Helge Jürgens, Nandita Wegehaupt and Fernanda Pagani (From Left to Right) © Friederike Werner / Die Hoffotografen / Fernanda Pagani Business Berlin Games Ground to Host AI Conference as a Side Event The Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur (Digital Game Culture Foundation) is organising a conference together with Games Ground on the topic of AI, which will not only focus on the use of AI in game development, but also on AI utopias and dystopias in games. The conference is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
© Yager Publishing Yager Pays Tribute to Its Shut-Down Shooter in Fortnite Berlin-based Yager is launching its own Fortnite island, intended as a tribute to ‘The Cycle: Frontier’. However, a comeback of the now-discontinued shooter does not seem entirely out of the question. A year ago, the Berlin-based developer Yager Development shut down the online shooter The Cycle: Frontier after the number By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
Cam Weber President EA Sports, Laura Miele, President EA Entertainment & Technology, Andrew Wilson, CEO Electronic Arts, Byron Beed, Group General Manager Battlefield (from left to right) © Screenshot EA Webcast of Investor Day 2024 Business How Electronic Arts Plans to Lead the Market With Its Major Brands At Investor Day, Electronic Arts provided an interesting insight into how the major sees its future. In addition to a lot of news about doubling the audience, the use of AI, a Sims movie or the setting of Battlefield, the information between the lines was particularly exciting: the EA brands By Stephan Steininger • 4 min read
Susanne Mitterer (Deputy Head of the Competence Team for Cultural and Creative Industries, Munich), Astrid Kahmke (CEO Ionda/Director The Portal), Anton Biebl (Head of the City of Munich Cultural Office) Silke Schmidt (Head of XR HUB Bayern), Max Permantier (FilmFernsehFonds Bayern; from left to right) © LHM/Michael Schinharl VR-XR-MR Special Exhibition 'The Portal' Opened in Munich City Hall The VR exhibition 'The Portal' will be held in seven currently vacant retail spaces in Munich City Hall until the end of December. 360-degree films and interactive VR apps that have debuted at international festivals will be shown. The interim use is being facilitated and promoted by the By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
The marketplace Fab.com is scheduled to launch in mid-October. © Screenshop Unreal Engine Blog Development Epic Games Launches Fab Marketplace in Mid-October At GDC 2023, Epic Games announced that it would be merging all of its asset stores under one brand: Fab. A year ago, the launch of Fab was delayed. Now, the marketplace is scheduled to launch in mid-October. It was an ambitious project that was supposed to make it much By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
© Screenshot VGFB Business VGFB Supports VGE Arguments With Own Survey The Belgian Games Federation is using the results of its own survey to support the arguments of the VGE and EGDF in response to complaints from consumer protection organisations against in-game purchase mechanisms of some publishers. The results show that Belgian parents are aware of the spending of their children. By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
© SWR Publishing SWR Launches Audio Game App Pale Blue Südwestrundfunk (SWR) continues to be open to the medium of games. The new podcast project 'Hellblau' is accompanied by an audio game app developed in cooperation with Pangolin Park. The topic of the podcast and audio game is the multicrisis. Hellblau - Der 5 Minuten Padcast zur Multikrise By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
© Nerdic Business Organisers Finalise NERDICon LE Programme Business talks for trade visitors, tournaments and quiz shows for consumers - the programme for the first NERDICon in Leipzig is being finalised. One of the highlights will be the 'FuckUp Night', where industry professionals will talk about their personal failures and lessons learned. From 19 to 21 By Stephan Steininger • 1 min read
© VGE Business Video Games Europe Rejects Accusations From Consumer Protection Organisations The European games association Video Games Europe (VGE) rejects the allegations made in the complaint that consumer protection groups submitted to the EU against seven games companies. The association and its members support and promote fair principles when purchasing in-game content. This also applies to in-game currency, VGE says, and By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
© BusinessWire Development Unity Kills The Runtime Fee In a blog post, Unity CEO Matt Bromberg announces that the controversial runtime fee will finally be scrapped. Exactly one year after its launch, the question remains whether Unity will ever fully regain the trust of developers. On 12 September 2023, Unity announced the end of the Unity Plus subscription By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
Agustín Reyna, Director General of BEUC © BEUC Business Consumer Protection Groups Complain to EU Authorities About Publisher Methods The BEUC and 22 of its member organisations, including the vzbv from Germany and the FRC from Switzerland, have lodged a formal complaint with the EU against Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Mojang Studios, Roblox Corporation, Supercell and Ubisoft. The complaint concerns ‘unfair practices’ in monetisation. This could be By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
© GM Publishing German Games Charts August: From The Outer Rim and Chinese Novels The German games charts have a new number 1, but there should have been a new double top consisting of Star Wars Outlaws and Black Myth: Wukong. However, one company did not submit any data for the chart collection. August was an exceptionally strong month this year: Star Wars Outlaws By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
