NCSoft Co-CEO Park Byung-moo (NCSoft) Business NCSoft Buys Majority Stake in Berlin Casual Studio JustPlay Korean mobile publisher NCSoft has bought Berlin casual platform studio JustPlay for around $202 mil, with a 70 per cent majority stakehold. The deal will be finalised end of April. By Pascal Wagner • 1 min read
Slay the Spire 2 can be played in co-op mode with up to four players and has topped the weekly global Steam charts © Mega Crit Games Business G+ Slay the Spire 2 Tops Weekly Steam Charts, Where Does the Legend of Khiimori Rank? Following its spectacular launch, Slay the Spire 2 has taken the top spot in the global weekly Steam charts in terms of revenue. Meanwhile, The Legend of Khiimori by Aesir Interactive and Mindscape has made it to number 10 in the German charts. By Marcel Kleffmann • 3 min read
V-Bucks (Fortnite) © Epic Games Business Epic Games Raises Prices for V-Bucks (Fortnite) Epic Games has announced price increases for V-Bucks (Fortnite) due to higher operating costs. The Battle Pass has also been adjusted, meaning players will no longer receive bonus V-Bucks. By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
Business Xsolla: A Reimagined Platform and More Payment Integrations At the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming, Xsolla unveiled its rebranded platform, presenting tools intended to assist developers in building sustainable businesses, expanding their reach globally, and fostering direct relationships with their players. By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
Business Outersloth Makes Publisher Contract Public Indie publisher Outersloth have made their publishing conditions public after a talk at GDC 2026. By Pascal Wagner • 1 min read
The founder of Zestum (from Left to Right): Levin Vonester, Salomo Bertram, Jasmin Blekic und Samuel Wiebe | Picture: Thilo Schmülgen/TH Köln Business Zestum Starts Scentbar Kickstarter: Smell What You Play The start-up Zestum wants to use its Scentbar to bring smells to life on screen to match what's happening. A Kickstarter campaign is set to fund the first product line. Three scent sets are planned for the launch: nature, racing and action. By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
Valve Software looks back at Steam in 2025 © Valve Software Business Average Cut for All Non-Valve Games Sold on Steam in 2025 Was 24% Valve Software looks back at Steam in 2025. The company announced that, in 2025, the revenue share paid out across all non-Valve games on Steam was 76%. By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
GG Bavaria 2026 © eosAndy Events Almost 10,000 Visitors at GG Bavaria 2026; Organizers Extremely Satisfied The Bavarian gaming convention saw another visitor record, with around 9,500 people attending GG Bavaria 2026 in Munich. The organisers drew very positive conclusions from the event at the Kleine Olympiahalle. By Marcel Kleffmann • 3 min read
Rockfish Games Team in 2026 © Rockfish Games Business Rockfish Receives €8 Million in Federal Funding for New Everspace Game Hamburg-based independent studio Rockfish Games has received an €8 million grant from the German government to develop a new game in the Everspace franchise. This is the largest sum ever awarded by the Federal Games Funding Programme. By Marcel Kleffmann • 4 min read
Chris Hewish (President) and Berkley Egenes (Chief Marketing and Growth Officer) at Xsolla © Christer Berg / Xsolla Business "In 2026, I Expect Smarter Monetization Rather Than Bigger Monetization" In our GDC 2026 interview with Chris Hewish (President) and Berkley Egenes (Chief Marketing and Growth Officer) at Xsolla, we discuss monetisation trends, games concentration, direct-to-consumer growth, hardware cost pressures, distribution trends and XR. By Marcel Kleffmann • 7 min read
Events Game Industry Conference to be Held Twice in 2026 And is Seeking Speakers The organisers of the GIC - Game Industry Conference have launched their call for speakers. At the same time, the website shows that GIC 2026 will take place twice, at the usual time in October in Poznań and at the end of June in Katowice. By Stephan Steininger • 2 min read
Plaion X CI Games © Plaion & CI Games Business Plaion and CI Games Partner up for Lords of the Fallen II Following their collaboration on Lords of the Fallen, Plaion and CI Games have announced that they are joining forces once again. Plaion will be the global physical distributor for Lords of the Fallen II. By Marcel Kleffmann • 2 min read
