$19 Billion of Unplayed Games

Hi, Tibi here, hope you're having a great day! ??

Welcome to the #24 FREE edition of the Game Vibe Weekly Newsletter!

This newsletter is created out of passion for video games and industry news. The intention is to share weekly trends, business insights and top performing games, all in a nice format, and build a vibrant community together.

Happy reading!

?? Vibe of the Day

Let's start the day with a song.

My recommendation is Queen - I Want It All, on Youtube or Spotify , because we want all the games! ?? Did you know that Queen had their own game called Queen: The Eye?

Feeling the vibes?

?? Highlights

• Steam users spent $19 billion on games they never played.
• YouTube demonetized popular streamer Dr Disrespect's channel.
• Chinese game giant Perfect World laid off 1,000 employees.
• Netflix is considering a free, ad-supported plan for certain regions.
• The 2024 Steam Summer Sale is on with some of the deepest discounts ever.
• Dungeon & Fighter Mobile is #1 in revenue with $163.4 million last month.
• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is coming to Amazon's Fire TV in July.
• Sony's will let you turn old game replays into fun mini-games that your friends can play.
• k-ID raised $45 million to make online gaming safer for kids and teens.
• Free Fire made $4 billion in total revenue.
• The Rubik's Cube turns 50 years!
• Guncho, a cool western game to play.
• And much more, enjoy! ??

?? Interesting

• Steam users spent a staggering $19 billion on games they never launched , proving that the real game is the backlog we collected along the way. How many unplayed games are in your Steam library right now? ?? I have more than 500 unplayed games.
• Spry Fox , the studio behind the pioneering merge game Triple Town, teased a comeback for the title while also revealing they're working on a "large unannounced cozy project" for Netflix . Who's excited for a new Spry Fox game, either Triple Town or something totally fresh? ??
• YouTube demonetized popular streamer Dr Disrespect's 4.7 million subscriber channel after serious allegations surfaced about his past Twitch ban. Things escalated quickly.
• The gaming industry is hugely overloaded with thousands of games, but do players really know this? ?? The usual gamer is a person with less and less time for individual activities and more attractive leisure options.

• The employees at Bethesda Game Studios Montreal office have filed to unionize, aiming to improve working conditions and protect their rights in the industry. Are you surprised to see more game studios unionizing these days? ??
• Hideo Kojima mentioned that he pitched Death Stranding to the actor Norman Reedus at a sushi restaurant. Reedus said yes "instantly", despite the game not even having a script to work with. ??
• Gameloft Toronto laid off around 50 employees after "substantially" reducing production activity in the studio ?? If you are impacted by any layoffs, I have an open roles section at the end.
• Chinese game giant 完美世界 laid off up to 1,000 employees, including halting development of One Punch Man: World and Perfect New World.
• At the same time, China approved 104 new games from 腾讯 and 阿里巴巴集团 , boosting the $10 billion Chinese gaming market that saw revenue rise 7.6% in Q1 2024.
• SAG-AFTRA added a 4th tier to their indie game contract, now covering projects with budgets up to $30 million that will benefit from union coverage.
• On a positive note, Japanese game studios are avoiding mass layoffs thanks to strict labor laws that protect employees, unlike the US where companies can easily fire people.
• Over half of game devs (59%) are feeling down about the state of the industry, proving it's not all fun and games behind the scenes. What's got you feeling optimistic or pessimistic about the game industry lately? Share your thoughts in the comments.

• BeReal. , the popular photo-sharing app, just got hit with 28 layoffs after being acquired by Voodoo for a whopping €500 million ??. Looks like the new owners are trying to "re-focus on France/Europe-based talents". Who saw this coming?
• Also, Sony's recordable media division is slashing 250 jobs as they prepare to phase out physical discs like Blu-rays ??. Are you still buying physical games?
• Netflix is considering a free , ad-supported plan for certain regions in Europe and Asia, like Germany and Japan, to attract more viewers. Would you watch Netflix for free with ads? ??
• Mobile gaming platform Skillz is suing rival Voodoo for allegedly using bots to rig their Blitz Win Cash app, falsely advertising the game as skill-based.
• In the lastest Newzoo report, the most engaged segments in gaming are Generation Alpha and Generation Z (over 90% of them interact with games). Generation Alpha is the first to spend more time on games (5.2 hours per week) than on social media (5.1 hours per week).

??? Events

• Capcom had a 25-minute Capcom NEXT Summer 2024 showcase on July 1st, where they revealed details on the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, Kunitsu Gami: Path of Goddess, and Resident Evil 7 for mobile. Ready to see what Capcom has in store? ??
• The 2024 Steam Summer Sale features some of the deepest discounts ever, with games like The Witcher 3, Disco Elysium, and Borderlands 2 going for as little as 2-4 euros. Ready to fill up your backlog on the cheap? ??
• Do you like voting? I like voting! Voting is now open for the PocketGamer.biz Mobile Games Awards 2024. Time to show some love for your favorite mobile games! ??? Which titles do you think will take home the trophies this year? ??
• With E3 gone, gamescom latam claims to be the biggest games event in the Americas in 2024, occupying a space 10x larger than 2019! Will you be attending Latin America's gaming extravaganza? ??

?? Mobile

• The top mobile game in June is Dungeon & Fighter Mobile, which earned $163.4 million only in China and only on iOS. Wow! ??

• Supercell has rebooted Clash Heroes as Project Rise, a "social action RPG roguelite" with a pre-Alpha playtest in July. Are you enrolling in the playtest?
• For the hypercasual runner Taxi Run, Azur Games added a new method of monetising in-game ads resulting in a 5% overall revenue boost, and up to 20% in the US!
• Free Fire, the battle royale game by Garena , celebrated its 7th birthday by hitting $4 billion in total revenue! ?? Congrats to them!
• 腾讯 's new game Dungeon & Fighter Mobile raked in $270 million on iOS in its first month, more than doubling the revenue of their hit game Honor of Kings!

• Over 70% of midcore game installs come from Ads in casual games, while iOS CPI keeps rising, now 8x higher than Android! ?? I'm curious if you're using casual game ads to drive installs for your midcore titles?
• World of Tanks Blitz, the mobile tank battle game, just hit $1 billion in lifetime revenue after 10 years on the market! Congrats to the team at Wargaming ??
• Supercell's new game Squad Busters made $24 million in its first month, with a gradual decline. Are you one of the 44 million players who downloaded Squad Busters, or are you still waiting for the hype to die down? ??

?? PC & Console

• GTA San Andreas used real gang members for voiceovers , who rewrote the scripts to be more authentic. ?? I wonder if Rockstar Games will use the same method for GTA 6? ??
• The viral game Banana on Steam looks like is preying on people's desire for easy money, with over two-thirds of its 141,000 players being bots. Have you fallen for these "get-rich-quick" Steam schemes? ??
• Ready to ditch the bulky console and game on the go? Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is coming to Amazon's Fire TV in July, allowing you to stream hundreds of games without needing an Xbox console. Just a Fire Stick that retails for $49.99 and a controller.
• The release of Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC boosted the game's viewership to a whopping 15.2 million hours on launch day! ?? Are you also hyped for this new Elden Ring content?
• Ever wondered what's the gamepad ratio usage in Steam? ?? The number of Steam sessions using gamepads has tripled from 5% to 15% since 2018! 59% of all gaming sessions use an Xbox gamepad, 26% use PlayStation gamepads and 10% use Steam Deck.
• Concord's paid content will be purely cosmetic ??, no pay-to-win here, with a $40 launch price. Will this help the game avoid the usual microtransaction drama?
• The Space Marine 2 devs Saber Interactive canceled the planned beta to focus on polishing and optimizing the game for its September 9 launch ?? I hope this extra dev time will pay off with a smoother release for them!
• 育碧 's new free-to-play shooter XDefiant hit 11 million players in just 5 weeks!
• 株式会社ゲームフリーク（GAME FREAK inc.） , the Pokémon masters, have launched their first mobile-exclusive game called Pand Land, a maritime adventure RPG! ?? Players team up with as many as 400 friends to search the high seas for treasure. I wonder if it'll be as addictive as their pocket monsters? Congrats to them!

• Nintendo's secret to stopping Switch 2 scalpers? Making enough consoles to meet demand so there's no shortage. Sounds great, right? ?? Will the Switch 2 be the easiest Nintendo console to buy at launch?
• Sony's new patent lets you turn your old game replays into fun mini-games that your friends can play. Just choose a starting point, take a snapshot, and voila - instant mini-game ??. Would you use this to create your own mini-games? This looks like the Robloxyfication of PS. ??
• Helldivers 2's player count has dropped a whopping 90% on Steam in just 5 months, from a peak of 458,709 to just 41,860. Are you still playing, or did you jump ship like the rest of the Helldivers squad?
• Despite big-name AAA games like Assassin's Creed Mirage and Resident Evil Village coming to iPhone and iPad, hardly anyone is actually playing them. Mirage has over 123,000 downloads but less than 3,000 paid users, while RE4 has only 7,000 paying players.
• Nintendo is suing two alleged Switch pirates for a copyright infringement , accusing them of running pirate shops with over 33,000 pirated games and a community with 190,000 members.
• A new report from Niko Partners shows that 62% of Chinese PC gamers are spending more on games this year compared to last.

?? VR/AR

I'm glad I have some VR news to share.

• Apple Vision Pro pre-orders are now open in the UK, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany at prices from ￡3,499 to AU$6,700. Will this global expansion help Apple catch up to Meta's 23 countries? ??
• Yeeps: Hide and Seek, a VR game inspired by Gorilla Tag, made by Trass Games amassed 20,000 reviews on App Lab before launching on the main Quest store in July 2024! ?? Could this be the next big VR hit?

• The VR market is still struggling, with volume plunged 67.4% year-on-year on another dismal quarter of slumping shipments.
• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says they're "almost ready" to reveal a pair of AR glasses that will blow your mind, with a prototype unveiling expected at their upcoming Connect conference in October 2024. The metaverse is coming, are you ready?

??? Podcasts

Any podcasts lovers here? I got you!

• The importance of self-publishing in LATAM and why it's crucial for developers in the region with Juliana Brito from IndieGameBusiness? . Enjoy!

• Revolutionizing Youth Online Safety in Gaming with k-ID CEO Kieran Donovan and Michail Katkoff . Enjoy!

• Chrome Valley Customs Live review: How to decrease CPI in Match3 genre? The Success of Xzibit in UA from two & a half gamers with Dmitry Gubanenkov from Space Ape Games .

?? Business

• CyberAgent, Inc. is scooping up visual novel studio NitroPlus for a cool $104 million! I wonder what kind of wild anime games we'll see?
• Netflix is betting big on games, with engagement tripling in 2023 and plans to eventually bring games to all devices of their audience of 270 million members. Will Netflix's gaming gamble pay off in the long run?
• LinQ, a fintech platform, raised $2.3 million together with A16Z GAMES SPEEDRUN to help mobile game publishers enter the $13 billion real-money gaming market in just 4 weeks!
• Scaffold, a Canadian program, raised $1.5 million to help Alberta game startups, bringing its total funding to nearly $15 million! Would you consider moving your studio to Alberta to take advantage of their game dev support? ??
• k-ID , founded by Tencent, Google and Meta veterans, raised $45 million in Series A lead by Andreessen Horowitz to make online gaming safer for kids and teens! The company raised $51 million in under 9 months. Now that's wow! ?? Would you consider using k-ID's tech to create more kid-friendly games?
• Mystic Forge , a Dutch indie publisher, raised €2 million to help more awesome games see the light of day! ?? Got a cool indie project that needs a publisher ? Wink, wink.
• Indian gaming company NODWIN Gaming is buying German esports firm Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH for €30.3 million, after previously investing €8 million in January, proving that consolidation is the name of the game in esports these days.
• Bitmagic , a new AI platform for making 3D games, raised $4 million from Korea Investment Partners to take their tech to the next level . Are you interested to create the next hit game using AI?
• Keywords Studios , a company that helps game devs with testing, localization, and more, just got snatched up by Swedish investor EQT Group for a whopping ￡2.2 billion ??.

?? Cool Stuff

• The Rubik's Cube turns 50 years! Can you imagine? It has sold over 450 million units worldwide since its debut in 1974 ?? How fast can you solve a Rubik's Cube? ??

• This week's best of Blender artists on BlenderNation made me think of a real world vibe with the Saber car in GTA Vice City. Have you played the game? ?? This is a render of a Toyota Corolla. Check out the rest of the illustrations , they're beautiful!

• Enjoy these beautiful lazy Japanese summer scenes by LARK in Blender. I can feel the hot air and the need to just relax ??

?? Game 2 Play

I found this game which I like, called Guncho, developed by Arnold Rauers.

It's a turn-based mobile shooter set in the Wild West, where you outmaneuver bandits on randomly generated levels. You can use the environment to your advantage, like pushing enemies into hazards or using cacti as weapons ?? Kind of like the Into the Breach mechanics.

You can play Guncho on iOS and Android to experience the ultimate Wild West tactics with your trusty donkey!

This is not an Ad, but if any of you want to collaborate on that, give me a shout cowboy! ??

?? You're Awesome!

Wow, you've made it to the end!

I hope you found this newsletter fun and interesting!

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Reach out if you’d like to collaborate on anything.

Have a great day!

Tibi