GamesIndustry.biz [Unofficial]

Xbox CEO outlines strategy to prioritise cost-efficiency and exclusive titles over premium hardware

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma says the industry should prioritise reducing hardware production costs rather than focusing solely on developing the "most premium, high-performance consoles".

Frontier Developments reports record profits in FY26 turnaround

Frontier Developments reported its second-highest revenue to date, rising 16% to £104.8 million in FY26.

New Arm tech enables the use of Unreal Engine MegaLights on mobile

The UK-based semiconductor and software design company Arm has revealed the game Neural Dawn, which takes advantage of Arm's neural graphics technology to allow the use of Unreal Engine MegaLights on mobile devices. Until now, the ray-tracing capabilities of MegaLights were not supported on mobile.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has warned that a proposed deepfake bill could hurt the games industry by failing to distinguish between AI-generated content and digital replicas.

In September 2025, the news broke that a consortium of investors led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) had made an offer to buy Electronic Arts.

Ubisoft has carried out another round of cuts as part of its seemingly endless restructuring process, sources have told GamesIndustry.biz. It is closing its studios in Winnipeg and Belgrade and proposing further changes in Barcelona and to its global publishing team. 380 roles are understood to be at risk.

Big Walk's creators reflect on their six-year journey

The mandatory COVID lockdowns of 2020 inspired Big Walk. Melbourne-based developer House House – which was behind the 2019 hit Untitled Goose Game – wanted to create something that was about socialising outside with your friends at a time when this was impossible. But the devs had no idea it would take six years to complete.

Apple announces Europe's first Developer Centre

Apple plans to open its first European Developer Centre later this year.

Ninja Theory cancels Project Mara

Ninja Theory has cancelled its horror title codenamed Project Mara.

Amazon remains committed to developing a Lord of the Rings game, despite recent reports of its MMO project being cancelled.

Türkiye's domestic mobile revenue grew 6% to $347m in 2025

Türkiye's mobile revenue rose 6% in 2025 to $347 million, its highest annual total to date. Over the past six years, Turkish developer revenue has grown by 450% to $2.7 billion.

Last year, the digital distribution platform VaultN partnered with Take-Two Interactive, having already secured customers such as Bethesda, Team17, Landfall, and Curve.

Date Everything wins two accolades at The Gayming Awards 2026

Sassy Chap Games' Date Everything won Best LGBTQ+ Indie Game and the Gayming Fan Favourite Award at this year's Gayming Awards.

Youth marketing firm SuperAwesome has been appointed Roblox's commercial and technology partner for "under-13 contextual advertising."

Nintendo of Europe agrees to pay €35m fine for Joy-Con drift defects

Nintendo of Europe has agreed to pay a €35 million fine after a French regulator found the company misled customers about Joy-Con drift defects on original Switch controllers.

You might know Toys for Bob from the Skylanders franchise, as well as the 2018 Spyro Reignited Trilogy and 2020's Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. But you might not appreciate just how long this studio has been around. "We're actually one of the longest running game development studios in North America," studio head Paul Yan tells _GamesIndustry.biz_. "We just celebrated our 37 year…

Xbox explains new exclusives policy: players "can expect a reliable pipeline" of exclusive titles in service of "turning around the business"

Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball has given more insight into the firm's new commitment to platform exclusives, following the announcement yesterday that both Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution would not be available on non-Xbox platforms.

Xbox confirms console exclusivity will be decided on "case by case basis"

Xbox opened its summer showcase with the news that Gears of War E-day will not, after all, be releasing on PlayStation 5, and neither will inXile's Clockwork Revolution.

After a long, long wait, the Big Bad Wolf has finally returned.

Nintendo has announced a revised Switch 2 console for Europe to comply with legislation requiring replaceable batteries.

IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak says that the studio's recently-released 007 First Light is approaching three million copies sold, and while the game has yet to recoup its budget the goal is well below the $200 million budget previously reported. He says that conversations are ongoing about how the firm will work with Bond licence owner Amazon beyond the first year of content for the game.

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The Summer Game Fest showcase showed Japan’s top game-makers racing ever further ahead of the west | Opinion

Summer Game Fest’s 2026 showcase seemed to cement a grim truth for western game-makers: Japanese studios are delivering more and more quality games hardcore players love than the west seems able to right now.

VR developer Vertigo Games shutters Amsterdam studio

VR developer Vertigo Games has announced the closure of its Amsterdam studio.

On June 2, UK publisher Secret Mode revealed that it had picked up Chained Together from Anegar Games. The hardcore co-op platformer, which sees players climbing up from the depths of hell while chained to their friends, was released in June 2024 and has sold more than 10 million copies so far.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma aims to make Xbox "the number one gaming and entertainment company," and has emphasised that her immediate priority is "resetting the business."

Bayonetta dev PlatinumGames signed up to work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin because the studio were "huge fans" of the IP, according to Dan Prigg, the head of the newly re-announced Paramount Games Studio. Platinum was announced as the developer of the game in the Summer Game Fest showcase today.

Pre-orders are already live for the UK and Ireland launch of the Nex Playground, which is set to ship towards the end of June. The console, which is aimed at families and employs motion-tracking technology – much like Microsoft's long-gone Kinect – proved to be a surprise hit in the United States, pushing the PlayStation 5 into third place for gaming hardware unit sales in November 2025.

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September becomes a pile-up as publishers swerve to avoid GTA 6 | Opinion

Watching the impact that GTA 6 is having on the rest of the games market this year reminds me of an underwater nature documentary; specifically, the moment where startled fish scatter off to the sides as an enormous shark glides through their reef. Having originally loaded their games into the tail end of 2026 in order to avoid GTA's previous May release date, the shift of GTA 6's launch to…

Switch 2 sales drop 87% in Japan following surge ahead of cost revisions

Nintendo Switch 2 sales in Japan fell by 87% after a surge prior to the May 25 price increase.

Mobile studio Metacore has confirmed layoffs of 159 employees in Finland and the closure of its operations in Germany and Sweden.