It's a bit of a change of strategy - Tim Stuart, CFO, Xbox

Hey there!

🎉 But we have so much more:

Sony planted half a million trees, part of a HFW promotional campaign.

Silent Hill: Ascension’s script was NOT made by AI and Rovio released a guide for creating games. 

Oh, and Dead by Deadlight now has over 60 million players. 

Let’s hit the start button:

Welcome to The Power-Up #45

Biz-Up

💰 Thirdverse has secured $8 million in its latest funding round, bringing its total funding to $38 million. The investment will support the expansion of their VR gaming business, including the development and launch of their new title, Soul Covenant, set for release in the first half of 2024.

🚀 CI Games, publisher of the fantasy-RPG Lords of the Fallen, anticipates generating approximately $100 million in net revenue from the game over the next few years. This projection follows the game's strong start, with over one million copies sold since its October 2023 release. 

🤝 Sony is actively partnering with Korean game studios, recently collaborating with Shift Up and NCSOFT. Potential future collaborations could involve renowned studios such as Pearl Abyss, Neowiz, and Com2uS (but nothing is yet confirmed).

Industry Level-Up

😔 Unity is laying off 265 employees, about 3.8% of its global workforce, and ending its agreement with digital effects company Weta FX, as part of a broader company "reset". This decision comes after Unity's acquisition of part of Weta FX in 2021 for $1.6 billion.

🙌 Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill is transitioning to a new role as Chief Product Officer (CPO), where he will oversee the ecosystems of Riot's major titles, including League of Legends, Valorant, and their offshoots, as well as guiding larger research and development.

Round-Up

🎮 Microsoft is shifting its strategy to make Game Pass and its first-party games available on "every screen that can play games," including platforms like Nintendo Switch and PlayStation.

🤖 Genvid CEO Jacob Navok has clarified that AI was not used in the creation of Silent Hill: Ascension's script, countering speculation from viewers who noticed abrupt tonal shifts in the interactive series. 

⭐️ MiHoYo's space-fantasy RPG, Honkai: Star Rail, earned the top spot at Google Play's Best of 2023 awards, also winning awards for Best Story and Best Tablet Game. Vampire Survivors won the Best Indie award.

📜 Rovio has released a comprehensive guide for creating more inclusive and accessible games, focusing on diverse narratives, player safety, and workforce inclusivity, developed with input from its employees.

🔄 Creative Assembly is shifting its focus back to developing real-time strategy (RTS) games, following the cancellation of its online FPS game Hyenas. The company is known for the successful Total War series. 

🔄 Also, UK developer Frontier, known for Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo, is refocusing on simulation games after lower-than-expected sales of its Warhammer RTS game. 

🙌 Dead by Daylight has reached a milestone of 60 million players. The game is celebrating this achievement by offering players a special in-game code for rewards.

🌳 As part of its environmental campaign linked with Horizon Forbidden West, Sony has planted over 600,000 trees in the last year, contributing to the gaming industry's larger effort of planting 2.5 million trees globally.

Game-Up

🚔 Netflix Games is set to launch the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy on its platform on December 14. Netflix subscribers will be able to access the titles through the Netflix mobile app, the App Store and Google Play, starting from pre-registration on November 30.

🎂 Ubisoft has officially announced the Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition, set for release in 2024 on platforms yet to be disclosed. This enhanced edition boasts 4K resolution, 60 FPS, improved visuals, controls, audio, and introduces new features like auto-save, cross-save, exclusive rewards, a speed run mode, and updated achievements.

🎮 PS Plus Essential monthly games for December: Lego 2K Drive, PowerWash Simulator and Sabel. The games can be downloaded starting Tuesday, December 5. 

🦾 CD Projekt RED will release an unexpected, free update 2.1 for Cyberpunk 2077 on December 5, coinciding with the launch of the Ultimate Edition. This update promises new and highly anticipated gameplay elements, with further details to be revealed today, December 1.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Stay powered-up until next time.

Bobby & Andrei