Lake
Game
Documents about Lake
GMTK Reading List: July 2023
Mark Brown's July 2023 reading list for Game Maker's Toolkit is a monthly curation of the best articles and videos he encountered on game design, development, and culture.
- Game design is shifting away from legacy-based mechanics toward intentional, systemic development choices.
- Industry discourse is increasingly focused on balancing high-difficulty gameplay with robust accessibility standards, as seen in recent Nintendo design strategies.
- The thirteen-year development cycle of Alan Wake 2 and the unique production history of Vampire Survivors serve as primary case studies for modern development challenges.
The Biggest Moment in Video Games
This analysis covers the mid-2023 landscape of the video game industry, centered on the high-stakes antitrust litigation regarding Microsoft’s proposed $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
- Microsoft’s proposed $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard became the central focus of mid-2023, triggering high-stakes antitrust litigation with the Federal Trade Commission in San Francisco.
- The gaming industry is undergoing a structural shift as traditional trade shows like E3 are phased out in favor of newer event formats such as the Summer Game Fest.
- Creative leaders, including Remedy Entertainment’s Sam Lake, are navigating the complexities of long-term project management and evolving storytelling standards for major titles like Alan Wake 2.
Unity 10-Q: Q3 FY2022
Unity Software's quarterly filing for the period ended September 30, 2022 shows a company growing more slowly while costs and losses rise, and it is preparing for a transformative merger with ironSource.
- Unity reported a 20% year-over-year revenue increase to $322.9 million in Q3 2022, but faced a net loss of $250 million and a net loss per share of $0.84.
- Operating expenses rose to $450.6 million, causing operating losses to widen to $239.6 million and gross margins to contract from 78% to 65%.
- The company maintains $1.7 billion in liquid securities and $1.24 billion in cash equivalents, though it has issued $1.725 billion in convertible senior notes to fund a $2.5 billion share-repurchase program.
Is a Board Game Suitable for Teaching Complex Natural Systems?
The document examines whether the Estonian board game "End of the World Begins in Kurtna" can effectively teach ecosystem services, which are difficult to convey through conventional text because they operate through nonlinear, interconnected relationships.
- The board game "End of the World Begins in Kurtna" uses role cards, development and ecosystem service cards, and a Doomsday Clock tracking ecosystem health to teach causality, cooperation, and sustainability, using the Kurtna Lake District as a real-world case of human-nature conflict.
- A mixed-methods study of 84 participants aged 12 to 26 found high engagement, with 80% finding the game interesting and 78% finding it engaging, and most reporting a clearer grasp of human-nature relationships and ecosystem services.
- Despite engagement, post-game explanations were shorter and less analytical than pre-game responses, and only 19% of players felt confident explaining ecosystem services to peers.
Room 8 Group Acquires Massive Black to Expand into US Market
Room 8 Group, a global game development and services holding company with Ukrainian roots, has acquired Massive Black, a long-standing art services provider.
- Room 8 Group acquired art services provider Massive Black to facilitate its expansion into the US market and establish a presence in Seattle.
- Room 8 Group, which employs over 800 people in Ukraine, committed to donating all 2022 profits to refugee support and Ukrainian reconstruction efforts.
- Publisher Playstack acquired mobile studio Magic Fuel Games, a team founded in 2015 by former Electronic Arts developers specializing in simulation and city-building titles.
We're Having a Total War With Pathfinder?
This market analysis examines the performance and anticipation of premium PC and console games during late August 2021.
- Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous entered its late August 2021 launch week with 250,000 to 300,000 wishlists and a #33 Hype ranking, highlighting strong demand for deep fantasy CRPGs.
- Aliens: Fireteam Elite led Steam global top sellers with 15,000 peak concurrent users, while Psychonauts 2 achieved 7,000 peak concurrent users despite being available day-one on Xbox Game Pass.
- A Total War Saga: Troy transitioned to Steam following a successful Epic Games Store promotion that saw 7.5 million redemptions.
The Vanishing Marketing Data Lake
The decision by Facebook to terminate its Advanced Mobile Measurement (AMM) program marks a significant shift in the digital advertising landscape, effectively ending the ability of Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs) to share user-level attribution data with advertisers.
- Facebook is shuttering its Advanced Mobile Measurement (AMM) program by the end of October, forcing Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs) to stop sharing user-level attribution data with advertisers.
- Following the change, MMPs will only be able to provide aggregate attribution counts, preventing advertisers from linking specific user revenue to individual campaign-level metrics.
- The loss of user-level data eliminates the ability for advertisers to audit discrepancies between Facebook’s self-reported attribution and data from other channels.
Electronic Arts’ Earnings From Star Wars Games Top $3 Billion
Electronic Arts has undergone a significant corporate transformation, transitioning from a publicly traded entity to a private company following a $55 billion acquisition.
- Electronic Arts has been acquired by an investor group led by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) in a $55 billion deal, marking the largest leveraged buyout in gaming history.
- As part of the acquisition, EA has delisted from the NASDAQ and returned to being a private company after nearly 40 years of public trading.
- The ownership structure of the newly private EA consists of 93.4% held by the PIF, 5.5% by Silver Lake, and 1.1% by Affinity Partners.
Shareholder Fall Guy: Riccitiello's Exit Isn't the Good News You Think It Is
This analysis examines the corporate restructuring and leadership transitions currently defining the video game industry, with a primary focus on the departure of Unity CEO John Riccitiello.
- John Riccitiello’s departure as Unity CEO is a strategic move by institutional investors, specifically Sequoia Capital and Silver Lake Partners, to pivot toward aggressive cost-cutting after losing $7.5 billion in company value since 2021.
- Unity’s interim leadership, tied directly to Silver Lake, signals a shift toward prioritizing shareholder returns over R&D, potentially leading to management layoffs or a future acquisition by entities like AppLovin or Apple.
- Unity’s financial instability persists despite significant capital expenditure, including $4.4 billion spent on ironSource and $1.6 billion on Weta Digital.
Opportunities in the Japanese Games Market for Dutch Companies
The Japanese games market presents a significant, high-value opportunity for Dutch game companies, despite cultural and operational challenges.
- Japan is the world's third-largest gaming market with $12.5 billion in revenue and the highest average paying revenue per user ($30) for mobile games.
- Mobile gaming dominates the Japanese market, accounting for 52% of total revenue, followed by console (38%) and PC (10%).
- The 'gacha' monetization model, similar to Western lootboxes, is the standard for top-grossing mobile titles like GungHo’s 'Puzzle & Dragons' and Mixi’s 'Monster Strike'.
Blank Arcade: Exhibition of Games and Toys as Art
The Blank Arcade is a recurring exhibition of games, play art, and interactive media, organized by Lindsay Grace of American University in association with the Digital Games Research Association's annual conference.
- The Blank Arcade is a recurring games-and-play art exhibition organized by Lindsay Grace of American University in association with the Digital Games Research Association's annual conference, aiming to bring game art practice and history into the game studies community.
- Prior editions were held in Salt Lake City (2014), Lüneburg, Germany (2015), and Dundee, Scotland (2016), and the abstract proposes a 2018 edition.
- The model is designed to be sustainable for host conferences: organizers handle curation, outreach, advertising, and web hosting, while local hosts provide space, equipment, and logistics, with sponsorships sometimes covering shipping and catering.
Exploring the Potential Impact of Serious Games on Social Learning and Stakeholder Collaborations for Transboundary Watershed Management of the St. Lawrence River Basin
This study examines whether serious games, which combine computer simulation with role-play, can strengthen social learning and stakeholder collaboration in transboundary water governance of the St. Lawrence River Basin, a system spanning two countries, multiple Canadian provinces, and numerous local jurisdictions.
- Social learning in St. Lawrence River Basin transboundary water governance is occurring only in isolated cases rather than as routine practice, and the study proposes serious games (computer simulation combined with role-play) as a bottom-up tool to strengthen it.
- Jurisdictional fragmentation and inconsistent policy are central obstacles, illustrated by the American eel being listed as endangered in Ontario but not in Québec.
- Communication is judged adequate at the federal level but weak between provincial and state agencies, which often operate in silos even where shared Great Lakes Agreement goals apply.