A Japanese modder has been sentenced to two years in prison. As reported by NTC (thanks, Automaton), a 58-year-old man has been found guilty of modifying and selling Nintendo Switch consoles. He was allegedly arrested for “soldering modified parts” within the Switch system, enabling modded consoles to run pirated games. In a hearing earlier today, … Read more
According to internal assessments by a “major Apple and Nintendo supplier”, game consoles in the US will still be subjected to the 145% tariff on goods imported from China. In an assessment seen by Nikkei Asia, the supplier intimated that consoles like Nintendo’s highly anticipated Switch 2 will likely not be exempt from tariffs, even … Read more
Buenos Aires-based mobile developer Agonalea Games has raised $2 million in a seed funding round backed by Mika Games. The studio will use the investment to continue development and publish its free-to-play mobile game Punko.io. Agonalea Games was founded in 2018 by Pedro Aira (former Sensor Tower product manager) and Vanina Fregoti (former Pixowl project … Read more
Games industry mergers and acquisitions in Q1 of 2025 rose to $6.6 billion, their highest level in over a year, driven by activity in the mobile sector. That big number was partly down to Scopely’s $3.5 billion acquisition of Niantic’s games business, including the likes of Pokémon GO. That’s according to a newsletter by gaming-focused … Read more
Tequila Works has begun auctioning off the rights to its games and IP after filing for insolvency last November. As spotted by VGC, the Spanish developer has set up a page on auction site Escrapalia where it has listed its “intangible assets” including IPs, in-development titles, and the studio’s branding. Adventure platformer Rime, action-adventure puzzle … Read more
The timing of the global battle over trade and tariffs sparked off by President Trump over the past weeks is pretty dreadful for a lot of industries, and the video games sector is no exception. At the point when I’m writing this, most of the heavy tariffs have been paused for 90 days, though a … Read more
A new report on sponsored influencer activations suggests a pay gap between male and female-identifying creators across all video platforms, with women earning around 32% less than men. These stats come from Collabstr, which counts sponsored streams or a video of any length in their metrics, and is based on a sample size of 2,414 … Read more
Bloodborne producer Teruyuki Toriyama has banded with former Thirdverse colleagues Tomohiro Suzuki and Hideki Irie to establish “world class development studio,” Sirius Studio. As reported by Famitsu (thanks, VGC), Sirius – a subsidiary of Gz Group – will “prioritize creator independence” after all three developer left prior employer, Thirdvers, after its focus shifted to more … Read more
Ubisoft has responded to a California class action lawsuit around the shutdown of 2014 racing game The Crew, filing a motion to dismiss the case. Filed back in February by Ubisoft’s legal team at Paul Hastings LLP – and captured by Polygon this week – the publisher’s legal team explains that the plaintiffs allege they … Read more
CW: This story contains references to extreme sexual violence – reader discretion advised. UK technology secretary Peter Kyle has slammed Valve’s PC storefront, Steam, for hosting a sexually explicit visual novel in which the protagonist engages in non-consensual sexual contact, sexual violence, rape, and incest. Zerat Games’ No Mercy is clearly marked as containing “graphic … Read more