Game Publishing reports and market data
Documents
Prof standards to promote your game and company. What every indie should know as best practices.
Professionalism serves as a foundational pillar for independent game developers seeking to secure investment and publishing partnerships.
- Professional conduct acts as a primary proxy for a developer's ability to meet milestones and manage business, making it a foundational requirement for securing investment and publishing partnerships.
- Developers must maintain consistent, reliable communication and punctuality to build the trust necessary for long-term industry relationships.
- Public grievances on social media must be avoided to preserve professional credibility, as disputes should be handled through firm, polite, and private discourse.
Sony’s Showcase / Capcom’s Resurgence / NVIDIA’s AI Demo
The modern gaming industry is undergoing a fundamental transition as major publishers pivot from traditional, high-cost annual sequel cycles toward long-term, live-service ecosystems and transmedia expansions.
- The gaming industry is shifting from discrete, high-cost annual sequels toward 'always-on' live-service ecosystems to secure recurring revenue and sustained player engagement.
- Capcom has achieved a tenfold increase in stock value over the last decade by modernizing legacy franchises through proprietary technology and in-house development.
- Studios specializing in single-player experiences, such as Naughty Dog, face high operational risks and frequent project cancellations when attempting to pivot toward multiplayer-focused development.
Session: 'Crossing the Pacific' Lessons Learned - Scott Moscatelli, Devsisters
The presentation examines the strategic challenges and successes associated with launching the mobile game Cookie Run: Kingdom in the United States, contrasting this effort with its initial release in the South Korean market.
- Launching a game in a new international market requires a shift from efficient user acquisition (UA) to brand-building when the IP lacks existing local awareness, as evidenced by the initial failure of UA-only campaigns for Cookie Run Kingdom in the US.
- Successful market entry depends on deep localization and community listening; Devsisters achieved this in the US by aligning their voiceover casting with Gen Z values regarding diversity, inclusion, and representation.
- Strategic partnerships with established brands, such as the collaboration with Sonic and Sega, can provide immediate legitimacy and signal strong investment to new audiences in competitive markets.
The Rise of China: Dominant western game developers may fall to Asian competitors like HoYoverse
The global gaming landscape is undergoing a structural shift as established Western incumbents face increasing pressure from highly efficient, capital-intensive competitors based in China.
- Western gaming incumbents face a structural threat over the next 5–10 years from Chinese competitors like HoYoverse, Lilith, and Game Science that utilize superior operational efficiency and aggressive capital deployment.
- Chinese firms are successfully challenging traditional powerhouses like Blizzard and Rockstar by applying their mastery of mobile-centric live-service operations to high-definition console and PC gaming.
- The industry is shifting away from an era of excess and zero-interest-rate policies, favoring companies that can maintain high-revenue titles like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail through massive annual development budgets.
Five Reflections Since Co-Founding Naavik
The co-founder of Naavik reflects on four years of building a research and consulting firm within the video game industry, offering five core insights regarding leadership, industry dynamics, and professional growth.
- The gaming industry has transitioned into an 'age of efficiency' characterized by higher interest rates and market corrections, necessitating a shift toward operational discipline and a focus on return on invested capital.
- New technologies like web3, user-generated content, and cloud gaming function as additive layers to existing paradigms rather than replacements, maintaining an 'and' rather than 'or' industry environment.
- Professionals can improve decision-making and empathy by cross-pollinating skills, specifically by applying investor-grade analytical rigor to business operations and vice versa.
No-Budget DIY Marketing for Indie Games
Indie game marketing is most effective when developers adopt a sustainable, low-cost framework that prioritizes authentic community building over expensive advertising campaigns.
- Steam wishlists are a critical metric, as they typically convert to sales at a rate of 10% to 30% within the first year of release.
- Developers should implement a consistent 'one hour a day' marketing schedule: Mondays for social media, Tuesdays for press lists, Wednesdays for networking and festivals, Thursdays for devlogs and Steam page updates, and Fridays for content creation.
- Game descriptions should prioritize the core player experience and unique setting rather than relying on comparisons to existing titles, which can clutter messaging and confuse potential players.
The Tabletop Renaissance
The tabletop gaming industry is currently experiencing a significant renaissance, driven by a widespread consumer shift away from digital fatigue toward the tangible, social rewards of in-person play.
- Tabletop gaming is experiencing a renaissance driven by a consumer shift away from digital fatigue toward the tangible, social rewards of in-person play.
- Tabletop studios are becoming prime acquisition targets for entertainment conglomerates due to their high-margin, evergreen business models that avoid the costly live-ops infrastructure required by video games.
- The industry prioritizes high-quality physical production and unboxing experiences to create a competitive moat against the ephemeral nature of digital entertainment.
AppQuantum’s Victoria Beliaeva and Alexey Gavrilov On How To Identify And Build A Hit Game
The mobile gaming industry is characterized by increasing competition and rising user acquisition costs, necessitating a structural, data-driven approach to game development.
- Success in the free-to-play market requires integrating marketing and analytics from the earliest stages of production to mitigate risk and ensure alignment with market demand.
- Developers should adopt a 'fail fast and cheap' strategy, using early prototype testing to validate core mechanics before committing significant resources to full-scale development.
- Marketing metrics like cost-per-install are primary indicators for hyper-casual titles, while RPGs and strategy games require a focus on long-term retention and monetization mechanics.
Mario Movie / Dream Games / Phillip La / Scopely acquisition / Sony’s Cloud / AI
The video game industry is currently undergoing a period of significant structural and technological transformation, characterized by the successful expansion of gaming intellectual property into mainstream media and a massive influx of capital into mobile development.
- Savvy Games Group’s $4.9 billion acquisition of Scopely represents its largest investment to date, though it accounts for less than half of the $13 billion the firm has dedicated to publisher acquisitions.
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie set records for the largest animated movie opening and the largest video game adaptation opening, with expectations to exceed $1 billion in total box office revenue.
- Dream Games is leveraging its success with Royal Match to launch a sequel, Royal Kingdom, as part of a strategy to mitigate rising user acquisition costs and market saturation.
Staying Inside Conference Preview
Independent game developers frequently struggle with counterintuitive marketing dynamics on the Steam platform, often committing avoidable errors that jeopardize long-term commercial success.
- Launching into Steam Early Access prematurely is an irreversible error because Steam treats it as a full launch, exhausting the game's peak visibility and revenue potential.
- Games with an active Steam page for at least six months significantly outperform the median title, making long-term presence a requirement for success.
- Developers should avoid using Early Access for product refinement and instead utilize in-person playtests, remote beta testing, or free demos on platforms like itch.io.
Sky Mavis, Delegated Proof of Stake and Building on Ronin
Sky Mavis is undergoing a strategic evolution, transitioning from a singular developer of Axie Infinity into a comprehensive B2B publisher and infrastructure provider for the broader web3 gaming sector.
- Sky Mavis is transitioning from a single-game developer to a B2B publisher and infrastructure provider for the web3 gaming sector.
- The Ronin blockchain has migrated to a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) model to improve decentralization and security following the 2022 bridge hack.
- The DPoS architecture allows RON token holders to participate in validator selection, creating a more resilient network for third-party titles.
CD PROJEKT Group Sustainability Report: 2022
The CD PROJEKT Group’s 2022 sustainability reporting serves to formalize the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria into the company’s core business strategy.
- CD PROJEKT Group reported 953 million PLN in consolidated revenue for 2022 while managing a workforce of 1,292 employees.
- The company’s carbon footprint totaled 323,203 tCO2e, with 99.5% of these emissions originating from Scope 3 downstream activities.
- The organization maintains a 32% female workforce representation and recorded a 14.3% employee turnover rate during the 2022 fiscal year.