The Industry Checkpoint - Issue #7

Security Issues of the Week

• Microsoft confirms that SharePoint vulnerabilities, affecting around 100 organizations, have been exploited by hackers. On-premises SharePoint servers were attacked by three allegedly Chinese nation-state actors via a spoofing vulnerability and a remote code execution vulnerability. PC Gamer

• MetaMask, a crypto wallet browser extension, has been causing a significant amount of disk transfer activity, that can wear out user SSDs. Reported rates appear to be at 5MB/s, “about 500GB per day”. PC Gamer

• One employee’s weak password led to the close of 158-year-old transportation company, Knights of Old, in the UK. After guessing the password, hackers encrypted and locked integral operational data and systems and then ransomed £5M for its return. PC Gamer

Studio News

• Silent Hill Townfall developer NoCode has changed its name to Screen Burn. According to the company, “We have coders now”. Video Games Chronicle

• This week, two companies shared the difficulties in acquiring Switch 2 dev kits. Nitrome (Mousework) and Digital Extremes (Warframe) both relayed desires to develop on the platform but a lack of development kit is hindering release and/or development efforts. Both companies have released product for Switch previously. Nintendo Life, TheGamer

• Square Enix has confirmed that the source code for Final Fantasy Tactics was overwritten, forcing the developer to rebuild “from scratch” for the upcoming remake. GamesIndustry.biz

Spotlight: Reductions Continue

• The Chinese Room has confirmed an undisclosed number of workers were laid off after splitting from Sumo Group. The studio currently employs 55 developers. Game Developer

• Codevelopment studio Side has laid off “less than” 10 employees. Game Developer

• Airship Syndicate, after recently reforming as Airmergent, has undergone layoffs, affecting an unknown number of workers. This is the third known layoff for the studio since the start of 2024. Game Developer

• Supermassive Games has delayed sci-fi horror game Directive 8020, following a round of layoffs affecting around 36 workers. Eurogamer

• Greedfall 2 developers, Spiders, are initiating a layoff plan that will affect their animation and rigging team. Rock Paper Shotgun

• Up to 21 game development employees were affected in a recent layoff at Sandsoft, as a result of closing internal studios and a redirected strategy focused on game publishing. GamesIndustry.biz

Business News

• Roblox has launched a new Learning Hub, where students can access dozens of interactive educational experiences on the platform in one place. The hub targets different age groups and subjects like math, English, and computer science. GamesIndustry.biz

• IGEA launches Game On Australia to assist and promote local developers. The website includes useful sections on the Digital Games Tax Offset (DGTO) to help Australian developers utilize this incentive. Game Developer

• Stop Killing Games says 'industry has filed false claims' against the campaign, accusing it of violating EU rules by failing to “provide clear, accurate and comprehensive information on the sources of funding for the initiative”. The campaign has surpassed 1.4m signatures, reaching a critical milestone (1m) needed for submission to the EU for verification and progress to a public hearing or full debate session at the European Parliament. Eurogamer

• Jagex’s next set of monetization experiments have been confirmed to target cosmetics, with an in-game modification meant to trial a “cosmetic free” world experience. MMORPG.com

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella claims “Microsoft is thriving” after laying off 9,000 employees and doubling down on AI. Eurogamer

• Intel has cancelled plans for their “megafab” facility in Germany and a packaging plant in Poland. Assembly and test facilities in Costa Rica are also planned to be shifted to its larger facilities in Malaysia and Vietnam. PC Gamer

• MercurySteam has reported that dark fantasy action-adventure Blades of Fire has underperformed following its console and Epic Games Store exclusive PC release in May. The underperformance contributed to a €10M loss for publishers Digital Bros. Eurogamer

M&A

• Gaijin Entertainment has acquired The Pit, a popular user-created Fortnite Island, in a multi-million-dollar deal. GamesBeat

• Krafton has acquired Last Epoch developer Eleventh Hour Games for an initial consideration of $96M. The studio will continue to operate under its existing leadership and organizational structure with creative autonomy, while Krafton provides the studio with publishing and live-service resources. Game Developer

• Indiegogo is being acquired by crowdfunding platform Gamefound. Gamefound intends to align with Indiegogo to solidify its position across the crowdfunding market. The Verge Games

Investments and Partnerships

• Sony has acquired a 2.5% stake in Bandai Namco, with their new partnership focused on expanding the fan community for anime and manga IP. Game Developer

• Decentralized social media platform Own.App has announced a partnership with Ubuntu Tribe, a web3 company in Africa. The partnership will include launching Africa’s first creator economy integration with GIFT Gold, a stablecoin backed by gold. GamesBeat

Spotlight: Ubisoft’s Q1 Fiscal

• Ubisoft has released its financial report for the first quarter of 2025-2026 fiscal, which ended on June 30. Overall net bookings reached €281.6M ($330M USD), well below its €310M target. While Assassin’s Creed Shadows was “in line with expectations”, Rainbow Six Siege X under-performed due to a “pricing exploit with prepaid currency cards that temporarily inflated virtual currency wallets”. GamesBeat

• Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot also blamed Star Wars Outlaws failure to meet sales expectations on the brand itself. According to Guillemot, the Star Wars brand “was in a bit of choppy waters”. Polygon Gaming

• Ubisoft's shareholders have directly challenged the publisher to respond to the increasing support behind the Stop Killing Games campaign. The games preservation movement was motivated by Ubisoft’s decision to shut down The Crew, preventing access to both its multiplayer and singleplayer content due to its “always-online”. Eurogamer

Market Insights

• Nintendo has revealed employee statistics across its organization. Of note, the average term of service for Nintendo Japan was 14.4 years, 10 years for Nintendo America, 11.1 years for Nintendo Europe, and 8.5 years for Nintendo Australia. Nintendo has a total of 5,630 full time employees worldwide. GamesIndustry.biz

• Rematch has reached five million unique players just one month after launch, according to developer Sloclap. Note: this is not units sold, given Rematch is available on Game Pass. GamesIndustry.biz

• Forza Horizon 5 has surpassed three million units sold for its PlayStation 5 release. GamesIndustry.biz

• VOID Interactive CEO Julio Rodriguez announced on social media this week that Ready or Not has sold 1 million units on console platforms. LinkedIn

• According to Circana’s Mat Piscatella, the Nintendo Switch 2 sold 1.6 million units in June, the highest launch month unit sales for US video game hardware in history. The previous record was for the Playstation 4, where 1.1 million units were sold during November 2013. ComicBook Gaming

• After years of growth, the number of companies and employees in the German games industry has declined in 2025. The number of companies has dropped by 4% (from 948 studios to 910). GamesBeat

• Appcharge has released a report this week revealing payment use across $500M in web store transactions. Of note, Paypal is the top payment for Germany, Apple Pay is top in the UK, and Google Pay is strongest in Spain. Hit the link for full details. GamesIndustry.biz

• The Magic the Gathering Final Fantasy crossover card set made $200M in one day, according to Hasbro CEO Christian Cocks. Eurogamer

• Elden Ring: Nightreign has now sold more than 5 million copies since its release in May. Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion has sold more than 10 million copies to date. MMORPG.com

• According to Famitsu, Donkey Kong Bananza has sold 127k units in Japan for its first week of launch, indicating a strong start for the title. Nintendo Life

• Konvoy Venture’s latest Gaming Industry Report shows venture capital funding in the games industry has dropped 47% quarter-over-quarter, to $193M. Growth-stage funding has also contracted 66%. GamesBeat

Tech Innovations

• MFL (Metaverse Football League) is now using generative AI to replace the previous stylized and cartoonish characters. Over 180,000 character have been re-rendered, with each one linked to the player’s in-game identity and ready to be used in game UIs, video, audio, or social formats. GamesBeat

• One-Netbook is crowdfunding a dual-screen, transforming gaming handheld on Indiegogo, called OneXSugar Sugar 1. The handheld can pop open a 3.92-inch secondary screen to augment the main 6-inch screen, similar to a Nintendo DS. The Verge Games

See you next week industry watchers,

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