Unity's New Hope

Happy Friday! A 1993 Alpha Black Lotus card with a CGC Cards’ Pristine 10 grade reportedly sold for $3 million. While some speculate on the deal’s validity, this would mark the largest deal for a single trading card ever.

Let us know what your thoughts are in today’s Hive Mind!

—Tim

MAIN QUEST: Unity’s new CEO

Matthew Bromberg has been appointed as Unity’s new CEO. His background includes 20 years of experience including Electronic Arts and Zynga. Additionally, interim CEO Jim Whitehurst is named chairman of the board.

Unity has had a turbulent couple of years of headlines:

• June 2022: Unity lays off 225

• January 2023: Unity lays off 284

• May 2023: Unity laid off another 600 employees

• September 2023: Unity announces its “Runtime Fee” policy and within two weeks the backlash leads to Unity backtracking on several points on policy including its plans to charge per game install

• October 2023: John Riccitiello steps down as CEO and chairman

• November 2023: Unity lays off another 265

• January 2024: Unity started the year with another 1800 employees cut, which marked 25% of its remaining workforce.

Mr. Bromberg and his team will have a long battle ahead to steer the company back into favor with its customers.

HUD

• Square Enix released a “Notification of Recognition of Extraordinary Losses” to its shareholders. Announcing they expect to report a loss of ¥22.1 billion ($133.1 million) in the form of abandoned content from the fiscal year. Takashi Kiryu, president of Square Enix, stated a need to focus its development resources.

• LinkedIn launched its first three games onto its platform. The launch follows the trend of trying to complement their products by tapping into the gamers found within everyday people to increase time spent on the platforms and returning visits to their respective platforms.

• Helldivers 2 Steam players will be forced to link their Steam to a Playstation account as of May 6th. Sony is the game’s publisher and their requirement here has led to a massive review bombing with Arrowhead’s CEO responding: “I just want to make great games!”

MAJOR W

• Super Nintendo World has been officially announced to open in 2025 at Universal Epic Universe in Orlando, FL.

• As May the Fourth nears, all of the primary modes in Fortnite are getting a Star Wars crossover event beginning today.

F IN THE CHAT

• Baulder’s Gate 3 deluxe physical editions hit some “production issues” and caused shipping delays for consoles.

• Redfall is still missing its $30 Hero pass DLC a year after release. Of course, this failed game’s Steam daily peak player count remains below 100 most days.

CAREER CORNER

• Principal Character Artist, New Games — Respawn (Redwood City, CA)

• Brand Media Buyer — Electronic Arts (Remote, US/CA)

• Director, Business Development, Game Licensing — Netflix (Los Angeles, CA)

HIVE MIND

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