Collective insights

Hello! ??

As April wraps up, the gaming industry serves up a smorgasbord of news, sprinkled with marketing and advertising highlights.

We've hit up several events, and the momentum keeps rolling.

So, fasten your seatbelts and prepare to plunge into a gaming feast!

Let's go??

Events ?

We've been out and about this month...

LDC

• If you've never been to the London Developer Conference , what are you waiting for? LDC is the ultimate destination to immerse yourself in all things gaming, development, and industry. This year's event was great, featuring talks by industry heavyweights like Chris Dring from GI.biz, Tianyi Gu from Newzoo, and Colin MacDonald from Games Job Live, offering insights into gaming marketing, industry trends, and the UK job market. It was an invaluable opportunity to gain diverse perspectives and dive deep into the gaming industry's current landscape.

WASD

• Once again, being at WASD was a blast, especially with the crowd it drew this time around. Huge shoutout to WASD for snagging a Finalist spot for Event of the Year at the upcoming MCV/Develop Awards!

Blizzcon?

• Blizzcon is hitting pause again this year. But fear not, Blizzard plans to showcase its 2024 lineup, featuring titles like World of Warcraft: The War Within and the first expansion for Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, at events like Gamescom. Read more about it here.

News ??

As always, there's so much we could dive into this month, but in the essence of keeping things short and sweet, here are our top picks:

• ??Fallout?- Amazon Prime’s Fallout series is breaking records faster than a vault door swings shut. In just 16 days, it racked up a staggering 65 million viewers, making it the second most-watched show ever on the platform. It's been a global hit, with 60% of its audience tuning in from outside the US, particularly in the UK, France, and Brazil.

• And talk about a nuclear boost for the games – Fallout 4's sales skyrocketed over 7,500% across Europe in just one week. With Season 2 greenlit, the wasteland adventure is far from over.
• ?? Games market growth - UKIE just dropped its newest Consumer Market Valuation Report, revealing that the UK games market soared to a whopping ￡7.82 billion in 2023, up 4.4% from the previous year's ￡7.49 billion. The report also highlighted that big hitters like Diablo 4, Hogwarts Legacy, Spider-Man 2, and more played a huge role in the UK gaming landscape of 2023.

• In a first-ever move, UKIE's report now includes revenue from digital film and TV adaptations of video game properties, marking the birth of a new sector dubbed the "broader game culture sector." This encompasses a wide range of products and experiences including toys, merchandise, books, magazines, film, TV, soundtracks, events, and streaming content. In 2023, this sector in the UK raked in an impressive ￡418 million in revenue. With shows like Fallout, we’re interested to see these figures next year.?UKIE CEO Nick Poole stated that the video game industry is charging forward, "presenting both challenges and opportunities" and with shifting consumer habits in purchasing and gameplay, these statistics affirmed UKIE's belief that games will lead the way in shaping the future of entertainment, education, and engagement.
• ?? Walmart and Roblox - This week Walmart stepped up its game by selling physical goods directly within Roblox. This move could mark a turning point in the company's quest to be the go-to spot for all things virtual.

• The Walmart Roblox e-commerce venture kicked off yesterday, allowing users within the existing Walmart Discovered space (US only) to order real-world products straight to their homes. Step into the experience and you'll find a virtual storefront featuring digital replicas of actual items available at Walmart stores. Not sure about you, but we’ll be watching this closely!
• ?? Embracer Group?- After extensive talks, Embracer Group revealed last week its plan to divide into three separate entities: Asmodee, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends. Each will have its own listing on Nasdaq Stockholm. According to Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors, this move enables each company to pursue its goals autonomously and adopt unique strategies tailored to its objectives.

Featured Partners ??

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Couch Soup was created for the love of the medium, for fans to gather and share speculations, opinions and musings on their favorite television shows, movies and games.?

In this month’s partner spotlight, we spoke with Couch Soup about their community of remarkable writers, read all about it here.

We hope April has been fun, we'll catch you in May...

Until then ?

This month’s newsletter covers: #gaming #gamingindustry #gamingcommunity #gaminglife #gamingnews #advertising #advertisingindustry #publishing #publishingindustry #videogame #videogames #videogameindustry