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3D Toon Rendering in 'Hi-Fi RUSH'
Hi-Fi RUSH achieves a distinct, 2D-inspired aesthetic within Unreal Engine 4 by utilizing a custom deferred toon renderer that decouples shading from geometry.
- Tango Gameworks achieved a consistent 2D toon aesthetic for both characters and environments in 'Hi-Fi RUSH' by customizing Unreal Engine 4 to decouple toon rendering from standard geometry rendering.
- To maintain a rock-solid 60fps required for rhythm-based gameplay, the team integrated deferred lighting and toon post-processing into a single, performance-optimized deferred toon rendering pass.
- The developers utilized a 'comic shader' that applies half-tone dots and hatching lines to surfaces, using world-space UVs to ensure these textures appear printed on polygonal surfaces rather than floating in screen space.
June 2024 Steam Launches, Deconstructed
June 2024 Steam launch data reveals a market dominated by high-performing free-to-play (F2P) titles and viral indie hits, while mid-to-large budget traditional releases face increasing pressure to recoup costs.
- Nexon’s free-to-play shooter The First Descendant dominated June 2024 with an estimated $35 million in gross revenue, driven by aggressive monetization and a global player base.
- Viral indie titles outperformed expectations, with Chained Together selling 2 million units and Bodycam reaching 400,000 units by leveraging Unreal Engine 5 aesthetics.
- NetEase’s Once Human achieved strong engagement with concurrent user peaks exceeding 160,000, fueled by high interest from both the U.S. and Chinese markets.
Making Connections: Real-Time Path-Traced Light Transport in Game Engines
Real-time path tracing has reached a critical inflection point in modern game development, enabling the rendering of complex, dynamic scenes with thousands of light sources at a consistent 60 frames per second.
- ReSTIR (Reservoir-based Spatio-Temporal Importance Sampling) enables real-time path tracing in Unreal Engine 5 by using statistical resampling to select and reuse the most essential light paths, significantly reducing the computational cost of light transport.
- Implementing a state machine-based control flow for shaders—consolidating random number generation and resampling code into single locations—improves performance by 20% to 40% by optimizing instruction cache usage.
- ReSTIR allows for GPU-driven lighting that replaces traditional N by M complexity occluder-receiver tracking with statistical sampling, eliminating the need for expensive per-light passes and reducing CPU draw call overhead.
Did Vindex’s Sale to EFG Leave Esports Engine Employees Empty-Handed?
The acquisition of Vindex by ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) in March 2023 has drawn scrutiny regarding the treatment of employees at Esports Engine, a Vindex subsidiary.
- When Vindex was sold to ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) in March 2023, most Esports Engine employees with equity received no financial benefit from the sale, mirroring a similar outcome for staff during the 2015 sale of Major League Gaming to Activision Blizzard for $46 million.
- The acquisition deal was structured to prioritize debt repayment and retention pools, effectively keeping the final sale price below the threshold required to trigger equity payouts for employees.
- Esports Engine management and staff were largely excluded from the acquisition negotiations, with many learning of the finalized deal only after it had closed.
The Next Era of Modding
The gaming industry is undergoing a fundamental transformation as user-generated content transitions from a hobbyist pursuit into a professionalized, revenue-generating pillar of game development.
- User-generated content is shifting from a hobbyist pursuit to a professionalized, revenue-generating pillar that helps studios mitigate the industry-wide content treadmill.
- Modding is increasingly viewed as a net-positive business strategy that reduces production costs and development timelines compared to traditional AAA expansion models.
- Console ecosystems are the primary drivers of market expansion, accounting for over 65 percent of all mod downloads for major titles.
People Can Fly: Q1 2024 Financial Results
People Can Fly’s financial results for the first quarter of 2024 demonstrate a significant improvement in profitability, characterized by a 63% year-over-year revenue increase to PLN 56.8 million (€13.1 million).
- People Can Fly achieved a 63% year-over-year revenue increase to PLN 56.8 million in Q1 2024, narrowing its net loss to PLN 864k and reaching an operating profit of PLN 3.9 million.
- The studio is managing a five-project pipeline, including Project Gemini (Square Enix), Project Maverick (Microsoft), two Krafton-partnered titles (Bifrost and Victoria), and Project Red, which is currently seeking a publisher.
- The launch of Bulletstorm VR was deemed unsatisfactory, resulting in the termination of the agreement with Incuvo and People Can Fly taking full control of the title's future.
CD PROJEKT Group Q1 2024 Earnings Results
CD PROJEKT Group’s financial results for the first quarter of 2024 demonstrate a period of transition, characterized by the successful conclusion of post-release support for Cyberpunk 2077 and a strategic pivot toward new development projects.
- CD PROJEKT Group reported Q1 2024 revenue of 227 million PLN and a net profit of 100 million PLN, marking year-over-year growth of 30% and 44% respectively.
- The company maintains a strong financial position with 1.45 billion PLN in cash, deposits, and bonds as of March 2024.
- Development focus has officially shifted from Cyberpunk 2077 support to full production of the next Witcher game, Polaris, utilizing Unreal Engine 5.
Condensed Interim Consolidated Financial Statement of the CD PROJEKT Group for Q1 2024
The CD PROJEKT Group’s financial results for the first quarter of 2024 demonstrate robust growth and a strengthened market position.
- CD PROJEKT Group reported a Q1 2024 consolidated net profit of 100.1 million PLN, marking a 44.2% increase compared to the same period in 2023.
- Total sales revenue for Q1 2024 reached 226.8 million PLN, fueled by the continued commercial performance of Cyberpunk 2077, its Phantom Liberty expansion, and GOG.COM.
- The company holds a strong liquidity position with total financial assets—including cash, bank deposits, and Treasury bonds—rising to approximately 1.59 billion PLN.
Creatives end cards arms-race, why is soft launching in US a terrible idea? Night crows review (#69)
The mobile gaming industry is currently grappling with an escalation in aggressive advertising tactics, specifically regarding rewarded ad end cards.
- Aggressive rewarded ad end cards, including 45-second durations and deceptive design patterns, are actively degrading player retention and brand sentiment.
- Publishers should prioritize long-term player health over short-term click-through metrics by using negative user feedback to demand more equitable ad formats from network partners.
- Soft-launching in the U.S. is often misguided due to high acquisition costs and intense competition that obscure accurate performance data.
Chinese Publishers in Live Streaming: Tencent, AI, and Esports
Chinese game publishers are currently navigating a complex landscape defined by regulatory uncertainty, shifting consumer preferences, and a drive toward technological innovation.
- Tencent dominated the Q1 2024 live-streaming landscape with 636 million hours watched, significantly outperforming second-place publisher Moonton, which recorded 101 million hours.
- League of Legends remains the top title for Chinese publishers with 478 million hours watched in Q1 2024, though only 4.9% of this viewership originated from Chinese audiences.
- Mobile gaming continues to gain traction, evidenced by the strong performance of titles like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (79.9 million hours) and PUBG Mobile (46.6 million hours).
Success via a Game Inspired by YouTube Content
This analysis examines the viability of leveraging viral YouTube sub-communities and internet sub-genres to drive successful game launches on Steam.
- Developers can achieve significant commercial success by adapting trending YouTube sub-cultures into games, effectively utilizing 'public IP' that has an existing, eager fan base without requiring licensing fees.
- Backrooms: Escape Together sold over 100,000 copies despite launching with only 500 wishlists and failing to reach Steam's 'Popular Upcoming' or 'New & Trending' lists.
- The Steam Discovery Queue was the primary driver for Backrooms: Escape Together, accounting for 46% of its launch traffic and peaking at approximately 25,000 visits in its first week.
Kakao Games Q1 2024 Earnings Results
Kakao Games reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2024, highlighting a period of stabilization within its core gaming division alongside ongoing challenges in non-gaming business segments.
- Kakao Games reported Q1 2024 revenue of 246.3 billion KRW, a 1.2% year-over-year decrease, and an operating profit of 12.3 billion KRW, representing an 8.1% year-over-year increase.
- The company returned to net profitability in Q1 2024, recording 400 million KRW in net profit.
- Core gaming performance was resilient, with mobile game revenue rising 4.8% to 161.3 billion KRW and PC game revenue growing 10.5% to 15.6 billion KRW year-over-year.