The dead are so very, very loud. And yet, lying is not in their nature. – Saburo Arasaka

Hey there, fellow gamers! Seems that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is addictively terrifying.

But on the bright side, Embracer Group is embracing their success (see what I did there? 😄), while Sega has finished their Rovio acquisition. Plus… remember Delta Force?

Let’s play.

Welcome to The Power-Up #1

Round-up of the day

🧨 Yesterday, August 20, 2023, was the exact day when Johnny Silverhand stormed Arasaka Tower and blew it up. Cyberpunk’s next story, Phantom Liberty, will launch on September 26, but we will see more of it tomorrow, at Gamescom’s Opening Night Live.

🤖 Hi-Rez Studios (Smite) has updated its policies for voice actor contracts and the use of generative AI technology.

🔫 Call of Duty veteran David Vonderhaar has left Treyarch after 18 years, but he will stay in the gaming industry.

☢️ Be nice online - 7 out of 10 gamers avoid playing multiplayer games with toxic communities. 6 out of 10 felt discouraged to spend money in a game where they were treated poorly by the community.

📖 StoryGames.AI is a narrative tool launched by Buildbox that will help amateur developers to create novel-style games.

🪚 Thrilling fun! Over 1 million people played 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' within the first 24 hours of its release.

👩‍🎨 And, following the above “chain saw massacre”: “gaming isn’t a niche, violence-inducing pastime, it’s the defining entertainment medium of our time. We should treat it as such.”

Biz Reel

The gaming industry witnessed a significant drop in investments, mergers, and acquisitions in the second quarter, with investments down by 34% to $676 million and M&A values nosediving by 81% to $108 million.

The big $1B - Embracer Group’s net sales reached $955.3 million, up 47% YOY. PC/Console games are 74% up, with Dead Island 2 and Remnant II as the main drivers.

Sega has completed its $768,3 million acquisition of Angry Birds developer Rovio Entertainment.

Microsoft is allegedly “very happy” with developer Tango Gameworks studio and its rhythm action game, Hi-Fi Rush.

Game Central

Immortals of Aveum will support 60 fps on both the PS5 and Xbox Series X. The community isn’t too excited about the game, after gameplay streams leaked on YouTube.

A wise decision: first-person driving survival game Pacific Drive was delayd to 2024. Ironwood Studios said the delay is necessary to "stay true to ourselves, and not compromise on the team's well being".

It seems that Red Dead Redemption’s port to Switch is ok. Ok, maybe more than “ok”. It is still too expensive for a port.

Back to the 90s! Classic FPS Delta Force will be revived be Tencent and it will have a teaser trailer at Gamescom Opening Night Live.

Some of the games launching this week (bolded for the games we’re waiting for):

• August 22 – Fort Solis (PS5, PC, MacOS), Immortals of Aveum (Xbox X/S, PS5, PC), Smurfs Kart (PC, PS4/5, Xbox One/X/S)

• August 24 – Ride 5 (Xbox X/S, PS5, PC), Blasphemous 2 (PS5, Xbox X/S, Switch, PC)

• August 25 – Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon (PS4/5, Xbox One/X/S, PC)

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

Bobby & Andrei