It's physically painful to part ways with colleagues after all the good work they put into the company. - Alex Nichiporchik, CEO, Tinybuild

Hey there!

🎉 But we have so much more:

A visit of Hermen Hulst to Kojima Productions is sparking hopes for Death Stranding 2.

Alan Wake 2 is considered the best game of the year by TIME and Starbreeze is working on a new D&D game. 

And the first trailer of GTA VI has already broken a record. 

Play on:

Welcome to The Power-Up #47

Biz-Up

😰 Can I Play That? team,  alongside game experts and mental health professionals, have launched the Game Content Triggers Database. This resource catalogs potential mental health triggers in games, covering a variety of themes and effects, and currently features 38 titles, with plans for expansion.

🪧 The QA staff at Experis Game Solutions, supporting Xbox development, successfully voted to unionize with 83% approval, despite alleged anti-union tactics by management.

👋 Twitch is set to shut down its operations in Korea by February 2024 due to unsustainable business costs, including network fees significantly higher than in other countries.

⤵️ In Q3 2023, the top three game genres on Google Play saw 12.36 billion downloads, a staggering 700% more than the 1.54 billion downloads on Apple's App Store, as reported by Apptica and Gamelight. Despite higher download numbers on Android, iOS users spent more, with 56% of in-app purchases made on Apple devices, particularly in RPGs and strategy games.

🤑 GameTree, an AI-driven platform designed to create inclusive and non-toxic gaming communities, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding with support from former Activision Blizzard CEO, Coddy Johnson, and other prominent figures.

Industry Level-Up

🤝 Hearst Newspapers has acquired Puzzmo, a platform for daily newspaper games and puzzles, developed by game designer Zach Gage and engineer Orta Therox.

😔 New World Interactive, known for Day of Infamy and the Insurgency series, faces layoffs due to a restructuring by Embracer Group, although the studio will not shut down entirely. Saber Interactive, New World's parent company, is working to relocate affected employees.

😔 EA has laid off an unspecified number of employees from Codemasters, the developer of Grid, F1, and EA Sports WRC racing games, citing the need to align with evolving business priorities.

😔 Hello Neighbor publisher Tinybuild is implementing layoffs as part of a cost reduction plan following an "incredibly challenging year" with performance below expectations and delayed game releases.

Round-Up

💀 Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios at Sony, visited Kojima Productions in Japan, sparking speculation about potential news regarding Death Stranding 2 for PS5, especially with The Game Awards 2023 approaching.

🔦 Alan Wake 2 is the Best Video Game Of 2023 in TIME’s top 10. It is followed by Baldur’s Gate 3 and Spider-Man 2. The full top 10 is here. 

⛄️ Microsoft's ID@Xbox Game Demo Winterfest event has started, featuring 33 playable demos of indie games on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One, running from December 5th to December 31st. 

🔚 Larian Studios has announced that more than 1.3 million players have completed Baldur's Gate III since its launch. The game also boasts other notable stats, including 1.24 million players transforming into a sentient wheel of cheese, with elf being the most popular starting race and a total global playtime of over 452 million hours.

Game-Up

🐲 Starbreeze, known for the Payday series, is developing a new game based on the Dungeons and Dragons IP, codenamed Project Baxter, set for release in 2026 using Unreal Engine 5.

🪐 Outcast: A New Beginning, the sequel to 1999's Outcast, is set to release on March 15, 2024. The game, available for PS5, Xbox S/X and PC, features marine Cutter Slade in an open-world action-adventure set in the alien realm of Adelpha, offering weapon upgrades, guerilla warfare, and a story of a planetary uprising.

🆕 A new title under the EA Originals label, Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, is rumored to be announced at The Game Awards. The game, developed by Surgent Studios, is described as a 2.5D action platformer, visually similar to the Trine series, featuring a young wizard character with two types of magic, and is slated for release on April 23, 2024, for PC and consoles.

🧟 Naughty Dog has unveiled a gameplay trailer for The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered's new roguelike mode, No Return, featuring randomized runs with varied enemies and locations. This mode, launching on January 19, 2024, allows players to control multiple characters, including new ones like Dina and Lev, in challenging sessions culminating in intense boss battles.

🚔 And, as I am pretty sure everybody knows already, we have the first GTA VI trailer. The game will be set in Vice City and will be out in 2025 for PS5 and Xbox S/X. A PC version was not mentioned. The trailer is already the most viewed video game reveal on YouTube in 24 hours, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. At this moment, it has 104 million views and 9 million likes on Rockstar’s YouTube channel, in a single day.

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

Bobby & Andrei