W44 | 2025

Games Industry Executive Summary | October 31, 2025

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🎯 Highlights

• Latest CS2 patch has skin collectors in meltdown over a supposed $2bn in losses, with others saying ‘this is the best update ever’, but maybe Valve is just doing some course-correction and doesn’t care

• Microsoft’s CEO agrees Xbox’s competition isn’t other gaming platforms, it’s TikTok

🆕 News

• Amazon making ‘significant’ cuts to games business, moving away from MMOs

• Elden Ring For Switch 2 Delayed To 2026 Due To “Performance Adjustments”

• Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition Announced

• Steam’s new personalized release calendar fixes the ‘I didn’t know that was coming out’ problem

📈 Industry Trends

• Valve has done a “very good job” of building a “massive marketplace” on Windows with Steam, but Microsoft and Xbox are looking to go one step further: “We’re going to be everywhere”

• Starfield: Why the Best Open Worlds Have Limits

• Nintendo’s patent relevant to the Palworld case has been rejected by Japan’s office for lacking originality — what happens next?

• More than 1,200 games journalists have left the media in the last two years

• Life Is Strange Developer Don’t Nod Partners With Netflix For Game Adaptation Of A ‘Major IP’

🤫 Rumors

• No rumors!

🔢 Numbers

• Escape From Duckov - 2 Million Ducklings in Duckov

• Surprise Steam co-op hit RV There Yet? sells 1.3 million

• Pokémon Legends: Z-A sells 5.8m units during launch week

• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Sales Top 1 Million Units

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