🕹️ Embracer splits

Happy Friday. The bill to ban TikTok in the United States has been signed by President Biden. ByteDance now has 270 to sell TikTok, with a potential 90-day extension if a sale is in place. ByteDance has already announced they will challenge the new law in court.

— Derek, Tim

MAIN QUEST: Embracing the breakup

Embracer Group, led by CEO Lars Wingefors, has announced a significant change, dividing the company into three separate entities: Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-Earth Enterprises & Friends. This move comes after an extended period involving layoffs, studio closures, game cancellations, and the failure of a major investment deal. Each new entity will focus on distinct areas of the business, with Asmodee Group concentrating on tabletop games, Coffee Stain & Friends handling indie to AA games for various platforms, and Middle-Earth Enterprises & Friends managing AAA gaming titles such as The Lord of the Rings and Tomb Raider.

Wingefors, acknowledging the challenges faced and potential mistakes made, takes responsibility for the company's past actions, and expresses a commitment to the core mission of the company. Despite criticism, he asserts that the split aligns with Embracer's vision and emphasizes the need to adapt to changes in the industry. The split aims to give each entity the autonomy to focus on its core strategies and foster growth while allowing for collaboration across businesses and intellectual properties.

HUD

• Valve has updated the refund policy on Steam, closing a loophole that allowed players who purchased early access versions of a game to request a full refund as long as they did not play for more than 2 hours after the official launch, regardless of how much they played during the early access period. The 2-hour refund window will now apply to early-access games as well.

• Following Meta’s announcement that it will offer its VR OS to hardware companies, they released new Ray-Ban Meta glasses incorporating video calling and AI features. Meta continues to lose over $1 billion a month within this division and only expects its losses to grow as it continues to invest.

• Blizzard announced that they will not be holding BlizzCon this year, although they did mention they were excited to bring it back in future years. Blizzard will be using other trade shows, such as Gamescom, to reveal details of their upcoming releases.

MAJOR W

• ⬆️ A small YouTuber, JupiterClimb discovered a new Konami Code, or cheat code, for the 1999 N64 release of Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness.

• ☢️ Fallout 76 sees over one million players in a single day and close to five million across all titles. This is largely due to the success of the TV show’s recent release.

F IN THE CHAT

• Flaming Fowl, a UK-based studio that produced Fable Fortune Gloomhaven, has shelved its latest title, despite a demo already being released on Steam. The studio pointed towards the current financial state of the industry as the reason for halting development.

• People Can Fly has officially killed development on Project Dagger, its latest IP. The studio found that the game’s commercial potential was unsatisfactory after halting development late last year. Project Dagger was originally supposed to be published by Take-Two, however, Take-Two pulled out of the deal in 2022.

CAREER CORNER

• 3D Artists, Character and Environment — 7 Kingdom (Montreal, Canada)

• Community and Social Media Manager — 4J Studios (Dundee, Scotland)

• Lead Level Designer — Bit Reactor (Maryland, USA)

HIVE MIND

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