• 🌍 Netflix games have been downloaded more than 210M times.
• 🌍 Annapurna Interactive’s entire staff, including its president Nathan Gary, resigned after a failed negotiation to spin off the video game division as an independent company. The resignations followed a breakdown in talks with Megan Ellison, co-founder of Annapurna, leaving the company’s future in transition while Ellison assured partners that they would continue to support existing projects.
• 🌍 The Flappy Bird Foundation, a fan group, announced plans to revive the viral game from 2014, but excitement diminished when it was revealed that creator Dong Nguyen is not involved and did not sell the rights. Nguyen later confirmed on X that he has no connection to the revival and is against the crypto content that has seemingly been injected.
• 🌍 Mobile games coverage outlet TouchArcade.com is shutting down after 16 years of activity.
• 🌍 UK studio nDreams confirms layoffs could impact 17.5% of workforce. The VR company was purchased by Swedish conglomerate Aonic for $110M in 2023 but said it has struggled to navigate a ‘challenging’ games market.
• 🌍 Sony announced the PlayStation 5 Pro, which will offer much better performance than the base model, but would miss a disc drive and comes in at €799.
• 🌍 Nintendo & The Pokémon Company International have filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair, Inc. (Palworld)
• 🌍 Xbox has shut down its Xbox Ambassadors program after 13 years.
• 🌍 Microsoft is laying off 650 employees from its gaming division.
• 🌍 Ubisoft’s share price has tumbled once again after a minority investor called for the company to go private.

Games Industry News

• :earth_africa: Testachats / Testaankoop has filed a complaint with the European Commission against major video game companies, accusing them of not clearly displaying the real costs of virtual items like in-game currencies. Video Games Federation Belgium is surprised, arguing that clear pricing is provided and several protections, particularly for minors, are already in place.
• :earth_africa: On November 7th 2024, Flanders Game Hub will offer 10 game studios the opportunity to pitch their games to publishers & investors at UNWRAP | Digital Entertainment Festival Publisher Pitches. Details & signup here: https://forms.gle/WFkXrHiFsjzihomz5
• :earth_africa: Flanders Game Hub has also opened the call for new studios to apply to their support program. Interested Flemish game studios can submit their info here: https://forms.gle/KLMAD7H5Gbk5rAng7
• :earth_africa: The nominees for the studio awards at the #BelgianGameAwards #BGA24 have been announced, you can find them here: https://awards.belgiangames.be/nominees2024/ voting for the Audience Award is open until October 1st, cast your vote here: https://bit.ly/BGA24AudienceAward
• :mega: REMINDER: you can also read this newsletter on https://gameindustry.be/news

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