News Mash-Up - Week # 33

Top News Items

• • Embracer Group reported its financial figures for Q1 of its current fiscal year. The Swedish company reported a 107% increase in year-on-year sales, an increase from $298 million to $682 million. This rise in sales comes largely from inorganic growth due to the new subsidiaries acquired by Embracer Group this year. The company just this week announced yet another round of acquisitions – this round including the rights to the franchises of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as well as the companies Tripwire, Tuxedo Labs, Limited Run Games, as well as another “PC/console gaming” studio that remains unannounced. The combined price of these acquisitions is $576 million.

  • The Chinese giant Tencent has seen revenue for Q2 of the fiscal year (Q2 ending on June 30, 2022) drop 1% for domestic games and 3% for international games. Tencent attributes this drop to a “post-pandemic digestion period” as players have begun to re-adopt previous activities.
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  • Elden Ring has surpassed 16.6 million sales worldwide six months after its February 2022 release. It had the largest UK launch of a video game other than Call of Duty or FIFA since the 2018 release of Red Dead Redemption.
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• • MultiVersus has beat out Elden Ring as the best selling game of July 2022. Despite being a free game, it has managed to outperform other paid games due to the success of its “Founders Packs.” The Founders Packs that can be purchased for the game give players access to a larger number of playable characters as well as high amounts of the in-game currency. The packs are sold in tiers – standard, deluxe, and premium – selling for £32.99, £49.99, and £79.99 respectively.
    
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  • The new Devolver title Cult of the Lamb has amassed a following of over one million players within a week of release, a large achievement for a relatively small game.

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  • Activision Blizzard has decided to pass on loot boxes and all other pay-to-win elements in Diablo IV. The game will feature a premium battle pass as well as a shop in which players can buy items, but these will be purely aesthetic.

  • US video game revenue has decreased 9% year-on-year to $4.2 billion during the month of July 2022.

  • Gamescom 2022 will kick off next week in Cologne, Germany with the Opening Night Live live stream on August 23. The show is expected to run for about two hours with new information, footage, and updates concerning several eagerly awaited titles, including The Callisto Protocol, Sonic Frontiers, The Outlast Trials, Hogwarts Legacy, and more.

New games

Week commencing Monday 15 August 2022