[Source] Gameforge, the European publisher of Aion and TERA, announced it has moved away from mobile games after performing less successful in the market than expected. Around 90 employees, one-fifth of the total staff, were apparently let go. CEO Alexander Rösner claims…
Webzen – Korean studio undergoes restructuring and cancels projects
According to reports in South Korea, Webzen recently went through an “organizational restructuring” which led to the dismissal of around 80 staff (including subsidiaries), with the development teams unaffected. Webzen is preparing to launch the global Closed Beta phase of…
Bonfire Studios – Former Blizzard executive nets US$25 million funding
[Website] Before leaving Blizzard Entertainment in 2014, Rob Pardo was Chief Creative Officer of the developer, holding senior positions in games such as World of Warcraft, Diablo III, and many more. Today, he announced the opening of Bonfire Studios with…
Lionship Studio – NCsoft opens new mobile games studio in Japan
Last week, NCsoft formed a new subsidiary in Japan, Lionship Studio, to expand its in-house mobile games portfolio. Leading Lionship Studio’s mobile games development efforts is led by Yojiro Ogawa, a veteran from SEGA who has worked on Sonic Adventure…
Critical Force – Finnish studio scores multi-million investment from NHN
NHN Entertainment, a South Korean game developer and publisher well known for its Hangame gaming platform, recently announced a US$4.5 million investment in Critical Force, a Finnish game developer behind the upcoming online/mobile FPS game, Critical Ops. In addition to…
Tencent – New massive headquarters set to complete in June 2017
Built at a cost of USD 600 million, the new headquarters for China (and global) technology powerhouse, Tencent, will be ready next year in June. As the owner of Riot Games (developer of League of Legends), majority shareholder of Epic Games…
Monster Strike – Top Japan mobile game falters in America and Korea
One of the top grossing mobile games in Japan, Monster Strike has met with various obstacles trying to make the overseas gamers fall in love with the game. Developer Mixi recently announced it has suspended marketing efforts in North America. Earlier this…
WG Cells – World of Tanks studio shuts down mobile games division
Wargaming, the developer of World of Tanks, has confirmed WG Cells‘ closure in a statement to Gamasutra with over 60 job losses. Founded in 2013 as Dropforge, it received full funding from Wargaming to act as the company’s experimental division…
Lineage Eternal – Closed Beta for Korean server to begin later this year
It is the time of the year where companies reveal their quarterly financial performances, and NCsoft revealed theirs recently. During the conference call, the Korean developer did mention Closed Beta for Lineage Eternal will begin later this year, with no…
Nexon – Co-Founder and Chairman steps down due to corruption case
[Source] One of the richest man in South Korea and Co-Founder of Nexon, Kim Jung-ju, has stepped down from his role as a director of the gaming juggernaut. He has been indicted for bribing a senior prosecutor, Jin Kyung-joon, and suspicious stock…
Warframe – Hackers get away with over 775,000 player email addresses
[Source] One of the most popular Free-to-Play games currently, Warframe suffered a cyber-attack almost two years ago, but developer Digital Extremes only just found out about it. Through the exploit on the old Drupal website, over 775,000 player email addresses were…
Overwatch – Team shooter reigns supreme on PC bang usage chart
The almost-impossible has been achieved, as Overwatch claimed the throne of top PC bang (internet cafe) game from former champion, League of Legends. From the metrics given by Gametrics on 21 June, which tracks thousands of PC bangs in the…
Supercell – Tencent paying over USD 8 billion to become majority shareholder
[Press Release] After weeks of speculation, Tencent today confirmed it has bought out all of Japanese company Softbank’s shares in Finnish mobile games developer, Supercell. The whole deal will cost Tencent a massive USD 8.57 billion for a majority stake…
Kakao Games Corporation – Black Desert publisher changing name again
Less than a year after the name change to NZIN Corporation, the gaming division of Kakao is gearing up for another corporate name change. Kakao, if you did not know, is famous for the popular South Korean chat app, KakaoTalk.…