Here are the Games Industry Highlights | Week 8-9 | 2024

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀

🌍 NVIDIA shares have skyrocketed to record levels, making the chip-maker more valuable than Google & Amazon – It’s now the 3rd most-valuable company behind Apple and Microsoft.
https://lnkd.in/eBWYF2yR

🌍 Sony is working on giving PlayStation VR2 players access to additional games on PC. Details on which titles and if a PS5 console is required for this are not yet clear.

🌍 Nintendo is the now richest company with an exorbitant 1.7186 trillion yen, or $11.44 billion USD in cash.
https://lnkd.in/eecqa8T2

🌍 Helldivers 2 by Arrowhead Game Studios released to huge popularity and even passed Destiny 2’s all-time peak concurrent player count with 458K CCP.
The studio is struggling to keep the servers running as this kind of demand was unexpected to them.

🌍 Nightingale and Balatro, two completely different games released on the same day (Feb 20), managed to break into the top 10 Steam releases of 2024 by peak CCP. The latter even managed to get a 94 Metacritic score in its launch week.

🌍 Humble Bundle has now helped players raise more than $250 million for charity.

🌍 More layoff news: Supermassive Games Ltd (Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures) is restructuring, with 90 people expected to be laid off, Die Gute Fabrik announced that they were halting production due to the challenging funding & investment scene in games right now and Sony cuts 900 jobs in gaming, shutting down London PlayStation studio. It’s only February, but already over 7000 people have been laid off in the games industry this year.

🌍 Here is a Game Developer’s guide to the Chinese market that may be useful to many:
https://lnkd.in/erTFUHm7

𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗴𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀

👉 The next FLEGA Cafe will take place on March 7 in Genk, thanks to Flemish Games Association & LUCA School of Arts. Tickets:
https://lnkd.in/eaQPR2Pm

👉 Thomas Waterzooi‘s latest game, Please, Touch The Artwork 2 is performing great. Making it to New & Trending on Steam and getting close to 1000 Steam reviews in just a week. There will be a press moment at the Ensor house on March 2nd. The game is available for free on Steam, Android & iOS:
https://lnkd.in/eU8PrXSN

👉 The first awards show with multiple Belgian nominees happens tomorrow (28 Feb) on twitch.tv/Bitkroeg at 21:00. Voting for Best Belgian game (and other categories) is still open!
https://lnkd.in/e7fS_j7v

👉 PS VR2 shooter Hubris (by Cyborn) adds a new Arena mode where players face rounds of invaders.

👉 Baldur’s Gate 3 took home 5 new awards at the #DICEawards, including Game of the Year.

👉 A lot of new jobs can be found on the Belgian Game Industry website, including at Larian Studios, Tovenaar, Abrakam Entertainment, Fishing Cactus, Rogueside and more!
https://lnkd.in/evGR6387