Stores and publishing

A sudden statement. An appropriate reaction.

Spoiler: You can't do without market analysis.

Sony has announced its financial outcomes for the first quarter of 2025, showcasing a year-over-year rise of 8% in sales income and a 127% surge in operating income for its Games and Network Services segment

In a conversation with investors, Sony acknowledged that the transformation of the PlayStation business towards game services is "not going entirely smoothly"

The Tencent division responsible for publishing and operating PUBG Mobile has once again come under the attention of Roskomnadzor.

Tencent's division responsible for publishing and operating PUBG Mobile has once again come under the scrutiny of Roskomnadzor.

MiHoYo has revealed plans to discontinue Genshin Impact on the PlayStation 4.

In the week from July 28 to August 5, there are four new entries in the top 10 paid games on Steam. Some of them are quite unexpected.

The publishing company is called Lyrical Games

More than a million individuals have taken advantage of freebies offered under GOG's FreedomToBuy.Games initiative. This limited-time campaign provides 13 NSFW games at no cost as a form of protest following digital platforms such as Steam and itch.io tightening their regulations on NSFW content due to demands from payment processors

Lyrical Media, an independent production company, has introduced Lyrical Games, a new indie games publisher that is privately funded. Blake Rochkind, the former head of business development at Private Division, will lead the new venture.

The bus mechanic simulator from Cyprus-based Polden Publishing was able to cover its development costs within the first two days of sales

The first half of 2025 was the best in terms of revenue on Steam for games with cooperative modes, according to analysts from Alinea Analytics. The total earnings for such projects during this period amounted to $4.1 billion—11% more than the previous year

Google Corporation failed to overturn a court decision in its dispute with Epic Games. Its appeal in the case regarding its monopoly on the Android app market was rejected once again.

Google Corporation failed to contest the court's decision in its dispute with Epic Games. Its appeal in the case regarding monopoly in the Android app market was once again rejected.

Microsoft has announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2025, highlighting robust growth in gaming revenue as well as in Xbox content and services.

The Steam team continues to update its digital store. This time, they announced a major overhaul of the trailer player on game pages: its reliability has been improved and the interface redesigned.

Between April 6 and July 5, 2025, Microsoft was the publisher for six out of the ten top-selling PlayStation games

The year 2025 will be remembered, among other things, for the sequels to dozens of successful or even cult indie games. However, many of them, for various reasons, ended up overshadowed by the original titles

Continuing our series "Developer/Publisher Wanted," where indie teams share about themselves, their projects, and the funds they need. Up next is an article about the game "Potion Brewing: The Alchemist's Path." It's an adaptation of a board game about brewing elixirs.

In adherence to the UK's Online Safety Act, Microsoft has implemented age verification for Xbox users in the United Kingdom.

Last week, Tripwire Interactive released Killing Floor 3. Despite receiving "mixed" reviews, the shooter achieved strong sales on Steam. For the week of July 22-29, it ranked fourth among the top-grossing products on the platform, and if you exclude free-to-play titles and the Steam Deck, it even took first place

Microsoft will begin verifying the age of Xbox users in the United Kingdom. This is necessary to comply with the local online safety law.

Is there a transition from mobile to Steam, and if so, what might be the reasons for this phenomenon? The editors of App2Top spoke with teams that have experience working with both platforms: HeroCraft, Brickworks Games, Lipsar Studio, Kylyk Games, and Nekki

UKIE, the trade association representing the UK games industry, has issued a statement to GamesIndustry.biz concerning the recent withdrawal of adult games from the Steam and itch.io platforms

SteamDB has started publishing two additional rankings. One sorts games on Steam by the number of daily active users (DAU), while the other ranks them by "wishlist activity"

The number of AI-generated reviews on Steam is increasing. This conclusion was reached by experts from the text-checking service Copyleaks, who analyzed reviews on the Valve store.

Apple has updated the age rating system in the App Store. The corporation announced the addition of three new levels: "13+," "16+," and "18+"

On the night of July 24th, the publisher 505 Games and the Chinese studio Leenzee released the soulslike game Wuchang: Fallen Feathers. Steam users are currently very dissatisfied with the game. Within the first few hours, they left 4.4 thousand reviews, of which only 19% were positive.

In July, adult games started getting removed from Steam. We'll explain why, who's behind this, and what risks this precedent poses for regular projects

The port of Forza Horizon 5 feels great on PlayStation 5. According to data from Alinea Analytics, the hit racing game from Playground Games and Xbox has sold over 3 million copies on Sony consoles. More than any other new release this year

Analysts at VG Insights examined the situation with wishlists on Steam using games released over the past 12 months as a case study. Below are the main findings

The PS5 version of Forza Horizon 5 has exceeded sales of three million copies, establishing Microsoft's racing title as the leading new PS5 release of 2025.

In the week from July 15 to 22, the top ten of the Steam sales chart was almost entirely composed of free-to-play games. As before, the first two spots were occupied by Counter-Strike 2 and PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS. Destiny 2 climbed to third place following the recent release of a new expansion pack.

In 2021, a group of American gamers sued Sony due to the inability to purchase digital versions of games for its consoles anywhere other than the PlayStation Store. They claimed the company created a monopoly which led to price increases. Recently, Sony attempted to reach a settlement with the plaintiffs, but the court did not approve it.

In 2021, a group of American gamers sued Sony due to the inability to purchase digital versions of games for its consoles anywhere other than the PlayStation Store. They claimed that the company created a monopoly, leading to increased prices. Recently, Sony attempted to reach a settlement with the plaintiffs, but the court did not approve it.

Effective July 18, Microsoft has discontinued the sale and rental of TV shows and movies on Xbox and Windows platforms

The Deep Pixel Melancholy team shared in detail — step by step — how they increased their wishlists on Steam.

The head of Three Dots Games studio, Artyom Perevoz, wrote an extensive (80-page) open letter detailing the misconduct of the publisher Take Aim Games. According to him, the company failed to meet its obligations, did not pay developers for months, and ultimately appropriated the rights to the puzzle game The Muller-Powell Principle. The other party disagrees with the accusations — here we explain the situation from both perspectives

In an interview with the newspaper "Kommersant," Ilya Ulyanov, the director of business development at RuStore, talked about the increase in Chinese advertising spending

A study reveals that 7% of games available on Steam now indicate the use of generative AI in some capacity

Italian independent game developer Santa Ragione has expressed criticism toward Apple for removing its narrative game, Wheels of Aurelia, from the platform. The studio asserts that the game is "fully functional" and adheres to "current technical standards".

In Steam, there are more and more games whose developers use artificial intelligence during development, according to Ichiro Lambe, head of Totally Human Media and one of the creators of "Steam Labs." He noted that their share among the new releases in 2025 was about 20%

The lead developer in charge of Xbox Graphics has faced criticism for promoting new job openings with an image generated by artificial intelligence

While Counter-Strike 2 continues to lead the top-grossing products on Steam for the sixth consecutive week, there are some shifts happening in the rest of the chart. Below are the most notable changes from July 8-15

The developers from GFA Games announced on the game's official social media pages that the MMO shooter PIONER has reached a new major milestone on wishlists.

The GOG team announced that on July 17th, the games Limbo and Inside will be removed from the store. The official reason has not been stated, but it is speculated online that the removal could be related to the legal disputes between Playdead founders Dino Patti and Arnt Jensen, which have recently escalated to a lawsuit.

The GOG team announced that on July 17, the games Limbo and Inside will be removed from the store. An official reason is not provided, but online speculation suggests that the cause might be disputes between the founders of Playdead, Dino Patti and Arnt Jensen, which have recently moved to the courts

Everything indicates that 2025 will become another record-breaking year for Steam. We decided to summarize the first six months by gathering information about games and the state of the platform as a whole. Today's article includes lots of charts and data on new releases and key trends

The top of the Steam best-selling products chart has changed little compared to the previous week. Counter-Strike 2 once again secured the lead in the overall ranking, while the portable PC Steam Deck and the indie hit Peak outpaced everyone in the paid category