Game industry business news

Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Horizon Zero Dawn, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Cuphead were all big winners at this year’s Golden Joystick Awards. Nintendo’s Zelda game picked up four awards – Ultimate Game of the Year, Best Audio, Nintendo Game of the Year and Critics’ Choice. Developer Nintendo EPD also won …

Nintendo has dated its next smartphone title. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will be released on both iOS and Android this week on November 22nd. Visually the game will be very similar to anyone who has ever played previous entries in the series. The main difference is the camping theme, although …

The Witcher developer CD Projekt has spoken out to quell concerns about the possible use of a ‘games-as-a-service’ model in upcoming RPG Cyberpunk 2077. “Worry not,” the studio said in a reply on Twitter. “When thinking CP2077, think nothing less than The Witcher 3 — huge single player, open world, …

The controversial Star Wars: Battlefront 2 has debuted at No.2 in the UK Top 40. It’s not yet clear how sales compared to that of its predecessor, although note that the first Battlefield charted at No.1 in November 2015 and boasted the largest ever UK launch for a Star Wars …

Twitch streamer WeeGeeTheGod has been criticised for what some are calling an abuse of Steam’s refund policy. Polygon reports that WeeGeeTheGod, whose real name is Cade McKown, recently streamed a complete playthrough of recent Sega release Sonic Forces. McKown was clearly not enjoying the game, and upon completion then streamed …

In the hours leading up to its decision to suspend Star Wars Battlefront 2’s loot crate spending, EA has argued that the system is not a form of gambling. This is despite the news that two European countries are investigating just that question. Gamasutra reports that Belgian Gaming Commission general …

Ian McGregor has been named as the new chief marketing officer of digital retailer Green Man Gaming. McGregor’s career includes stints at Activision and EA, and he has previously worked on games including FIFA, The Sims and Call of Duty. GMG notes his involvement in launching the FIFA Interactive World …

NPD has said that the overall video game market spend in the US in October was down 11 per cent year-on-year at $825m. That’s despite gains in the hardware market, which was up ten per cent at $238m. Switch was the month’s best-selling platform, with Nintendo adding that: “When combined …

Publisher EA has bowed to the ever-growing pressure being heaped on Star Wars Battlefront II by disabling the game’s microtransactions completely. The move can be seen as a victory for the vocal critics who have being piling on the publisher non-stop for the last couple of weeks. EA, however, has …

We recently saw Sony use its Paris Games Week event to promote an enviably broad line-up of new content for its PlayStation VR headset. But all the content in the world won’t help if the installed base of headsets isn’t big enough to benefit from it. However, Sony took a …