Weekly News Digest - 13th September 2024

Welcome to the Bastion Weekly News Digest in which, every Friday, we provide an overview of the biggest news and stories affecting the video game industry.?

PlayStation 5 Pro Unveiled – Game Developer?

Sony has officially revealed the PlayStation 5 Pro, featuring a 2TB SSD, improved GPU with 45% faster rendering, and AI-driven upscaling for enhanced 4K visuals. It supports ray tracing and Wi-Fi 7 but lacks a built-in disc drive, which can be purchased separately. Priced at $699, pre-orders start September 26, 2024?

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 Hits 2 Million Players in 24 Hours – GamesIndustry.biz

Within a day of release, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 gathered over 2 million players, highlighting the game’s immense popularity and strong following in the gaming community.?

SAG-AFTRA Signs Interim Agreement for AI Protections in Games – PocketGamer.biz

SAG-AFTRA has secured an interim agreement with 80 game companies, ensuring protections against unregulated AI use. This aims to safeguard actors' voices and likenesses as AI becomes more prevalent in games.?

Steam Says You Officially Only Get One Family Per Year as Its New Game Sharing Feature Goes Live - GamesRadar?

Steam's new family-sharing feature, Steam Families, is now live, allowing up to six users to share game libraries. However, users can only join or create one family per year, and leaving a family triggers a year-long cooldown before re-joining another.

?SPOTLIGHT??

By Harry Toussaint, Account Director?

Steam’s new Steam Families feature allows users to share games with up to five members within a group. Once a game is purchased by one member, all members of the group can access it. However, two players cannot play the same game simultaneously unless an additional copy is bought.??

It’s a tantalizing prospect for PC players, giving them the opportunity to save some money or even demo games in full that they wouldn’t normally have paid for. For studios, it provides another lever they can pull when optimising their Steam strategies.?

We could see smaller studios opting-in to generate wider awareness of a new IP, established IPs opting-out due to perceived potential revenue loss or studios having a blanket opt-in policy as Families is a good fit for their brand values. Personally, I think indie studios will recognise the opportunity Families presents and the value it delivers for their players, while the bigger studios will be slower to consider it, if they do at all.?

In any case, it will be interesting to see the types of games and studios that opt-in as they weigh up the benefits of increased access against the possible impact on sales.??