One Wordle

Happy Weekend. The creator of Dragonball, Akira Toriyama, passed at 68. The official website released this news along with a brief note thanking supporters of his creative journey over the last 45 years.

—Derek Neville, Tim Rhyne

MAIN QUEST: Mattel opts for control

Toy company Mattel is embarking on a new venture to self-publish its branded games, aiming to grow its presence in the digital gaming space. The global head of digital gaming at Mattel, Mike DeLaet, stated that the company plans to work closely with big and small developers to create Mattel-branded games, with a focus on mobile platforms initially. This move allows Mattel to have more control over the development, marketing, and publishing of its games, as opposed to licensing brands to other game makers. DeLaet mentioned that Mattel will be selective in choosing partners and plans to release one self-published game per year. The company sees this as a significant shift that can contribute to its overall growth, complementing its existing licensing partnerships.

The decision to self-publish follows Mattel's recent announcement of third-party published games, including a Barbie game developed by Rollic, a division of Zynga. Mattel, known for iconic brands like Hot Wheels and Matchbox, aims to expand its digital games business and engage with fans directly, delivering unique gaming experiences tied to its timeless brands and characters. The move into self-publishing is seen as a strategic step to increase revenue and profit potential with low investment, building on the success of the Barbie film and Mattel's strong physical toy product sales.

HUD

• Apple has agreed to reinstate Epic Game’s developer following an inquiry from the The European Commission, who said they are happy with Apple’s decision to reverse course. Apple banned Epic’s account early this week, and were shortly met with questions from the commission regarding the ban.

• The New York Times has copyright takedowns against several Wordle clones. The latest claim is against the coders of Reactle, which cloned Wordle in React JS. This takedown claim is not only against Reactle, but also everyone who used the code to make a Wordle type game, with records showing the code was forked around 1900 times. The Times claims it owns not just the name Wordle, but the concept of the game.

• Ahead of the March 22nd release of Dragon’s Dogma 2, Capcom has released the character creator on all platforms, giving players a head start on designing up to 5 designs for their characters, which will then be carried over to the game. This is important, as the character design in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is being praised for how in depth it is.

MAJOR W

• 🐜 EA continues to release classic portfolio games onto Steam. The current drop of games are all a part of EA Play, the games are 60% off and include Command & Conquer - The Ultimate Collection and Sim City 3000 Unlimited.

• 🦾 Helldivers 2 players showed up in mass to unlock mechs, causing queues to appear for a short time again. Mechs are currently free for players to call in during missions.

F IN THE CHAT

• 😿 Today’s Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 launch is delayed at least an additional 8 hours as an unexpected issue was found during the maintenance.

• 🫡 Rooster Teeth is being shut down after 21 years of historic “pixels burned into our screens, minds, and hearts.” Warner Bros. Discovery expects 150 full-time employees laid off and dozens of contractors.

CAREER CORNER

• Sr. Manager, Platform Relations — Netflix (Los Angeles, CA)

• Associate Producer — Frontier Developments (Winnipeg, Canada)

• Physics Programmer — Yellow Brick Games (Remote, Canada)

HIVE MIND

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