October 16, 2026

A new Singular report analyzing advertising performance from Q1 2025 to Q1 2026 finds that the top 10% of ad creatives capture 75–95% of spending, while the median advertiser launches 13 new creatives per week. Gaming leads all industries in conversion rates, reaching 18% on social media and 17% on search, with gaming ads costing an average of $4.20 CPM on social platforms. The findings suggest that identifying winning creatives quickly matters more than simply producing more ads.

Brazil has officially implemented its Legal Framework for the Games Industry, introducing measures to expand game development funding, tax incentives, education and international investment. The initiative includes new university programs, proposed lower-interest financing for developers, and Game Brasil, a free platform promoting Brazilian-made games. The framework also strengthens intellectual property protections and formally recognizes esports as a competitive sporting activity.

Four game industry veterans share how studios decide when to cancel a game, abandon a prototype or stop investing in a struggling project. Kokoon Games uses an AI-powered pipeline to build playable prototypes in just 1–3 weeks, testing audience interest before committing resources. Burny Games argues that even promising games may not justify further investment, while Psyon Games explains why shelving a project can be smarter than abandoning it entirely. The central lesson: knowing when to stop can be just as important as knowing what to build.

A new Egmatic analysis of 1,230 paid Steam games released in January 2026, using GameDiscoverCo estimates, found that the median title sold just 100 copies and grossed $1,000 over its first eight months. Roughly one-third sold zero copies, 74% sold fewer than 1,000, and only 1.3% surpassed $1 million in revenue. The top 1% captured nearly 73% of total revenue, highlighting how heavily Steam's economics favor breakout hits.

Scenario has released Blender plugin 0.11, making it easier for game developers to create and manage AI-generated dialogue, music and sound effects without leaving Blender. The update adds in-editor audio playback, original WAV downloads when supported, and the ability to place generated audio directly onto Blender’s timeline. It also prevents duplicate paid generation requests, helping developers avoid unnecessary costs. The experimental plugin supports Blender 5.0 and later.

The Defold game engine has officially added Xbox support with version 1.14.0, completing its compatibility with Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. Approved developers can now build and publish Xbox games using Defold's free console tools, including integrations for user management, game saves and platform-specific workflows. The update gives indie studios another free cross-platform engine for releasing games across consoles, PC, mobile and the web.

Thanks for reading! ❤️ Enjoying Gameloop? Consider sharing with friends 🫶