From the industry uniting against the World Health Organization to Unity embracing the
cloud, we have the latest headlines from across the game industry.
so let's load 'em up and dive right in!
Sea of Thieves really brought home the booty.
The game managed to hit its three-month sales target in its first day, and according to
Rare producer Joe Neate, Microsoft's Game Pass was critical to its runaway success.
Rare's game was actually the first to be offered through the subscription service's
day-one release for first-party titles, and while they didn't disclose any exact figures,
its known that the game had two million players following its first week out in the open.
What gave Sea of Thieves and Game Pass a boost going into the games launch was the service's
free ten-day trial, which Joe mentioned had a high conversion rate for folks buying into
Game Pass or purchasing the game outright.
It's good to see that Sea of Thieves' lukewarm reception during its earlier betas
didn't drag their ship down, but a good takeaway for developers is that streaming
as a service can raise the tides for you!
The World Health Organization looks to be establishing itself as an enemy of the industry.
It had been proposed back in January that a "gaming disorder" be officially recognized,
and the notion is being entertained in the latest draft of ICD-11.
At this stage, the disorder is in open consultation, and will remain there until the WHO General
Assembly approves the list next May.
The industry is in agreement that such a ruling would create moral panic and possibly lead
to abuse of diagnosis, which was a sentiment shared with the organization by the European
Games Developer Federation, with support from a whole slew of other trade bodies.
The Entertainment Software Association of Canada, the Brazilian Union of Video and Games,
and Korea Association of Game Industry to name a few.
It's believed that the evidence behind this proposal is inconclusive, as was the case
in twenty-thirteen when this sort of stunt was last attempted, so as long as the industry
continues to be vocal about the issue and trust in science remains strong, the idea
of recognizing a gaming disorder should be silenced soon enough.
Valve is in the headlines for something swell this week.
The company has opened a beta for Creator Homepages, allowing developers and publishers
on the platform to customize their own storefront.
These pages will feature a display of the hosts full portfolio of Steam games, alongside
upcoming releases, their top sellers, discounted titles, and software sorted by genre.
Moreover, all the host's social media accounts can be posted, and prospective customers can
follow the page for notifications on future releases.
A few studios like Sega and Telltale Games have already started their own Creator Homepages,
so if you want to know what to expect, you have some references to inspect.
Valve says that some bugs still need to be worked out before it can leave beta and be
available to the masses, but you can get accustomed to the new feature by following the beta testers
today!
The Nintendo Switch's piracy exploit appears to be a problem of the past!
The company has implemented new anti-piracy measures that enable them to confirm a digital
games legitimacy and permanently ban thieving accounts from their network.
When it comes to physical releases, Nintendo has a means of verifying if a game card was
authorized by them or not, which solves the header data issues that affected the 3DS.
On the digital front, there's unknown and encrypted data in certificates associated
with software, which prevents pirates from forging their own tickets, and allows Nintendo
to identify mismatches with the data for easy banning.
So if you have titles heading to the Nintendo Switch, you can rest assured knowing that
pirates won't be plundering your sales on the system's storefront.
Critical Force has seen a bit of a budget bump.
The Finnish mobile developer has managed to raise 6.3 million dollars to expand Critical
Ops: a first-person shooter with an esports audience.
The game saw its debut in 2013 and currently has over forty million downloads, and it's
spent all this time still in beta.
Come this summer, though, the developer plans to have its full launch.
The money they were granted came courtesy of the organization Business Finland, and
will go into developing and deploying a scalable automated production platform.
With millions being injected into the project, the team also plans to build data analysis
tools and new server software to flex their status as a number one mobile FPS esports
experience.
So if you have the good fortune to see millions come your way for an esports-style title,
take some notes on what Critical Force is doing with their funds and consider it as
an option for yourself going forward!
For those who aren't acquiring sizeable investments, asset flipping might be what
helps keep the lights on.
The term has a negative connotation, but creative director Brendan Greene explained earlier
this month that with the length of development on their PUBG map stretching over half a year,
relying on the asset store to populate scenes is crucial.
Communications lead Ryan Rigney expounded upon that sentiment, sharing that the only
way to produce work fast and at a reasonable cost is to take advantage of asset store wares.
While they might prompt a few heckles online, there's no shame in leveraging these services
to cut down on the time and money it takes to build up models from scratch.
So long as your paying for what you claim, it's good business across the board!
Unity and Google are collaborating on multiplayer.
The two companies recently announced that they'll be joining forces to produce open
source tools that'll support the creation of connected games.
The suite in question is planned to include server hosting and matchmaking tools that'll
be compatible with Unity and run through Google Cloud.
Unity's CEO said that multiplayer games have been on the rise, but they remain one
of the most challenging to create and subsequently support, so they're hoping this move will
help simplify the process, save developers' money and allow more games to reach a global
scale.
As you might've expected, Unity will be migrating its infrastructure to Google Cloud,
so if you're a fan of Google, you'll be pleased to know it'll be more than just
your troubleshooting resource now!
Looks like there's a new publisher ready to read your applications.
Digital distributor Libredia has announced plans to enter games publishing, and plans
to expand its team in the coming months to tackle the new responsibilities.
Their COO Stefan Layer thinks they're well situated for the role, citing the company's
strong global presence and wide distribution network across multiple portals and digital
stores.
The company is looking to establish a portfolio of at least six titles before the close of
the year, so whether you're looking for a publisher or a distributor, Libredia is
a company that might be worth adding to your rolodex!
And that covers this week's lineup, ladies and gentlemen.
Was there anything you found particularly insightful?
Did we miss something you think should've been covered?
Let us know in the comments below and be sure to tune in next time for another newsworthy
breakdown!
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