access on the Valve platform—18% more than in 2025 and 60% more than in 2020

Charu Desodt, head of the studio Interior Night, has been named as the new chair of the BAFTA Games Committee

Epic Games plans to amend the Unreal Engine license agreement to lift restrictions on AI training using materials created with the engine and MetaHuman technology. This was announced by the company's CEO, Tim Sweeney. However, game developers will be able to independently decide whether to permit such use of their content.

Discord has announced that starting in mid-December, messages from certain large public servers will become available for web search. This concerns only servers in the Discoverable Servers category, which includes specific public communities with a thousand or more users.

The developer of Needle in a Haystack Simulator, Nas Nakarus, introduced a humorous mode called Find the Original Game, where players are tasked with finding the original game among numerous copies. This was the developer's response to the emergence of a large number of similar projects

Warhorse Studios has suffered a cyberattack, leading to unauthorized access to the company's systems and data.

The initiative called "Casino in the Children's Room" aims to shift the focus in discussing young people's digital habits from screen time duration to the content of games and the mechanics used in them

The Pokémon Company has revealed plans to take Pokémon Unite offline on March 23, 2027

At Sony-owned studio Sucker Punch Productions, known for Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yōtei, a wave of layoffs has occurred. According to media reports, 24 people lost their jobs, which is roughly one-tenth of the team. The layoffs happened amid the studio's transition to its next project

Microsoft has extended consultations about the future of Arkane Lyon, the French studio known for Dishonored and Deathloop, by a month. The procedure was originally set to conclude on November 13, but the new tentative deadline is December 13. If a resolution is not found, the studio faces closure, and 217 employees risk losing their jobs

Sucker Punch Productions, the developer behind Ghost of Yōtei, has reportedly undergone layoffs, impacting 24 employees

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has once again criticized Steam's requirements to disclose information about the use of generative AI in games. In his view, such a practice could negatively impact the sales of their projects.

Microsoft has launched a voluntary redundancy program with compensation. The offer applies to about 60,000 people, or 27% of the corporation's employees. According to Reuters, the Xbox division is among those participating in the program