Sales figures, studio buyouts, financial reports … If you are interested in these topics, you’ve come to the right place. We offer you an update on last week’s economic news.
Creative Assembly announces the opening of a new studio
At the start of Total War and Alien: Isolation, Creative Assembly continues to grow with the opening of a third UK studio in Horsham, West Sussex. In a press release, the studio announced that it has grown 20% since last year and now employs 800 people. A large number of people who enable the development and maintenance of already published titles. Keep in mind that Total War: Rome Remastered will be released on April 29th, that Total War: Warhammer III is expected this year, and that Creative Assembly is working on it introduced a new license as a science fiction FPS. Considering the global health situation, Gareth Edmondson, director of the Creative Assembly said: “In the future we will change our working model to make flexibility the norm and we need an appropriate environment to achieve this. If we want to increase the benefits of working remotely, we also recognize that nothing can replace face-to-face creative collaboration, so we will review our work pace and environment to focus on creativity and innovation in the office. “
Microids works with Meridiem Games for the French distribution of games
The French publisher Microids announced this week that it has signed a distribution partnership with Meridiem Games through its subsidiary Microids Distribution France. For those who don’t know, Meridiem is a Spanish publisher that publishes the games Tannenberg and Verdun, two historical first-person shooters from the First World War on the Iberian Peninsula. This agreement is ultimately only loaned out for rendering as Meridiem Games was already responsible for the distribution of Microids games in Europe. “The entire team is pleased to be able to provide a long-term partner of Microids with the full scope of our specialist knowledge.”says Microids Distribution France about Alexandre Breas.
To that statement, Julien Renzaho, vice president of sales and business development at Microids, add: “We look forward to working on promising and diverse projects and to further strengthen our partnership thanks to this distribution agreement.” We seem equally excited about Meridiem Games, as demonstrated by Segion Palacián, CEO’s speech: “It is with great joy and pride that we begin this new collaboration with our friends at Microids. The teams at Meridiem Games work hard to offer the best titles possible and we are excited to be working with Microids to bring them to the French public. I am sure that, thanks to their extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of the market, we will find them to be a valuable partner for many years to come.“”
Ubisoft appoints Anika Grant Human Resources Director
The changes will continue at Ubisoft, which is reorganizing after last summer’s deal. As a replacement for Cécile Cornet, who has resigned, Ubisoft has decided to appoint Anika Grant Head of Human Resources. She knows this position well, having held similar positions at Accenture, Dyson and, more recently, Uber. Games industry points out that she has already faced sexual harassment and reprisal issues at Uber, a point that was certainly important during the hiring process. Yves Guillemot, CEO of the editor, on the occasion of the arrival of Anika Grant declares: “I am very happy to welcome Anika Grant. (…) Your energy, your optimism and your experience will be a great asset. (…) Anika will also focus her leadership efforts on strengthening our international corporate culture and ensuring that all of our teams can thrive in an environment that promotes respect, diversity, inclusion and collective wellbeing.“” For its part, the plaintiff states : “I am very excited to join Ubisoft (…). I also take great pride in partnering with talented and passionate people to carry out this mission. I am convinced that together we will continue to make Ubisoft a benchmark employer who offers its employees exciting challenges, an inviting and open environment and the freedom to express their creativity on a daily basis.“”
Epic Games loses money on exclusive products but brings in $ 1 billion
In May, Epic and Apple are going to court to deal with legal disputes that arose last year around the App Store. Each party is preparing its defense, which will allow us to get some information. Therefore Epic reportedly allocated $ 444 million to sign exclusive contracts in 2020 in the Epic Games Store, however Apple lost at least 330. A weight loss that Epic doesn’t worry about as the amounts spent are minimum guarantees paid before it is known whether the titles are profitable or not. In other words, these are pure investments designed to make the Epic Games Store stand out and attract the public as it is regularly greeted with free games. In addition, Epic recently reported on it Players spent $ 700 million on the store in 2020. On the financial side, Epic Games announced this week that it has reached a new round of tables. and raised $ 1 billion. Lots of companies have participated, but what we know best is Sony Group Corp.. However, the company had already invested a few months ago added 200 million a few days ago in the piggy bank. We think of video games, of course, but Sony also produces music and films using technologies developed by Epic Games. As a reminder: Epic Games is not only Fortnite and the Epic Games Store, but above all the Unreal Engine, the fifth version of which is currently in beta.
Starbreeze signs with PopReach to revive PayDay: Crime War
In 2019, Starbreeze, at the time in great difficulty, launched Payday: Crime War in certain test areas. It was a mobile spin-off of the famous license, created in partnership with NBC Universal. However, the servers were down by the end of 2019 when NBC closed its editorial branch. Almost a year and a half later, Starbreeze, which has been successfully restructured and is now working on its third payday, announced that a new partner had been found. It is PopReach, Publisher specializing in the free mobile game that is behind The Smurfs’ Village and Kingdom of Camelot. Regarding PayDay: Crime War, PopReach supports development, marketing, acquiring players, and adding content, but Strabreezee will still own the license. Also, Starbreeze is received an upfront payment of $ 250,000, then dividends based on sales after launch. As a reminder PayDay 3 is expected in 2023and is co-edited by Koch Media, which invested $ 50 million in the project.
CD Projekt: Finances in good shape despite the failed launch of Cyberpunk 2077
As you know, starting Cyberpunk 2077 was very complicated. On the other hand, if the PC version held up, the console versions were much more problematic. This was followed by the game’s withdrawal from the PS Store, Marcin Iwinski’s apology, and the introduction of refunds. Since then, the game has resumed its advance and CD Projekt has announced a major reorganization of its services. Yet, From a financial point of view, 2020 was a very, very good year for CD Projektand even surpasses 2015, the year The Witcher 3 was released. Also the 13 million copies of Cyberpunk 2077 sold (Including refunds, the studio was able to rely on GOG and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, whose sales were revived by the Netflix series. Overall, the Polish company announces a turnover of around 468 million dollars (2.130 billion PLN) compared to 114.4 million dollars in 2019. The net profit also explodes as it is rose from 38 million to 253 million dollars. Enough to fund the reorganization, acquisition of Digital Scapes, development of new projects, and surveillance of Cyberpunk 2077. Marcin Kicinski, Deputy General Manager, stated this recently out of the question to drop the title.
Streaming: Twitch and Facebook at the party, YouTube gaming is slowing down
As every quarter, StreamLabs and Stream Hatchet reveal global streaming results. The first quarter of 2021 recently ended, an opportunity to take stock. The very noticeable progression of streaming was thought to slow down in 2020 due to the pandemic, but at least on Twitch this is not the case. Amazon’s platform has known effects in the first quarter The largest increase in the number of hours streamed since the pandemic began. The audience did indeed increased by 16.5% compared to the 4th quarter of 2020 with 6.3 billion hours viewed. Facebook Gaming watched a billion hours for the first time, while Youtube Gaming’s audience fell by around 550 million hours between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021. The audience of Youtube Gaming has almost doubled year after year.
To find the three platforms, you know that Twitch accounts for 72.3% of the hours shown, ahead of YouTube Gaming (15.6%) and Facebook Gaming (12.1%).. However, Facebook continues to fill the void and the momentum is on its side. “”For the first time we see Facebook Gaming and YouTube Gaming competing closely in terms of audience. While the difference between viewers was around 1 billion hours in the last quarter, this gap narrowed to around 300 million in the first quarter. Chances are Facebook Gaming will overtake YouTube Gaming in terms of audience in the next quarter.“, shows Ashray Urs, product manager at Streamlabs.
Briefly in the week’s business news
- Activision has taken legal action against Randy Fickerwho released a browser-based strategy game called Warzone. The two parties have been fighting over the usage rights of the name for several months.
- Ubisoft reaffirms its participation in E3 2021 and announces that its conference, The Ubisoft Forward will take place on June 12th at 9pm.
- Wargaming announced the opening of new offices in Vilnius. The building should accommodate several hundred developers within 3 to 4 years. At the same time, Studio MS-1 (World of Tank Mobile) announces the opening of many positions.
- ByteDance, owner of Tick tockannounced the takeover of Chinese studio C4 Games (Red Alert Online) for an undisclosed amount
- Touhou Luna lightsThe copy developed by Team Ladybug and published in 1.0 on February 26, 2019 has sold more than 250,000 copies worldwide.
- Marvel Strike Force have revenue increased by 70% Generated $ 300 million in 2020.
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