The industry thrives on hungry game developers that are just happy to get an okay salary and free Mountain Dew and Doritos. – Cliff Bleszinski, game designer, Gears of War

Hey there!

🎉 But we have so much more:

Respawn could be working on a Mandalorian FPS game, but it’s years away.

Remedy is accelerating the development for Control 2, Condor and the Max Payne 1&2 remake.

And Helldivers 2 is currently the second most played game on Steam.

Now let’s hit the start button:

Welcome to The Power-Up #73

Game-Up

📲 Warframe is set to debut on iOS devices later this month, bringing the same extensive, high-quality sci-fi RPG gameplay to Apple users. Starting February 20, players can enjoy their journey on the go, accessing their Tenno collection and connecting with the vast Warframe community across all platforms.

🤖 Respawn Entertainment is reportedly developing a first-person Mandalorian game. While the project is rumored to be a couple of years from release, it aligns with EA's announcement of multiple Star Wars titles in development by Respawn. 

🔫 Remedy Entertainment's Control 2, Condor, and the Max Payne 1 and 2 Remake are set to accelerate in development, with significant progress expected in early 2024.

Some of the games launching this week:

• February 20: Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters (PS4/5, Xbox One/S/X, PC), Nightingale early access (PC)

• February 21: Last Epoch (PC), Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story (PC, Switch), Dark Fate - Defiance (PC), Myth of Empires (PC)

• February 22: Splatoon 3: Side Order (Switch), Pacific Drive (PS5, PC), King Arthur: Knight's Tale (PS5, Xbox S/X), Sons of the Forest (PC)

Round-Up

🏆 Dead Island 2 and GTA V topped the Epic Games Store's most-played list in 2023, contributing to the platform's growth to over 270 million PC users.Despite a dip in third-party game earnings, total revenue, including Epic's titles, rose to $950 million. 

👾 Palworld developers announce anti-cheat strategies and a player list function to combat server issues. Despite its success and Nintendo's IP concerns, Pocket Pair commits to long-term game integrity.

🎮 Nintendo's next console launch is reportedly delayed to early 2025, due to the need for stronger first-party titles.

🚀 Helldivers 2 achieves a new milestone with over 400,000 concurrent players on Steam, setting a record for PlayStation Studios published games and becoming the 24th highest in Steam's history. Currently, it is the second most played game on Steam, only behind Counter-Strike 2.

Biz-Up

📈 Bandai Namco reports a 3.9% increase in Q3 revenue to $5.1 billion but faces a 28.5% drop in profits to $560.9 million, influenced by the previous success of Elden Ring and the cancellation of five game titles. 

🪧 Following unsuccessful salary negotiations, around 700 Ubisoft employees in France, from various studios, engaged in a strike organized by the French game workers union STJV, protesting against wage increases below inflation.

💲 Aghanim, founded by former Xsolla executives, launches as a mobile gaming fintech platform aimed at enhancing distribution and monetization through direct-to-consumer strategies.

Industry Level-Up

😔 ZA/UM, the team behind Disco Elysium, has announced layoffs following the cancellation of an internal project.

😔 Microsoft plans to eliminate 136 jobs at Activision Blizzard's Cork office, sparking criticism for the lack of engagement with employee representatives. I used to live there for a year, this is sad.

🤝 AdInMo appoints John Rankin, a seasoned industry professional with extensive experience in game studios and advertising, as Chief Revenue Officer to spearhead commercial strategies and revenue growth.

The Power-Up Chronicles

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

Bobby & Andrei