Stores and publishing

Another Next Fest has come to an end, so it is time to look at the biggest demos. One of the most interesting observation is the dominance of games with multiplayer features, especially compared to previous events.

Valve does not plan to launch hardware on a yearly or cyclical basis, as this approach is considered "not really fair to customers"

The list of the best-selling products in the Valve store for the week from October 15 to October 22 has been published. Let's go through the top ten, excluding free-to-play products

Steam is the main storefront for game distribution on PC. Bohemia Interactive looks back at its debut on the platform 15 years ago, revealing how many copies of its games it has sold since then.

Valve has released a list of the most popular demos from the October "Steam Next Fest." It includes games that were tried by the highest number of unique players during the week of the event.

Last week, a couple of older hits returned to the Steam charts and has seen outperformed most new releases. Here is our regular roundup of the top products on the platform by gross revenue over the past seven days.

Liar's Bar, a cooperative game from the Turkish studio Curve Animation, was released on October 2 in early access. Three weeks later, its peak online player count on Steam exceeded 100,000 players.

Critical acclaim and a very positive player reception have translated into strong sales for the Silent Hill 2 remake. Here is how the game is doing commercially in Europe.

It’s fascinating to see Turkish studios finding success on Steam this year. The latest example is Liar’s Bar, a co-op twist on the card game cheat with a grim version of Zootopia-like characters and deadly rules.

Witchfire appears to be a success for Polish studio The Astronauts, which recently summed up the first results of the game’s Early Access launch on Steam. The team also explained why the devs care about critic and user reviews.

Digital Vortex Entertainment is a recently established publishing team dedicated to "elevating indie developers"

Indie games make up the majority of products released on Steam every year. But how much money doe they make on the platform and what is their revenue share compared to AA/AAA titles? A new report from VG Insights sheds some light on this matter.

Indian publisher Deftouch has obtained an unspecified investment to expand its portfolio, create new games, and recruit additional talent

Alan Hartman, the leader of Xbox Game Studios, will retire from his role at the end of November. Craig Duncan, who currently heads Rare, will succeed him.

The newest episode of the GamesIndustry.biz Microcast is available for download, providing a concise summary of last week's major headlines.

Microsoft is said to be considering an expansion of its cloud streaming service, allowing players to access owned titles from their Xbox game libraries.

Valve is set to introduce its Steam Deck in Australia this November

As of October 14, 2024, Xbox has specified to GamesIndustry.biz that Sarah Bond's recent announcement was regarding complete Xbox console games, not mobile options. These acquired games will be accessible for play in the Xbox App through Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Microids has unveiled a new third-party publishing division, aimed at enhancing its international partnerships. As part of this expansion, the company has teamed up with Kwalee to publish The Precinct, a new game developed by Fallen Tree Games Limited.

DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO, the first new installment in the main fighting game series in 17 years, continues to perform exceptionally well on Steam. In the week from October 8 to 15, the game once again confidently secured the top spot on the premium product chart and the second place in overall revenue, second only to Counter-Strike 2. This surge indicates significant interest in the franchise even after years of hiatus

The Steam charts are now dominated by Japanese games, with some strong performance from indie titles. Here are the top products on the platform by gross revenue over the past seven days.

From January 1 to September 30, 2024, indie games earned a total of $4 billion on Steam, according to a report by the analytics firm VG Insights. This accounts for 48% of the total revenue from all games in the Valve store for the period

Games industry veteran Alan Hartman is leaving Microsoft. Best known for his work on the Forza franchise, the executive will retire next month after more than three decades.

Alan Hartman, a Microsoft veteran, has decided to leave the corporation. At the end of November, he will step down from his position as head of Xbox Game Studios and retire

An indie publisher shared information about the sales and accumulated wishlists of some of its games. In the last 12 months, the games published by the company sold 4.5 million copies.

Polish publisher PlayWay has shared some of the results its simulation game Crime Scene Cleaner has achieved in its first two months. Here is how it compares to other titles in the company’s portfolio.

Two months ago, President Studio and PlayWay released the crime scene cleaner simulator, Crime Scene Cleaner, on PC. PlayWay's CEO, Krzysztof Kostowski, shared on social media the achievements the game has reached during this period.

On the evening of October 13, the peak online presence for Metaphor: ReFantazio on Steam reached a record high for the game—85,961 people. As a result, it ranked fifth on the platform among games with the JRPG tag.

Metaphor: ReFantazio has been off to an impressive start, promising to become another success for Atlus this year. Let’s take a close look at its launch and first metrics.

Circana has released its monthly report on the US video game market. Here are the key takeaways, including the total spending, best-selling games, and most played titles.

There are currently no plans to block access to the Steam gaming platform in Russia. This was stated by Roskomnadzor in a comment to TASS

The witch-hunting shooter Witchfire has achieved a new milestone. The studio The Astronauts boasted that the game has garnered over a million wishlists—combined on Steam and the Epic Games Store.

On October 8, DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO became available to owners of premium editions. According to SteamDB, its peak online player count on Steam soon exceeded 91,000.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO has launched in Advanced Access, showing impressive numbers on Steam. Let’s take a look at its CCU count and compare it to other titles, including those in the similar genre.

Three pages from the "Community" section of the Steam platform have appeared in Roskomnadzor's registry, which compiles sites containing information prohibited for distribution in Russia

Several upcoming and new releases, including Silent Hill 2, continue to climb the Steam charts. Let’s take a closer look at the top-performing games on the platform over the past seven days.

The US court has issued the final ruling in Epic v. Google case. As a result, Google Play will have to change and open up to third-party Android stores, in addition to other notable requirements.

The updated Silent Hill 2 by Bloober Team has reached its release: owners of the deluxe edition started playing on October 6, and today, October 8, standard edition purchasers gained access to the remake. At least in terms of Steam sales, the game has had a strong start

Google has been mandated to implement major alterations to its mobile ecosystem within the United States, which includes allowing other app stores access to its Google Play marketplace.

An American court has issued a final decision in the case of Epic Games versus Google. It upheld the verdict delivered in December 2023, recognizing Google as a monopolist in the market for applications on Android devices.

Last week, Lineage developer NCSoft launched its new MMORPG Throne and Liberty. Let’s take a closer look at its metrics on Steam.

This past weekend, the Steam version of Throne and Liberty—the new MMORPG from the creators of Lineage—set a new record for concurrent players. It increased to 336.3 thousand people.

The Russian retail chain "M.Video-Eldorado" reported high demand for the advanced version of the PlayStation 5 console. In the first week, pre-orders for the PlayStation 5 Pro were three times higher than expected

J Allard, previously a gaming executive at Microsoft, has assumed a new position at Amazon, where he will serve as vice president of product

Play, one of the last print gaming magazines in the United Kingdom, has been discontinued.

The analytics service VG Insights shared new data on the number of times Deadlock has been added to wishlists on Steam. According to their estimates, 3.4 million people have already added the upcoming Valve game to their wishlists.

Sony has stated that the full-screen-sized promotional materials which appeared on PS5 dashboards after the recent update were added by "error." These materials have since been removed.

Shoreline Games, a newly established indie publisher, has announced its launch and revealed its lineup of games slated for early 2025.

Devolver Digital has launched a new publishing label focused on indie games inspired by movies, TV shows, comic books, and other entertainment intellectual properties

Xbox Research has broadened its scope to incorporate developers and collaborate with product teams, aiming to deliver data insights that enhance its tools and services