Top Stories

Sony is reportedly running a dynamic A/B pricing experiment on PlayStation Store (2 min read)

Sony has been quietly A/B testing personalized dynamic pricing on PlayStation Store since November 2025, offering select users discounts of 5.3–17.6% on 150+ games across 68 territories. First-party and third-party titles from 2K, Bethesda, and others are included. (Gamesindustry)

Scopely hits $15 billion in lifetime revenue (3 min read)

Mobile publisher Scopely has crossed $15 billion in lifetime revenue, a milestone that underscores the continued scale of mobile gaming's top earners. The company is best known for titles like Monopoly GO! and Star Trek Fleet Command. (Game Developer)

Business & Finance

"I think people undervalue their own work" – ID@Xbox head Chris Charla on the tricky problem of indie game pricing (5 min read)

ID@Xbox head Chris Charla urges indie devs to fight imposter syndrome when pricing games, warning that undervaluing work is common. He also notes Xbox store policy changes to reduce bundle clutter and improve discoverability for new releases. (Gamesindustry)

Epic Games increasing the price of V-Bucks to 'help pay the bills' (4 min read)

Epic Games is raising V-Bucks prices, citing the need to cover rising operating costs. The move signals tightening margins at Epic and could influence how other live-service developers think about in-game currency pricing. (Game Developer)

Sega responds to concerns after recording $200 million impairment write-down for Rovio (3 min read)

Sega took a $200M impairment write-down on its $776M Rovio acquisition, citing over-reliance on local management and failure to integrate Rovio's Beacon mobile platform into Sega's own titles. CEO Haruki Satomi pledged a shift to IP-based marketing and a unified global publishing structure. (Gamesindustry)

NCsoft acquires 70% stake in mobile developer JustPlay (2 min read)

NCsoft is acquiring a 70% stake in Berlin-based casual mobile developer JustPlay for $202 million, with the deal closing April 30. JustPlay operates 40+ casual titles and projects 88% year-over-year revenue growth in 2026, continuing NCsoft's aggressive push into the casual mobile market. (Gamesindustry)

Brazil-based dev Gameplan joins Remote Control Productions (2 min read)

São Paulo-founded co-development and outstaffing studio Gameplan has joined Remote Control Productions' network of 14+ companies. Gameplan will expand into full SKU development and porting while providing technical support to other RCP studios. (Gamesindustry)

Studios & People

Avalanche Studios reveals its Highlander-style, survival of the fittest R&D strategy (11 min read)

Avalanche Studios is running multiple 5-person prototype teams on 4-month cycles, killing projects that don't resonate with a 3,000-person playtest community before scaling up. The mobile-inspired approach follows years of studio closures and project cancellations. (Gamesindustry)

Original founders of Bossfight Entertainment re-launch studio as Bossfight (1 min read)

The original founders of Netflix-shuttered Bossfight Entertainment have relaunched as independent studio Bossfight, led by CEO David Rippy, CPO Bill Jackson, and COO Scott Winsett. The Dallas-based team is developing an unannounced PC and mobile title with a lean core team model. (Gamesindustry)

Games & Releases

This is how RNG works as an 'equalizer' in Dispatch (4 min read)

Dispatch uses RNG as an equalizer mechanic to level the playing field between skilled and less-experienced players. The design approach offers a practical case study for developers balancing competitive fairness without flattening skill expression. (Game Developer)

Garry Newman says his game creation platform s&box will 'probably' be priced similarly to Garry's Mod (5 min read)

Facepunch Studios' s&box game creation platform is targeting an April release at a price of roughly $10–$20, mirroring Garry's Mod. The price hasn't been officially confirmed, but both Garry Newman and COO Alistair McFarlane indicated that range. (PC Gamer)

AI/Tech & Tools

Google unveils new AI cloud tools to support game development (2 min read)

Google announced an expanded Cloud platform for game developers at GDC, integrating Gemini AI models and autonomous agents to automate tasks like testing, code writing, and asset pipeline assembly. Atlas AI Studio adds multi-agent support for Unreal Engine and Unity. (Gamesindustry)

Culture & Community

Peak co-developer Aggro Crab shares lessons in friendslop (6 min read)

Aggro Crab, co-developer of the viral co-op hit Peak, shared design and production lessons behind the "friendslop" genre — games built around casual social play. The talk covers what made the format click with players. (Game Developer)

gg! see you in game!

-james