Listen now on Apple, Spotify or YouTube
In This Edition,
Announcing live service games
Interview: Nex Playground’s global plans
PR giants Fortyseven and Indigo Pearl unite
Interview with EA Capital Games (podcast only)
The Game Business Live will take place in Los Angeles on Monday, June 8. We will be interviewing game industry experts Laura Miele, Jason Rubin and Matthew Ball live on stage. Tickets are available now.
Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of The Game Business Show.
We have had lots of news this week. Including the story we broke yesterday around Xbox’s new leadership hires (featuring TGB regular Matthew Ball). Meanwhile, Embracer is being split in two. Indigo Pearl is merging with Fortyseven Communications. Sony isn’t releasing all of its games on PC anymore. The US market keeps growing… It’s all going on.
On the Show itself, we have three interviews for you. We chat with Nex Playground CEO David Lee, the head of EA’s Capital Games studio Erik Larsen. Plus, we ask PR veteran Chase Colasonno the big question: how do you announce a live service game in 2026?
You can hear all of those conversations in the podcast and video links above. Or, I’ve picked out some choice stories below.
Enjoy!
How do you announce a live service game in 2026?
The level of hostility that greeted Highguard was surprising.
Announced during The Game Awards, the online shooter received a devastating backlash from players. It seemed undeserved. Its only real crime is that it was announced at the end of The Game Awards, which has historically been a spot reserved for more fan-favourite titles.
In the end, Highguard didn’t prove strong enough to sustain an audience, and it closed down after a few weeks. But the whole story highlighted the negativity that exists towards these free-to-play live service games.
“A lot of live service games need to go into their announcements and launches with the understanding that trust is low and there are sceptics everywhere,” advised Chase Colasonno, senior vice president at Fortyseven communications.
“We’re dealing with an oversaturated market. We’re dealing with a lot of unkept promises from other games over the last decade.”
“We’re dealing with a lot of unkept promises from other games over the last decade”
We invited Colasonno onto the Show this week because of his expertise in announcing games, and to share some advice on how developers should approach revealing their live service title to the world. And here are the edited highlights from our conversation:
How should developers announce a live service game?
Colasonno: Leading on hype alone just isn’t enough. It’s not cutting it. You can see where the successes are. It’s people with credibility, who provide clarity about what they’re doing, what they’re building, setting expectations, and then being in it for the long term. Showing the commitment and the roadmap and what they’re building towards, and more importantly, how they’re building with the community.
Community, transparency, and just letting the software do the talking is so incredibly important.
What doesn’t work anymore?
Colasonno: There was a time when it was a game ‘from the creators of’ or ‘the team behind’ or ‘the visionaries of’. It was the prestige by association. Those are great for financing and funding conversations, but it doesn’t carry the same cachet with players than it did back in the day
Also, the age of paying streamers to play on day one is no longer a sure shot to win the long game. Knowing your audience, knowing who you’re going after and building a community by focusing on them is absolutely the most important thing. You want the creators and streamers and even press that you think are part of that audience, and you want to bring them in early, show them the game and turn them into believers.
What if players are unhappy?
Colasonno: A lot of times people are afraid to pivot and change up their strategy. Mike Tyson said everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Certain feedback from the community can be like a punch in the face when you’re expecting things to go one way and all of a sudden no one’s on board. It’s important that your marketing communications team think about how to rework. From a developer standpoint, you need to rethink how you’re doing your roadmap. Everyone needs to be on the same page where they’re looking at feedback, they’re listening and they’re ready to adjust.
Should you do a big announcement?
Colasonno: “Don’t over promise. Don’t overhype. You’re always going to underdeliver when you try to sell something in a really extravagant way.”
“The key is to figure out where’s the point in time where you can get people in. Start small. You need to bring them in closer and form that community, form that trust. And then creators are going to hop on, too. And then press. The community isn’t just the player, it’s the whole ecosystem, and you want creators and press along for the ride.
“A lot of developers aren’t about overhyping. It’s a marketing thing. But the communications and marketing team need to align with the voice of the studio. And a lot of times, that gets missed. It’s… ‘we’re going to go bombastic, and everyone is going to want to play’. At the end of the day, that’s proving not to be as effective when there’s a tonne of sceptics and burned players out there.”
Check out the longer interview with Colasonno in today’s Show.
Nex Playground turns to Ed Sheeran, Bluey and football as UK launch looms
Nex Playground is working with developers and musicians in different countries as part of its global expansion plans.
The camera-based games console was the surprise hit of Christmas 2025, selling out across the US and even (briefly) out-selling the Xbox Series X and S.
Next month, the console launches in the UK for £269, with retailers Argos, Smyths and Amazon already taking pre-orders. And to appeal more strongly to UK players, Nex CEO David Lee told The Game Business that it’s working on UK-friendly content.
“We have been bringing in UK IP,” he told us. “We are also doing more to bring in UK music into our experiences. We have licensed songs from Dua Lipa and Ed Sheeran. We already work with three UK-based game studios to bring some of their creations onto the platform. And we are adding a new mini-game to Bluey that’s really designed for the UK audience. In sports, we’re also doing more as well. I can’t talk about it yet, but we are certainly doing more with sports that the UK market loves.”
So, a football game then?
“Yeah. We’ll be doing more in football.”
Lee told us that after the UK, the console will roll-out to the rest of Europe, with an Asian launch set for 2027.
“Going to each market, we want to be respectful. There will be a localization effort, bringing in local IPs, local artists, and local studio deals as well.”
When we spoke with Lee last year, he talked about 2026 being the biggest year yet for Nex Playground. But that was before the RAM shortage, which has forced the company to raise prices in the US.
“We are still fairly optimistic about how the product will do this year,” he said. “We want to continue to operate responsibly, because it’s a service that we’re operating. We speak with the community and when the costs come in in a way that we cannot absorb, then we do raise the price in order to remain sustainable.”
He added: “We have secured our supply for the year thankfully. Supply is always limited, but we are better prepared this year than the last.”
Advertisement
US PR giant Fortyseven enters UK market and unites with Indigo Pearl
One of the US’ biggest PR agencies is coming to Europe.
Fortyseven Communications will open in London, with a division led by the company’s EVP and co-founder Craig Sinel. The new division will incorporate the UK PR team at Indigo Pearl. Both Indigo Pearl and Fortyseven are owned by Keywords Studios.
In addition to the European move, Fortyseven is launching a Creator Relations practice. It will be led by Meghan Camarena, a content creator and YouTuber best known as Strawburry17. The firm says this division is built specifically around how creators work, and will focus on ‘real voices, thoughtful programs, and partnerships that last longer than a single post.’
CEO Sibel Sunar said in a statement: “Bringing Fortyseven leadership to the UK, welcoming the wonderful Indigo Pearl team, and launching our new creator practice opens up a whole new world of creative firepower and reach for our clients.”
Meanwhile…
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream was the best-selling game of April in the US, with over $41 million in physical and projected digital spending, according to Circana. The Nintendo game debuted as the No.9 best-selling game of 2026 so far. Capcom’s Pragmata was the second best-selling game of April. It was No.1 on PS5, No.2 on PC and No.3 on Xbox, and was in the Top 15 on Nintendo Switch 2. Meanwhile, Nintendo Switch 2 was the best-selling console of the month. Overall, US spending on games and hardware in April was up 3% year-on-year to $4.3 billion.
Embracer Group plans to split into two public companies next year. The first is called Fellowship Entertainment, and will be a centralized company (whereas Embracer was decentralized). It will look after The Lord of the Rings IP, Tomb Raider, Darksiders, Dead Island, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and Remnant. Developers under this company will include 4A Games, Warhorse, Crystal Dynamics, Dambuster, Eidos-Montreal, Flying Wild Hog, Gunfire Games, Middle-earth Enterprises, Redoctane and Dark Horse Media. It will be led by CEO Phil Rogers.
Meanwhile, Embracer will remain a decentralised organisation. It will be overseeing Destroy All Humans, Desperados, Gothic, Killing Floor, Kingdom of Amalur, MX vs. ATV, Reanimal, Ride, Screamer, Titan Quest, and Wreckfest, as well as licenses such as Hot Wheels Unleashed and SpongeBob SquarePants. Companies under this business include Aspyr, Beamdog, CrazyLabs, Deca, Demiurge, DPI Merchandising, Limited Run Games, Milestone, Plaion Partners, Plaion Pictures, THQ Nordic (including 35 subsidiaries), Tripwire and Vertigo Games.In other Embracer news, Kingdom Come: Deliverance developer Warhorse is making two new games: Another Kingdom Come adventure, and an open world Middle Earth/Lord of the Rings game.
Ubisoft shares fell 16% after the Assassin’s Creed publisher forecast further losses in its upcoming financial year. CEO Yves Guillemot said that the following year is “expected to represent a low point in our free cash flow trajectory along with a softer release slate and restructuring costs.” The release slate will pick up in the following year, with games in the Far Cry, Assassin’s Creed and Ghost Recon franchises.
Wizards of the Coast has ended its publishing agreement with Giant Skull, which is the new studio formed by Stig Asmussen. The firm was working on an action adventure game set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. Wizards said it will consider new project proposals from Giant Skull. This news broke six hours after we published our interview with Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks (Wizards of the Coast is owned by Hasbro).
The PlayStation Plus Essentials subscription service has increased in price by $1 a month. This is due to on-going market conditions and doesn’t apply to existing subscribers.
Sticking with Sony, PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst has reportedly confirmed to staff that the firm’s single-player games will remain exclusive to its own consoles and no-longer launch on PC. That’s according to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schrier. Multiplayer titles such as Helldivers 2 and Marathon will remain multiplatform. Sony’s single-player titles have had limited success on PC so far.
Sensor Tower has acquired AppMagic. Both companies provide estimates and insight into the mobile app market, covering revenue, downloads and more.
Valve has introduced 17 new tags, removed 28 and consolidated or renamed many others in an effort to clear up confusion and improve discoverability on Steam. ‘NSFW’ and ‘Mature’ have been removed because ‘Gore,’ ‘Violent,’ and ‘Sexual Content’ tags already exist. ‘Well Written’ and ‘Masterpiece’ have been eliminated due to inconsistent use, whereas things like ‘Drama’ and ‘Ambient’ have been cut because people didn’t really use them. New additions include ‘Bullet Heaven’, ‘Zoo’, ‘Organising’ and ‘Decorating’, Some others have been changed for clarity. You can read the full list of tag changes on the Valve website.
Nexon’s Arc Raiders has just reached 16 million sales worldwide.
Square Enix’s sales are down 8.3% for the financial year ending March 31, 2026, due to reduced revenue from its MMO, mobile and browser games. However, its overall profits are up 21% due to strong sales of back catalogue titles and cost savings across the organization.
Spanish Metroid developer MercurySteam is cutting jobs due to the ‘productions cycles of our industry’. Outside of Metroid, the studio also develops its own IP, including 2025’s Blades of Fire.
Subnautica 2 has sold two million copies in 12 hours. The underwater survival game was the most wishlisted title on Steam with over five million wishlists.
Ubisoft has rolled out accessibility tags to some of its games, including Rayman Legends, Rayman 30th anniversary Edition, Splinter Cell Blacklist and Valiant Hearts: Coming Home. More games will follow. It’s part of Ubisoft’s commitment to the Accessible Games Initiative that the Entertainment Software Association set-up. The initiative developed a tagging system so players with disabilities can find games that meet their accessibility needs.
That’s it for today’s edition. We’ll be back next week with a world exclusive interview with Remedy’s new CEO Jean-Charles Gaudechon. Until then, thank you for reading.
