The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a nationwide ban on noncompete agreements in the United States in a move that could have a notable impact on the video game industry.Noncompete agreements have been used to prevent workers from changing roles within their industry, prohibiting them from leaving one company to immediately join another.Last year, Game Developer spoke with a number of developers who suggested noncompetes were being used to dictate where and how they ply their trade.During those conversations, we were told noncompetes can be used to intimidate or exert control (often before lawyers are brought into play), and that despite being banned in California—which plays home to a number of major studios—many workers in the region still found language in their contracts t…

Days ago, Embracer's tumultuous saga in games took an odd turn when the company announced it is splitting into three separate entities: Asmodee, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends.Now, CEO Lars Wingefors claims it's all part of a plan to eventually make good games and make money from them.Speaking with GamesIndustry, Wingefors explains the recent partitioning lets the company "better finance our businesses. […] We need to have the optimal structure for those companies to prosper within.Last summer, Embracer underwent a restructuring program that saw multiple layoffs and studio closures to compensate for a failed $2 billion deal. With the program ending a few weeks ago, Wingefors is now admitting the company's current structure was l…

Dredge, the lovecraftian indie darling from New Zealand studio Black Salt Games, is being adapted into a live action motion picture.Variety reports that Black Salt has partnered with production company Story Kitchen to create the movie, which is being pitched as "The Sixth Sense on the water."The production's official logline states the movie will be a "grounded atmospheric cosmic horror blend of HP Lovecraft and Ernest Hemingway.""We are excited to partner with such an experienced studio team to bring the world we created to live action and ignite the imagination of audiences across the globe," said Black Salt Games in a statement sent to Variety.Story Kitchen's founding members have previously worked on notable video game adaptations including both…

Blizzard's new parent company Microsoft has convinced the World of Warcraft maker and NetEase to bury the hatchet so it can bring some of its most popular video games to China.Earlier today, Microsoft announced that Blizzard and NetEase have renewed an agreement to bring "beloved titles" to China, including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and other games in the Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and StarCraft universes.Notably, Microsoft has also entered into a "broader collaboration" with NetEase based on a "shared desire to bring new gaming experiences to players across platforms and markets."The news means a litany of Blizzard titles will be returning to the market in mainland China starting this summer. Microsoft explained the renewed publishing deal was th…

Koei Tecmo recently filed a lawsuit against Singaporean developer Youzoo, according to Automaton Media, for consistent and "extremely malicious" copyright infringement.The Japanese publisher claims Youzoo used music and in-game assets from the former's Nobunaga’s Ambition and Taiko Risshiden series in online ads for its own mobile games. Despite multiple notices sent, this has allegedly gone on for years.It's further claimed these ads refer to Koei Tecmo by name, even though the two companies aren't involved with each other."We have determined that the defendant’s conduct is not only detrimental to users and [our] partner companies," wrote Koei Tecmo, "but also undermines the efforts of all parties who were involved in the development of our game…

Developers at Avalanche Software have successfully unionized. The Swedish developer entered a collective bargaining agreement with trade groups Unionen and the Engineers of Sweden.Last year, over 100 developers (or one-fifth of staff) at the Just Cause studio formed a group through Unionen. At the time, workers were negotiating with Avalanche leadership.The contract starts in the second quarter of 2025, after which it runs for two years before negotiations begin again. It applies to all Sweden-based staff specifically, and "standardizes frameworks" around areas like salary and benefits.Specific union benefits weren't listed, but it's worth remembering one of the topics during negotiations was switching to a four-day work week."Over the past years, we’ve taken sig…

Spooky influencer simulator Content Warning has sold 1 million copies in around two weeks.Publisher Landfall Games shared the news on X and noted those sales are in addition to the 6.2 million downloads it amassed throughout its barnstorming launch campaign.For those who missed the memo, Content Warning initially launched for free on April 1, 2024, and attracted over 200,000 concurrent players shortly after.Landfall explained that over 6.2 million people nabbed the title for free during that 24 hour promotional window, after which point Content Warning began retailing for $8.The company has pledged to continue supporting Content Warning with updates and fixes, but given the core development team comprises just five people, has asked fans to be patient."It's been a real treat watc…

Roblox Corp is letting more people sell in-game items on its Roblox creator marketplace. It's also rolling out a new 'publishing advance' fee to help it "raise the bar" on the quality of those user-made assets.Yesterday, the company announced it's now possible for more people to publish and sell 3D avatar items on Marketplace, which it claims is visited by millions of people each day."Until now, the ability to create and sell 3D items on Roblox was by application only. Over the last year, we’ve seen a growing increase in interest to create and sell avatar items in Marketplace from 3D artists and developers of experiences," it wrote."In that time, we’ve also enhanced our policies and enforcement capabilities to ensure the community stays safe…

After two years, Rovio is pulling the plug on Moomin: Puzzle & Design on July 8.Development on the mobile game, per PocketGamer, wrapped last week on April 11. The title had a soft launch in 2022, and recently came to the US, Japan, Poland, and Finland.In a statement to the outlet, Rovio explained Moomin failed to reach the "very high standard for games that we launch globally."

Rovio and Moomin's partnership

Rovio entered a six-year partnership to make Moomin games back in 2021. Under the agreement, it can make titles for "any platform" and mobile games exclusively.To date, Puzzles & Design is the only game to come fr…

The European Union has put a total of €7.5 million (or $8.05 million) towards game development through its Creative Europe program. Per GamesMarkt, the €7.5 million will be distributed across 22 countries.Creative Europe focuses on the country's cultural and creative sectors, such as games. At €818.2 million, Germany has the second-highest amount of funding behind France's €831.9 million.Those funds will be spread across projects from studios in the DACH region, like Vienna's Mi'Pu'Mi Games and Leipzig, Germany's Reynard Films.Both studios, plus Proxy Studios and Tübingen, will receive €150,000 each. Kiel's The Games Foundation and Vest Games get €140,000-€145,000, and Nürtingen gets a little over €830,000.Coming behind Germany are Italy…