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…
Rare's Sea of Thieves comes to PlayStation 5 at the end of the month, having amassed 40 million players in its lifetime.Per executive producer Joe Neate, the game's "amazing" milestone covers all three versions on Xbox (One and Series X|S), Windows, and Steam. It's unclear how that translates into sales, given its prominence on Xbox Game Pass.In 2020, Microsoft reported that Sea of Thieves had 10 million players and dubbed it the studio's most successful new IP. 40 million is fairly high for a six-year-old game and supports Microsoft's reasoning for taking it to PS5.When Microsoft first unveiled its multiplatform plans in February, Sea of Thieves was described as a "community-driven" title. PlayStation's community can boast some pretty high…
Devolver Digital released its financials for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, and for the most part, things went well for the indie publisher.After a slower first half of the year, the second half made a "strong" recovery. While its $92 million revenue was down 31 percent from the previous year, it remained in line with the company's general expectations.The positive outlook was attributed to restructuring earlier that year (and in 2022's back half), such as changes made at subsidiary Good Shepard. Credit also went to late 2023 releases like Wizard with a Gun and Talos Principle 2, which did "well."Even with 11 game launches last year, Devolver's back catalog accounted for 83 percent of total revenue (up 25 percent), which it called "unusually high." …
Swedish conglomerate Embracer Group is transforming into three standalone publicly listed companies that will reflect its interest in unique market segments.The move will see Embracer reshuffle some elements of its video game business into a new company called 'Coffee Stain & Friends,' which it claims will become "the leading and most innovative developer of community-driven games for PC/console and mobile.""As a standalone company, 'Coffee Stain & Friends' will be able to better showcase its high margin profile and strong cash flow profile coupled with an enhanced ability to resume and allocate resources towards opportunities to maximize the long-term value creation," reads a press release.Coffee Stain & Friends will operate under two di…
Update (4/24/24): In an email to Game Developer, the ESA called claims of the game industry shutting down libraries' preservation attempts as "simply not accurate.""[We] have long been committed to the preservation of video games and support efforts by cultural institutions to build physical video game collections," it wrote. "It’s important to note that ESA and its members are committed to the historical preservation of games."Pointing to the Copyright Office already allowing "legitimate" libraries and institutions archiving rights, the ESA stressed it's in favor of preservation, so long as it doesn't violate developers' rights under copyright law."The industry’s creative and economic vitality depend on strong copyright …
Persona developer Atlus has recently lost studio veteran Kazuma Kaneko. The artist has jumped ship over to COLOPL, as revealed in a translated interview from his new employer.Oft known as the Demon Artist, Kaneko joined Atlus in 1988, with one of his first projects being King of Kings. Since then, he's designed characters and monsters for plenty of games, including Devil May Cry 3, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and nearly every mainline Persona entry.Having been so deep in the Atlus system for so long, his final game with the company is Persona 3 Reload.Older developers leaving their studio draws attention, especially when their work is synonymous with its output. Kaneko's art has helped define both Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, particularly with their rising popularity in the West.A sp…
Casual game developer Arkadium is taking a page out of Epic Games' book and launching its own platform for creators of browser-based games.Under the Arkadium for Developers program, third-party developers can submit their works to Arkadium's distribution network. If accepted, the developer gets 75 percent of the revenue.Additionally, approved games will launch with ads and possible microtransactions already integrated.As the FAQ notes, Arkadium has a global network of over 300 partners. Under its umbrella, a game's visibility "significantly increases," especially since their games are in outlets like the Washington Post and AARP.Arkadium hopes its program results in 30 new games launched on the platform by year's end. Already, the studio has 75 games actively …
Chilling survival title Frostpunk has sold over 5 million copies in six years. That's according to developer 11 Bit Studios, which shared the news on Steam.The studio said the milestone comprises sales across all platforms. It also divulged a number of playtime metrics, and revealed that on average people play Frostpunk for 24 hours.Around 3 percent of players currently have over 100 hours of playtime on record, and the rarest achievement—an accolade called 'The City Must Survive' that can only be earned when all other settlements distrust you—has only been unlocked by 0.6 percent of Steam players.Frostpunk launched on April 24, 2018, to critical acclaim and enjoyed years of support, with 11 Bit releasing a number of substantial add-ons and updates to deliver new feature…
Another shakeup has hit Ubisoft, as chief portfolio officer Sandrine Caloiaro has left the French developer.Per Ethan Gach's Dead Game, Caloiaro left two years into her most recent position. She'd been with Ubisoft for a decade, first starting out as a VP for its consumer and market knowledge team.As Gach noted, her leadership resulted in a "player-first" focus that dictated the direction of Ubisoft's big franchises. This led to an alleged "power struggle" over their creative direction and monetization.It's not clear as to why Caloiaro left, or her future prospects, but Ubisoft claims it was her choice. Its statement called her "instrumental in building…[our] consumer and market knowledge practice, and in accelerating the development of our po…
EA is increasing the price of its EA Play subscriptions. As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, the company is raising the price of both its standard EA Play and EA Play Pro subscriptions across the board.Subscribing to the standard EA Play tier will now cost $5.99 / £5.99 per month, an increase on the previous fee of $4.99 / £3.99 per month. The cost of the annual subscription will increase to $39.99 / £35.99 per year from $29.99 / £19.99 per year.
EA Play Pro
As for EA Play Pro, accessing the premium option–which grants access to more EA titles including premium editions of new releases–will now set subscribers back $16.99 / £16.99 per month. It previously went for $14…