The video game releases that have defined 2024 (so far), 06/06/2024
Also: who fancies a first VGIM event? Go on then...
I look at the video game releases that have defined the games biz in 2024
Take-Two reportedly plans to shutter or sell off of Private Division
Final Destiny DLC shapes this week’s release schedule
Why hello there,
It’s an exciting week here at VGIM Towers because I am ready to announce the first ever VGIM subscriber event.
Yes, the Video Games Industry Memo Business Breakfast is taking place on Wednesday 10th July at Loading Bar in Brighton and you’re invited to come along for free!
The event is taking place between 8:30am and 10:00am. We’ll welcome 50 industry guests for a cuppa, pastries and some friendly chitter chatter.
We’ll then dive into a panel about the future of the video games media featuring insight from the likes of Chris Bratt from People Make Games, Neil Long from mobilegamer.biz and Ruby Spiers-Unwin from Pocket Tactics.
And once we’re done, we’ll head back up the road to the Hilton for the rest of Develop: Brighton for a day stuffed full of networking, learning and plotting which pub to pile into if England are playing in a Euro 2024 semi-final that evening (it is, after all, coming home).
Tickets for the VGIM Business Breakfast are going fast. VGIM Insiders, my wonderful band of paid subscribers, have already ravenously torn away at the ticket allocation as is their right - nay duty - to do so. Make sure to sign up for your free ticket to the business breakfast here.
And if you’re working for a business that likes the cut of VGIM’s jib, then, boy, do I have an offer for you.
I have a slot for one event sponsor who will receive *inhales* visibility on event branding, a three minute slot to explain what they’re up to for attendees and promotion to the VGIM newsletter base/my social media subs as a thanks for being such a delightfully good sport.
Email george@videogamesindustrymemo.com if you’d like to sign on the dotted line and subsidise the heck out of a load of croissants.
Right, flagrant self promotion done. Let’s big read together.
The big read - The video game releases that have defined 2024 (so far)
The arrival of Summer Games Fest is to the games industry what the arrival of a bunch of pagan worshippers to Stonehenge on 21st June is to the British summer - the marking of an important milestone in the year.
While we’re not quite at the halfway stage of 2024 just yet, the glut of games that will be announced across the course of a frankly dizzying 18 live events (!) in the coming weeks will inevitably turn the attention of consumers and the sector towards the end of the year (and beyond).
This means it's a perfect opportunity for me to take a look back at 2024 so far and highlight six games that tell us a lot about the state of the industry this year. Enjoy!
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - bloat as a service?
Ah, Warner Bros. This time last year, the company was basking in the success of Hogwarts Legacy which, despite never threatening to make an impact in awards season, cleaned up as the best selling Triple A video game in the US in 2023.
A year on, Warner is licking its wounds after Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - its long feted multiplayer service game based on the broadly irritating DC intellectual property - flopped.
The company revealed on 23rd February 2024 that the game had “underperformed” expectations after its 2nd February launch, likely significantly affecting the year-on-year performance of Warner Bros’ interactive entertainment in the process.
The key to the game’s failure was a conflict at the heart of its business model and, by extension, the game itself.
Despite Rocksteady’s reputation as the developer of some of the best single player triple A experiences of all time, the studio - reportedly in a bit of a push and pull with Warner Bros - spent years creating a “repetitive and bland” games as a service led looter shooter at hefty cost: leading to a worst of all worlds situation for the business and players.
Will Suicide Squad be given the time a la Rainbow Six: Siege to correct course? My hunch is that it won’t.
Earlier this week, Warner Bros quietly announced that it is dropping weekly updates for the game. This suggests, unfortunately, that the long term future for a multiverse powered multiplayer super villain story is looking pretty grim.
But beyond its own challenges, Suicide Squad was seen to represent something larger too. Its ‘swing and a miss’ launch came during a firestorm of industry lay-offs that was at least in part sparked by bloat, overconfidence and misalignment between some of the industry’s biggest companies and their audiences.
Suicide Squad’s failure suggested that the industry may need to take a different approach to its prestige titles, especially within the games as a service space.
Helldivers 2 - From cross fire to cross platform
Fortunately for the industry, a fresh approach rocked up literally one week after the release of Suicide Squad in a slightly unlikely form.
Starship Troopers inflected multiplayer shooter Helldivers 2 released on 8th February. And since its launch, it has become something of a commercial juggernaut for Sony - selling 12 million copies in a matter of months according to the company’s year end financial report.
If Suicide Squad was a tale of what went wrong, Helldivers 2’s success can be attributed to the enormous range of things that Arrowhead Interactive got right.
It tapped into consumer demand for a specific genre of multiplayer shooter - in this case a Left for Dead style experience - that had been mostly untapped for years. Its mid-tier price point of $40 encouraged players to take a punt on it in a way that an overpriced Suicide Squad simply didn’t. And the developer’s efforts to turn its community into a cosplay intergalactic military through communications, content and tone turned it into 2024’s viral hit game - powering its reach (and sales) to new heights.
But the other important driver of its success is that it was cross platform from launch. Unlike other Sony published titles, the game arrived on PC at launch. Without this, analyst Matt Piscatella reports that it would have comfortably failed to breach the top 20 selling premium games in the US.
With Sony accepting that its console-only age is increasingly likely to be at the end, Helldivers 2 doesn’t just represent the future of service titles; it also gives us a glimpse into what will likely prove best practice for the company in regards to its cross platform launches for years to come.
Fortnite - LEGO platform building
And finally in games as a service corner, the last title that I’ve got to talk about is Fortnite.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Fortnite launched the best part of seven years ago, George! We already know about creative mode, we’ve all banged on about Travis Scott doing a silly little dance in the game during the pandemic and we know that brands are flaming their reputation in the game in hilarious, and deeply unnecessary, ways.
But there are three big reasons why I think we need to keep Fortnite in the list of games that are shaping 2024.
First, it has an enormous grasp on play time in video games as it has evolved from a service game into a platform offering.
Newzoo’s PC and Console Gaming Market Report for 2024 showed that it was sucking up 8.4% of all playtime on video games (with Roblox just behind at 5.9%). Its effort to construct a universe of interrelated titles and user generated games is erecting a wall around its player base, leading to a big chunk of players having a large chunk of their play time and spend ‘locked’ in a single place.
Second, its announcement that LEGO assets were becoming a usable and monetisable commodity within the creator parts of its in-game economy at GDC in March is transformative for the industry.
By handing grassroots game developers and creators the opportunity to make cash with LEGO IP within a handful of manageable constraints (e.g. ensuring all games created with it are age rated appropriately for younger players), Epic has opened the door to much smoother deployment and monetisation of branded content amongst the burgeoning user generated content economy. This also, incidentally, helps to partially explain why Disney has joined LEGO in buying its way into Epic’s boardroom too.
Third and finally, Fortnite continues to be wielded prominently as a weapon in competition law battles.
The mobile version of the game, along with an Epic mobile store, has positioned itself as something of a bellwether for the operation of new digital competition rules in the EU and UK - nudging regulators towards action against the app stores with far reaching repercussions that stretch well beyond the sector’s borders.
Fortnite, in short, is no longer just a game; it’s one of the major platforms in the digital economy. And that means we all need to understand its appeal, evolution and impact in the years to come.
Balatro - You and whose one man army?
Right, enough of those service shenanigans. Let’s take a look at one of the games that showed there’s still plenty of life in the old fashioned idea of releasing a game for a set amount of cash and flogging it: Balatro.
Balatro is, undoubtedly, the stand out independent hit of the year. I have not heard, or seen, so many people utterly transfixed by an independently developed card based game since Slay the Spire swallowed the best part of 300 hours of my life.
But the joy of Balatro’s success is also a hearty, almost nostalgic, return to the idea that you can really make it on your own.
While one man band LocalThunk did benefit from support from publisher PlayStack to release the game far and wide, it was cheering to see one person’s twisted take on Poker prove so moreish that it racked up a million sales in four weeks across the world.
And importantly, as mentioned in my GDC round up, this good news story arrived at a time when the industry really needed cheering up.
So by reminding everyone that many of the fundamentals of industry success - namely, that good games developed at the right cost, priced correctly and pitched well can cut through at the right time - do still apply, Balatro encouraged us all to take a deep breath and keep pushing forward. Lovely stuff.
Princess Peach: Showtime - Killing (show)time
Princess Peach: Showtime is many things. It is a broadly cheerful romp that has been received relatively well by the critics. It is a delightfully costume packed metaphorical ship that will launch a thousand actual cosplays. And it is, according to a friend of VGIM, “Nintendo’s most culturally bisexual video game ever” (a Happy Pride month to all my readers, incidentally).
It is also in purely commercial terms a play for time. As written at the start of the year, Nintendo’s release line up for 2024 can be best described as filling the gap until the Switch 2 arrives.
Even the company itself admitted it when it announced its end of year financial results, preparing the investors for a quiet 2024 while it lines up for its new console to launch in 2025.
In this context, Nintendo has needed to strike a careful balance across this year. On the one hand, the company - obviously - wants to release interesting games that engage its audiences. On the other hand, it wants to make sure that its releases are comparatively low cost to keep its powder dry for next year and not too engaging to prevent people from upgrading to a new device.
Princess Peach: Showtime appears to have fulfilled its stop-gap role perfectly. Nintendo said that the game has shifted over a million copies since its late March launch, providing a handy uplift without threatening to become a “must play” a la The Legend of Zelda: The Tears of The Kingdom that could have affected the Switch 2 momentum.
And while the game will probably never be regarded as a true classic in the grand sweep of Nintendo’s history, releases like this - and the remasters of Mario vs Donkey Kong and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door - show the quiet value that can be found at the intersection of careful creativity and measured commercial expectations.
Fallout 4: Canon Fodder
There have been plenty of times where historic video games have found their way back up the sales charts years after their initial release.
But while most of the games that have done that have benefitted from a fancy pants remake to generate player attention - see last year’s excellent Resident Evil 4 remake as an example - Fallout 4 thought that was a bit passe.
Instead, the game - along with a wide range of titles in the Fallout series - soared its way to the top of the best selling games charts in April.
The reason for this and for my replay of the definitely superior Fallout: New Vegas (fight me, yeah), is obvious. The breakout Fallout Amazon TV series dominated the discourse when it launched on 11 April, driving up its sales to a chart topping level over the course of the month even before the next gen remaster of the game arrived at the tail end of the month.
For the most part, the success is a sure fire sign that if you can get your video game IP to come to life on the big or small screen in a credible way then you have a great opportunity to widen your audience (especially given the fact that playing games is now a mainstream cultural activity).
Equally though, it also shows the increasing value of video games that are considered part of the cultural ‘canon’.
Given that most of the games released in the past two decades look presentable, play in a familiar way and are increasingly accessible to players across platforms, we’re starting to see players dip into ‘classic’ games in the same way that a reader might pick up a Dickens, Austen or Steinbeck novel
And while I think that not every game will be a part of our sector’s canon, I do wonder whether we will see video game ‘classics’ start to be sold less as a retro experience and more as a part of our sector’s wider cultural literacy.
Honourable mentions
A video games YouTuber? Becoming a publisher? What does he know about releasing successful video games?! The answer in the case of Video Game Dunkey and Animal Well appears to be “a lot”.
Supercell’s Squad Busters is doing gangbusters, racking up 30m downloads after less than a week on the app stores and continuing what only I’m calling the “Supercell-assaince”.
And lastly, what should we make of the fact that Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, a game that was practically tank bred by video game executives to be a hit, didn’t meet expectations? Jacob Novak, CEO of Genvid, posted a deep dive thread to give us all the answers we need.
News in brief
Private Execution: Take-Two is planning to shut down or sell off Private Division, according to reporting from Rebekah Valentine over at IGN. The news follows the baffling attempt by the company’s management to deny that it shut down Roll7 and Intercept Games - two game developers that sat underneath Private Division - despite, erm, saying it was shutting them down. It’s a classic example of corporate miscommunication leading to a company losing control of the news agenda.
Buried by Avalanche: In further ‘shutting stuff down’ news, Avalanche announced via a PNG of Doom that it is closing down its offices in New York and Montreal “to ensure a stable and sustainable future” for the business. The 50 laid off employees probably won’t be feeling that things are quite so stable, especially those who joined the Montreal studio when it opened *checks notes* last October?! Christ almighty…
The Last of Fuss: Continuing the theme of borderline baffling corporate madness, Sony has issued an apology for misquoting the views of Neil Druckmann, Studio Head of Naughty Dog, on AI on its own website. Bad news for them, but great news for consulting writers who are looking to sell their wares on the basis of their reliability. Coughs.
TV Raider: Netflix’s Tomb Raider animated series is hitting screens on 10th October, according to a new trailer released earlier this week. The show, which was announced in 2021, will feature the delightfully plummy British accent of Haley Atwell, best known for her role as Peggy Carter in the once entertaining, but now horrendously over extended, Marvel cinematic universe.
The sport of Kings: Level Infinite, the publisher of China’s beloved Honor of Kings MOBA, has announced a new global esports partnership programme to sign up teams from around the world for its competitive series. It comes as the game attempts to push into markets outside of its home nation for a second time, with its first attempt under the Arena of Valor brand falling flat as a pancake a number of years ago.
On the move
Philipp Senkbeil and Vanessa Zeuch have joined game, Germany’s video games trade association, as Director of Operations and Manager, Funding & Regional Affairs…And friend of VGIM Phil Williams has ended a stonking stint as Art Director at King and will be starting a new gig in July…
Jobs ahoy!
YouTube is looking for a Head of Creator Partnerships and says that it wants creative industries experience, so get right in there…If you fancy yourself as a Senior Technical Product Manager - Gaming then Electronic Arts may just have the right job for you…TikTok reposted a job role for a Measurement Partner for its gaming team in EMEA…The Pokemon Company is hiring for a Licensing Coordinator - Toys and Games over in Bellevue…And The NFL wants a Director, Gaming if you fancy entering the world of Football *horn honks*
Events and conferences
Summer Games Fest, Los Angeles - 8th June
MCV/Develop Awards, London - 20th June
Games for Change Festival, New York - 27th-28th June
Develop: Brighton, erm…Brighton - 9th-11th July
VGIM Business Breakfast, Brighton - 10th July
Games of the week
Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Enjoy a date with Destiny (ha!) as a decade long story reaches its conclusion with one final batch of DLC.
Star Wars: Hunters - 4 vs 4 Star Wars inspired multiplayer squad battler arrives on mobile devices and Switch after a brief delay.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space - Stave off the Klownpocalypse, or spark it, in this multiplayer game based on the 1988 movie.
Before you go…
Rishi Sunak, the UK’s current Prime Minister and political dead man walking, recently announced that his party would reintroduce national service if he wins the election on 4th July.
So naturally, some wag mocked up a video of the beleaguered PM which suggested that he’s actually about to drop a bunch of school kids into Fortnite in an effort to prep the British military for future wars.
It's interesting that Sony, once the die-hard acolyte of platform exclusivity, is cleaning up with its PC cross-platform strategy. It's doing the same in content streaming, licensing to other platforms rather than build its own service. A reminder that owning the vertical is not always as good as being a strong upstream player in a supply chain. Meanwhile, Microsoft is trying to buy it all at a great cost to it and gaming's future viability.