Weekly News Digest - 7th 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.

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is the fastest-selling Dragon Ball console game in the series' 38-year history – GamesRadar

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero has sold 5 million in just 4 months, setting new sales speed benchmarks for the Bandai Namco franchise.

How a small team is helping to move accessibility forward, one thumb-stick at a time - Eurogamer

And update from Thumb Soldiers founder David Chapman on the ongoing battle to make games accessible for all.

Devs Reveal Why the Consoles Are Drowning in 'Eslop' – IGN

A deep dive into the issue of shady games “stinking of generative AI” that are clogging storefronts – with a special mention for ‘Fart Fart Boobie Fart: The Game’ (currently no official release date).

UK declines to extend consumer law to better protect gamers against "disabling" live service games – Gamesindustry.biz

Government rejects changing legislation as suggested by 10,000+ petition, stating that the current Consumer Rights act is sufficient and that “there is no requirement in UK law for software companies to support older versions of their products”.

In other news…

And finally, Future publishing founder Chris Anderson is stepping down after 25 years at the helm of global idea-sharing platform TED – and is taking an unconventional approach to passing the torch by giving the company away to “whoever has the best idea for its future”.

SPOTLIGHT

Dean Barrett - Executive Chairman

‘Are you going to GDC?’

That is the usual email opener at this time of year for many or us.? GDC is normally a wonderful place to meet decision makers, unencumbered by their usual entourage.

Networking opportunities are easy, both in the conference and expo, but also in the big hotels surrounding Moscone. In short it was a brilliant show to meet and get deals done. But times are changing.

Some big names are no longer exhibiting, and key players are choosing not to attend. San Francisco is still a beautiful city, but Soma feels at times unsafe, and Market Street is unrecognisable from its pre pandemic heyday.

Let us see what happens this year but maybe it’s time for GDC to have a serious rethink about what it’s trying to achieve. After the demise of E3 you’d think lessons have been learnt, but possibly not.

Increasingly it is Europe that has the momentum and the clout. Gamescom is not a regional show. It is the biggest games event in the world and makes E3 in its heyday look insignificant. Develop in Brighton and bespoke events like Epic’s Unreal Fest are more focused and seem to have the passion of the community behind them.

So, if anyone is interested, I will be at GDC this year hoping to see the energy and excitement that was present in previous years. What I am really hoping is, it won’t be my last.

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