In case you haven’t heard, Microsoft today finally completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard King after 21 months of prep work and grappling with regulatory bodies. The $69 billion deal sees several of gaming’s most lucrative franchises come under the Microsoft/Xbox umbrella, including Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Warcraft, etc. However, this begs the question: Now that the whole rigmarole of acquisition is done, what happens for Activision Blizzard now?
A time of departures | Kaser Focus
30.09.2023 - 02:43 / venturebeat.com / Jim Ryan / Glen Schofield
For the last two weeks, it feels like at least 40-50% of the news I’ve heard about is about people in the games industry either being laid off or leaving their companies for whatever reason. On the retirement or job-shifting side, we’ve got Jim Ryan of PlayStation, Donald Mustard of Epic, Glen Schofield of Striking Distance, and Hideki Kamiya of Platinum Games. On the layoff side, we’ve seen the “restructuring” of Embracer Group, the losses at Crystal Dynamics and, most recently, the massive layoffs at Epic Games.
The layoffs are of course the more tragic of the losses — it sucks that we continue to see these stories week-in and week-out. It’s been a rough year in the industry, for all that it’s been a great year for games. As gamers, we’re eating well, but as members of the industry that makes and gives us the games, we’re watching fires spring up everywhere. I can only hope — and I very much do — that those affected by the layoffs receive the help they need and find new jobs, and those who are retiring enjoy their new chapters.
In other news, SAG-AFTRA has voted in favor of a video game strike, which would see performers attempting to obtain better protections and pay. Meta has also revealed the Quest 3 headset, a mixed-to-virtual reality headset — I’ll be curious to see if that’s something they can pull off.
In personal news, I’ll be trying out the new update to Cyberpunk 2077 finally, though I can’t guarantee I’ll have the time or patience to play through the entire thing again. It’s pleasing to see Cyberpunk’s tenacity pay off (though perhaps less so when I remember CD Projekt Red has also laid off people recently). I’ll also be playing the Separate Ways DLC for Resident Evil Remake 4. I also want to play something a little cozy, so I’ll likely try out that Paleo Pines game that just came out.
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venturebeat.com
07.10.2023 / 01:35
October, 2023’s most crowded month, is here | Kaser Focus
A chill breeze, a red leaf on a tree, the distant sound of “Spooky, Scary Skeletons” playing — October has officially arrived. And while my non-gamer, civilian self revels in the sudden appearance of pumpkins, fall foliage and literal spooky, scary skeletons … my gamer self is battening down the hatches. Because the most crowded, games-heavy month of the year is finally upon us. You thought you had no time for games before? You really don’t have time for October’s release slate.
techradar.com
25.09.2023 / 09:49
Game developers express concerns over trust following amended Unity Runtime Fee
On Friday (September 22), game engine Unity announced that it was making changes to its controversial upcoming Runtime Fee, and developers have been sharing their thoughts on the amended policy.
rockpapershotgun.com
23.09.2023 / 21:37
Unity are changing how their heavily criticised "runtime fee" works
Unity have announced that they're making changes to their "runtime fee" in response to overwhelming negative feedback. The key changes are that the fees no longer apply to developers using Unity Personal, and will only apply to developers using Unity Pro or Unity Enterprise who upgrade the next version of Unity which ships in 2024.
venturebeat.com
23.09.2023 / 01:25
Calm down, the Xbox leaks aren’t that big of a deal | Kaser Focus
We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!
gamedeveloper.com
22.09.2023 / 20:17
Unity apologizes to devs, reveals updated Runtime Fee policy
Next Up: Read Game Developer's interview with Unity Create President Marc Whitten , discussing the road to the changes below and what Unity has learned from the backlash surrounding the original Runtime Fee policy.
techcrunch.com
22.09.2023 / 18:59
Unity U-turns on controversial runtime fee and begs forgiveness
Unity has done a 180 on a controversial new pricing scheme that users of its cross-platform game engine almost unanimously disparaged. A new pricing policy is still incoming, but it’s far less fraught for independent developers, many of whom threatened to leave the engine and platform behind rather than pay.
destructoid.com
22.09.2023 / 18:41
Unity walking back parts of its controversial runtime fee
In an open letter to its community, Unity has revealed its reworked free structure and controversial runtime fee changes. Under the new structure, the Unity Personal edition will remain free and incur no runtime fee. The new cap before the fee starts has been increased from $100,000 to $200,000, and no game with under $1 million in trailing 12-month revenue will be subject to the fee. Interestingly, the new Runtime Fee will only apply to the next version of Unity that is shipping in 2024. Already shipped and current in-development projects will not be subject to the fee unless they upgrade to the 2024 version of Unity. In the post, Marc Whitten, leader of the Unity Create team apologized for what has transpired in recent weeks.
gamesindustry.biz
22.09.2023 / 18:25
Unity kills Runtime Fee for Personal users, offers rev share for others
Unity has unveiled its planned changes to the controversial Runtime Fee policy that would charge developers fees on a per-install basis.
techradar.com
22.09.2023 / 18:21
Unity is making some changes to its controversial Runtime Fee, thanks community for its “hard feedback”
The president of Unity Create, Marc Whitten, has published an open letter responding to the backlash over the recent Unity Runtime Fee announcement, and has outlined a number of changes that are going to be made to the policy before it’s enforced in 2024.
techradar.com
20.09.2023 / 10:11
Terraria developer Re-Logic responds to Unity Runtime Fee by donating $200,000 to open-source engines
Re-Logic, the indie game developer and publisher behind the 2D sandbox title Terraria, has condemned the newly announced Unity Runtime Fee, and has announced that it is donating a substantial sum of money to two different open-source game engines, to help keep them “powerful and approachable for developers everywhere”.
droidgamers.com
19.09.2023 / 18:49
Unity Says Sorry – But How Much Are They Walking Back Their Runtime Fee Policy?
Controversy at Unity seems to be the story that never ends at the moment. Though today it appears that the owners of the popular game engine may be about to concede, at least a little, on the Unity Runtime Fee announcement that set the developer world on fire last week.