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Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more.

Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more.

Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more.

Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more.

After one of the most release-heavy months of the year (or possibly of any year), Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 came out on the top of the sales charts in the U.S. according to industry-tracking firm Circana. Not only did Insomniac’s new title top the month’s best-seller chart (and was one of nine new releases to make it onto the list), it also made it to fourth place in the year-to-date bestseller chart. Video game hardware sales plummeted year-over-year, though, and video game sales overall dipped by 5%.

FaZe Clan has added new trophy to its collection. The esports and lifestyle organization is the first gaming brand to reach over 10 billion views on GIF-sharing platform, Giphy.

PlayStation has revealed which games are coming to PS Plus’s Extra and Premium tiers in mid-November, and users are getting what is — for PlayStation Plus, at least — a relatively rarity: A day one launch on the subscription service. Teardown, the heist game with extensive (and explosive) destruction mechanics launched for Extra and Premium users on November 15. All other titles in the update launch on PS Plus on November 21.

Wooga‘s June’s Journey hidden object game has surpassed $1 billion in revenue. It’s a big milestone for Wooga’s owner Playtika.

Annapurna, a maker of independent games and entertainment, has taken a strategic leap forward by acquiring 24 Bit Games, one of South Africa’s most successful game companies.

Bazooka Tango, the developers behind the upcoming Web3 collectible tactics game Shardbound, has raised $5 million.

SplitMetrics has acquired Austria’s App Radar in a seven-figure deal to boost the growth of mobile apps.

AI is coming to disrupt game art production whether artists like it or not. And Layer AI is the latest startup to raise $1.8 million to bring AI to game art.

Scopely announced that Monopoly Go has emerged as the biggest mobile game launch of 2023, surpassing $1 billion in annual revenue.

Krafton said it has acquired global rights to develop and publish a mobile adaptation of the dungeon-diving fantasy Dark and Darker. And now it’s showing off the game.

NetEase Games unveiled Worlds Untold as a new game studio headed by Mass Effect veteran Mac Walters.

Replai, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, has unveiled its tech for combining AI with mobile game advertising to make much more effective ads in a very short time. The company has also raised $8 million to date.

Unity, the global game engine and monetizationplatform, said that its Unity 6 platform will launch in 2024 with AI innovations and platform updates.

Esports and gaming media conglomerate GameSquare holdings announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2023. The company’s revenue for the first three quarters totaled $35.2 million, up 38% from the same period in 2022.

Warner Bros. and Rocksteady have launched a new content series to promote their upcoming title, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Suicide Squad Insider episode one highlights the game’s story, map and the team’s unique traversal skills.

Xbox revealed which games are coming to Game Pass in the second half of November, and it’s a much more sparse offering than the one it gave in the first half of the month. However, it still gives users a few new games to play in November, including Persona 5 Tactica and Rollerdrome — the latter of which finally comes to Xbox after having been a PlayStation console exclusive.

Bezi, a collaborative 3D design tool, has raised $13 million to democratize the creation of 3D experiences and enable more user-generated content.

Dacoco, the group behind the Alien Worlds Web3 metaverse, announced a collaboration with renowned science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson, known for works such as Star Wars, Dune and Saga of the Seven Suns.

Chip design software firm Synopsys has unveiled Synopsys.ai Copilot as an AI-driven accelerator for designing semiconductor chips.

Circular has introduced the Circular Ring Slim as a personal health wearable that aims to beat out your watch as a thin and light smart wearable.

Blowfish Studios, a subsidiary of Web3 pioneer Animoca Brands, is launching its Phantom Galaxies science fiction Web3 game into early access today.

Trivia Crack, the popular trivia-based interactive knowledge platform, is celebrating a decade of success since its initial mobile launch in 2013.

Samsung Electronics said it has added Boosteroid‘s cloud gaming service to the Samsung Gaming Hub, adding to its growing lineup of partners.

Immutable, a maker of blockchain games and a blockchain platform, has announced a game-changing development with its Immutable zkEVM blockchain, eliminating gas fees for gamers engaged in blockchain-based game transactions.

Monomi Park today launched the latest update for Slime Rancher 2, called “Come Rain or Slime.” As the name would suggest, the new update introduces a weather system into the game, including thunderstorms, cyclones and allergy-triggering pollen covering the in-game environments. As with all things in Slime Rancher, the new update makes the weather as adorable and beautiful as possible.

Shortly after revealing the nominees of its 2023 event, The Game Awards has launched its own island in Fortnite that allows users to vote… though not for any of the main TGA categories. Instead, the TGA island allows players to vote for their favorite user-created Fortnite island.

In an era of rapid technological advancements and changing consumer behaviors, the worlds of sports and gaming are colliding in fascinating new ways. How can game and sports industry leaders can bridge the divide between the two markets, attract new audiences and find innovative ways to cater to today’s dynamic consumer landscape?

The creators behind Did You Know Gaming are teaming up with developer Lost in Cult to launch a fundraising campaign for a multiplayer card game. Up to four players can team up to take on the card-based trivia dungeon crawler. Together, the team is looking to raise £60,000 — roughly $75,000.

Shortly on the heels of The Game Awards revealing the finalists for its 2023 ceremony, Apple has revealed the nominees for its own 2023 App Store Awards. Apple honors both apps and games with these awards, including games across the company’s various platforms.

Twitch viewership held steady in Q3 2023 according to StreamElement’s latest State of the Stream report. Total hours watched grew less than 1% to 5.15 billion in Q3 2023 compared to Q2’s 5.14 billion total.

Unity has launched a call for submissions for its Unity for Humanity grants, which support social impact causes. And the musician Jewel will serve as the celebrity judge for the program.

The Transcend Fund is announcing the closing of its second seed fund of nearly $60 million to invest in games and digital entertainment.

Amazon Games today joins the list of gaming companies hit by layoffs. According to a memo circulated within the company, 180 employees will be affected by Amazon’s new cutbacks, which will include the entire Gaming Growth department and the Crown channel on Twitch. The company apparently plans to refocus its Gaming attention on its Prime Gaming offering.

The Game Awards holds its tenth ceremony later this year on December 7, where it’ll honor the games voted the best of the year. It’s not going to be easy, as 2023 has been an embarrassment of riches with regards to good games. Several of the games that have already received this year’s highest acclaim made it onto the list, including Baldur’s Gate 3, Resident Evil 4, Alan Wake II and Tears of the Kingdom.

Web3 game community Game7 said in a report that Asia Pacific has become the hub for Web3 game development while the U.S. dominates Web3 game funding.

Cerebras Systems and Core42 have started phase two of the construction of the world’s largest interconnected AI supercomputers dubbed Condor Galaxy 2.

AMD launched the AMD Radeon PRO W7700 graphics chip and card series to power the next generation of professional workstations.

Omeda Studios announced the PlayStation closed beta for Predecessor, a third-person multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), is coming on December 5.

2023 has undoubtedly been a year of big games — beautiful games, ambitious games, games with so much depth and complexity that they can keep players satisfied for months. However, not every game needs to be that: Sometimes a game just needs to do one thing perfectly, or offer a short-but-enjoyable experience in order to be memorable. Jusant, Don’t Nod’s new mountain-climbing adventure game, does both, so I thought I’d give it a little mini-look for this week’s column.

GameHouse has been around for 25 years making casual online and downloadable games. It drew some attention recently when Apple CEO Tim Cook visited its headquarters in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, where GameHouse CEO Simonetta Lulli Gómez showed him games designed for women.

Netflix announced several new games coming to its in-app platform as part of its Geeked Week celebrations. The new game announcements have trickled in over the course of the week, but today Netflix finally revealed the list of 10 games that are coming to its platform, with some already being available. The list includes both original titles and classic games.

Roblox released it’s 2023 Digital Expression, Fashion & Beauty Trends report this week detailing its users interest in digital fashion, beauty and self-expression. The report shows that Gen Z is becoming more and more interested in outfitting their digital avatars, and some say they enjoy it more than outfitting their physical selves.

Spatial announced today that it’s launching a new season of in-house games, releasing several games that will be available to play on web, mobile and VR. It’s also launching games from third-party studios IzyPlay and Zaibatsu later this year, allowing them to be played by users directly from browser. According to Spatial, it plans to launch more titles around the holiday season.

We’re in that final push of the year. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is launching today as a coda to an incredible year in games. We want to celebrate it with you and we can’t think of a better time to do our next GamesBeat event under the theme Pixels to Pop Culture than December 7, the day of The Game Awards. Or, as many people believe, the day that we’re going to see the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI.

Felicia Day is one of the most successful nerds in history with eight million followers. So naturally she is exploring the subject of failure in her latest work called Third Eye.

Game Jolt has unveiled a user-generated content (UGC) marketplace for players to buy digital items from both creators and brands.

Valve today revealed a new model of its Steam Deck handheld gaming console. This new Deck has an OLED display, and comes with several upgrades over the older versions, including a bigger battery and heftier storage options. It appears that Steam is now shelving two of the three LCD models and will not sell them once supplies run out, with the OLED version supplanting them on the sales page. Both models (as well as a limited edition colorway) will be available to order on November 16.

Roblox today released its financial earnings report for Q3 2023, and the company reports revenue of $713.2 million, a 38% increase year-over-year, as well as bookings of $839.5 million, a 20% increase over the same period. In addition to monetary figures, Roblox also reported it had over 70 million daily active users, a 20% increase from the previous Q3, and 14.7 million unique monthly payers, a 14% increase.

Skillz told a federal court on Monday that a federal grand jury was seeking access to information on AviaGames and its top executives in relation to Skillz’ allegations about defrauding players in skill-based games.

Ubisoft and esports data provider Grid have signed a multi-year exclusive partnership to support the Rainbow Six Siege competitive ecosystem. Grid streamlines access to real-time competitive data for broadcasts, monitoring competitive integrity, coaching and betting. Additionally, the two companies hope to fuel Rainbow Six Siege’s growth through this partnership.

Codebase, a 12-week accelerator program from Avalanche, is accepting applications as of this week. According to Avalanche, the early-stage startups that are accepted into Codebase will receive a $50,000 stipend, support from Web3 builders and the Avalanche Foundation, and the chance to present a demo. The demo day features a $400,000 investment prize pool from Foundation. The first cohort begins in spring 2024.

Omeda Studios had a problem in its triple-A multiplayer online battle arena game Predecessor. And so it turned to AI-powered chat moderation from startup GGWP to curb toxic behavior.

Snap said it is adding ChatGPT to its augmented reality glasses as AI becomes an integral part of consumer products.

Social gaming platform Rec Room has partnered with Paramount Consumer Products to bring the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to their community. Together, the teams will launch The Trials of TMNT on Rec Room, an immersive 4v1 adventure. Players will team up to take on the Foot Clan and Shredder. Of course, the Turtles will be there to guide players.

e.l.f. Beauty is launching a Roblox game, e.l.f. UP!, to help Gen Z and Alpha strengthen their entrepreneurship skills. In the game, players custom build their own dream startups and learn key skills like financial literacy and raising awareness through gamified experiences.

Noice has raised $21 million to revolutionize social gaming with a combination of livestreaming and multiplayer gaming in one platform.

PreviewLabs has built a business helping game companies and other startups build their prototypes quickly.

Sony saw its overall corporate revenues rise 33% in the second fiscal quarter ended September 30, but it also saw its profits drop 31% due in part to the long actor’s strike.

Nexon announced a leadership succession plan where longtime CEO Owen Mahoney will step down in March 2024 and be replaced by Junghun Lee.

It looks like Ubisoft’s love for blockchain games is immutable. Immutable said it has partnered with Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab to create frictionless Web3 gaming experiences.

Take-Two Interactive revealed today that Grand Theft Auto V has now sold over 190 million units as of the end of September 2023. According to the company, that brings total lifetime sales of the franchise to 410 million units. It announced this number the same day as it officially confirmed the next game in the series, the trailer for which it plans to reveal next month.

Take-Two Interactive reported its bookings fell 4% to $1.44 billion from a year ago for the second fiscal quarter ended September 30.

AstroBeam has raised $3 million in funding to make multiplayer experiences on virtual reality platforms.

Rockstar Games head Sam Houser confirmed today that the next Grand Theft Auto video game will be introduced in a trailer coming December.

Japanese immersive entertainment studio Cocone said it will launch its Toyverse service in the U.S. in early 2024.

Digital marketing firm AppsFlyer has acquired DevtoDev, a comprehensive data analytics solution tailored for game and app developers.

Bioware released a new teaser trailer for its upcoming Mass Effect project as part of the company’s annual “N7 Day” celebrations. The new teaser is short, but shows a person walking down a hallway with an N7-branded coat and a face-concealing helmet. A short text snippet from the countdown indicates the game is somehow related to the previous game in the series, Mass Effect Andromeda.

Fresh off of the news that the most recent Legend of Zelda game, Tears of the Kingdom, has sold over 19 million units, Nintendo confirmed that a live-action Legend of Zelda film is in the works. Shigeru Miyamoto is producing alongside Avi Arad, and Wes Ball (of the Maze Runner trilogy) will direct.

2023 continues to be the year of major video game layoffs as Ubisoft confirmed today that it has laid off 124 employees, several of them at its Montreal studios. According to Ubisoft, the employees are primarily in business administration and IT teams, and these layoffs are part of its efforts to “streamline our operations and enhance our collective efficiency.”

Another big tech antitrust trial gets under way today as Epic Games squares off against Google over control of the app stores.

Anime streaming service Crunchyroll is leveling up its premium subscription tiers with unlimited access to premium anime-inspired mobile games. Mega and Ultimate Fan members in more than 200 markets can download Crunchyroll Game Vault’s five launch titles starting today.

Even with increasingly effective moderation tools, the sheer scope of player content and communication is expanding every day, and online discourse has never been more heated. In this GamesBeat Next panel, Hank Howie, game industry evangelist at Modulate was joined by Alexis Miller, director of product management at Schell Games and Tomer Poran, VP solution strategy at ActiveFence, to talk about best practices for moderating game communities of all sizes and demographics, from codes of conduct to strategy, technology and more.