Star Wars, Devolver, Xbox, Sony. Business News of the Week

Sales figures, studio buybacks, financial statements, Mercato des developers, investments... If these topics interest you, you are in the right place. We offer you a point on the business news of the past week.

After Project Ragtag, Amy Hennig rethresses his luck with a new Star Wars game
Soon pubs built into Free-to-Play games on PlayStation and Xbox?
Devolver presents its first financial results
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker saga achieves a record launch
In short in the business news of the week

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After Project Ragtag, Amy Hennig rethresses his luck with a new Star Wars game

Former Creative Director and Screenwriter of the Uncharted Franchise, Amy Hennig finds the opportunity to work on Star Wars. His studio Skydance New Media, founded in 2019, set a partnership with Lucasfilm Games to develop A "highly cinematographic" adventure game with a totally new story.

I have often described how to have seen Star Wars in 1977 killed my creative life and my future indelibly. I am delighted to work again with Lucasfilm Games to tell interactive stories in this galaxy that I love. Amy Hennig.

A beautiful revenge for the American, who worked on the game Star Wars (Project Ragtag) to which Visceral Games was devoted to the closure of the studio by Electronic Arts in 2017 and the cancellation of the project. With Skydance New Media, it is now at the head of a _ "team of developers and artists with decades of experience in action and adventure games" . They are supported by _ "a diversified team of creative consultants from the world of cinema, television, games and comics" . Note it, the studio is a subsidiary of Skydance Media, David Ellison's cinematographic production company. He was also entrusted with the development of a Narrative Marvel **, announced last October.

To return to Star Wars, the amateurs of the saga will be served in the coming years. Developing projects are multiplying, including the three Games of EA and Respawn, the game in open world of Ubisoft Massive, Kotor Remake, Star Wars Eclipse or Star Wars Hunters.

Soon pubs built into Free-to-Play games on PlayStation and Xbox?

According to Business Insider, Microsoft and Sony would work on their part on programs that include advertisements in free-to-play games on Xbox and PlayStation. The goal of both firms would be the same: Encourage developers to create free-to-play and help them monetize them . According to the sources of the media, we would talk here of non-intrusive ads, like panels placed on the edge of the road in a race game or around the field in a sport game. On the side of Sony, the idea would also include advertisements that reward players in case of viewing, as can be seen in some mobile games. For example, watching a video of 15 seconds to get a life, money into play, a skin, etc.

Aware that advertising in video games is a sensitive topic, Microsoft would create a "private marketplace" allowing it to select brands that could broadcast ads _ "that do not disrupt the game experience" _. Sony would also be very attentive to the choice of its partners and would exclude companies that collect personal data such as names and email addresses. With respect to the revenues generated by these advertisements, Microsoft would not have planned to collect a commission, while Sony would not yet be decided on this point. Contacted by Business Insider, the two companies did not wish to comment on this rumor. The Microsoft Program would target a deployment in the third quarter 2022, and that of Sony by the end of the year.

Devolver presents its first financial results

Entered the London Stock Exchange last November, Devolver Digital must now publish its results regularly. The first assessment recently shared by the publisher makes it possible to discover its figures for 2020 and 2021. Of course, there is a significant gap between the two years: with successive confines, 2020 was an exceptional exercise for many companies of the Industry and Devolver was unprecedented with Fall Guys. Exercise 2021 has still been strong with pretty performances made by novelties like Loop Hero, Death's Door and Regsel's (more than one million sales). But The Texane firm mainly takes its income from its old games: its vast catalog back (more than 90 titles) is at the origin of 70% of its turnover in 2021 .

Arresults of Devolver

Period	Turnover	Operational benefit	Net profit
January to December 2021	90.8 million euros	48 million euros	30 million euros
January to December 2020	196.8 million euros	71.2 million euros	59.3 million euros

Currently, around thirty games stamped Devolver are in preparation. The publisher intends to get out between 10 and 15 in 2022, counting those published at the start of the year like Weird West and Shadow Warrior 3. In the immediate future, it is Trek to Yomi which is expected on May 5. Return to Monkey Island, recently announced, Card Shark, Demon Throttle or Wizard With A Gun are also planned for this year.

Finally, the balance sheet tells us that Devolver currently employs around 200 people. The publisher is working with many partner studios, but he also conducts an acquisition strategy in order to build a license catalog. Since the beginning of 2020, Croteam (Serious Sam), Good Shepherd (Hard West), Nerial (Reigns), Firefly Studios (Stronghold) and Dodge Roll (Enter The Gungeon) have been bought.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker saga achieves a record launch

Confirmed success for Lego Star Wars: the Skywalker saga. Released on April 5 on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch, The game reached 3.2 million sales worldwide in two weeks . It is quite simply the biggest start made by a Lego game, even better than the previous adaptations of Harry Potter, Marvel, Batman or the Lord of the Rings.

It must be said that the title has the arguments to seduce the players: it revisits the nine main films of the saga and brings together more than 300 characters, 23 planets to explore, a hundred vehicles... a truly massive content that has generated a long and trying development for TT Games , as revealed by an investigation by the Eurogamer site. A subsidiary of Warner Bros, the studio released at least a Lego game each year between 2005 and 2019 as part of an exclusive partnership with the brand with small bricks. Partnership which should soon end according to the sources of the VGC site. Lego would have already signed with 2k games to release a football game and an open world racing game. One can imagine that the Danish firm is also associated with other partners, like Lucasfilm Games which has multiplied Star Wars projects since the end of the exclusivity contract with Electronic Arts.

In short in the business news of the week

Techland revealed that Dying Light 2 sold 5 million copies on February 28, 2022 , just over three weeks after its release (February 4) on PC, PlayStation and Xbox. * LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker saga arrives in force in the ranking of the best physical sales in France. He moved to 1st place (switch version), but also in 3rd (PS4 version) and 4th position (PS5 version). Kirby and the forgotten world is second, while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe completes the top 5. * After eleven years of service, the MMO Tera developed by Bluehole Studio will close its doors on June 30. * Towards a return from Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth? Square Enix recently renewed the brands "Valkyrie Profile" and "Lenneth" in Japan, the United States and Australia. Recall that the license will be entitled to a brand new opus, Valkyrie Elysium, scheduled for 2022. * Gearbox bought the Lost Boys Interactive support studio. Based in the United States, this team of around 200 people has lent a hand on many projects like WWE 2K22, PUBG and Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. A subsidiary of Group Kiss, Gearbox now has nearly 1,300 employees thanks to this acquisition. Released last November exclusively on Switch, Shin Megami Tensei V exceeded one million sales, which already makes it the biggest success of the license in front of Shin Megami Tensei IV and its 600,000 copies sold on 3DS.

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