Mat Piscatella
@matpiscatella.bsky.social
Senior Director and Video Game Industry Advisor at Circana. Formerly of Activision and Warner Bros Games. Kaboom! Bucket Brigade member since 1982.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 on PS5 has seen a doubling of its daily engagement rate in the US, with 1.5% of PS5 daily actives playing the game yesterday. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 ranked 22nd overall in US DAU on Aug 4. Fortnite led all titles on PS5, at 16.3%. Source: Circana Player Engagement Tracker
First off, what a cool looking game. Can't wait to play. Second, the interview where the game's creative director is asked "on Steam? What's that?" "it's a purchase game?" and "is there any chance it could go on Roblox?" is a real snapshot of where gaming's at.
Brad Shankar@bradshankar.bsky.social · 4h agoVery cool seeing @kittencupstudio.bsky.social on CP24 talking about @capycastaway.com this morning. We need more mainstream coverage of games like this!
EA's annual Ebitda is around $1.5 billion, which should be enough to service the interest payments. But the publisher has told debt investors that it will cut $700 million in annual costs including $170 million in "organizational efficiencies," per Bloomberg. In other words: mass layoffs
EA officially goes private tonight, meaning: - EA will no longer trade on the NASDAQ for the first time in 36 years - All stockholders of EA (including many employees) will receive $210/share - EA will take on $18 billion (!) in debt, putting it on the hook to pay ~$1.8 billion/year in interest
EA's public earnings reports were always a helpful look into one of the industry's biggest publishers, particularly when it came to digital add-on spending. All that info is now... *poof*
VGC@videogameschronicle.com · 19h agoElectronic Arts has announced the the completion of its acquisition, which means a consortium led by Saudi Arabia's PIF now fully owns the company. www.videogameschronicle.com/news/electro...
If you enjoy playing video games in the US you should be paying attention to this and contacting your reps if you're into that sort of thing or like personal rights or whatever.
404 Media@404media.co · 23h agoMike Lee's SCREEN Act, which heads to Senate Commerce Committee for markup on Wednesday, would expand age verification requirements to a nearly limitless scope of websites, and is supported by the architects of Project 2025.
"This really feels like the ultimate admission that we, as hosts of AI infra, can't afford our own AI products. And if that's even partially the case, how could the companies we sell it to manage?”
404 Media@404media.co · yesterdayMicrosoft is introducing budget limits for AI use but says it still wants to be an ‘AI-first’ company.
Great breakdown of the discoverability problem and how to fix it, but... "And crucially, the group found that nobody is financially motivated to fix the system as a whole. If success depends on feeding the algorithm, the safe choice wins every time." ...is the rub.
GamesIndustry.biz@gibiz.bsky.social · yesterdayThe industry makes great games, but nobody can find them. Algorithms built to surface content are increasingly rewarding volume, familiarity, and short-term engagement over quality or originality. https://bit.ly/44VFYO9
As of this morning, the itch bundle officially broke 100k. This is a lifeline to our fellow workers and proof that solidarity extends beyond borders, both literal and figurative. Never let anyone tell you that things cannot change.
United Videogame Workers-CWA@videogameworkers.bsky.social · 3d agoYou’ve helped us raise over 80k for laid off gamedevs in need so far, and we still have plenty of time left in the bundle’s drive. Everyone who organized this effort was doing so on their own time for the benefit of others. If these companies wanted to, they would. They don’t. We do. Join us. ✊
I didn't get it but now have ragrets. Thing's totes adorbs. Demo was fun too. Wild that this cute little guy is in Costco and another major platform... just isn't.
Mat Piscatella@matpiscatella.bsky.social · 2d agoWow. Costco has Nex Playgrounds right on the endcap.
Wow. Costco has Nex Playgrounds right on the endcap.
Here's what Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said about FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition in July: "FIFA and Unhinged became our two most successful cloud game debuts, really solid numbers that put it in the top tier of game performance for us." Imagine hearing that and then being laid off.
Report: FIFA World Cup developer Refactor Games shuttered by Delphi Interactive
Report: FIFA World Cup developer Refactor Games shuttered by Delphi Interactive
The international soccer simulator only launched onto Netflix in June.
gamedeveloper.com
"Surely expanding the list to 20 would show plenty of new games" Well. Sure. Each list had exactly one new game reach the top 20. The rest were mostly long running live service or annualized sports titles. This is just the PS/XBX market right now.
Mat Piscatella@matpiscatella.bsky.social · 2d agoCircana Player Engagement Tracker - US Top 10 Titles by Weekly Active Users (Not Concurrent) - W/E Jul 25, 2026 - Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls debuted 17th on PlayStation - Shift at Midnight ranked 17th on Xbox in launch week - Path of Exile jumped to 19th on Steam from 119th a week ago
Back in January 2026, the average US selling price for a new unit of video game hardware was $452. By June that had risen to $525 (a 16% increase). Will be interesting to check back in a few months and see where this year ends up. Source: Circana Retail Tracking Service
Circana Player Engagement Tracker - US Top 10 Titles by Weekly Active Users (Not Concurrent) - W/E Jul 25, 2026 - Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls debuted 17th on PlayStation - Shift at Midnight ranked 17th on Xbox in launch week - Path of Exile jumped to 19th on Steam from 119th a week ago
Grayson is the absolute best! I have a wonderful story about this performance to share on our next episode of @90sdisney.com. For now, enjoy his performance of Dearly Beloved from Kingdom Hearts.
Xbox Series X (1TB, Disc) – €799.99 (was €599.99) Wow. And I bet they wish they hadn't announced the US price increases beforehand. Likely won't be all that long before another US price increase is made. But some single player games will be exclusive, so I'm sure it'll all work out.
Xbox console price increases in Europe and UK fully revealed, with Series X now costing €200 more | VGC
Xbox had previously said a price hike was coming in August, but only confirmed US prices…
videogameschronicle.com
The new WPBL is fun. Entertaining debut game in some terrible weather. Hope the league does well.
Rodger Sherman@rodger.bsky.social · 4d agoand Denae Benites hits the first home run in Women's Pro Baseball League history!
"Tao...argued that PlayStation hardware will win on affordability" This won't be by selling PS6 in a traditional sense then, given, well, *everything*. So... emphasizing Portal? Leasing/rental programs? Buy now pay later? This line is very important for next gen, but what it means in practice...
Sony Says It's Not Backing Down From Ending PlayStation Discs
The PS5 maker said it already put a lot of thought into the decision
kotaku.com
With the acquisition of Electronic Arts set to close next week, it seems like a good time to re-up this column about how much insight into the games industry we lose through acquisitions and consolidation. www.gamesindustry.biz/activision-b...
Activision Blizzard goes into the black box | This Week in Business
This Week in Business is our weekly recap column, a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a…
gamesindustry.biz
"(+) Impact of U.S. tariff refunds" And any price increases influenced by tariffs also stay in place. Man.
NEW: EA says all regulatory approvals required to complete its take-private merger with Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund and other investors have been obtained. Deal expected to close next week on August 4, 2026.
RIP "According to Taiwan's Economic Daily, the company has increased the price by between 20 and 30 percent... This is the third price hike the company has implemented so far this year. At the same time, Samsung is also expected to increase the price of its DRAM by around 20 percent."
Nvidia GPUs see yet another price hike of up to 30 percent, as the generative AI hardware crisis worsens
In response Samsung announced another price increase across DRAM as the personal computing nightmare deepens.
eurogamer.net
Microsoft has published its latest financial results, with Xbox revenue down 7% for the full year and 10% in the fourth quarter Growth in Game Pass partially offset annual declines, but hardware revenue dropped 29% due to reduced console sales www.gamesindustry.biz/xbox-revenue...
Nintendo sure loves decking out the San Diego Trolley.
You'd think I'd learn to just not post about this stuff but I'm a glutton, apparently. Yes. But I would suggest a quiet quitting. Since Helix is a PC they could say it supports physical via an add-on drive. But PS physical SW outsells XBX in the US by a multiple now far higher than the IB gap.
Alanah Pearce@alanahpearce.bsky.social · 7d agoI think Xbox will also get rid of discs. They don’t care much about a ‘leg up’ on PlayStation and haven’t for years. Both companies are actually actively competing with other streaming services and social media - Netflix, YouTube, etc., as well as digital services like Roblox.
Let me take off my reading glasses so I can give you a virtual high five without the risk of a wild miss. Also, don't forget your shingles and pneumonia vaccines!
