Cameron Stewart

Come learn about Xsolla's strategies to improve your mobile games revenue.

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More bad news today with GAMURS Group (the owners of major publications including Dot Esports, Destructoid Video Game News, and Twinfinite LLC) has seemingly cut a number of jobs without warning, with an unknown number of staff affected. Gamurs Group previously made redundancies in July, with teams from the above publications also seemingly affected. To those impacted please check them out here: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/ePywd2kq You can find over 6,000 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #gamursgroup #twinfinite #dotesports #destructoid #layoffs

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🎮 The Best-Selling PC/Console Games in the U.S. by Year in the 21st Century Circana outlined the best selling PC/Console games of 2000-2023 in the US. Some interesting findings: 🎯 The Call of Duty series has topped the charts most frequently, claiming the first spot 12 times over the last 23 years. 🏈 Madden NFL is another standout series. Since the beginning of the century, its games have been in the top spot four times and have never fallen out of the top 20 in sales. 🤔 Moreover, for the past 22 years, Madden NFL games have not dropped below the fifth spot in the charts. 🚓 Grand Theft Auto games have claimed the top spot three times: Vice City (2002), San Andreas (2004), and GTA V (2013). 🎸 From 2007 to 2009, music games thrived, with several entries from Guitar Hero and Rock Band in the charts (source: https://lnkd.in/eT6cQHE8)

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Who out there can guide me on the general rules for fair use / licensing of Premier League and/or NFL player names, team names and player images in regards to use in fantasy sports based applications and video games?

From tactics to player management, learn how the coaches in EA SPORTS NHL 25 impact the game with this new update 🏒

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Updated 11/10/24: 1,039 New Games Jobs at 250+ Companies Category #3, Resource #11 at amirsatvat.com https://lnkd.in/d6x5NHMZ Looking for new opportunities in games? Please check out Resource #11 - the most robust new games roles resource out there! Combining it with Resource #10 (Games Jobs Workbook - our long-form flagship resource updated every 1-2 months) offers the most comprehensive view of the games job market worldwide. It's not just about the total aggregate numbers - our data is the cleanest! I run a 9-step process to keep everything clean, accurate, and automated: When the role was posted How it categorizes across our 20 standard community functional groups Dedupe for the same roles in multiple locations Clean out miscategorized roles Tell you where the role is Tell you if it's remote or not - for real Tell you if it is a reposted role or not with conditional formatting - for real Give you a direct link to apply Explore more and dive into your next big opportunity! Always free and without ulterior motives, for gamers!

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Match3 is not the best game economy. I know some who would say it’s not even economy! Also, digital board games are just video games with terrible UX. Listen to the episode for more on these hot takes from me and the fellas.

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Check out how EA FC 24 is revolutionizing football coaching in the gaming world. 🎮⚽️ #WeAreEA #EAFC24

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📊 Games & Numbers (29.05.24 - 11.06.24) 🎮 PC/console games ▪️ Star Citizen fundraising has surpassed $700 million, with more than 5.2 million donations. In August 2023, the news broke that $600 million had been raised. https://shorturl.at/XuONK ▪️ Blizzard Entertainment boasted that over 100 million people have played games from the Diablo series. https://lnkd.in/dPDsH_Px ▪️ Dragon’s Dogma 2 sales have reached 3 million copies. The first 2.5 million copies were sold within 2 weeks of release (the game was released on March 22 this year). https://lnkd.in/dei96Wyp ▪️ Content Warning has sold 2.2 million copies in 2 months. The total number of players has exceeded 8.8 million (the game was initially distributed for free). https://lnkd.in/dxfMx345 ▪️ Marvel Rivals already has over a million wishlists on Steam and EGS. https://lnkd.in/dZktsvVx ▪️ The Octopath Traveler series has surpassed 4 million copies sold. Both parts of the game were recently launched on Xbox Game Pass. https://lnkd.in/dUigFRr9 ▪️ Fallout 76 has reached 20 million users. In December last year, the number of players was 17 million. The DAU for Fallout games has soared by 600% following the success of the TV series. Todd Howard said he had never seen such a growth before. https://lnkd.in/d6rWbc6t ▪️ MultiVersus successfully returned to Steam with 153,000 concurrent users at launch. Now, the CCU has stabilized at 17,000. https://shorturl.at/feeTB 📱Mobile games ▪️ Rise of Kingdoms revenue has exceeded $3.5 billion. 25.6% of all money came from the USA; 14.4% from China; 12.6% from South Korea. South Korea is the leader in RPD (revenue per download) ($142) and ARPDAU (average revenue per daily active user) ($5). Following are China (RPD - $6; ARPDAU - $4.6) and the USA (RPD - $62; ARPDAU - $3.3). https://lnkd.in/dbx2FCUh ▪️ Dungeon & Fighter Mobile successfully launched in China. In the first week starting from May 21, the game earned $66 million on iOS alone, and revenue from both platforms exceeded $140 million (according to Niko Partners); the game was downloaded by 2.4 million users. In South Korea, the game has been available since March 2022, and in just over two years, it has earned more than $185.6 million. https://shorturl.at/gyxgb ▪️ Squad Busters earned $1.1 million on its first day (data from Sensor Tower). On the same day, the game was downloaded 8.8 million times. According to AppMagic, in the first week, the game earned $10.66 million (excluding platform fees and taxes). Yet, Eric Seufert doesn't believe those numbers are real pointing out that Squad Busters had 40M+ pre-regs. https://shorturl.at/iCeUL

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🎮 PC / Console game sales in Europe September'24, according to GSD & GfK Game Sales 📈 17.6 million PC and console games were sold in Europe last month, 20% more than in September 2023. 🥇 EA Sports FC 25 topped the chart 🥈 The Crew 2 ranked second due to a promotion where the game was sold for €1. 🥉 Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 secured third place. Like in the UK, the game ranked 3rd in the 2024 new game sales chart. 📈Astro Bot had a strong start. Compared to similar titles, its launch sales were 34% higher than Sonic Frontiers and 52% better than Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. Hardware Sales 📉 335,000 consoles were sold in September in Europe, 18% less than last year. 🥇The PS5 leads by a wide margin, although its sales were 17% lower than last year. 🥈The Nintendo Switch is in second place (with a 1.5% YoY sales increase) 🥉The Xbox Series S|X is in third, with sales plummeting by 58% compared to September 2023. 📉1.1 million accessories were sold in September, down 2.4% from last year. (source: https://lnkd.in/eCGXBs_M)

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Amir Satvat's Games Community Support Content - Upcoming Schedule All Resources Cited Available @amirsatvat.com 11/8 - Helping Hands  (Resource #4) Spotlight on community members who have been searching for a job for over a year. 11/9 - New Games Jobs Update  (Resource #11) I've held off on loading new roles for a few days due to everything happening in the world, but expect hundreds of new roles to be available for application soon. 11/9 - Full Weekly Update (Resources #1, #2, #3, #5, #6, #7, #8, #16) Full refresh of all resources on the community website. 11/10 - Creator Partner Program Interest Check (Resource #18 - TBA) I will solicit participation interest in our new proposed Creator Partner Program for Amir Satvat's Games Community, highlighting those offering free games support to the community - based on your 94% / 6% in favor community vote. 11/11 - A BIG, BIG, BIG Surprise for Our Games Community Also Coming Soon   - A full study on job cuts by location (and more) from 2022 to 2024 YTD. - A concise one-page reference for all our key games job insights and stats. - Started a full update of the Games Jobs Directory (Resource #10)

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Learn more about how EA FC 24 and UEFA are using FC to bring train young players and inspiring kids to play football. ⚽️ #WeAreEA #EAFC24

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Check out the latest in GMU Esports news in this week's version of the Weekly Replay!

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‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Gets First Teaser. The new episodes confirm Joel's lie will still affect his relationship with Ellie. It was proven with season 1 that games-to-TV adaptations drive franchise-wide engagement. 🔥 +𝟯𝟱% (Src: Newzoo, 35 games analyzed) The average Monthly Active Users (MAU) rises after games go TV/Movie. • 3 months pre-announcement: 1.05M MAU • Announcement month: 1.15M MAU (+10%) • Release month: 1.42M MAU (+35%) Season 2 looks just as thrilling as Season 1. What excites you most about season 2?

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A little unsolicited advice for people who have recently entered the job market: 1. First of all, stay positive. Getting laid off isn't your fault. It's hard not to tie it to your personal and professional worth, but don't. Which leads me to my next, and an equally important point... 2. Prioritize your mental health -- whatever that means for you. For me, it means taking walks, spending time with family, and sometimes giving myself permission to take a day off from job hunting and the other projects I've been working on since my layoff back in May. Which leads me to my NEXT point (I'm crushing it with the segues today apparently)... 3. Focus on a hobby or project. I've picked up a couple projects that I feel enhance my job search, but your hobby or project doesn't have to. As much as it sucks, unemployment means extra time on your hands. How many times have you said to yourself that you'd love to try doing "X", but you "don't have the time"? Maybe now, you do. 4. For more practical job hunt advice, see Ash C.'s post below and direct your attention to the list of people she encourages you to follow. Follow them, not just for links to jobs, but also for their insights. Many of them have great communities (looking at you, Amir Satvat!) that offer help to job searchers such as resume reviewing, interview prep, etc. 5. Network, network, network. To my above point, join a community of folks who are also on the job hunt. Ask them questions about what they've learned as they've been looking and consider if any of their learnings might work for you. 6. Speaking of learning, keep actively learning and stay sharp in your discipline. Not only will this give you a sense of progress that's separate from your job search (because things can change there really really fast), it'll also show the people you interview with that you're passionate about your craft and you're ready to jump back into the mix. Feel free to reach out to me via DM of you want. I'd be happy to tell you some of the things I'm learning in my job search, share a contact if I have one, or just listen.

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10 signs players spot a disappointing game. (Add your 🚩 red flag if I missed any) • Graphics over Gameplay • Something-Killer • Future Promises • Buggy Launch • Radio Silence • No Reviews • Pay-to-Win • Asset Flips • Price Drop • No Buzz Anything that makes a player not care  ↳ 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣. Games excel when players care about details It shouldn’t be there if players don't care. What’s your 🚩 red flag for a new game?

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Seeing all of these posts about 2024 being a bad year for gaming, and I encourage everyone to remember the same thing us financial nerds have to every quarter: DON'T FORGET THE COMP. Is 2024 as strong as 2023? Nope. 2023 was astoundingly strong for game releases (and terrible for labor). However, you always have to check your takes against the context. There have been some impossibly amazing games this year: Palworld Enshrouded Helldivers 2 FF7 Rebirth Astrobot Shadow of the Erdtree Balatro Tekken 8 Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown P3 Reload Metaphor DA: The Veilguard Pacific Drive SO many great games this year... the list above barely scratches the surface. Anyone calling this year a bad year for games should give their head a shake. If you can't find at least five to get VERY excited about this year, that may be something to interrogate. Go play The Rise of the Golden Idol. Or, barring that, I can't believe you don't have a backlog weeping for attention.

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Back in the Red Storm days, I spent several years as the manager of the Game Design department. In that capacity I did a lot of hiring, and I did my best to develop my team professionally. One of those folks enjoyed working at RSE, but his dream was always to work for the studio that made his favorite game. But, despite all his efforts, he was repeatedly turned down when he applied. I didn't want to lose this designer, but a dream's a dream. So I asked him to show me his latest application before he sent it in. He handed over the application and his answers, and I read. It took half a minute to figure out the issue. I asked him, "What are they asking for in question 1?" He told me. I then asked "What is your response to question 1?" Again, he told me. And finally I asked "Does your response actually answer the question in any way, shape, or form?" He stared at me for a minute, then he looked at his answers, then he looked at me again and said "No." Because instead of answering the question, he had run off detailing something he thought was cool and was enthusiastic about, which, as anyone who has done interviewing will tell you, is a big red flag. Fortunately, after a little explaining, the designer was receptive to the idea of rewriting everything to actually answer the questions at hand. He got hired at dream studio very shortly thereafter, and has had a long and fruitful career in the industry. The lesson here is simple: Answer the question you're given. That especially holds for narrative deliverables. A proper narrative deliverable should fulfill the requested purpose - no more, no less. It should answer the question, not raise new ones, not ignore the original one to tackle other concerns, not bury the original concept under a mountain of additional material. It is sometimes hard for narrative folks to rein themselves in when asked to pitch stories or characters or whatever. Good narrative types have a gift for holding the whole kit and kaboodle in their heads. They see the gestalt - where it starts, where it goes, and what's potentially going to be needed down the line that no one else is thinking about. But that can lead to producing additional work that seems logical, but that no one asked for and no one wanted yet. Often that work strays outside the lines of what is useful. This can have deeply negative consequences. Surprise presentations of unrequested work can blindside requestors and put them on the defensive. It can be seen as staking out territory that is deliberately undefined at this point, an attempt to claim others' creative space. And if it's not up to snuff, it can have long-lasting repercussions for both individuals and teams. So, answer the question. If you think more needs to be said, keep the "more" in your back pocket in case it gets requested. Don't jump the gun, don't try to steal a march, even if you think it's good or necessary. It isn't, and you're not doing yourself or your team any favors by doing so.

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💡 ERROR LOG #27: If your core gameplay loop isn’t compelling, your game might not be either. What I mean by that is the core gameplay loop is the heartbeat of your game. It’s the cycle of actions players will perform repeatedly, and if it’s not engaging, the entire player experience can be doubtful. The loop doesn’t just entertain, it defines the game, driving the player’s emotional and strategic investment. For example, think of a classic side-scroller. The loop might involve running, jumping, and shooting while collecting treasures and defeating enemies (YES! You got it! Metal Slug :D). Simple, but highly engaging. Compare that to a more complex RPG loop, blending exploration, combat, and dialogue. These loops provide different experiences, but they all share one thing: they’re finely tuned to keep players coming back but first and foremost they have to enjoy it! 💡As some of you know I’m not a designer by profession, I simply love all the aspects of game development. Here’s where I went wrong early in my design journey as I was mostly driven by visuals and appeal: I’d focus so much on flashy features and world-building that I’d lose sight of how those elements tied into the core loop. It’s easy to overcomplicate or dilute the loop with feature creep. But here’s the hard truth: if the loop isn’t tight, even the best visuals or narrative can’t save your game. 📘A-HA Moment: Start simple, then refine. Think of the gameplay loop as the game’s skeleton. It needs to be strong before you add the muscles (mechanics) and skin (aesthetics). For me, studying great games and their loops - like the seamless exploration and combat of The Legend of Zelda or the addictive power fantasy of Kratos in God of War was a game-changer. If you’re crafting a core gameplay loop, ask yourself: ✅ What will the player do 80% of the time? ✅ How does it feel? Is it satisfying, challenging, and fun? ✅ Does every element of the game enhance the loop or distract from it? What’s your favourite example of a perfectly executed gameplay loop? Let me know in the comments! Stay tuned for more ⚔️🐻

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