GamesMarket Plus

Business

First Playable 2026 in Florence: A Look Inside

First Playable 2026, Italy's leading B2B event for the local games industry, has been taking place in Florence since 10 June. Here's an overview of the event, which aims to raise the profile of games bearing the 'Made in Italy' label.

By Marcel Kleffmann • 7 min read

Business

G+ Recruiting & Employer Branding: Gaming and Esports in HR

To attract new skilled workers and make companies more appealing to applicants, HR departments are turning to gaming and esports, beyond mere gamification. This serves as an effective employer branding strategy, as demonstrated by the following projects and initiatives.

By Marcel Kleffmann • 15 min read

GamesMarket Plus

Numbers & Insights Into Horses of Hoofprint Bay's Demo Success

Horses of Hoofprint Bay publisher The Mane Quest is leading us through some exclusive data insights of their massively successful game demo and wishlist campaign.

By Pascal Wagner • 4 min read

Business

G+ Rise And Fall: Mass Layoffs in the Games Industry

Following a strong upswing in the video games industry during and after the pandemic, the sector has experienced a difficult period marked by mass redundancies and studio closures. But what caused this?

By Marcel Kleffmann • 5 min read

GamesMarket Plus

G+ Pontus Rundqvist, Raw Fury: In Indie Publishing, Pick Your Lane!

Pontus Rundqvist, Senior Brand Manager at Raw Fury, says indie publishers can be great if they know what their vision is, storefronts can do more for self-publishing indies and indie publishers, and has thoughts about a 'European' games industry. We interviewed him at Nordic Game 2026.

By Pascal Wagner • 4 min read

People

G+ A Union of Unions – For Fair Games Industries

What are workers’ unions, how do they act around the world and why do ever more game workers feel the need to organise? We interviewed the German service union ver.di, which supports the Game Devs Roundtable, about an international union initiative.

By Pascal Wagner • 3 min read

Business

G+ How Much Money Can I Make in Games in 2026?

We aggregated data from US, EU, Non-EU Europe and Germany to provide salary comparisons over all Western markets. With additional layoff data, the comparison paints a picture of the state of games.

By Pascal Wagner • 4 min read

Business

G+ Nitrado CEO Raphael Stange: Everything is Designed For Multiplayer Games

No server, no multiplayer. What sounds so simple is a massive challenge for game studios, and Nitrado has been supporting developers in this area for over 20 years. In the latest issue, Nitrado CEO Raphael Stange spoke about a service that players only notice when it isn’t working as it should.

By Stephan Steininger • 10 min read

Business

G+ THQ Nordic: The Austrian Heavyweight in the AA Market

2026 is a crucial year for THQ Nordic. With Reanimal, they released a strong title in February, and the major remake of Gothic 1 is set to launch in June — a game that, like Titan Quest II, is pushing towards AAA status. But how else is the publisher positioned?

By Marcel Kleffmann • 9 min read

Business

G+ How GenAI Models Affect Creatives in the Games Industry

Certain machine learning models are used in almost all fields of game development, but generative AI has changed localisation work and voice acting especially. How can creatives weather the storm – and are they fighting back?

By Pascal Wagner • 7 min read

Business

G+ Weekly Steam Charts: Forza Overtakes the Competition, While Warhammer Surges

This week, Forza Horizon 6 took the top spot in the Steam charts. Lego Batman, Paralives, DRG Rogue Core and 007 also made it into the top ten, while the popularity of the Warhammer games was boosted by the Warhammer Skulls event.

By Marcel Kleffmann • 3 min read

Business

G+ Weekly Steam Charts: Two Pre-Release-Sales Loom Large

In this week's Steam charts, two games that are about to launch but have not yet been released are at the forefront. Counter-Strike 2 and Apex Legends also remain in strong positions. Meanwhile, Conan Exiles is staging a comeback.

By Marcel Kleffmann • 3 min read