Sat.Jan 13, 2024 - Fri.Jan 19, 2024

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CI Games lays off 10% of staff

GamesIndustry.biz

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox CI Games has laid off 10% of its workforce across the entire company, GamesIndustry.biz has learned. Sources pointed us towards affected staff posting on LinkedIn claiming the majority of the marketing team has been made redundant. GamesIndustry.biz was told that Lords of the Fallen developer Hexworks and Sniper Ghost Warrior studio Underdog had also been affected.

Games 145
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Deep Dive: Player-centered narrative design in Slay the Princess

Game Developer

By building the foundations of our games with player agency in mind, we can better take advantage of our medium and build meaningful experiences that connect with even more people.

Build 307
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Artist Cassie Simpson on navigating Life, three University Majors and Work 

PreMortem.Games

My first encounter with Cassie Simpson was during the inaugural Xbox Game Studios Game Camp Africa in 2023. What caught my attention wasn’t just her confidence on the panel but the fact that she was not only a student pursuing three majors at Wits University she was also the Lead Concept artist at Chroma Pixel Games , a game studio based in Zambia.

Pixel 160
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A look at mobile screen reader support in the Unity Engine

Unity Blog

Unity game developers can now make mobile games accessible to iOS and Android screen readers with the launch of Mobile Screen Reader support, available from Unity 2023.2 Tech Stream and above. This is the first of many runtime features slated to enhance gamer accessibility.

Mobile 112
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The new Ubisoft+ and getting gamers comfortable with not owning their games

GamesIndustry.biz

Ubisoft has rebranded its subscription offering and introduced a new service for PC players. Ubisoft's main all-singing, all-dancing subscription offering has been rebranded Ubisoft+ Premium. This service is the one that features all new releases such as this week's Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (which is available early to subscribers). It costs $17.99 and is accessible via PC, Xbox and Amazon Luna.

PC 145
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Larian boss Swen Vincke says subscription-based future could be "savage"

Game Developer

The studio founder believes that bringing Baldur's Gate 3 and other Larian titles to subscription services could result in a critical failure.

Studios 326
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Player choice is key in Bohemian Pulp’s debut game Let Bions Be Bygones

PreMortem.Games

In the grimy world of Let Bions Be Bygones , a down-on-his-luck private detective gets a last shot at redemption. John Cooper must take his last case in finding a missing upper-class girl in the seedy underbelly of the dystopian city-planet, Terrahive. An intriguing tale full of twists and turns -and multiple endings- plays out in this fully narrated cyber-noir thriller.

Pixel 138

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Video game sales up 1.7% in Europe during 2023 | European Annual Report

GamesIndustry.biz

182 million PC and console games were sold across Europe in 2023, a rise of 1.7% over the year before. This is based on GSD data, which tracks all physical game sales across major European markets, and digital sales from most major games publishers across every country in Europe. As usual, EA's football game leads the sales by a comfortable margin. EA Sports FC 24 sold 9% fewer units in 2023 compared with FIFA 23 in 2022, but when you factor in the rebrand and the fact there was a World Cup in D

Console 145
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Foamstars will feature AI-generated artwork produced by Midjourney

Game Developer

Square Enix has confirmed developer Toylogic "experimented" with Midjourney to create in-game album artwork.

Feature 359
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Actually talk to the (author-led AI) murder suspect in Dead Meat by Meaning Machine

PreMortem.Games

His debut game Unknown Number was the first game in what its creator Tom Keane called the ‘First Person Talkers’ genre. Now he’s ready to take talking games to the next level with his new project Dead Meat. It’s an interrogation game where you actually talk to a suspect and try to get a confession. “When we showed the demo at EGX, the average playtime was forty minutes and we were having to kick people off to let others have a go.

AI 129
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Smithy Skills and Struggles

Indie DB

Launching on January 26, my game "The Mine" takes you to Elsborg, where you meet Henrik, the hardworking blacksmith. He's overwhelmed and needs your help at the grindstone, a key task for keeping the mines running. You'll work closely on the grindstone.

Games 102
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How the Prince of Persia can finally speak Persian

GamesIndustry.biz

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox "I couldn't believe I was going to work on an actual Prince of Persia game!" Sepehr Torabi was shocked when he found out he was hired to provide the voices of multiple characters in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Torabi, an experienced voice actor, operates his own sound studio amusingly named 'Persian Dub Group,' which produces diverse content, including voice acting and music for Iranian digital games.

Content 144
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If Hollywood adapts more games, developers deserve a cut

Game Developer

The 2024 GDC State of the Industry report indicates one quarter of triple-A developers are seeing their games adapted for film or television. Will the workers reap the rewards?

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5 Benefits of Cloud Gaming

Logic Simplified

Cloud-based Gaming allows players to play video games from anywhere, and on any compatible device, without downloading the game on their device. All you need is a decent internet connection! This flexibility, convenience, and accessibility to streaming games from a remote server are changing the gaming world for good, and promising a fantastic future for gamers across the world.

Games 99
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Rotten Flesh releasing 22nd Jan

Indie DB

Rotten flesh was suppose to release as an early access title, however today we made the decision to release it as a full game instead, given it's linear gameplay and style which does make sense.

Games 101
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Not everyone bows to the inevitability of subscription models | Opinion

GamesIndustry.biz

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox There is a mode of thinking that is far from uncommon in the games business right now, which simply accepts as inevitable the idea that subscription services will become the dominant business model for video games in the coming years. Within that school of thought there are many schisms; there is plenty of diversity of opinion over which companies will end up as the dominant players, the role that game streaming will pl

Games 140
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GDC 2024 State Of The Game Industry: Devs discuss layoffs, generative AI, and more

Game Developer

Over 3,000 game industry professionals weighed in on this year's State of the Game Industry survey with opinions about layoffs, the use of generative AI, return-to-office policies, and more.

AI 299
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Phantom Camera Godot Add-On

Game From Scratch

GameFromScratch.com Phantom Camera Godot Add-On Phantom Camera is an awesome add-on for the Godot 4.x game engine that attempts to bring Unity’s Cinemachine style camera capabilities to the 2D and 3D cameras in Godot. The newest release of the camera does however require the newest release of Godot, with Godot 4.2x+ being required from version … Phantom Camera Godot Add-On Read More The post Phantom Camera Godot Add-On appeared first on GameFromScratch.com.

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Dive into the URP 3D Sample

Unity Blog

The Universal Render Pipeline (URP) 3D Sample features four environments for developers to explore how to best use the latest URP features, such as Forward+ rendering, Decals, Lens Flares, Physically Based Rendering materials, Shader Graph, Volumes, and Post-processing.

Render 97
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Getting used to it | This Week in Business

GamesIndustry.biz

This Week in Business is our weekly recap column , a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a dash of opinion (sometimes more than a dash) and intended to shed light on various trends. Check every Friday for a new entry. Monday was a day the games industry had been waiting for a long time, as UK retailer GAME reportedly informed staff that it would be exiting the pre-owned game market , and would stop accepting customer trade-ins of games beginning February 16.

Retail 139
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Thunderful laying off 20 percent of staff as workers pay the price for "over-investments"

Game Developer

"The need for Thunderful to enact these changes stems primarily from over-investments made in the last few years.

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Hyperfield Early Access On Steam

Indie DB

HyperField is not your typical rugby game it's a warp-speed spectacle where players harness extraordinary powers to outmaneuver and outscore their opponent, choosing from four different hero each with a unique super natural ability!

Games 92
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LDtk 1.5 Released

Game From Scratch

GameFromScratch.com LDtk 1.5 Released LDtk, or the Level Design Toolkit, is an open source 2D level editor from the director of Dead Cells. LDtk is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. LDtk 1.5 was just released with several new features and improvements: Key Links LDtk Homepage GitHub Repository You can learn more about LDtk … LDtk 1.5 Released Read More The post LDtk 1.5 Released appeared first on GameFromScratch.com.

Feature 91
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UK chain GAME to exit pre-owned business

GamesIndustry.biz

UK specialty retailer GAME is going to drop its second-hand game sales, according to Eurogamer. The site confirmed with staff at a number of GAME locations that the chain will stop accepting game trade-ins on February 16, and sell through the remainder of its pre-owned stock after that. A GAME representative did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

Retail 140
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10 BEST TIPS FOR CORPORATE RELOCATION – GAME DEVELOPER EDITION

Game Developer

Moving is one of the top life stressors but sometimes well worth it in the scheme of upward career mobility and gaining a wealth of experience that wouldn’t happen while staying in one place.

Editing 258
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Nuke Them All - upcoming RTS demo

Indie DB

An RTS classic reborn with a twist. Time is of the essence, Commander! Capture the flags, conquer the territories, and eliminate the enemy fort. And finally, nuke them all! This old-school sci-fi Indie real time strategy game, crafted by devoted team.

Demo 89
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GodotOS – The Godot Powered Operating System

Game From Scratch

GameFromScratch.com GodotOS – The Godot Powered Operating System GodotOS is here, the worlds first Godot game engine powered operating system! Ok, it’s a fake operating system, or more accurately its a system shell, written entirely in GDScript. You can even write your own hosted applications for the Godot OS using GDScript. Details of GodotOS from the GitHub page: … GodotOS – The Godot Powered Operating System Read More The post GodotOS – The Godot Powered Operatin

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4% December sales boost sees 2023 finish up 1% year-over-year | US Monthly Charts

GamesIndustry.biz

After 2022 saw US spending on games dip 5%, 2023 saw a return to growth, according to the latest figures from industry-tracking group Circana. Total US spending on games was up 1% to $57.2 billion in 2023, with slight gains in software, add-ons and subscriptions (up 1% to $48 billion) and accessories (up 4% to $2.6 billion) offsetting essentially flat hardware sales (down a fraction of a percent to $6.59 billion).

Software 139
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Lethal Company sold an estimated 10 million copies

Game Developer

The beloved indie horror game is calculated to be doing extremely well in terms of sales and revenue.

Horror 333
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Veriscape - Levels Change With Music

Indie DB

Veriscape is an 2D indie game developed by GAMINATE where it’s unique feature lies within the stages that are generated using music! The game is a side-scrolling and rhythm type game, where controls are very simple but players will have to react fast.

Indy 89
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Godot Little Camera Preview Add-On

Game From Scratch

GameFromScratch.com Godot Little Camera Preview Add-On Earlier this week we discussed the excellent Phantom Camera Add-on for the Godot game engine. One of the nicest features of this add-on was the optional camera preview window, something I commented about being missing from Godot. In a quirk of timing a new add-on was released that adds exactly … Godot Little Camera Preview Add-On Read More The post Godot Little Camera Preview Add-On appeared first on GameFromScratch.com.

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European game sales up slightly in December | European Monthly Charts

GamesIndustry.biz

26.6 million PC and Console games were sold across Europe in December, according to the latest GSD data. December 2022 was a 'five week month', so if we align the weeks, we can see that sales improved 3.6% compared with the same period in 2022. This data covers all physical game releases in major European markets, and digital game sales from most major publishers.

Data 145
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Near half of game devs say they're working with generative AI tools

Game Developer

As generative AI becomes a bigger presence in games, developers use the technology while remaining wary of its impact.

AI 310
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Black One: Blood Brothers 1.48

Indie DB

Attention all "Black One Blood Brothers" players! Update 1.48 is currently in the works and is set to bring unprecedented content and numerous improvements!

Content 89
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Role of ML and AI in Mobile App Testing in 2024

Rocket Brush Studio

Embrace a future where mobile app testing efficiency becomess a strategic force powered by advanced AI and ML. Unveil how these techrevolutionize the domain, ensure exceptional user experiences, and establishing quality standards.

AI 83
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Apple now allows direct payment links but charges 27% commission

GamesIndustry.biz

Apple has detailed how direct payments will work on iOS following the resolution of its long-running legal battle with Epic Games – and it will claim a 27% commission on proceeds generated through these methods. According to the revised guidelines , developers must now apply for an 'entitlement' (detailed below), and must still include the option to purchase through Apple's own billing system.

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Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown makes neat use of mocap tech

Game Developer

Even a 2D metroidvania game like Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown can benefit by putting motion capture performers on a soundstage.

Games 266