Quest

Q1 2021 Market Snapshot Report - EN

The Q1 2021 market snapshot delivers a data-driven overview of the global mobile-gaming landscape, focusing on iOS performance in the United States, Japan and China and comparing it with the preceding quarter.

• In Japan, the sports genre saw a significant expansion, growing by 27 percentage points to reach a 12.3% market share, largely driven by the success of Cygames’ Uma Musume Pretty Derby.
• RPG market share declined in both China and Japan during Q1 2021, with China experiencing a 2.7 percentage point drop to 45.4%.
• Monetization strategies vary significantly by region: collectible albums are present in over 70% of US top-grossing games, battle-pass systems appear in over 25% of Japanese leaders, and special-gacha mechanics in China doubled year-over-year to exceed 30%.

Global Games Market Report 2021: The VR & Metaverse Edition

The global games market is projected to generate $175.8 billion in 2021, representing a marginal 1.1% year-on-year decline.

• The global games market is projected to reach $175.8 billion in 2021, a 1.1% year-on-year decline caused by hardware shortages and AAA game delays.
• Mobile gaming remains the industry's largest segment, generating $90.7 billion and accounting for 51% of total market revenue despite privacy-related marketing hurdles.
• The industry is forecast to reach $218 billion in total revenue by 2024, driven by the long-term growth of the metaverse and social gaming hubs.

Square Enix Holdings 2Q FY2021/3 Financial Results Briefing

Square Enix Holdings reported strong financial growth for the first half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, driven primarily by robust performance in its Digital Entertainment segment.

Aiming Quarterly Report: Q3 10th Term

This quarterly report for Aiming Inc. covers the third quarter of the 10th fiscal year, spanning from July 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020.

Porting Your Title to Oculus Quest

Transitioning a virtual reality title to the Oculus Quest necessitates a fundamental shift toward mobile-first development principles.

• Maintain a strict 72 FPS performance target by aggressively optimizing draw calls and vertex counts to accommodate the Quest’s mobile-first, tile-based rendering architecture.
• Manage the 2.75 GB RAM constraint by utilizing ASTC texture compression and shifting from static dependencies to dynamic asset loading.
• Avoid GPU-intensive features such as Z-passes, alpha testing, and dynamic lighting, opting instead for texture atlases, shader-based optimizations, and faked lighting effects.

Aiming FY2020 Q3 Earnings Results Q&A

Aiming’s fiscal year 2020 third-quarter earnings discussion outlines a strategic shift toward sustainable development and operational efficiency.

• Dragon Quest Tact exceeded FY2020 Q3 performance expectations due to a higher-than-anticipated influx of new users.
• Aiming is shifting its development philosophy from aggressive, large-scale investment toward the long-term cultivation of individual and team expertise.
• Management plans to transition back to an office-based development model once public health conditions permit, citing concerns over the long-term efficacy of remote collaboration for new projects.

Aiming Q3 2020 Financial Results

Aiming’s financial results for the third quarter of 2020 demonstrate a significant turnaround in performance, driven primarily by the successful launch of new gaming content and strategic cost-optimization measures.

Microsoft's Rival Console Experiments & Discovery

Microsoft’s strategy regarding the release of its first-party titles on rival platforms, particularly the Nintendo Switch, appears to have been an experimental effort to extend the Xbox ecosystem beyond its own hardware.

• Microsoft abandoned its strategy of porting first-party titles to rival consoles like the Nintendo Switch by late 2020 due to fragmented user experiences and limited technical integration.
• Microsoft’s current platform strategy prioritizes the growth of the Game Pass subscription model over deep, cross-platform integration on competing hardware.
• Future third-party hardware support from Microsoft is contingent on the ability to implement a full, native Xbox ecosystem, including Game Pass and Xbox Live services.

Friday Plus Newsletter: Baldur's Gate 3 Gets 1.0 Huge, Assaults Steam Servers

This analysis examines the commercial performance and market trends of the global video game industry during the first week of August 2023.

• Baldur’s Gate 3 achieved over 570,000 concurrent users on Steam at launch, triggering one of the largest bandwidth spikes in the platform's history due to a 122GB download size.
• The video game market is experiencing a 'hollowing out' of the middle, where consumer interest is concentrated in either massive, high-quality blockbusters or focused, systems-driven indie titles.
• Minimalist indie games priced under $10, such as Thronefall and Pseudoregalia, are successfully capturing market share by prioritizing tight mechanics and 'game feel'.

The 'Mysterious' Steam Algorithm: Not That Scary?

This analysis clarifies the mechanics of the Steam discovery algorithm by debunking common developer misconceptions.

• Steam’s discovery algorithm is primarily driven by real-time sales velocity and user engagement rather than static or punitive metrics.
• The platform does not penalize games based on time elapsed since launch, meaning any significant burst in sales activity can trigger renewed algorithmic visibility.
• User review scores do not directly influence referral algorithms unless a game falls below the 'Mixed' threshold, which may result in the title being filtered out.

Raport Bieżący Nr 34/2020

PlayWay S.A. has expanded its corporate portfolio through the strategic acquisition of a majority stake in 3RStudio Mobile, a development studio based in Poznań, Poland.

• On September 15, 2020, PlayWay S.A. acquired a 75% majority stake in the Poznań-based developer 3RStudio Mobile.
• The acquisition involved the purchase of 40,000 shares for a total price of 40,000 PLN, despite the shares having a nominal value of 2 million PLN.
• The primary strategic objective of the acquisition is to adapt PlayWay’s existing intellectual property for the virtual reality market.

Epic Advances, Steam Reviews, Oh My!

This analysis examines the evolving landscape of digital game distribution, focusing on financial transparency within the Epic Games Store (EGS) and refined metrics for estimating Steam sales.

• Epic Games paid over $210 million in minimum guarantee advances for its initial EGS exclusives, but these titles only recouped $80 million, a 38% recovery rate.
• The 'Boxleiter Ratio' for estimating Steam sales has been revised to a more conservative 30x multiplier for games released in 2020 and later, down from 38x, due to increased review frequency.
• Epic Games has shifted its strategy away from advance-based exclusivity deals toward a more open storefront model after finding that only a minority of titles, such as Snowrunner and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, achieved significant commercial success.