Weekly News Digest - 28th February 2025
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.
Japanese scientists have created what may be the world’s smallest video game. Using a regular controller, players can control a tiny digital ship, firing nanoscale bullets to push around a physical polystyrene ball just a few microns wide.
One of 2024's most successful video games has had its 18+ age rating overturned.
Tekken 8 sales punch up to 3 million copies in first year – Game Developer
The Bandai Namco game has hit the milestone faster than Tekken 7, which has gone on to sell over 12 million copies in its nearly 8-year lifetime.
More than 40% of all US PS5 and Xbox play time last month was spent on 10 live service games – Video Games Chronicle?
US games market analyst highlights worrying trend...
In other news…
The National Health Service paid ￡170,000 in compensation to an unnamed woman after she developed a crippling?Candy Crush?addiction after the side effects of a prescription drug impaired her impulse control.
SPOTLIGHT by Will Guyatt
What’s love got to do with it??
A story this week really got me thinking - when did my youth become so far away that it feels like watching a black and white movie? And why are some people really shocked that young people today are now more interested in plots about platonic friendships and social groups, instead of romance and sex?
I became aware of the ‘What Teens Want’ research from a recent PC Gamer article about a session at the D.I.C.E Summit and it led me down a rabbit hole about the challenges faced, as people my age create content that appeals to younger generations.?
I confess that I learnt some key points? about sex and dating from the ancient PC game, Leisure Suit Larry: Land of the Lounge Lizards at the back of the school computer room in 1991.? I guess that was the early 90s version of stashing a magazine in a hedge, or reading your nan’s “romance” novel for a game loving teen.?
I’m proud to say I never took anything I learned from Larry Laffer (yes, I still remember his surname) into real life - if anything, it told me exactly what I never wanted to be. ?
Thankfully, my understanding of life and love was augmented by my own experiences, both negative and positive - and I didn’t end up like a proto-Tate family member, fuelled by a grayscale adventure game experience.?
Does a changing attitude mean games need to change?
Today - they have an increasingly important role, helping young people combat loneliness. Perhaps, the most shocking? point that comes from this research from UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers isn’t that young people don’t relate to sex and romance on screen - it’s that they are struggling with the chaotic state of the world, climate change and social media feeds.
It tells us that young? people care about things like safety, kindness, acceptance, friendship and spiritual connection. Games has all of these things in spades.
Games just aren’t the same as TV and film industries in this sense, who already had enough to content with to reach young people, before considering this new “nomance” edict.
In the mind of many teens, sex and romance aren’t needed to advance the plot. In my forties, I continue to experience cringeworthy moments infront of the TV - the most recent coming from the new Disney + show, A Thousand Blows.? I’m a Dad, my parents are in their 70s, yet I’m still not comfortable discussing the thing that bought us all into the world.?
After decades of gaming, I’m still rewarded with entertainment and escapism, taking me away from the concerns of my work and life - and giving me a chance to get engrossed in something else - the challenge of an arcade classic, or something epic like Civilization VII.?
Characters like Claire Redfield, Lara Croft, Master Chief, Super Mario and even Larry Laffer have taken me away from the mundane in my life.?
Will Guyatt is a Tech Journalist and Broadcaster for LBC, BBC Radio 2 and many more.? He is former Head of Comms for Instagram, IGN and Future Publishing.?