Good Afternoon. Nintendo’s Direct: Partner Showcase held no official mentions of the Switch 2. However, there were over two dozen third-party games showcased as coming this year.

Feel free to reply and let us know which ones you’re looking forward to the most!

—Tim Rhyne, Derek Neville

MAIN QUEST: More Mods, More Money

Mojang released add-ons this week for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition’s marketplace furthering their commitment to supporting the modding community within the 15-year-old title. These add-ons will allow official methods for users to customize their gameplay by adding new blocks, mobs, game mechanics, and leverage control of the game engine itself. The key unlock for users is add-ons may be easily mixed and matched and, for mod creators, their add-ons will be supported on all platforms.

Minecraft mod creators receive 50% of all sales on the marketplace and reportedly earned creators over $175 million in 2021. Now that add-ons have been officially released with increased accessibility to the full 160 million MAU, this update allows creators to package smaller mods and continue to earn from their work on the previously untapped segments.

Step Back: Minecraft laid the groundwork for Fortnite and Roblox as games propelled by UGC creators. By opening up and supporting more cross-platform sales channels with strong return incentives, they empower players to shape their game and service the community’s niche desires.

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HUD

• Lady Gaga is partnering with Epic Games as the featured artist for Fortnite Festival Season 2, set to release February 22nd. She released this news by correcting her viral 2019 misspelled tweet “What’s fortnight”.

• Swedish-based gaming company Modern Times Group has permitted its subsidiary Kongregate to be acquired by US-based developer Monumental. Monumental CEO Monty Kerr will run both studios. Financial details of the deal are expected to be revealed in MTG’s Q1 report this year.

• Xbox officially announces the release dates for four of their first-party titles to other consoles. Hi-Fi RUSH (March 19th) and Sea of Thieves (April 30th) will be available on PS5. Grounded (April 16th) and Pentiment (February 22nd) will be available for PS4/5 and Nintendo Switch.

MAJOR W

• 📈 After being laid off from his Chief Marketing Officer role a few years ago, Gabriel Stürmer founded Clap Clap Games, self-taught himself Unity, and successfully pitched Submarine Jump to a publisher after a few weeks. Clap Clap Games has now prototyped 100s of games in the hypercasual space and generated millions in revenue.

• 📱 Ubisoft expands its Invincible IP with an idle RPG mobile game Invincible: Guarding the Globe with a storyline separate from its comics and TV show.

F IN THE CHAT

• 👮‍♀️ Prison Architect 2 was delayed to 7th May citing the need to “identify more bugs and further optimize the game.”

• 🏴‍☠️ Skull and Bones reviews wildly range from just okay to very poor, with a current 60 Metacritic score and a 3.1/10 user score. The game suffered multiple delays over several years before release and doesn’t appear to represent the polished experience expected from a AAA release.

CAREER CORNER

• Release Manager — Humble Bundle (Remote, US)

• Senior 3D Artist — Very Very Spaceship (Seattle, WA)

• Marketing Associate, External Games — Netflix (Los Angeles, CA)

HIVE MIND

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