Friday, 13 September 2024

Game News Round-Up

Daily curated games-industry news digest for 13 September 2024.

General4 stories

Flappy Bird is returning to mobile, more than a decade after it was delisted

  • The original creator is not involved.
  • Gametech Holdings LLC waited for the trademark to lapse to take the Flappy Bird trademark from Dong Nguyen Ha without paying him: <https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pnam=Dong%20Nguyen%20Ha%20%20>
  • The team behind it claim to be "super fans of the original", doing the for the love of the game. They have added additional modes and various forms of monetizations to the game.
VGC

Unity has cancelled its controversial Runtime Fee

  • Instead, it will start charging more for Unity Pro and Enterprise subscriptions.
  • While Unity Personal will remain free (and its revenue and funding ceiling has been raised from $100,000 to $200,000), Unity Pro subscriptions will rise 8% to $2,200 per seat annually and Unity Enterprise subscriptions will rise by 25%.
VGC

PS5’s new system update is out now, adding Welcome hub and Party Share

  • The welcome hub will roll out to the US before rolling out to other territories
  • Party Share, which allows users to share party voice chat links over messenger apps has released.
  • Personalized 3D audio profiles for headphones and earbuds, adaptive charging for controllers (designed to save power), and more remote play settings are also included in the latest update.
VGC
Business3 stories

Annapurna Interactive’s entire workforce has resigned

  • Annapurna Interactive president Nathan Gary and his team resigned following a dispute with the group’s owner, Megan Ellison.
  • Following discussions to spin the video game publishing arm out into an independent entity, of which Ellison pulled out, two dozen members of staff resigned from the company.
  • “All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team collectively resigned,’’ Gary said in a joint statement. “This was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make and we did not take this action lightly.”
  • Annapurna (the parent company) has been looking to more closely integrate games with its TV and film divisions, and has rehired co-founder Hector Sanchez from Epic Games as president of interactive and new media.
Bloomberg

Microsoft is cutting another 650 staff from its gaming teams

  • Phil spencer claims "no games, devices or experiences" will be cancelled as a result of the cults
  • The majority of the cuts are in corporate and support roles, focused mainly around the Activision Blizzard buy-out / staff
  • Xbox has cut more than 2,500 jobs since it completed its $69bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
VGC