"Parents are letting children play on Roblox thinking it’s a cute little kids’ game, with no idea what is really happening. If I could wipe one app off the face of the Earth right now, it would be that one—it would be Roblox."—Safe on Social CEO Kirra Pendergast
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Embracer has secured a new €600 million revolving credit facility with a two-year tenor.The Swedish conglomerate has an option to extend its new credit line for an additional year and claims it will help reduce interest expenses through "improved terms and a reduced financial leverage."The new facility will replace Embracer's remaining SEK 4.8 billion (€420 million) revolving credit facility, which matures in May 2025."Thanks to the significant measures taken throughout the current calendar year, we have strengthened our financial structure and responsibly reduced our financial leverage," said Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors. "This step is part of our transition to becoming a leaner and more focused company."
The newly relaunched IP fighter MultiVersus has arrived on Steam with a softer launch compared to its 2022 beta. Per SteamDB, it opened with 114,515 concurrent players, down 25.4 percent from its peak of 153,433 players two years ago.Before being delisted in the summer of 2023, MultiVersus was the talk of the town. Its beta garnered 20 million players across all systems within a month and was briefly the most-played Steam Deck game at the time.Player First Games took it offline to rework the progression system and release cadence for new fighters. The new version, developed in Unreal Engine 5, comes with a PvE mode and new fighters like Jason Voorhees and The Matrix's Agent Smith.
PTW, a support developer that's previously worked on Starfield and Exoprimal, has opened a new studio exclusively for motion capture.Located in the same building as audio developer SIDE London, it's meant as an expansion of PTW's partnership with Imaginarium. The two began working together in 2022 to help larger studios with audio and motion capture services.
One stop shop for full-body mocap and voice
The aim is to make it so full-body capture and voice recording can be done simultaneously in the same place. That's not always the case with other studios, something PTW's CEO Deborah Kirkham points out in the press rele…
Skybound Entertainment continues to beef up its executive staff.The transmedia company behind Invincible and The Walking Dead has tapped Gregg Sulak to operate as its CFO. Will Kassoy will serve as its head of consumer strategy.Per CEO David Alpert, both men are "pivotal" for what comes next. Sulak will help Skybound "actively increase M&A and IP development, while Will’s background in cultivating long-term fan loyalty lies at the core of [our] DNA."Sulak previously worked at podcast studio Wondery, along with Machinima and Yahoo!. As CFO, he'll oversee the company's finance and accounting departments at both Skybound and its subsidiary 5th Planet Games.Kassoy was highlighted for "building and scaling" businesses like Omaze and AdColony, and br…
Within less than a month, Unicorn Overlord has sold over 500,000 copies.Atlus' new tactical-RPG released on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 4 and 5 on March 8. While the publisher didn't highlight a standout console, Nintendo Life pointed out the Switch version did particularly well in the UK on launch week.
Why did Unicorn Overlord do so well?
Unicorn Overlord released during a particularly busy period: along with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, March was filled with the likes of Rise of the Ronin, Princess Peach: Showtime!, and more.Vanillaware's games fill a particular niche, and Unicorn may be its fastest-selling title. Its last game, 13 Sentinels:…
Dwarf Fortress has topped 800,000 sales on Steam in just over a year.That's according to developers Tarn and Zach Adams, who shared the latest sales milestone with PC Gamer during a recent interview.Dwarf Fortress officially launched on Steam in December 2022 after spending over a decade in production and early access. Publisher Kitfox confirmed the title amassed over 160,000 sales within 24 hours of launch. As of February 6, 2023, it had topped 600,000 sales.At the time, Kitfox co-founder Tanya Short said Dwarf Fortress had delivered "good success," with the title's performance generating over $7 million in revenue for developer Bay 12.Kitfox also broke down the title's sales trajectory during the two months following its full launch and indicated it massively ove…
A trio of IGN workers were abruptly laid off earlier this month. Producer Francesca Rivera, video producer Jesse Gill, and senior editor Joshua Yehl were all members of the games website's recently formed IGN Creators Guild.The union alleges that on March 7, management cut those three positions without any clear reason to do so. The site is in "no economic distress," and these reductions were made without prior consultation.Management reportedly claimed these layoffs were already set in stone prior to the union's recognition. Even so, the Guild argued this was a "massive breach of trust between union employees and management.""To say I’m devastated after being laid off from my dream job at IGN after 10 years is an understatement," wrote Yehl. "…
The newly relaunched IP fighter MultiVersus has arrived on Steam with a softer launch compared to its 2022 beta. Per SteamDB, it opened with 114,515 concurrent players, down 25.4 percent from its peak of 153,433 players two years ago.Before being delisted in the summer of 2023, MultiVersus was the talk of the town. Its beta garnered 20 million players across all systems within a month and was briefly the most-played Steam Deck game at the time.Player First Games took it offline to rework the progression system and release cadence for new fighters. The new version, developed in Unreal Engine 5, comes with a PvE mode and new fighters like Jason Voorhees and The Matrix's Agent Smith.
PTW, a support developer that's previously worked on Starfield and Exoprimal, has opened a new studio exclusively for motion capture.Located in the same building as audio developer SIDE London, it's meant as an expansion of PTW's partnership with Imaginarium. The two began working together in 2022 to help larger studios with audio and motion capture services.
One stop shop for full-body mocap and voice
The aim is to make it so full-body capture and voice recording can be done simultaneously in the same place. That's not always the case with other studios, something PTW's CEO Deborah Kirkham points out in the press rele…
PTW, a support developer that's previously worked on Starfield and Exoprimal, has opened a new studio exclusively for motion capture.Located in the same building as audio developer SIDE London, it's meant as an expansion of PTW's partnership with Imaginarium. The two began working together in 2022 to help larger studios with audio and motion capture services.
One stop shop for full-body mocap and voice
The aim is to make it so full-body capture and voice recording can be done simultaneously in the same place. That's not always the case with other studios, something PTW's CEO Deborah Kirkham points out in the press rele…
Skybound Entertainment continues to beef up its executive staff.The transmedia company behind Invincible and The Walking Dead has tapped Gregg Sulak to operate as its CFO. Will Kassoy will serve as its head of consumer strategy.Per CEO David Alpert, both men are "pivotal" for what comes next. Sulak will help Skybound "actively increase M&A and IP development, while Will’s background in cultivating long-term fan loyalty lies at the core of [our] DNA."Sulak previously worked at podcast studio Wondery, along with Machinima and Yahoo!. As CFO, he'll oversee the company's finance and accounting departments at both Skybound and its subsidiary 5th Planet Games.Kassoy was highlighted for "building and scaling" businesses like Omaze and AdColony, and br…
Within less than a month, Unicorn Overlord has sold over 500,000 copies.Atlus' new tactical-RPG released on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 4 and 5 on March 8. While the publisher didn't highlight a standout console, Nintendo Life pointed out the Switch version did particularly well in the UK on launch week.
Why did Unicorn Overlord do so well?
Unicorn Overlord released during a particularly busy period: along with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, March was filled with the likes of Rise of the Ronin, Princess Peach: Showtime!, and more.Vanillaware's games fill a particular niche, and Unicorn may be its fastest-selling title. Its last game, 13 Sentinels:…
Dwarf Fortress has topped 800,000 sales on Steam in just over a year.That's according to developers Tarn and Zach Adams, who shared the latest sales milestone with PC Gamer during a recent interview.Dwarf Fortress officially launched on Steam in December 2022 after spending over a decade in production and early access. Publisher Kitfox confirmed the title amassed over 160,000 sales within 24 hours of launch. As of February 6, 2023, it had topped 600,000 sales.At the time, Kitfox co-founder Tanya Short said Dwarf Fortress had delivered "good success," with the title's performance generating over $7 million in revenue for developer Bay 12.Kitfox also broke down the title's sales trajectory during the two months following its full launch and indicated it massively ove…
A trio of IGN workers were abruptly laid off earlier this month. Producer Francesca Rivera, video producer Jesse Gill, and senior editor Joshua Yehl were all members of the games website's recently formed IGN Creators Guild.The union alleges that on March 7, management cut those three positions without any clear reason to do so. The site is in "no economic distress," and these reductions were made without prior consultation.Management reportedly claimed these layoffs were already set in stone prior to the union's recognition. Even so, the Guild argued this was a "massive breach of trust between union employees and management.""To say I’m devastated after being laid off from my dream job at IGN after 10 years is an understatement," wrote Yehl. "…