Stores and publishing

Louise O'Connor, previously an executive producer at Rare, has been named chief of staff at Xbox Game Studios.

Welsh distributor Curveball Leisure has introduced Curveball Games, a game publishing arm designed to back "unique" digital and physical projects from indie to AA studios worldwide

This number was mentioned in a conversation with the newspaper "Izvestia" by Viktor Kondakov, the lead developer of "Of Ash and Steel" from the studio Fire & Frost

Steam users in the United Kingdom must now verify their age to access mature content, according to a new requirement by Valve.

On the evening of August 28, the full release of Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater took place on PC and consoles — for two days prior, the game was available to owners of the Deluxe edition. According to SteamDB, a few hours later, the peak online player count for the remake on Steam reached 19,634 people.

Valve’s Business Development Manager Erik Peterson spoke at the Devcom developers conference held during Gamescom 2025. He revealed some fresh data about the Steam store.

Valve's Business Development Manager Erik Peterson spoke at the Devcom developers' conference, held as part of Gamescom 2025. He revealed some fresh data about the Steam store

Continuing our segment "Developer/Publisher Wanted," where indie teams share about themselves and their projects. Up next is Eternal Troops Team, which is creating an original isometric shooter set during World War I.

PlayStation CEO Hermen Hulst has discussed the steps Sony is taking to reduce the effects of setbacks similar to Concord, while enhancing the development of successful, original intellectual property.

The team at Klukva Games, preparing to release the steampunk roguelike Dead Weight, shared detailed insights on how they gathered wishlists on the social network X

The Google Corporation has decided to make Android safer. It announced that in the near future, all developers will be required to verify their identity, otherwise their applications will become unavailable for download.

The chart of the highest-grossing games on Steam for August 19-26 has been released. Below are the key changes compared to the previous week.

Google Corporation has decided to make Android safer. It announced that in the near future, all developers will have to verify their identity, or their apps will become unavailable for download.

A week ago, journalist and producer Geoff Keighley hosted Opening Night Live—the ceremony that kicked off the gaming exhibition Gamescom 2025. The analytics company VG Insights reported which of the games mentioned at the event garnered the most wishlists during the period from August 18 to 23.

The failure of individual games is an unavoidable part of business for large corporations like Sony, whose internal studios work on dozens of projects. Hermen Hulst, the head of PlayStation Studios, approaches this philosophically.

This conclusion was reached by the analytical company Ampere Analysis. In the course of its research, it examined the price tags of 150 games with the highest average monthly active users (MAU) on Steam for the period from January 2024 to June 2025

The failure of individual games is an inevitable part of the business for large corporations like Sony, whose internal studios work on dozens of projects. Hermen Hulst, the head of PlayStation Studios, takes a philosophical approach to this.

Google, following Apple’s lead, has decided to update its store rules for developers distributing apps in European Union countries. The corporation announced these changes in an attempt to avoid fines for violating the Digital Markets Act.

Following Apple, Google decided to update its store's rules for developers who distribute apps in European Union countries. The corporation announced these changes in an attempt to avoid fines for violating the Digital Markets Act.

Microsoft has suggested the possibility of introducing a "more affordable" variant of its Xbox Cloud Gaming service

Parco, a Japanese department store chain, has introduced Parco Games, a publishing label dedicated to independent games.

Alex Mochi is one of the creators of the economic strategy game Rise of Industry and the founder of Dapper Penguin Studios. Recently, he released a video on YouTube, where he talked about an unsuccessful partnership with Kalypso Media and the forced sale of the IP to avoid bankruptcy.

In the latest top-grossing products on Steam, there have been significant changes. For the first time since the beginning of summer, the top spot did not go to Counter-Strike 2 but instead was claimed by PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS.

Alex Mochi is one of the creators of the economic strategy game Rise of Industry and the founder of Dapper Penguin Studios. Recently, he released a video on YouTube where he spoke about an unsuccessful partnership with Kalypso Media and the forced sale of IP to avoid bankruptcy.

Valve has revised Steam user reviews to be language-specific, aiming to offer a "better indication of user sentiment"

Valve has made changes to the rating system on Steam. Now, in addition to the unified rating based on all written reviews, games in the store also receive separate ratings for different languages.

Gamers have been anticipating the release of Hollow Knight: Silksong since 2019, and if nothing changes, it is expected to be released by the end of this year. According to estimates from analysts at Alinea Analytics, over the long wait, more than 4.8 million Steam users have added Team Cherry's game to their wishlists — more than any other upcoming release of 2025

Hollow Knight: Silksong, the eagerly awaited sequel from Team Cherry, tops Steam's wishlist rankings for 2025, with 4.8 million users adding it to their lists.

Valve has announced that a PayPal acquiring bank has halted all transactions on Steam as a measure taken against explicit gaming content.

For the past 20 years, AAA game prices have stayed roughly at the same level, despite a significant increase in development costs, stated former PlayStation Studios head Shawn Layden in an interview with GamesIndustry. He believes that this has been a mistake for the gaming industry.

For the past 20 years, the prices of AAA games have remained roughly at the same level, despite a significant increase in development costs, former head of PlayStation Studios Shawn Layden stated in an interview with GamesIndustry. He believes that this situation has been a mistake for the gaming industry.

The alternative app store Skich has expanded its availability to Android devices after its earlier launch on iOS in the European Union earlier this year

Instinct3, a creative agency based in Berlin, has introduced Sidekick Publishing, a comprehensive publisher aimed at supporting indie and AA studios.

Gamers are eagerly anticipating the new installment of Battlefield, according to data from the analytical company Alinea Analytics. Their estimates indicate that Battlefield 6 has garnered over 2.7 million wishlists on Steam alone, placing the shooter in seventh place among the most desired upcoming games on the platform.

A new chart of the best-selling games on Steam has appeared. It covers sales data for the week from August 5 to August 12

On August 11, the cooperative climbing simulator Peak received its first major update, adding a desert biome, dynamite, cannons, and other new content to the game. There were plenty of players eager to try it all out, leading Peak's peak online player count on Steam to reach a record high for the project.

Tencent has updated the Steam page for Light of Motiram after Sony claimed that the open-world game is a "slavish clone" of Guerrilla Games' Horizon series.

July was a relatively calm month for Steam in terms of new blockbuster hits, according to the founder of GameDiscoverCo, Simon Carless, who compiled the lists of the most successful new releases in July*.

July turned out to be a relatively calm month for Steam in terms of the number of new blockbuster hits. This was noted by the founder of GameDiscoverCo, Simon Carless, who compiled lists of the most successful new releases in July*

The Open Beta for Battlefield 6 has become the most played title in the series on Steam, achieving a peak concurrent player count of 521,079 during its inaugural weekend.

A sudden statement. An appropriate reaction.

Spoiler: You can't do without market analysis.

Sony announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2025, showing an 8% rise in sales income and a 127% boost in operating income compared to the previous year for its Games and Network Services division.

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 phase out 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 one million individuals have taken advantage of free offers as part of GOG's FreedomToBuy.Games campaign. In this time-sensitive promotion, GOG is providing 13 NSFW games at no cost as a form of protest. This move comes after digital platforms such as Steam and itch.io have admitted to imposing stricter regulations on their NSFW content following pressure from payment processors