Monthly Game Industry Report: March 2023

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
Unity announced development of Unity AI, an ecosystem of AI-powered game development tools, which it claims will soon let millions of creators build real-time 3D content.See it on page 6
02
Sensor Tower reports U.S. App Store downloads for hyper-casual games declined 24% year over year, while hybrid-casual numbers rose.See it on page 4
03
CCP Games secured $40 million to develop a new AAA blockchain title set in the EVE universe, in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz.See it on page 11
04
Apex Legends reached 25 million installs within its first six days of release without any traditional marketing campaign.See it on page 9
05
NetDragon reported 11.8% year-over-year revenue growth for fiscal 2022, with 43.6% of total revenue coming from gaming.See it on page 21
06
Mystic Games raised $1.3 million in a seed round led by Shima Capital to develop its mobile title Call of the VoYd and build its DAO structure.See it on page 13

Summary

The document is a monthly digest of game-industry news for March 2023, organised as an index of games and apps, investments, market research and financial reports, with short write-ups drawn from press coverage and company announcements. Its items cover Unity's planned AI game-development tools, Moonlander.ai's generative AI SDK, XLA's Metasites 3D internet framework, and Apex Legends reaching 25 million installs in six days without traditional marketing. Investment items include CCP Games raising $40 million for a blockchain AAA title set in the EVE universe, and Mystic Games raising $1.3 million in a seed round led by Shima Capital. Market research cites Sensor Tower data showing hyper-casual downloads down 24% year over year in the U.S. App Store, and financial items include NetDragon reporting 11.8% year-over-year revenue growth for 2022, with 43.6% of total revenue from gaming. The closing commentary, which is the document's own view, argues that AI adoption is expanding and that blockchain gaming is growing. The Apex Legends install figure is attributed in the document to collaboration with the top 100 influencers in the game industry.