Stellar Blade sold over 1 million copies in 3 days
Stellar Results!
Hi, Tibi & Ionuț here, hope you're having a great day! 🥳
Welcome to the #72 FREE edition of the Game Vibe Weekly Newsletter!
This newsletter shares video game industry trends, insights, and top games, all in an easy to read and fun format.
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Happy reading!
👑 Highlights
Apple unveiled the new Games app.
Xbox and AMD signed a multi-year deal.
Almost 3000 Switch 2 consoles were stolen.
Stellar Blade has sold over 1 million copies in 3 days.
Take-Two Interactive renewed its partnership with NBA.
Southeast Asia saw 1.93 billion mobile game downloads this year.
Play Fraggy GO! Beta version this weekend! 🐸
Interesting
💡 Steam now lets users filter and view accessibility features on game pages, with over 5,000 games already showing these details to help more players find games easily.
💡 GameStop reported its first profitable opening quarter in 6 years after focusing more on trading cards like Pokémon and sports cards.
💡 Nearly 3000 Nintendo Switch 2 consoles worth over $1 million were stolen from a semi-truck in Colorado, making it one of the biggest gaming heists this year.
💡 After negative feedback from thousands of alpha testers, Bungie has delayed Marathon indefinitely to improve gameplay, visuals, and solo features.
💡 Minecraft's Vibrant Visuals update brings the game's biggest graphics overhaul yet, but some players prefer the old look and worry about performance issues.
💡 PlayStation Studios boss says Marathon will not repeat Concord’s mistakes, which saw the game shut down less than a month after launch.
💡 Take-Two Interactive renewed its partnership with the NBA, NBPA, WNBA and WNBPA, together they will launch a new media company.
💡 Dave Bautista and Stray writer Steve Lerner are launching Cat Assassin, a new game and multimedia franchise set in a neo-noir world of anthropomorphic cats.
💡 Ubisoft Halifax workers are unionizing to feel more secure and have a stronger voice at work.
💡 Blender 4.5 Beta is out now, bringing up to 14x faster adaptive subdivision, new node features, and a full release set for July 15.
💡 Is the summer too hot? Cool off with this tutorial that shows how to model and texture a realistic ice cream truck in Blender, from Polygon Runway.
🐸 Fraggy GO! Beta is Out Now!
Fraggy GO! is a mobile game like no other, where you control the traffic.
But how? Move cars, zap mosquitoes in place, protect the frog. And shroom super powers from the button on the left. 💥
Give the game a GO! Remember, this is a beta version, nothing is final yet. Your feedback is helpful to make the game better. 🙏
Me and 5 friends have been working on the game for the past 18 months and I’m so excited for you to try it now!
"It’s like Crossy Road, but you control the cars. I like it!" This is what a friend said.
🔥 Want to be the first to get news about the game? Join the mail list. You’re awesome!
Mobile
📱 Fortnite launched Blitz Royale on June 18, a fast 5 minute, no-building mode for all platforms, with 32 players per match and free rewards for event challenges.
📱 Apple is adding new social tools and player overlays to its devices, making it easier for users to connect and play together in games.
📱 Apple unveiled the new Games app, a personalized hub on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV that unifies all your games, social features, and Apple Arcade’s 200+ games.
📱 FIFA Rivals, a new arcade-style mobile football game developed by Mythical Games and officially licensed by FIFA, launched worldwide on June 12.
📱 Southeast Asia saw 1.93 billion mobile game downloads and $625 million in player spending in the first quarter of 2025.
📱 Honkai: Star Rail publisher Cognosphere is suing a player for $150,000 after over 12,000 people watched the player stream unreleased game content on Discord.
📱 Fallout Shelter has been downloaded over 230 million times across all platforms in 10 years.
📱 Wuthering Waves celebrated its first anniversary with $317 million in mobile revenue and a special event in Los Angeles.
PC & Console
🎮 Stellar Blade has sold over 1 million copies on PC in 3 days! Are you one of them?
🎮 Console sales in Russia jumped 29.5% in 2024, reaching $358.7 million and 1.45 million units sold, with PlayStation 5 leading the market.
🎮 Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to sell 13 million units and generate over $2 billion in game sales in 2025.
🎮 Stellar Blade reached nearly 100,000 concurrent players on PC in the first weekend, surpassing all previous PlayStation ports, with overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam.
🎮 The Outer Worlds has sold over 5 million copies worldwide since its launch in 2019.
🎮 Microsoft shared tips for making games run better on the ROG Xbox Ally, which features a 7-inch screen, up to 24 GBs of memory, and up to 1 TB of storage.
🎮 Nintendo Switch 2 sold 3.5 million units in its first week and offers graphics power close to Xbox Series S, making it 10X more powerful than the original Switch.
🎮 Borderlands 4 will launch on September 12th for $70 after online debate, joining a franchise that has sold nearly 93 million copies worldwide.
🎮 After Sony removed region restrictions, Helldivers 2 players flooded the game with positive reviews, helping it become PlayStation’s fastest-selling game ever.
🎮 Learn to build portfolio-ready game levels from concept to publication with guidance from Ștefan Zamfir, a 20-year industry veteran and level design expert.
💬 Have you seen any other cool news? Drop a message and we can include them in the next edition.
Events
🎟️ Let’s meet at the first edition of the Black Sea Game Summit 2025, June 27–28, in Burgas, Bulgaria. A free two-day event organized by CreaTech Bulgaria for game developers, studios, and fans featuring talks, an indie expo, and a cosplay program. Don’t miss the VR Hackathon before the event, with the winners revealed at the Summit, register here for the Hackathon.
I will be there to showcase Fragy GO! at the indie expo zone, come and say Hi! 👋
🎟️ Summer Game Fest 2025 reached over 50 million livestreams, up 89% from last year, setting a new record for the event.
🎟️ Indie games like Ball x Pit and Mixtape were standout favorites at Summer Game Fest and Steam Next Fest 2025.
🎟️ Total War celebrates 25 years with 4 months of events starting in August, covering 16 games, and will reveal new titles at a major showcase in December 2025.
🎟️ IndieGameBusiness® and devcom are offering a diversity scholarship so more underrepresented game devs can attend devcom and gamescom in Cologne this August. Thanks Jay Powell for bringing this to life! Hurry and apply by June 23! I was last year at gamescom with a similar program and it was amazing!
💬 Continue reading in the app or web page.
Business
💰 Xsolla and Second Dinner launched a new Marvel Snap web shop.
💰 Studio555, founded by former Candy Crush leaders, raised $4.6 million to build a game-inspired interior design app launching in 2026.
💰 Bigger Games raised $25 million to grow its team and bring its mobile game Kitchen Masters to more players worldwide.
💰 Warner Bros. Games is restructuring to focus on its $4 billion franchises—Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat, and DC—aiming for “fewer but bigger” hits.
💰 Xbox and AMD signed a multi-year deal to co-engineer chips for next-gen Xbox consoles, aiming for better graphics, AI features, and full compatibility with your current Xbox games.
💰 Shaquille O'Neal joins WWE 2K25 as a character in the Dunk and Destruction Pack releasing June 25.
VR/AR
👓 Meta is shutting down the Onward dev team after the big 2.0 update, but the game stays online and the team moves to Camouflaj.
👓 HP Dimension with Google Beam is a 65-inch 3D video conferencing device for businesses, launching late 2025 at $25,000.
👓 Anduril and Meta are creating the Eagle Eye helmet, an integrated AR and VR system for the US military, advanced sensors, AI, expected to exceed $10,000 per unit.
👓 I Am Cat, one of Quest’s top-earning games since May 2024, now lets up to 20 players join multiplayer lobbies for free on Quest, with new paid cosmetic packs.
👓 Vuzix received a $5 million investment from Quanta Computer to help make affordable smart glasses for everyday consumers.
Podcast
🎙 Looking to land a publishing deal for your indie game in 2025?
Join Harry Phokou and Bobby Wertheim to understand why indie game publishing in 2025 is tough, with 85% of playtime going to older games. What to do to stand out, focus on proving product-market fit, avoid pitfalls, and pitch smartly. Enjoy!
👍 Game to Play
My recommendation for this week is Fraggy GO! … Obviously 😁
Fraggy GO! is a f2p mobile game like no other, where you control the traffic.
But how? Move cars, zap mosquitoes in place, protect the frog.
You can try it out in the beta version on iOS and Android.
Have fun and please tell me what you think!
🥳 You're Awesome!
Wow, you've made it to the end! We hope you found this newsletter fun and interesting!
Let us know what you think in the comments and thanks for reading!
Reach out on Linkedin if you’d like to collaborate on anything.
Have a great day!
Tibi & Ionuț 🔥