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Business News Wales
04-06-2025
- Business
- Business News Wales
Welsh Games Companies Share £850,000 Funding Boost
Six Welsh games development companies are set to receive an £850,000 funding boost from the Welsh Government. The Games Scale Up Fund for Wales is the first scheme of its kind. It was launched earlier this year by Creative Wales in partnership with UK Games Fund, who managed the applications. Its aim is to help Wales-based developers take their games projects from a pilot to a more substantial and self-sustaining model, by allowing for growth in scope, reach and impact. A total of £850,000 in funding support has been awarded to six companies: Cloth Cat COPA Gaming Goldborough Studios Rocket Science Sugar Creative Wales Interactive The announcement follows a successful trade mission to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco in March, where five out of the six awarded companies joined the Cymru Wales stand to showcase their projects, meet major industry leaders and build new connections. Osian Williams, Director of COPA Gaming, said: 'Being backed by the Welsh Government through this scale-up funding isn't just a headline for us, it's a true game changer. 'It gives our team the confidence and resources to move forward, grow sustainably and to proudly create uniquely Welsh games for a global audience.' Paul Durrant, CEO at UK Games Fund, said: 'The Games Scale Up Fund for Wales has been a fabulous opportunity for us to see the breadth and depth of games development talent in Wales. It's been an honour to manage the application process for Creative Wales.' Minister for Culture, Jack Sargeant, said: 'Wales has an incredibly talented and ambitious video games industry that's making its mark on the global stage. This investment is about giving our homegrown studios the financial backing to level up their operations and reach new audiences worldwide. 'I had the privilege of meeting several Welsh developers at GDC in San Francisco, and I was deeply impressed by their creativity and innovation. The feedback they received from international publishers confirms what we already know – Wales is becoming a significant player in the global gaming landscape.' Creative Wales currently has another fund open for applications. The Games Development Fund, closing on Thursday 5 June, offers between £10,000 to £50,000 to Wales-based businesses developing video and immersive games projects for commercial release. For more information and to apply visit
South Wales Argus
03-06-2025
- Business
- South Wales Argus
Welsh games development companies receive funding boost
The Games Scale Up Fund for Wales, the first scheme of its kind, was launched by Creative Wales in partnership with the UK Games Fund earlier this year. It aims to help Welsh developers take their games projects from pilot stage to self-sustaining models, allowing for growth in scope, reach, and impact. The companies that will benefit from the initiative are Cloth Cat, COPA Gaming, Goldborough Studios, Rocket Science, Sugar Creative, and Wales Interactive. The announcement follows a successful trade mission to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco in March, where five of the awarded companies showcased their projects and built new connections. Osian Williams, director of COPA Gaming, said: "Being backed by the Welsh Government through this scale-up funding isn't just a headline for us, it's a true game changer. "It gives our team the confidence and resources to move forward, grow sustainably, and to proudly create uniquely Welsh games for a global audience." Paul Durrant, CEO at UK Games Fund, added: "The Games Scale Up Fund for Wales has been a fabulous opportunity for us to see the breadth and depth of games development talent in Wales." Minister for Culture, Jack Sargeant, said: "Wales has an incredibly talented and ambitious video games industry that's making its mark on the global stage. "This investment is about giving our homegrown studios the financial backing to level up their operations and reach new audiences worldwide." He added: "The feedback they received from international publishers confirms what we already know - Wales is becoming a significant player in the global gaming landscape." Creative Wales currently has another fund open for applications. The Games Development Fund, closing on Thursday, June 5, offers between £10,000 to £50,000 to Wales-based businesses developing video and immersive games projects for commercial release.
The Verge
29-05-2025
- Business
- The Verge
Animal Crossing: New Horizons was a glimpse at Nintendo's online future
Tiger Borgia, a content creator focused on cozy games, has been pulling weeds in Animal Crossing: New Horizons for over five years. Given the current landscape in which game developers constantly release new updates to vie for the attention of audiences, Borgia's dedication to New Horizons can come across as admirable. Nintendo has not released a major update to New Horizons since the Happy Home Paradise DLC in 2021. (Just this week the game was patched in advance of the Switch 2.) The version of New Horizons Borgia plays today — the one where she pulls weeds and fishes each day — is more or less the same game that the company released in the spring of 2020. At a time when seemingly every publisher is trying to capture a piece of the lucrative live-service boom, New Horizons showed Nintendo slowly inching its way into the space with more than a year's worth of regular updates after launch. And that expansion into live service is something that could become an even larger part of Nintendo's future with the Switch 2. Speaking to The Verge, Borgia explains that two years ago she would have said yes to having more content in New Horizons, but her opinion has since changed. 'Now I feel like the game should be left as is,' Borgia says via email. ' New Horizons already had its moment. I would be open to the next Animal Crossing title being a live-service game, but I would be skeptical about paywalls and subscription fees.' Since the release of Fortnite and PUBG: Battlegrounds in 2017, live-service games have become a core pillar of modern gaming. Live-service games — or what some call 'games as a service' — don't have a clear start and end. Instead, developers release a base game and continue to put out updates that add new characters, game modes, and other content to try and get people to play as much as possible. The model has become a massively popular way to monetize games. Industry analyst Mat Piscatella published data saying more than 40 percent of all time spent playing on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles in the US in the month of January was spent playing the top 10 live-service games. And the trend has hit the developer side too: a 2025 survey from the Game Developers Conference found that roughly 30 percent of all 'AAA' developers are working on a live-service game. Despite all the big numbers, Nintendo has been selective with the live-service games it develops. Creating a live-service game isn't as easy as flipping a switch, and even major companies like Sony have struggled to enter the space; it recently shut down development on two such projects. However, some fans are wondering if that could change with the Switch 2. Previous titles like Splatoon 3 have already gotten live-esque service with regular updates and events — even if the earlier entries in the series were ultimately shut down. And New Horizons received a steady stream of updates initially. New features, like the Switch 2's Discord-like social tool GameChat, could benefit live-service games that rely on online communication and logging in with friends regularly to play. Additionally, leaks from an October playtest suggested that Nintendo could be working on some sort of MMO for the Switch 2, which could also fall under the umbrella of a live-service game. But here is the most compelling argument that a shift could be on the horizon: Nintendo has already been investing in live-service games for years. If you look at Nintendo's mobile games, entries like Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp already used a free-to-play model with in-game transactions at launch. Some Animal Crossing fans welcome the possibility of adapting the mainline games to a live-service model. New Horizons is really good for people who like to get creative and design an island, but the game can run out of new content after players complete certain tasks and storylines. Tom, an artist who played the game for more than two years, tells The Verge a live-service version of the game could have kept him playing even longer. 'More updates would have made it way more likely that I'd have kept going, especially because it would keep friends coming back too,' he says. Additionally, the gameplay and structure of New Horizons could be the perfect fit for a live-service game, since it has seasonal events depending on the time of year and the region you play in. However, some of the fans I spoke to expressed skepticism. 'I was never expecting to get infinite content from Animal Crossing honestly,' Christi Kerr, a player who spent more than 700 hours playing New Horizons, tells The Verge. 'I was used to old AC games where all the content came out at once, and you play it until you feel like you've done all you want. I thought the updates to New Horizons were fun, but also kind of frustrating as a New Leaf player.' That's not to say that players The Verge spoke to are completely closed off to the live-service model with the next mainline Animal Crossing game; it just needs to be done in a way that feels respectful to players' time, money, and attention. Today, even beloved live-service games are regularly criticized by fans for requiring too much time to level up a battle pass or for poorly designed events. 'If Animal Crossing were to consider a live-service approach, I really hope that they would focus on seasonal events and quality-of-life updates,' Borgia says. 'I would be nervous to say I hope for continuous new content like furniture and clothing, because that can easily turn into a microtransaction nightmare. I'd love to have more seasonal celebrations, challenges, and temporary NPC visitors.' So far, Nintendo has shown a measured approach to live-service games. In the case of Pocket Camp, Nintendo ended up rereleasing it as a standalone game free of microtransactions. Now, people who missed the boat on playing Pocket Camp initially and don't like in-app purchases can still play the same game. For the fans we spoke to, this is good enough. Animal Crossing doesn't need to be some sort of never-ending forever game that trudges on like a zombie throughout the years. As Kerr put it, it's totally fine to have a game start and end, and then get a new one down the line. 'I would've been delighted to see updates like a live service game. [...] But like I said, I'm not bothered if the next Animal Crossing game sustains my interest for a while and then I'm done.'
Business Mayor
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
Skydance joins the delay train, pushing Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra to 2026
Skydance Interactive announced today that its upcoming action-adventure game Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra will not longer target a 2025 release, but instead has been moved to an early 2026 window. The company revealed the delay in a social media post, saying the game requires 'more polish' in order to deliver the best possible user experience. This makes Marvel 1943 the second triple-A game this month pushed to 2026 following an initial planned 2025 launch window. Skydance first announced Marvel 1943 at the Game Developers Conference in 2024. It's described the game as a narrative-driven action-adventure game set in the titular year, and it follows the adventures of Captain America and the WW2-era Black Panther, Azzuri. Skydance is creating the game in cooperating with Plaion, and the graphics shown at GDC appear to be incredibly realistic. The studio has thus far not revealed too much about the story, except that the two will be joined by two other heroes — Howling Commando Gabe Jones and Wakandan spy Nanali — and presumably oppose the villainous organization Hydra. The fact the game is penned by games industry veteran Amy Hennig, known for the Uncharted series, among others. This is not the first major title to be delayed from a planned 2025 launch date. Earlier this month, Rockstar Games revealed that it had set a May 2026 launch date for Grand Theft Auto VI; the game was originally scheduled for a fall 2025 window. One of the side effects of such a large game announcing a release window is that other publishers seemed to be reluctant to announce their own, lest they inadvertently land on the same day or even week. Marvel 1943's delay is likely not related, but an 'early' 2026 launch window might mean Skydance intends to release it before Rockstar's juggernaut. READ SOURCE businessmayor May 14, 2025
Al Bawaba
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Al Bawaba
Sydney Sweeney to Star in Jon M. Chu's Adaptation of Hit Game "Split Fiction"
ALBAWABA - Sydney Sweeney lands lead role in anticipated new game adaptation. Sydney Sweeney is going to play the lead role in the upcoming film adaptation of the popular computer game "Split Fiction," which will be directed by Jon M. Chu. Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who worked on the film "Deadpool & Wolverine," are now working on the script for the cinematic production. Both Chu's Electric Somewhere and Mike Goldberg and Dmitri M. Johnson's Story Kitchen (formerly known as dj2 Entertainment), which is now in the process of selling the talent package to studios, will be responsible for producing the film adaptation of "Split Fiction." Sweeney is going to serve as an executive producer. BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 02: Sydney Sweeney (Photo by Neilson Barnard / Getty Images via AFP) "Split Fiction" is a game that combines elements of science fiction and fantasy. It is developed by Hazelight Studios and published by Electronic Arts. The story follows two authors, Mio and Zoe, who find themselves ensnared in the fantastical worlds that they have created. "Split Fiction" is a cooperative adventure game that was written by Sebastian Johansson and Josef Fares, who is also the director of the game and the chief executive officer of Hazelight Studios. The game's gameplay mechanics include split-screen combat, platforming puzzles, and different skills for each character. According to an anonymous source who spoke with Variety, it has not yet been decided whether Sweeney will play the primary role of Zoe or Mio. The game was released on March 6, and despite earning excellent reviews and large sales, it soon became a hit with both gamers and critics alike after it was released. According to Hazelight, the game sold well over two million copies in the first week after it was released, and the number of copies sold continues to increase at a rapid pace. HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 02: Jon M. Chu/AFP During the Game Developers Conference (GDC) that took place in San Francisco in March, the film "Split Fiction" was already in the process of being developed and beginning to attract top Hollywood studios for a bidding war. The package is shepherded by Goldberg and Johnson's Story Kitchen, which is one of the hottest players in the video game-to-screen business right now, with credits including the 'Sonic the Hedgehog' films, the 'Tomb Raider' franchise (with a new animated series that premiered on Netflix in October 2024), the upcoming 'Streets of Rage' adaptation set up at Lionsgate, as well as films based on 'It Takes Two' (from the game studio behind 'Split Fiction') and 'ToeJam & Earl' at Amazon MGM Studios.
