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June 2020 Archive

    1. Nintendo reportedly stops sale of digital download codes for EMEA retailers
    2. PlayBrain raises $6m to grow Japanese esports events infrastructure
    3. Gamers more trusting of brands than non-gamers, says Gameloft
    4. Apple reportedly ending some Arcade contracts, seeking higher retention
    5. Fortnite drops early access label as Save the World enters full release
    6. IGDA criticizes industry for ignoring harassment allegations
    7. Amazon's Crucible retreats into closed beta
    8. Mikko Kodisoja leaves Supercell after ten years
    9. Leaders, members, sponsors depart top WoW guild amid assault, abuse allegations
    10. Andy McNamara leaves Game Informer after 29 years
    11. Oculus vets size up challenge facing their new studio Mountaintop
    12. EGX goes digital as physical show is cancelled
    13. Descenders' weekly sales increased five times thanks to Xbox Game Pass
    14. 4GoodGames targets positive social impact following seed round
    15. Niantic partners with immersive theatre company Punchdrunk
    16. EA urges employees to come forward with experiences of abuse
    17. Shawn Layden: COVID-19 is an opportunity to build a better industry
    18. Cyberpunk 2077 will be censored in Japan
    19. Microsoft reportedly stops advertising on Facebook
    20. Starbreeze seeks $26m to fund ongoing development of Payday 3
    1. Super Nintendo World park opening reportedly delayed due to COVID-19
    2. Twitch suspends Donald Trump's channel for hateful conduct
    3. Are video games too long? | Podcast
    4. DrDisrespect banned from Twitch again
    5. Global Game Jam in turmoil following Black Lives Matter silence
    6. Plans revealed for Disco Elysium TV series
    7. Ludicious X to focus on diversity and socially responsible leadership
    8. Confederate flag and other "notorious iconography" banned in Forza
    9. How insurance can help your business face the COVID-19 pandemic
    10. Roblox player spending passes $1.5bn on mobile
    11. Ubisoft reportedly places executives on leave amid abuse investigation
    1. 3DS, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Last of Us Part 2 lead UK Charts
    1. The Last of Us Part 2 sells 4 million
    2. Microsoft closing its retail stores
    3. Umurangi Generation's approach to modernizing cyberpunk
    4. Global games market value to reach $159bn in 2020
    5. Admix raises $7m in funding for "non-intrusive" ads
    6. Abuse in the industry isn't down to a few "bad apples" | Opinion
    7. Ubisoft and Insomniac face allegations over mistreatment of women
    8. Keywords Studios acquires Coconut Lizard
    9. Focus Home Interactive buys Deck13 after strong fiscal year
    1. Striking Distance opens Spanish studio
    2. Ken Levine: "You don't come up with amazing things by being completely normal"
    3. A Neverwinter Nights intro to game design | Why I Love
    4. Twitch will issue permanent suspensions to abusers on its platform
    5. Avast finds 17 Trojan gaming apps still available on Google Play
    6. GameCity Hamburg selects seven developers to receive €430,000 funding
    7. MWM Interactive partners with Oxenfree studio in first wave of releases
    8. Microsoft makes $250,000 donation for Pride Month
    9. Sony offers $50,000 rewards in new PlayStation Bug Bounty Program
    10. Guild Esports breaks cover with David Beckham as co-owner
    1. Assassin's Creed Valhalla creative director leaves project
    2. Xbox Series X difference will be immersion more than visuals, Spencer says
    3. Tranzfuser selects 28 teams for 2020 competition
    4. Hearthstone pro says he was blacklisted after spouse criticized Blizzard
    5. A beginner's guide to design and concept
    6. Doom co-creator Tom Hall joins Resolution Games
    7. A game developers' guide to working with clients
    8. EA Sports renews exclusivity deal with La Liga for FIFA franchise
    9. Games industry donates to Black Lives Matter and more to support US protests
    10. Crayta launches Black Creators Prize Fund and Mentoring Programme
    11. Call of Duty: Mobile reaches 250m downloads after eight months
    12. Treehouse Games lands $2.6 million for collaborative games
    13. Italian trade body IIDEA joins European Games Developer Federation
    14. Humble Bundle raises £3.5m for Black Lives Matter
    1. Shawn Layden: "I would welcome a return to the 12 to 15 hour AAA game"
    2. Unity makes premium learning tools free on a permanent basis
    3. Oculus Go headset discontinued
    4. Review embargoes and next-generation sweat | Podcast
    5. Ex-Wargaming UK head founds Absolutely Games
    6. Industry's abuse problem brought into focus by latest wave of allegations
    7. Epic Games Store hit 61m MAUs during "The Vault" game giveaway
    8. Trump halts H-1B visas through end of year
    9. EA and the war against toxicity
    10. The whirlwind first year of Modus Games
    11. Apple to allow developers to challenge App Store Review Guidelines
    1. Facebook acquires Ready at Dawn
    2. Microsoft shutting down Mixer
    3. Digital games spending reaches $10.2b in May as COVID-19 restrictions relax
    4. Twitch sells CurseForge to Overwolf
    5. Police cars removed from Epic Games' Fortnite
    6. Former Microsoft employee accuses Mixer manager of racist comments
    7. From pitch to launch: Key takeaways for a successful development partnership
    8. How the games industry can put its diversity pledges into action | Opinion
    9. South Australian government extends 10% rebate to its games industry
    1. The Last of Us Part 2 smashes sales records | UK Charts
    1. Apple repeatedly rejects Facebook Gaming app for App Store inclusion
    2. EA: "PS5 and Xbox Series X games will feel different, better and more visceral"
    3. Population Zero and the dangers of Early Access hype
    4. PAX Online opens submissions for panels with deadline of July 24
    5. Magic Leap's lawsuit against competitor Nreal thrown out of court
    6. Phil Spencer, Mark Cerny and Ken Levine join Gamelab Live
    7. eFootball PES 2020 Mobile passes 300m downloads
    8. The Sims 4 hit 10m MAUs in the last quarter
    9. Fortnite is a masterclass in flexibility | Opinion
    10. EA is bringing seven games to the Nintendo Switch in the next 12 months
    1. BAFTA Young Game Designers winners revealed
    2. Tonic Games Group new parent company for Mediatonic outfits
    3. CEX staff report concerns as stores re-open
    4. Stadia Share launches in beta with Crayta in July
    5. Cyberpunk 2077 delayed two more months
    6. Class action lawsuit brought against Apple over loot boxes
    7. The digitisation of Pokémon
    8. Investors weigh in on how the pandemic has changed the playing field
    9. Valve looks to stem tide of racist bots in Team Fortress 2
    10. This War of Mine will be added to school reading list in Poland
    11. Too little, too shy: The gaming industry's response to #BLM | Opinion
    12. EA pledges tougher stance on toxicity with Positive Play Charter
    1. Google Stadia Premiere Edition gets a price cut
    2. Machinations closes €580,000 seed funding round led by GapMinder
    3. Kowloon Nights launches $2m fund for projects by Black creators
    4. Capcom bans ex-EVO champion after racist tweet
    5. New mobile publisher ChargeUp Games looks to shake up the "broken model"
    6. Whitethorn Digital receives $1.2m Opportunity Zone investment
    7. "The industry hasn't changed enough -- not even close"
    8. How to revive your struggling mobile game
    9. Brawl Stars outpaces Clash Royale on Chinese App Store launch
    10. Is your indie game ready for funding?
    11. New Zealand games industry shrunk 9% in 2019
    12. UK games industry gathers for Play & Talk initiative
    13. Double Loop's plans for relaxing mobile games are far from "casual"
    1. Humble Bundle launches Fight for Racial Justice bundle
    2. Fortnite "The Device" event was capped at 12m players
    3. PAX West, PAX Australia cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
    4. Kingdom Come: Deliverance has sold 3m copies
    5. FDA approves game marketed as a treatment for ADHD
    6. Studio 369 formed out of Rune 2 launch disaster
    7. Square Enix announces new Eidos-Sherbrooke studio
    8. Dundee's InGame centre names six new research projects
    9. Grand Theft Auto Online is a killer app for PlayStation 5 | Opinion
    10. EVE Online's latest citizen science project to help COVID-19 research
    11. Developers remove games from Steam over Valve's Black Lives Matter silence
    12. "Any time is a good time to sell your business"
    13. Niantic delays end of 32-bit support in Pokémon Go
    14. Epic reportedly worth $17 billion in new funding round
    15. Itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality finishes with $8.1m raised
    1. Blendo Games releases source code for three titles
    2. Microsoft outlines Smart Delivery details
    3. Gearbox sues 3D Realms for breach of Duke Nukem acquisition contract
    4. Analyst says a WBIE deal could "set off a wave" of mergers, acquisitions
    5. UK studio SockMonkey raises £250,000
    6. The chicanery of Penguin Cretins
    7. Niantic to promote 1,000 small businesses in Pokemon Go for free for a year
    8. Ziggurat Interactive acquires BloodRayne and other Majesco licenses
    9. What makes a good bug report?
    10. Neostream will change character designs using racist stereotypes
    11. Star Citizen passes $300m in crowdfunding
    12. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe races back to pole position | UK Charts
    1. AT&T reportedly looking to sell Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment
    2. The Last of Us Part 2 | Critical Consensus
    3. NPD: May US game sales jump 52%
    4. PS5 reveal is the perfect E3 showcase | Podcast
    5. Riot Games exec Ron Johnson resigns following inflammatory George Floyd Facebook post
    6. Join Creative Assembly for a live Q&A about cinematics today
    7. PlayStation 5's reveal was all about continuity | Opinion
    8. PS5 Digital Edition exists because "many consumers purchase solely digitally"
    9. Bethesda's Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo will be timed PS5 exclusives
    10. Resident Evil hits 100m units sold
    1. Grand Theft Auto Online coming to PS5 for free in 2021
    2. Sony announces PlayStation 5 Digital Edition
    3. PS5 will far outsell Xbox Series X, predicts analyst
    4. E3 gets moving with Kinect, PS Move | 10 Years Ago This Month
    5. Luckbox closes $3.8m investment round
    6. SnowRunner attracts 1m players in six weeks
    7. Playable Worlds lands $10m investment
    8. Submissions open for the UK GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards 2020
    9. How do you hire someone you've never met?
    10. Watch the PlayStation 5 reveal event here
    11. Armed and Gelatinous: Building an arcade cabinet that sticks
    12. Eight startups join season five of Ubisoft Entrepreneurs Lab
    13. Virtual concert firm Wave raises $30m in funding
    1. Australian games industry valued at $3.6b in 2019
    2. Riot Games exec placed on leave for Facebook post blaming George Floyd's death on "criminal lifestyle"
    3. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night sells 1m copies
    4. Discuss the PS5 reveal during this week's Games Industry Gathering
    5. Remote work raises new crunch concerns | Opinion
    6. Chinese console market to grow to $2.15bn by 2024
    7. Are video games the future of live music?
    8. Xbox demands racist influencer team disassociate from its brand
    9. How to price your game and thrive during Steam sales
    10. Game Workers Unite internal disputes intensify as UK chapter considers separation
    11. Desktop games added more DAUs than mobile during COVID-19 pandemic
    12. Gamescom Asia delayed until 2021
    1. PUBG Mobile made over $226 million in May
    2. GameStop CEO: COVID-19 lockdowns drove wave of first-time gaming interest
    3. Organisations and initiatives supporting racial equity in the global games industry
    4. Bungie commits to building on Destiny 2, rather than making Destiny 3
    5. An additional 140,000 Nintendo accounts affected by unauthorized sign-in spree
    6. Allan Cudicio playing to the beat of his own drum
    7. Kalypso Media completes acquisition of Gaming Minds Studios
    8. Boom.tv raises $10m in Series A funding
    9. Xsolla: "You can build on success, you can't grow from the ashes of a failed launch"
    10. Microsoft abandons digital codes for Xbox pack-in content
    11. GAME re-opening stores on June 15
    12. Unity: Fine-tuning solutions to gaming's "massive content problem"
    13. Arc System Works to expand international business with new division
    14. Neil Druckmann: The Last of Us Part 2 will "normalise stuff that is normal"
    1. Devotion gets a physical release in Taiwan
    2. Sony postpones PlayStation 5 game reveal event
    3. EA Sports pledges to up efforts to fight toxic behavior in its games
    4. UK government to call for evidence that loot boxes should be classed as gambling
    5. David Braben: Look for publishers with development experience
    6. Building success through culturalisation
    7. EA extends free Xbox Series X upgrade offer for Madden NFL 21 after player complaints
    8. Sandsoft Games sets sights on MENA
    9. Playable build of Dead Island 2 leaks online
    10. Ring Fit Adventure at No.2 following stock boost l UK Charts
    11. Xbox players have spent $1.4 billion on ID@Xbox games
    1. Summer Games Done Quick goes fully digital
    2. GameStop preliminary financials expect Q1 net loss between $162m and $172m
    3. EA Play delayed to June 18
    4. Steam Summer Game Festival delayed one week
    5. NetEase launches new Tokyo-based studio
    6. Hyperbeard pays FTC penalty for using kids' data without consent
    7. $290,000 GDC Relief Fund shared among 177 devs, new accelerator
    8. The political musings of Treachery in Beatdown City
    9. How will the games industry fare in a recession?
    10. Switch game with nudity, sexual content erroneously given 'E' age rating
    11. PlayStation fined $2.4m for misleading Australian customers over refunds
    12. How to maximise your Video Games Tax Relief claim
    13. EA puts first wave of games back on Steam
    1. I Expect You to Die has earned over $2m on the Oculus Quest
    2. Take-Two to shut down online games for two hours today in honor of George Floyd
    3. Activision Blizzard shareholders upset over CEO Bobby Kotick's compensation
    4. Tinybuild: Indie publishers must move beyond "transactional relationships"
    5. My.Games offers 90/10 revenue split to devs that promote its store
    6. You have five seconds: Why you need strong visual design in your indie game
    7. Nintendo of America's third-party relations manager steps down
    8. Epic Games Store scores next Total War game as exclusive
    9. Playrix acquires Croatian PC developer Cateia Games
    10. Roblox's continuing construction of a social, creative space
    1. Infinity Ward pledges to "do more" to moderate racist content in its games
    2. Star Theory reportedly shutters after Take-Two takes over Kerbal Space Program 2
    3. Sega reveals Game Gear Micro
    4. Konami looks West with its new external publishing programme
    5. KO_OP by name, co-op by nature
    6. What does it mean for brands to say Black Lives Matter? | Opinion
    7. Ubisoft quibbles over the definition of subscription for Trackmania
    8. Study highlights gender gaps in gaming preferences
    9. Rovio acquires Danish mobile studio Darkfire Games
    10. Paradox signs collective bargaining agreement with Swedish unions
    11. Humble Bundle commits $1m to publish games by black developers
    1. #BlackLivesMatter
    2. Activision delays Call of Duty content amid US protests
    3. Game Workers Unite International member accused of "exclusionary behaviour and bullying"
    4. YouTube now the top mobile game discovery path for kids
    5. Sony shuts PlayStation Store back door in China
    6. Double Fine is "winding down" its publishing operation
    7. Homa Games subsumes IRL Team
    1. The Outer Worlds wins Nebula Award for Game Writing
    2. The Last of Us Part 2 has around 60 different accessibility features
    3. Take-Two betting big on sports, not GTA 6 | Podcast
    4. Paradox opening Barcelona studio
    5. LootLocker raises $250,000 seed fund
    6. Zynga to acquire Toon Blast developer for $1.8bn
    7. Lego Ventures: Fortnite is the "first credible metaverse"
    8. Phil Spencer says Xbox Series X on track for worldwide launch this holiday
    9. EB Games offers refunds for Fallout 76
    10. Games industry speaks out in support of black communities amid violence in US
    11. Codemasters to create games based on the World Rally Championship
    12. NetEase to open secondary listing on Hong Kong stock exchange
    13. Avalanche opens new UK studio
    14. Sony requires PS5 compatibility for all future PS4 releases
    15. Three tips from Ian Livingstone to make sure you're investor-ready
    16. Digital Sun's Moonlighter hits 1m copies sold
    17. Remedy and Simogo win two each at the Nordic Game Awards