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April 2020 Archive

    1. GDC Summer becomes a fully-digital event
    2. Newzoo partners with Reddit for community engagement data
    3. Microsoft facing controller drift suit
    4. Nintendo will reportedly skip its June Nintendo Direct
    5. Microsoft to show first glimpse of Xbox Series X gameplay next week
    6. Streamline: "Making bets on IP is now, for us, part of the game"
    7. EGX Rezzed 2020 cancelled
    8. The secrets to standing out on mobile app stores
    9. Guilded raises $7m to build gaming chat platform
    10. Why Gears Tactics is an important release for modern Xbox
    11. How to get the most out of your game's Steam page
    12. Magic Leap warns of "critical" battery safety issue
    13. My.Games launches $10m hypercasual publishing programme
    14. Sega launches new Sega Music brand
    15. Global Game Jam founders Susan Gold and Gorm Lai leave after 12 years
    16. Shooter genre sees the most growth on PC in the midst of social isolation
    1. Bublar Group to acquire Goodbye Kansas for approximately $5.7m in shares
    2. Microsoft's gaming revenues flat in Q3 2020
    3. Getting parents into games with Netflix-style lists
    4. Coronavirus-themed game pulled from Steam in China
    5. Loveshark's investment story: How to impress angel investors
    6. Epic Games Store now requires two-factor authentication to claim free games
    7. Call of Duty: Warzone off to strong start in China's March streaming rankings
    8. Over 85,000 games made available for free to NHS workers
    9. Mobile publisher Lab Cave backs GamesIndustry.biz Academy
    10. Those Awesome Guys' company-wide genre shift
    11. British Esports Association partners with Pearson on esports qualifications
    1. Bohemia Interactive shuts down DayZ studio
    2. Riot "looking into long-term solutions" to fight toxicity in Valorant
    3. Morhaime says WoW accessibility push hurt social experience
    4. Side Quest aims to get 100,000 young people to build their first game at home
    5. GameSpot to hold summer digital E3 alternative and charity event
    6. Game creation platform Crayta coming to Google Stadia this summer
    7. Nintendo closing 3DS and Wii U eShops in Latin America and the Caribbean
    8. How Bohemia's "almost accidental" mod support became a staple of the studio
    9. Scopely acquires Scrabble Go studio PierPlay
    10. Jagex sold for $530m
    11. App Annie lays off "a small fraction" of its workforce
    12. Gears Tactics: Critical Consensus
    13. Tencent and Gameye partner on free online conference
    14. What impact is COVID-19 having on video game deals? | Opinion
    15. Rovio slashes user acquisition spend to improve profits in Q1
    16. Fortnite's Travis Scott event reached 27.7m unique players
    17. Xbox's Phil Spencer discusses "not exploiting" a global pandemic
    1. Sensor Tower revises European mobile game spending projections
    2. Gearbox is working on a Brothers in Arms TV series
    3. Superdata downgrades XR projections for 2020 through 2023
    4. Bethesda donates $1m to COVID-19 relief charities
    5. Demand for Chinese, Italian localizations dipped last year
    6. The Last of Us Part 2 gets a new release date
    7. Ziggurat Interactive acquires 3DO Game Company portfolio
    8. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: (Not)E3 Expectations 2020
    9. 2K names new WWE games boss ahead of series refresh
    10. What's fueling gaming content creator deals?
    11. GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit Online takes place next month for free
    12. Animal Crossing: New Horizons US ad campaign dwarfs competitors
    13. Loveshark's investment story: How the AR developer impressed the Oliver Twins
    14. Tencent takes over China's streaming market with $262m Huya stake
    15. Jens Begemann leaves Wooga after 11 years
    16. Wolfenstein: The Board Game raises $480,000 on Kickstarter
    1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons returns to No.1 in the UK
    1. Epic announces next Fortnite competition with $2m prize pool
    2. AuthorDigital launches new, Seattle-based game studio, Adept Games
    3. Google abandons Stadia Base branding as it launches free tier
    4. Travis Scott concert brings 12.3m concurrent users into Fortnite
    5. Around 160,000 Nintendo accounts comprised in data beach
    6. Valve's advice for making your game thrive after launch
    7. Lack of representation in games is "partly an issue of values, partly an issue of bravery"
    8. WWE 2K21 officially cancelled
    9. Riot Games cancels League of Legends MSI
    10. Epic's crusade against 30% takes a tumble | Opinion
    11. Create Central gets £2m to nurture West Midlands screen industries
    1. Stillfront Group acquires Candywriter for at least $74m
    2. Transcend Fund is investing $50m in early stage game businesses
    3. Riot Games to open new studio in Singapore
    4. Opera Event raises $5m to expand its influencer platform
    5. 1939 Games secures $1.9m in latest funding round
    6. Physical events are in doubt for 2020 -- it's time to dive into digital
    7. Two months free offer pushes Stadia past 1m installs
    8. German games market grows to €6.2bn
    9. My.Games' revenue and engagement spikes amid COVID-19 lockdown
    10. Nvidia promises no layoffs, accelerating raises to help staff during pandemic
    11. Launching Streets of Rage 4 in the middle of a pandemic
    12. Helsinki studio Reworks raises €4m
    13. Call of Duty: Mobile esports tournament gets $1m prize pool
    1. Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive source code leaked
    2. DICE Europe postponed to September 2021
    3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold an estimated 5m digital units in March
    4. Building a living world without borders
    5. Magic Leap lays off people "at every level"
    6. Valve's top tips for launching a game on Steam
    7. EGDF survey shows fear of closure among European studios
    8. UK Charts: Physical game sales plunge 43%
    9. Disruptor Beam rebrands as Beamable
    10. Hello Neighbor test pilot racks up 11m views in a week
    11. Activist investor ValueAct believes Nintendo can rival Netflix, Disney+
    1. GameStop starts re-opening stores closed by COVID-19
    2. Epic relents, puts Fortnite on Google Play
    3. Focus Home Interactive catalog pushes sales up 13%
    4. Final Fantasy VII Remake ships 3.5m in three days
    5. Here are some pets to make your day better
    6. Death Stranding PC delayed to July
    7. March US game sales jump 35% says NPD
    8. Apple Arcade and App Store launching in 20 new countries
    9. UK games spending dipped to £5.35bn in 2019 ahead of next-gen consoles
    10. Niantic tweaks Harry Potter: Wizards Unite to be quarantine compatible
    11. Dealing with delays, contracts and confidentiality during lockdown
    12. Inkle turns to crowdsourcing for upcoming game Pendragon
    13. Xbox Game Studios, Warner Bros, Codemasters pull out of GeForce Now
    14. Unity will not participate in any physical events until 2021
    1. Nintendo aims to boost Switch production
    2. Games Done Quick raises over $400k for COVID-19 relief
    3. Kotaku's Jason Schreier joins Bloomberg News
    4. The uncertain, unflinching future of games media
    5. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Can smaller games kill crunch?
    6. Soedesco delays physical launches over COVID-19 disruption
    7. Riot Games offering up to $100,000 for Valorant exploits and security concerns
    8. How events being featured on Steam is changing games marketing
    9. New Facebook Gaming app to focus on streaming
    10. Switch shortage reportedly driven by reseller bots
    11. Nomada Studio's Gris has sold 1m copies
    1. PUBG Global Series cancelled, digital competition to replace it
    2. Gaming should take cues from NASCAR's response to Kyle Larson | Opinion
    3. Republic acquires Fig
    4. Niantic welcomes back Megan Quinn as new COO
    5. The curious case of Animal Crossing in China | Opinion
    6. Digital Dragons running indie Steam event in place of postponed conference
    7. A guide to creating sound and music for mobile games
    8. Konami indefinitely delays PES Euro 2020 DLC, cancels boxed edition
    9. Monster Hunter Riders hits 5m downloads in Japan
    10. PlayStation's low-key PC experiment | Opinion
    11. Sony, Sega say PC listings for Bloodborne, Persona 5 and more were "not accurate"
    1. Ubisoft making a movie about senior citizens in esports
    2. European mobile game downloads growing faster than spending
    3. Gamescom hit by German ban on events
    4. The Coalition donates 200 Xbox One X systems to charity
    5. Recession's impact on next-gen consoles to be felt "later in 2021," says analyst
    6. Riot acquires Hypixel
    7. Baba Is a tough act to follow
    8. Finland recognises the Demoscene as part of its cultural heritage
    9. Desk Jobs: Games professionals share their work-from-home set-ups
    10. Riot Games lays out prize pools, no blood rule for Valorant esports
    11. Selena Gomez suing Chinese mobile publisher over using her likeness
    12. Keywords reports strong 2019 performance amid COVID-19 doubts
    13. The enduring ripples of the Indie Megabooth
    14. Sony reportedly limiting PS5 launch window to 6m units
    1. Superplus Games raises $4.7m
    2. Cooking Mama IP holder taking legal action against Cookstar publisher Planet Entertainment
    3. Pokemon Rumble Rush shuts down
    4. Indie Megabooth goes on hiatus due to COVID-19
    5. European Games Developer Federation launches non-profit online event
    6. Ethical community management in a struggling world
    7. Nordisk Film invests $4.5m in Nitro Games
    8. Nifty Games raises $12m in Series A funding
    9. Game of Life creator John H. Conway dies at 82
    1. Unrd raises $2.5m toward bolstering its interactive story platform
    2. Peppy Hare voice actor Rick May dies at 79
    3. Switch firmware update adds controls remapping
    4. PlayStation reveals $10m fund to support indie developers during COVID-19
    5. Breaking Walls raises $1.75m for "animal adventure game" Away
    6. Striking Distance in the era of social distance
    7. Wargaming raises $114k for military veterans
    8. WWE 2K21 reportedly cancelled in favour of new game
    9. The Red Lantern: Breaking trail with emergent storytelling
    10. Esports entertainment platform Players Netwrk launches today
    1. Capcom implements work-from-home policy through early May
    2. Steam Game Festival returns in June
    3. Nintendo spent over $14m on TV ads in March
    4. The evolution of Ape Out
    5. ESRB intros new label for loot boxes
    6. Resident Evil 3 remake ships 2 million in five days
    7. Journey into the mysterious and unknown with Gothic 2
    8. Networking in times of COVID-19 crisis: over 2,000 companies join WN Hub
    9. Three free tools to level up your prototyping
    1. UK Charts: Final Fantasy 7 Remake is No.1 as boxed market grows again
    1. Call of Duty: Warzone has over 50m players
    2. League of Legends players raised $6m for charities they'll pick
    3. Industry rallies to offer relief after GDC cancellation
    4. Chinese e-commerce sites Pinduoduo, Taobao delist Animal Crossing: New Horizons
    5. Final Fantasy XIV Online delays next patch due to COVID-19
    6. Dreams, drinks, and DDT
    7. The industry mines for '90s nostalgia | Opinion
    1. Epic Pictures to launch series of playable indie teasers
    2. CD Projekt Red: Cyberpunk 2077 "in a complete form," further delays unlikely
    3. Sony takes $400 million stake in Bilibili
    4. COVID-19: The state of the games industry
    5. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: A Guide To Remote Working
    6. Xbox Game Pass to launch in Japan on April 14
    7. Avalanche restructures, brands self-publishing unit Systemic Reaction
    8. Creative Assembly names Gareth Edmondson as studio director
    9. The games industry must protect its vulnerable businesses | Opinion
    10. EGX sets September dates for 2020 show
    11. XDS: 29% of service providers risk insolvency within next year if pandemic continues
    12. The Witcher 3's second-biggest year drives CD Projekt revenues to $124.7m
    13. GDC Summer opens for registrations
    14. What does a year without events mean for indies?
    1. Valorant breaks Twitch single-day viewership records
    2. Google offers Stadia Pro for free for two months
    3. N3twork announces $50m fund to scale published mobile games
    4. Over 1m boxed games sold in the UK in three weeks
    5. SMG Studio: Platform holders need to drive accessibility
    6. Vela Games closes $3.1m seed round
    7. Getting the hate out of games
    8. Ubisoft, Codemasters and Sports Interactive sign on for YANA fundraiser
    9. Embracer Group raises $164m for acquisition and expansion
    10. Xbox cautiously rolling out Project xCloud preview in Western Europe
    11. How to improve your understanding of games with teardowns
    12. Nintendo says "more systems on the way" as Switch sells out worldwide
    13. Applications for WomenIn Scholarship Fund are now open
    14. Gearbox to help scientists map the human gut with Borderlands Science
    1. Sony introduces PS5 DualSense controller
    2. Rogue Games ends Vainglory support, but developer keeps game going
    3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons sales top 2.6m in Japan
    4. The ESA will not hold a digital E3 2020 event
    5. Over 1,100 Steam games earned at least $10k within two weeks of launch in 2019
    6. All Microsoft events will be "digital-first" until August 2021
    7. Japanese ratings board stops assigning ratings
    8. "People are returning, and buying new stuff -- that never happened before in VR"
    9. Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Critical Consensus
    10. The Last of Us Part 2, Iron Man VR delayed "indefinitely"
    11. Electronic Arts pledges at least $2m in match-funded support for COVID-19 relief
    12. SteelSeries acquires Nahimic
    13. Industry launches #PlayApartTogether in fight against COVID-19 pandemic
    14. A pandemic proved that esports is more vital than ever for entertainment | Opinion
    1. Gaming hours, spend, digital purchases up as COVID-19 keeps players inside
    2. Slush cancels November 2020 event
    3. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Platform Holders and the Pandemic
    4. Retro console Amico receives 10,000 pre-sales in one week
    5. Berlin studio Starberry raises €1.3m in seed funding
    6. UK developers work with government to fight COVID-19
    7. Who owns your video game?
    8. Football Manager offers free in-game ads for mental health charities
    9. Cooking Mama dev shuts down rumours of Switch version mining cryptocurrency
    10. GameDev.World raised more than $80,000 for GDC Relief Fund
    11. GameStop ordered to close Boston store after violating lockdown
    12. Changing the shape of arcade controls
    1. The ESA sets dates for E3 2021
    1. IGN to host Summer of Gaming digital event in June
    2. Bonuses: Gaming's second favorite surprise mechanic | Opinion
    3. After the lockdown: China studios on returning to work
    4. Microsoft: Staggered launch would "hurt" Xbox Series X
    5. Tin Giant sues Atari for unpaid work on VCS console
    6. Coronavirus reportedly delays Amazon's game streaming service Project Tempo into 2021
    7. Quarantine questions for the streaming future | Opinion
    1. Outer Wilds wins best game, original IP, and design at 2020 BAFTA Game Awards
    2. Game X Change remains open despite COVID-19, sends workers debunked health advice
    3. USC Games Expo to proceed with all-digital event
    4. Twitch breaks 3b total hours watched in a single quarter for the first time
    5. Tencent sues tech company for putting its games on rival cloud service without permission
    6. Mobile games spending expected to see minimal impact from COVID-19
    7. Sea of Thieves coming to Steam soon
    8. Lightheart Entertainment closes €1.3m seed round
    9. Demiurge co-founder buys the studio back from Sega
    10. Third internal Kalypso studio revealed as Claymore Game Studios
    11. Fundamentally Games raises seed funding to create new live operations division
    12. Sony sets up $100m COVID-19 Relief Fund
    13. Resident Evil 3: Critical Consensus
    14. UKIE partners with CALM to promote benefits of gaming during lockdown
    15. Watch the 2020 BAFTA Games Awards here
    16. The best practices and design principles of VR development
    17. Apple doubles donation to China's COVID-19 relief efforts
    1. UK retailer Game furloughs staff with full pay through April
    2. US court dismisses Humvee trademark infringement suit against Activision
    3. Borderlands 3 devs accuse Gearbox of shorting bonuses
    4. Gamevice brings yet another accusation of Nintendo patent infringement
    5. Next big thing or next big bubble?
    6. Bethesda not hosting digital E3 showcase this June
    7. Roto VR raises £1.5m in funding
    8. Pokémon and Apex Legends esports events cancelled
    9. After 20 years, Frogwares leaps fully into self-publishing
    10. Activision permabans over 50,000 cheaters in Call of Duty: Warzone
    11. Sony declines to sell Call of Duty in Russia (again)
    12. Terraria reaches 30m units sold
    13. A Super Mario Christmas is the ideal counter to PS5 and Xbox Series X | Opinion
    14. Hamburg Prototype Funding offers ‎€400k a year for game projects