Stores and publishing

We discuss the situation in the chart of the best-selling products on Steam for the week of October 21 to 28

In 2023, the Saudi company Sandsoft announced grand ambitions — it aimed to become an influential publisher within five years, capable of competing with giants like Tencent, Electronic Arts, and Activision Blizzard. However, it seems that their plan has failed

The cooperative online game "RV There Yet?" has reached 1.3 million units sold on Steam following its release on October 21, a sales figure that has pleasantly surprised its developer, Nuggets Entertainment

Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, stated that the company's primary application of AI is focused on security and moderation of Xbox Live, with no directive in place to integrate AI into the creative process. Additionally, he pointed out the brand's enhanced presence in the traditionally difficult Japanese market.

The indie apocalypse continues

Against the backdrop of upcoming amendments to the Tax Code, the Video Game Industry Development Organization (VGIDO) has addressed an appeal to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, requesting the establishment of new tax incentives for companies representing the industry.

Microsoft has allegedly increased the price of its Xbox Series X/S development kits (XDK) from $1,500 to $2,000.

The secret to success is a popular mobile mechanic combined with roguelike meta

Numerous online platforms globally, such as Fortnite, Roblox, PlayStation Network, and several major banks, are beginning to recover following an outage of Amazon Web Services (AWS) earlier today

Microsoft has verified that it is working on "next-gen hardware."

Another marketing failure by Xbox Game Studios on PC

Battlestate Games announced this achievement on social media

Valve announced a new enhancement for Steam. Games on the platform now have dedicated pages listing all the bundles they are included in

Players continue to actively add the next "Heroes of Might and Magic" to their wishlist. The studio Unfrozen and publisher Hooded Horse reported that by mid-October, the game had already accumulated over one million wishlists on Steam

Last year, Capcom brought back the original Resident Evil trilogy for sale by placing it in the digital store GOG. However, according to GOG's Senior Business Development Manager Marcin Paczynski, this might not have happened.

The analytical company VG Insights released a study on souls-likes on Steam. They examined all the games with the “souls-like” tag, released on the platform from January 2015 to October 2025.

The top spot in the latest Steam chart predictably went to Battlefield 6. The newcomer launched strongly, surpassing all other games on the platform in revenue from October 7-14 — both paid and free-to-play titles

The analytics company VG Insights released a study on Soulslikes in Steam. It examined all games with the "Dark Souls-like" tag that were released on the platform from January 2015 to October 2025.

A new game publisher has emerged in Russia, called Zavod Games. It was founded by Vasily Maguryan, who previously headed VK Play, along with Dmitry Gachko, the founder of ITG Corporation.

Microsoft has denied allegations that US retailers have ceased selling its Xbox Series X and S consoles, asserting that major retail chains "remain committed partners for Xbox consoles, accessories, and games"

Battlefield 6 has become the largest release in the franchise's history on Steam, amassing more than 700,000 concurrent players within the first day of its launch.

On October 9, the studio Unfrozen and publisher Hooded Horse released a demo version of the next installment in the "Heroes of Might and Magic" series on Steam. According to SteamDB data, quite a few players decided to try it out

The editorial team at App2Top asked the most relevant questions about publishing to representatives from Skystone Games, Indie GO Fund, HeroCraft, and Polden Publishing

Predicting the success of a particular game can be challenging, but it's often possible to foresee the lack of potential. Today, we'll discuss types of unsuccessful indie games and the mistakes developers make, supported by examples and data on the highest-grossing and most "overcrowded" subgenres on Steam.

Microsoft is temporarily halting price increases for its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription in certain countries

Last week, Steam held its Autumn Sale. As a result, in the latest Steam chart, new releases are listed alongside old hits. Let's talk about the most notable changes in the rankings

Vedinad, the developer, has revealed that the uniquely named Megabonk has surpassed one million sales on Steam. This achievement indicates a continued strong interest in rogue-like survival games similar to Vampire Survivors.

It took Megabonk two weeks to hit the million mark.

At the beginning of the month, we traditionally share data on the most successful releases over the past 30 days. In today's report, you'll find plenty of figures and charts on revenue, sales, and other metrics of September's new releases, including titles from major studios, indie hits, and Japanese RPGs

Microsoft acknowledges that "price increases are never fun for anybody" in response to its recent choice to raise the costs associated with the Xbox Game Pass tiers

Capcom continues to report high audience interest in the next installment of Resident Evil. They announced that Resident Evil Requiem has been added to the wishlists of 2 million people, a number that includes wishlists on both PC and consoles

It took Megabonk two weeks to reach the million mark.

Microsoft plans to increase the cost of its Xbox Game Pass subscription service, with the highest tier, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, set to rise from $19.99/£14.99 to $29.99/£22.99 per month

SteamDB published a list of the top-grossing games on Steam for the week of September 23-30. Here are the main observations.

During its launch weekend, Hades 2 exceeded 112,000 concurrent players on Steam, surpassing the peak numbers achieved during its early access phase.

This is the result of less than a year of the company's existence: Polden Publishing officially opened in November 2024

This was reported by Hideaki Nishino, the head of Sony Interactive Entertainment, at the Tokyo Game Show 2025.

Less than a day remains until the full release of Hades II. In anticipation of this, analysts at Alinea Analytics have decided to share what achievements the game has accomplished during its time in early access.

In celebration of the Payday franchise's 12th anniversary, Starbreeze has introduced a subscription service for Payday 2 available on Steam.

According to recent data, Xbox users engage with more games on average each month than those using PlayStation or Steam.

Costco has discreetly discontinued the sale of Xbox consoles in both the US and UK, affecting its online and physical retail locations

During the week of September 16 to 23, Counter-Strike 2 reclaimed the top spot in the Steam chart of highest-grossing games. Joining it in the top three were Dota 2 and Dying Light: The Beast.

Chris Charla, the head of ID@Xbox, has disclosed that Xbox has undertaken its most significant investment in Game Pass so far, scheduled for 2025

The founder of GameDiscoverCo, Simon Carless, decided to explore which games are popular among Steam Deck owners. He approached the task from an unconventional angle.

Simon Carless, the founder of GameDiscoverCo, decided to take a look at which games are popular among Steam Deck owners. He approached this task from an unconventional angle.

Microsoft has revealed a subsequent price hike for Xbox Series X|S consoles within the United States, with an increase ranging from $20 to $70 across its lineup of hardware.

The British holding TruFin released its financial report for the first six months of 2025. Among other things, it discussed the results of its subsidiary PlayStack, best known for publishing the card hit Balatro.

According to Newzoo, the release of Helldivers 2 on Xbox led to a significant increase in revenue, placing it fourth on the firm's overall revenue chart for August

Following the assassination of Charlie Kirk earlier this month, the U.S. Congress has issued formal invitations to the CEOs of Twitch, Steam, Reddit, and Discord. They are asked to testify at a committee hearing regarding the "radicalization of online forum users"

Valve is set to discontinue Steam support for 32-bit versions of the Windows 10 operating system starting January 1, 2026.