Side, a services provider, has broadened its operations in China through the inauguration of a new studio and the acquisition of the art outsourcing firm Roboto Entertainment.

Last week, on October 15-16, the WN Conference took place in the capital of Armenia. The event was supported by App2Top and gathered 410 representatives from the gaming industry across 211 companies. Here’s an overview of how it went and what the participants think about the conference.

Netflix is said to have proposed a $500 million deal to Microsoft to acquire a seven-year licensing agreement for Xbox intellectual property to create film and television adaptations.

It was developed by just one person using AI.

Dave Oshry, CEO of New Blood Interactive, believes that the term "immersive sim" is not effective for marketing games. In his view, developers would benefit from using genre labels that are more understandable to the mainstream audience, such as RPG or stealth.

Arrowhead Game Studios does not plan to develop Helldivers 3. In an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, the studio's creative director, Johan Pilestedt, explained that the main issue with a potential sequel would be the competition with the already existing Helldivers 2.

Users of Claude Opus 5.5 have started complaining that the service is increasingly refusing to perform tasks related to reverse engineering of software and games. The first such complaints appeared on October 21

Microsoft has prolonged the consultation period by an additional month to find a new buyer for Arkane Lyon, even as work on Marvel's Blade advances

The number of indie games that managed to sell at least 500,000 copies in the first month grew from 13 to 33 over the year. This is according to a study by Sensor Tower prepared for GamesIndustry.biz. Analysts note that the growth was driven not only by cooperative "friendslop" games but also by original projects from other genres

The SaveMassEffect petition on Change.org has gathered over 200,000 signatures in just five days. Its authors are urging Electronic Arts to continue developing the Mass Effect series, despite BioWare's closure and the cancellation of the next game in the franchise.

Roblox has surpassed Fortnite and Minecraft in total playtime on PC and consoles, Marvel’s Wolverine topped the September sales chart in the US, and Microsoft disclosed the hourly cost for accessing Xbox Cloud Gaming—here's a rundown of notable events in the gaming industry over the weekend.

Creative Assembly has released a statement concerning the implementation of generative AI in Total War: Shogun 2 – Complete Edition. This development prompted the game's withdrawal from sale last week

Netflix attempted to acquire exclusive rights for film and television adaptations of Xbox gaming franchises. According to Puck, the streaming service offered Microsoft $500 million for a seven-year license, but Microsoft asked for $800 million. Ultimately, the negotiations did not result in a deal

The Swedish gaming group Stillfront has announced the appointment of a new CEO. Starting from November 1, 2026, Marcus Jacobs, who previously worked at Electronic Arts, King, and Embark Studios, will lead the company. He will replace Alexis Bonte

BioWare existed for almost 32 years. The end of its story clearly illustrates that games are created not by signs and logos, but by people. Today, we will explore how systemic issues led the studio to gradually lose its creative continuity and economic appeal to its owner

The developers of GameMaker announced a change in the engine's licensing model.

The 2D-focused engine GameMaker will offer its "next-generation runtime" GMRT for free commercial use starting January 1, 2027

Shigeru Miyamoto from Nintendo is set to become the first game developer to be honored with Japan's prestigious Order of Culture award

The cooperative game Peak reached consoles on October 22, 2026. Its price was set at $9.99 compared to $7.99 on PC. One of the game's developers, Nick Kaman, explained why the team decided to increase the price

On October 22, Epic Games announced the AI MegaJam, a game development contest focused on using neural networks. However, the announcement sparked dissatisfaction among some developers. On the same day, the company altered the participation rules

A data breach at Capcom has compromised the information of more than 11.7 million Capcom ID accounts.

The leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP), Avi Lewis, has called on the federal authorities to help the employees of the closing BioWare buy out the studio from Electronic Arts. In his opinion, developers should have the opportunity to manage the company themselves.

Brazil's attempts to regulate the rapidly growing gambling market have not eliminated concerns related to household debts, gambling addiction, and organized crime

In the latest episode of the somewhat irregular GamesIndustry.biz podcast, a fireside chat with Rebecca Lautner, Chief Business Officer at Landfall Games, is presented. Recorded at Game Republic New Horizons, Lautner discusses with features editor Lewis Packwood that despite Peak selling over 23 million units, the developer is eager to pursue new projects.

In September, Marvel's Wolverine topped US game sales charts, marking the highest monthly revenue for a Sony-published game since Helldivers 2.

CD Projekt co-head Michał Nowakowski, following the news about BioWare's closure, stated that the Canadian studio played a significant role in the history of the Polish company and helped bring the first The Witcher to market

"Yandex Games" announced a reduction in the commission for topping up a Steam wallet to 2%. Users will not need to subscribe to a paid membership or fulfill additional conditions. Let's explore how competitive this offer is in the Russian market.

The investment fund Mika Games, founded by Wargaming co-founder Nikolay Katselapov (Nick Katselapov), announced the acquisition of an additional $10 million. The funds are planned to be used for financing mobile studios and their marketing efforts.

During the first half of 2026, Roblox achieved a total of 4.05 billion hours of playtime across PC and console platforms, positioning it as the most-played game in terms of total hours.

Electronic Arts has shared new details about the restructuring of its gaming divisions. The company announced that it has begun preparations for the revival of the Fight Night series, is developing an open-world American football game, and has also revised its development plans for The Sims and skate

The Norwegian government has clarified its plans to restrict children's access to social networks. The forthcoming law may now cover not only traditional social networks but also gaming platforms, including Roblox

The American company Hasbro, which owns the rights to the Monopoly brand, reported revenues from the mobile game Monopoly Go. From January to September 2026, the game generated $127 million for the company, nearly the same amount as the previous year

Xbox has disclosed the pricing details for the cloud gaming restrictions on Game Pass, which were announced in the previous month

Following a court ruling that determined Apple had breached competition law, Fortnite is set to reappear on iOS devices in Australia. The decision mandates that Apple must allow third-party app stores on its iOS platform.

The developer behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, BioWare, is shutting down after over three decades in operation, and initial development on the upcoming Mass Effect project is coming to a halt

Microsoft and AMD revealed that AMD's FSR 4.1 upscaling technology will be introduced to Xbox Series X|S consoles

Electronic Arts announced a major restructuring of its gaming divisions. One of the main consequences of this will be the closure of BioWare, the studio known for the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series. The company has also decided to halt the development of the new Mass Effect

Like many mature markets, Finland is going through a transitional period. On one hand, the industry remains quite polarized. On the other hand, it has become significantly more diverse in recent years. However, it's far from certain that the creators of notable indie hits from the past few years will be able to build sustainable businesses

Project Helix is anticipated to debut during the 2028 holiday season with an estimated price range of $1,200 to $1,800.

Recent data indicates that competitive shooter and sports game genres are most vulnerable to losing players to the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto 6 next month

Mobile game developers are facing increased review times for applications in the App Store. While Apple previously approved new projects and updates within 24–48 hours, the process now occasionally extends over several weeks. This was reported by Mobilegamer.biz, citing representatives from small and medium-sized gaming studios.

The Polish studio One More Level, known for the Ghostrunner series, announced that their new action game Valor Mortis has broken even. According to preliminary data, the game earned enough in its first week of sales to cover the costs stipulated in the publishing agreement.

The French studio DON’T NOD, known for Life is Strange and Vampyr, is attempting to avoid bankruptcy. The company announced that on October 19, the Paris court granted its request to initiate a judicial protection procedure (sauvegarde), which will temporarily freeze payments on old debts and provide time to seek financing

The founder of Liquid Swords, Christofer Sundberg, confirmed the closure of the studio that released the action game Samson. Despite the company's bankruptcy, he does not plan to leave the gaming industry and is already considering forming a new team

A remarkable 97% of studio leaders have integrated artificial intelligence in some capacity throughout the development process, and 94% have implemented AI in at least one of the nine production stages

In the indie game market, there are publisher agreements that are extremely unfavorable for developers. This was highlighted by Forest Willard, co-founder of the studio Innersloth (Among Us) and head of the Outersloth fund.

Look North World studio, led by Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian, has released its first game for Roblox in early access. It's a free-to-play extraction shooter called Drifters. Prior to this, the company specialized in developing games for Fortnite

On October 27, "The Road of Life" is set to release on Steam—a free game about a driver of a one-and-a-half-ton truck navigating the ice road of besieged Leningrad. Sergey Gimelreich, the head of the ISKRA studio, shared with App2Top how the team received support from the Internet Development Institute (IRI), managed their budget constraints, and crafted a game from the concept of "driving on smooth ice"

Griffin Gaming Partners, in collaboration with the production and talent management company Entertainment 360, has established a new venture aimed at facilitating the adaptation of games into film and television formats.