September 16, 2026

Cyprus has emerged as a surprisingly large gaming hub, with its games industry generating more than $3.6 billion in 2025 across 400+ companies. Cyprus-based studios produced 615 million mobile game downloads and roughly $2 billion in mobile revenue, while the industry now contributes 3.3% of the country’s GDP.

While layoffs continue across the games industry, studios including Jackbox Games, Rebellion, DreadXP and Fireshine Games have avoided large-scale cuts over the past five years. Their approaches differ, but some common themes: staying intentionally lean, understanding the studio’s limits, controlling project scope and building around sustainable niches and audiences rather than rapidly scaling headcount

The UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal has approved a £260 million ($350M) settlement between Google and UK app developers over Google Play commissions. £160 million ($216M) will go to eligible developers, with the remaining £100 million covering litigation and associated costs. Google made no admission of liability or wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

Jagex has launched survival-crafting RPG RuneScape: Dragonwilds on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2, marking the first console release in RuneScape’s 25-year history. The game sold more than 1.5 million copies during its 18 months in Steam Early Access and now becomes the franchise’s third major pillar alongside RuneScape and Old School RuneScape.

Snapshot Games has unveiled a new gameplay trailer for Frosthaven, the digital adaptation of the acclaimed tactical board game. The full 1.0 release arrives October 15, featuring the complete campaign, 17 playable heroes, improved co-op and networking, customizable house rules, and a new onboarding experience designed to make its complex tactical systems easier to learn.

VOID is a new lightweight, MIT-licensed C#/.NET framework for 2D game development, designed to feel familiar to XNA and MonoGame developers. It includes built-in systems for rendering, audio, assets, pathfinding, saving, coroutines and LDtk integration, while keeping larger systems like physics and UI optional so developers can choose their own libraries.

Leadwerks 5.2 is now available with a new OpenXR backend, giving the engine support for virtually all current VR hardware, including Valve’s new Steam Frame. The update also adds realistic hand and finger movement, higher-precision VR physics, low-latency object interactions, new locomotion options and improved UV mapping tools.

Playgama has launched an MCP workflow for AI-built HTML5 games, letting developers publish directly from agents like Codex and Claude Code with a single prompt. Games receive a public playable link and access to analytics and Playgama’s distribution network, while titles reaching 100 daily sessions can qualify for ad monetization after moderation.

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