Edition #1: Manor Lords, New Law in Brazil, and Gaming for Science

Welcome to the first edition of the Games Media Digest—a biweekly release tailored for busy professionals in game development and publishing!

Here's what you can expect:

• ?? A brief overview of fresh gaming stories?
• ?? Overlooked insights from reputable journalists, pundits, and industry insiders
• ?? Fascinating/fun stories you might’ve missed

Standout Commentary and Analysis

• [The Verge ] I regret to inform you that LinkedIn’s games are very fun. Like The New York Times, Netflix, and others before it, LinkedIn is using games to increase platform retention. It might be working.?

• [The Guardian ] The medieval city-building game that sold a million copies in a single day. Manor Lords, made mostly by a single person, is the latest in a string of indie success stories. Can big publishers and devs learn from the recent success of indie titles??

• [Gamesindustry.biz ] The US is banning TikTok, could Fortnite and League of Legends be next? Managing Editor Brendan Sinclair explores if other China-affiliated platforms could be banned in the US in light of the ByteDance verdict.?

• [Naavik ] Where gaming meets AI. In this report chock-full of snackable stats, Naavik analyzes the games companies utilizing AI in 2024.?

• [Ars Technica ] There’s never been a better time to get into Fallout 76. Bethesda recently announced that, thanks to the TV show, Fallout games just had a total of five million players in a single day .?

• [Building Better Games podcast ] How you can leverage your full leadership potential in game development.?

• [IGN ] Microsoft closes Redfall developer Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, and more in cuts at Bethesda.?

• [Gamesindustry.biz ] Hasbro’s $1 billion bet on internal game development.?

• [Kotaku ] This soulslike is like if Sekiro was set in Bikini Bottom.?

• [Eurogamer ] Hades 2 early access review - polish and terrifying power from some of the best out there.?

?? Gaming Around the World

???? Brazil has adopted a new law redefining video games, “establishing guidelines to guarantee and regulate its industry's future growth” – Gamesindustry.biz

???? Games industry unemployment in the US may be as high as 9%, much higher than national average – Stephen Totilo, Game File ?

???? UK trade association TIGA calls for independent games tax credit to support UK development – Eurogamer ?

??? Nintendo News

Nintendo has been in the news a lot lately—here’s a quick rundown:

1. Nintendo promises announcement on Switch successor before March 2025 – BBC
2. Upcoming Nintendo Direct will focus only on Switch games – IGN
3. Company’s annual results takeaways (Switch sales down 12.6% YoY;?The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is its best-selling game of the year (20.61 million units); company expects 20% drop in net sales next year) – Gamesindustry.biz

“Nintendo has a long history of not doing what you think they should...and then proving you wrong” – Bill Young , Head of Games (Twitch & BPS) at Amazon

?? New Data

Indie games are having a moment – Simon Carless , GameDiscoverCo

Deep Dive: The State of Play in Game Streaming – Naavik

Streamer recommendations on platforms like Twitch and YouTube can make or break a game. This Naavik report neatly summarizes the current live-streaming landscape, and presents a ton of useful data:?

• ??? nearly 50% of Gen Z and millennial gamers discover and decide to play new games based on recommendations from streamers and creators;
• ?? YouTube has grown its streaming-platform market share by 9% since Q1 last year;
• ?? the number of monthly active Twitch streamers has decreased 13.7%;
• ?? and much more.?

Read the report .?

Room 8 Group Nominated at MCV/DEVELOP Awards

Room 8 Group has been nominated in the Service Partner of the Year category. We'd love it if you voted for us here !

Interviews You Shouldn’t Miss

Todd Howard / Kinda Funny Gamescast

Howard spoke about the decision to take Fallout to the small screen, the extent to which this has revitalized Fallout games, and how Bethesda—a company we’ve worked with in the past—approaches partnerships with external developers.?

Watch it on YouTube here .?

Ross Scott (Stop Killing Games) / Second Wind

Second Wind spoke with Ross Scott from Accursed Farms about the latter’s ‘Stop Killing Games’ initiative. At Room 8 Group we—including and especially our R&D team —believe better game preservation is a win for everyone in the industry.

Watch the interview on YouTube here .?

Feel-Good Story: Sneaking Science Into Borderlands – Ars Technica

2019’s Borderlands 3 facilitated one of the biggest citizen science studies in history. How??

In short, it gamified the otherwise arduous process of mapping the human gut microbiome.?It did this using a mix-and-match game within Borderlands 3, called Borderlands Science.?

Each time a player solved a puzzle, it developed real-life scientists’ understanding of human microbiology. For more technical details, read this piece from Ars Technica .?

Since launch, four million gamers have solved over 100 million puzzles.?

Yeah, science!

Thanks for reading the Games Media Digest by Room 8 Group —we are an external game developer providing end-to-end, strategic solutions for some of the world’s biggest developers and publishers.