Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has hired Maggie Clayton as its new head of games. Clayton will replace Jon Ritter-Roderick as he transitions within the company to lead the Kickstarter Performance team.In her new role, Clayton will oversee a team "dedicated to engaging with and advocating for games creators," working to foster relationships with new and returning creators while providing guidance to help bring their projects to fruition.Prior to joining Kickstarter, Clayton served as senior manager of North American sales at Exploding Kittens, Inc., itself a record-breaking Kickstarter creator. She also spent time working with large and small-scale publishers and has designed games herself.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa believes generative AI technology "can be used in creative ways," but added that video games "cannot be created by technology alone."During a recent investor Q&A, Furukawa was asked whether Nintendo is currently leveraging AI technology internally. Reading between the lines, the president pointed out that AI tech has always been prevalent in game development, but offered a comment on the rise of generative AI tools and how they might be applied."I believe that game development and AI technology have always had a close relationship. Generative AI, which is becoming a big topic recently, can be used in creative ways, but we recognize that it may also raise issues with intellectual property rights," he said."We have d…
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa believes generative AI technology "can be used in creative ways," but added that video games "cannot be created by technology alone."During a recent investor Q&A, Furukawa was asked whether Nintendo is currently leveraging AI technology internally. Reading between the lines, the president pointed out that AI tech has always been prevalent in game development, but offered a comment on the rise of generative AI tools and how they might be applied."I believe that game development and AI technology have always had a close relationship. Generative AI, which is becoming a big topic recently, can be used in creative ways, but we recognize that it may also raise issues with intellectual property rights," he said."We have d…
The long-running sandbox game Terraria has now sold 58.7 million copies, according to developer Re-Logic.Looking back on the game on its forums, the developer noted its growth since its initial May 2011 launch. Nearly 32 million of its current sales are from the PC market.For further comparison, it sold over 35 million copies ahead of its 10th birthday back in 2021, meaning sales have shot up over the past three years."We are beyond humbled and thankful for your continued support," wrote Re-Logic. "It is the force that drives us every day to make even more awesome Terraria experiences."With this new milestone, Terraria is currently the eighth best-selling game of all time across platforms, just under Red Dead Redemption II's 63 million copies. It's even more n…
Perfect World has reportedly made large staff cuts. The tech giant, which exclusively distributes Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2 in China and sold its North American branch to Embracer, is said to have laid off over a thousand staff.Per Chinese outlet The Paper, the reductions have hit nearly all of the company's business units across the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu. One mid-range team reportedly dropped from 150 staffers to "dozens" as a result of the cuts.Thus far, the esports division is said to be the one department that saw no losses. That part of Perfect World's business is said to produce "relatively low" income.Back in April, Perfect World's 2023-2024 financials showed the company made 491 million yuan (or $67.5 million) in net profit, a…
Capcom's Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is now three years old and has sold over 2 million copies.The spinoff for the RPG series first released on PC and Nintendo Switch on July 9, 2021. It only recently came to PlayStation 4 this past June. While well behind the sales for Monster Hunter Rise, the new milestone for Stories 2 shows the larger franchise's resilience.Last time Capcom spoke of Stories 2, it was back in 2022. By that point, the game had sold 1.5 million copies, so the jump to PS4 appears to have helped it cross the finish line. At time of writing, there's no word on if the game will come to current-gen consoles.
All Monster…
Valve has shared a few choice stats to highlight how players interact with games on Steam, and controllers are becoming increasingly popular on the PC platform
Since 2018, daily average controller usage has tripled–rising from 5 percent (of users) to 15 percent.
59 percent of those players are using Xbox gamepads, while 26 percent are choosing PlayStation controllers. 10 percent play on Valve's own handheld console, Steam Deck. "More players than ever are choosing to play Steam games with a controller," Valve noted. It added that its Steam Input service (which functions as an emulator for game controllers) was used for 42 percent of controller sessions.Last year, Valve let developers highlight which PlayStation controllers their games support (between DualSh…
UK studio Splash Damage has confirmed a small number of employees are at risk of being laid off.The Outcasters and Transformers: Reactivate developer confirmed the news in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz and said a "small number of roles" are at risk of redundancy.
Operations roles at risk at Splash Damage
"Following a recent business review, we have reached a point where we must adapt our structure to better suit the needs of our current and future games. Despite every effort to avoid it, this unfortunately means that a small number of roles across the studio are potentially at risk of redundancy," it said."These roles…
Valve is expanding its Steam charts, with a brand new one focused on the most-played games on its Steam Deck handheld.The list will updated on a daily basis, and cover additional metrics such as weekly, monthly, and yearly numbers. However, it doesn't feature specific numbers, so you'll still have to go to SteamDB for that information.Before this, Valve would reveal the top-played Steam Deck games on a monthly basis. The new list builds upon that, and expands on it by revealing the top 100 games rather than the top 20.
Who's on Steam's new charts, and what does that mean?
At time of writing, Elden Ring i…
Forza Horizon 4 is going back in the garage on December 15.Playground Games revealed that its 2018 racing sim will be delisted from the Microsoft Store, Steam, and Xbox Game Pass on that date. The developer attributed it to "licensing and agreements with our partners."The last game in the series to be delisted was Forza Motorsport 7 in 2021, and for this sub-series specifically, Forza Horizon 3 the year prior. In the former case, that loss was similarly due to expiring licenses.After August 22, players will no longer be able to access the Forza Horizon 4's in-game playlists. As of today, June 25, the game's DLC has already been delisted.As with other delisted games, players who own the game will still be able to redownload and play it after December 15. Its offline and …
A UK employment tribunal has ordered Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) to pay almost £30,000 ($38,000) in compensation for discriminating against a disabled worker.The studio was taken to tribunal by senior programmer Paul Ah-Thion (the claimant) after rolling out a return-to-office policy that failed to accommodate his needs as a disabled person diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.The claimant was hired by CIG in 2018 and made the company aware of his disability at the beginning of his tenure. Although he initially worked from the company's office in Wilmslow, the COVID-19 pandemic required staff to work remotely.As noted in the Tribunal Judgement sent to Game Developer, upon emerging from the pandemic, the studio opened a new office in Manchester and sought to r…