20% Get Spider-Man 2 Platinum

Elon Musk contacted a game dev, Playables for YouTube Premium subscribers, Team Vitality wins CS2 tournament, The Division Heartland could be close

Author

Bobby Voicu
November 27, 2023

It's been an agonizing process to see the sort of headcount [reduction], but we know it's a necessary thing for us to hit our new and needed goals. - Phil Rogers, interim Chief Strategy Officer, Embracer Group

Hey there!

📣 If you only read one piece of news today 📣

😎 As everyone knows, or maybe not, the lack of gaming news after Thanksgiving is a problem since antiquity. Even the Romans had a saying, “Post festum Gratiarum, nuntii ludi rari sunt”. (After the feast of Thanks, gaming news is scarce). So.. not so much news today. 😂

🕸️ But because it’s quite easy and, also, a lot of people had a lot of free time lately, apparently, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 boasts an impressive 20.3% Platinum Trophy completion rate among players, significantly higher than many other titles.

🎉 But we have so much more:

Pacific Drive will have a physical deluxe edition and Team Vitality defeated Faze Clan in CS2 Tournament.

Oh, and multiplayer playlist designer is wanted for Halo Infinite.

Don’t miss The Power-Up Chronicles, we have stories about:

  • The human cost of restructure at Embracer;

  • Why RPG games have more loyalty;

  • Elon Musk in the Battle of Polytopia.

Play on:

Welcome to The Power-Up #43

Biz-Up

🚀 The SHFT Q1 2023 Gametech Report forecasts the MENAP gaming market to reach $2.8 billion by 2026, driven by mobile gaming's rising popularity. However, challenges like establishing seamless payment systems and navigating unique market barriers are essential for tapping into this growth potential.

Industry Level-Up (or Down)

🗺️ 343 Industries, the developer behind Halo Infinite, is actively seeking a new multiplayer playlist designer, focusing on curating Forge content. This recruitment highlights the studio's commitment to integrating community-created Forge maps and assets into Halo Infinite's official playlist.

🤝 Thunderful Group is considering selling Headup Games, the publisher of Bridge Constructor, about three years after acquiring it for up to €11 million, as part of a strategy to refine and focus its business operations.

👋 TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, wanted to be involved in gaming in 2021. We told you recently that TikTok is an amazing engine of viral growth. But they are now “scaling back” the operation of Nuverse, their gaming department. So expect mass layoffs there.

Round-Up

🕸️ Marvel's Spider-Man 2 boasts an impressive 20.3% Platinum Trophy completion rate among players, significantly higher than many other titles. 

🏆 Team Vitality was victorious at the Blast Premier Fall Finals Counter-Strike 2 tournament in Copenhagen, Denmark, securing their first major trophy in CS2 by defeating Faze Clan 2-0 in the grand final. The win sees Vitality take home $200,000 for first place, while Faze takes home $85,000 for second.

Game-Up

🚗 Pacific Drive, Ironwood Studios' upcoming first-person driving survival game, has announced a physical deluxe edition for its PS5 release in Spring 2024. This edition includes a physical disc, art cards, a traveler's journal, a reversible cover, and in-game cosmetics for the station wagon.

👶 Pre-order bonus for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has been revealed as the Child of Two Worlds Pack, a cosmetics bundle. It has been considered underwhelming, offering aesthetic items rather than practical bonuses like early access or exclusive missions.

🙌 The Division Heartland, originally slated for a release this year but delayed multiple times, has been rated by the Taiwanese rating board, hinting at a potential early 2024 release. The game is rated for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

⏯️ YouTube has introduced "Playables," a new feature for Premium subscribers, allowing them to play arcade games directly within the YouTube app or desktop site. Currently available with 37 games, including Angry Birds Showdown, Playables requires no additional downloads and will be offered until March 28, 2024, after which YouTube will decide on its future.

Some of the games launching this week:

  • November 28: Last Train Home (PC)

  • November 29: Cross Blitz (PC),  Forest Grove (PS4/5, Xbox One/S/X, PC)

  • November 30: Gangs of Sherwood(PS5, Xbox S/X, PC), Pixel Cafe (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC), Sons of Saturn (PC), Tevi (Switch, PC), Truck and Logistics Simulator (PS4/5, Xbox One/S/X, Switch, PC)

  • December 1: Batman: Arkham Trilogy (Switch), Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince (Switch),  SteamWorld Build (PS4/5, Xbox One/S/X, Switch, PC), The Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout Anthology (PS5, Xbox S/X, PC)

The Power-Up Chronicles

Embracer Group's ongoing restructuring, including the dismissal of over 900 staff, highlights the significant human cost of addressing its financial challenges. Since 2017, Embracer has acquired nearly 90 businesses, from game studios to non-gaming firms, leading to a complex and expansive operation.

Despite reducing its net debt, the company's restructuring efforts have primarily affected its PC/console segments, with layoffs and studio redundancies. Phil Rogers, Embracer's interim chief strategy officer, acknowledges the tough decisions but emphasizes the necessity for efficiency and financial stability.

➡️ A feature by James Batchelor on GamesIndustry.biz.

Mistplay's Mobile Gaming Loyalty Report reveals key insights into player behavior: RPGs lead in loyalty due to deep gameplay, strategy games are strong in repeat purchases and playtime, and lifestyle games excel in daily spending.

The report, analyzing over 500 games in early 2023, highlights the importance of player loyalty and varied spending habits, with ads and word of mouth being crucial for game discovery. 

➡️ Read the article on GamesBeat.

Elon Musk, an avid fan of the indie strategy game The Battle of Polytopia, personally reached out to its creator, Felix Ekenstam, leading to the game's integration into Tesla Arcade and multiple head-to-head matches between them.

Despite Musk's high skill level and presence on the leaderboards, developer Midjiwan notes no significant spike in new users from Musk's tweets, but acknowledges a positive long-term effect on game engagement and brand exposure.

➡️ Read more on MobileGamer.biz

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

Bobby & Andrei

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Did you know?

In 2009, Rovio Entertainment released the first Angry Birds game as a last-ditch effort during bankruptcy, inspired by a proposal featuring legless, wingless, angry-looking birds, with pigs as enemies due to the contemporary "swine flu" news.

The game's massive success led to versions for PCs and consoles, merchandise, two animated films, TV cartoons, and over five billion downloads across platforms.