CEO Archives

AppWizard

June 24, 2025

Riot Games cancels its response to Minecraft, Hytale is cancelled

Riot Games has officially announced the cancellation of Hytale, a highly anticipated project developed in collaboration with Hypixel Studios. The game's development faced significant challenges, leading to the decision to halt its progress, as stated by Hypixel Studios CEO Aaron “Noxy” Donaghey. The studio is also set to close in the coming months. This cancellation adds to Riot Games' history of discontinuing various projects, including Pool Party, which was a crossover fighting game, and Project F, a proposed MMO with no recent updates. Additionally, 2XKO, which had undergone beta testing, remains uncertain regarding its future release.

AppWizard

June 24, 2025

Riot Games shuts down Hypixel Studios and ends development of Hytale

Hypixel Studios has announced the cessation of development on the game Hytale, effective immediately. The decision was made because the team realized they could not deliver the game as originally envisioned. CEO Aaron "Noxy" Donaghey stated that the evolving genre and rising standards for game development contributed to the halt. Despite the disappointment, Donaghey expressed gratitude towards Riot Games for their support, including offering severance packages and assistance in finding new opportunities for affected employees.

AppWizard

June 20, 2025

007 First Light: All the key details on IO Interactive’s upcoming stealth action game

IO Interactive has revealed details about their upcoming stealth action game, 007 First Light, featuring a young James Bond. The game, previously known as "Project 007," was showcased in a trailer during Sony's June State of Play event. In the game, Bond is depicted as a 26-year-old still developing his skills after a heroic act in Iceland, with a backstory that includes a tragic loss at age 11. The narrative involves Bond's mission to capture rogue agent 009, described as a master manipulator, and will take players to various global locations, including Slovakia and Vietnam. Familiar characters from the Bond universe, such as M, Q, and Moneypenny, will appear. The gameplay will combine third-person stealth action with dynamic engagement, allowing players to revisit missions with modifiers. The game aims to capture the essence of the spy fantasy while differentiating itself from the Hitman series, emphasizing Bond's more aggressive approach.

AppWizard

June 20, 2025

Embracer’s headcount dropped by 1.8k staff last year

Embracer Group has reduced its workforce by over 1,800 employees, specifically a decrease of 1,857 compared to the previous fiscal year. This follows approximately 1,400 job losses in the prior year. The company has also divested several studios, including Gearbox and Saber Interactive. Embracer is planning to split into three publicly-traded entities, and founder and CEO Lars Wingefors will step down, with Phil Rogers taking over as CEO. Wingefors will become executive chairman of the Board, focusing on strategic initiatives, mergers and acquisitions, and capital allocation.

AppWizard

June 19, 2025

Google’s new Veo 3 could land on YouTube Shorts this summer

YouTube's CEO, Neal Mohan, announced at the Cannes Lions Festival that the platform will integrate the advanced Veo 3 model into its Shorts feature. This integration aims to enhance creative capabilities for users and is expected to revolutionize video generation by allowing creators to generate videos using natural language. Veo 3 will enable the creation of immersive backgrounds and complex visualizations, initially limited to six-second clips. The audio features of Veo 3 were highlighted during Google's I/O 2025 event and can be accessed through a Google AI Ultra subscription.

AppWizard

June 19, 2025

Debunking the grey market beyond Steam

Alternative distribution in the PC gaming industry is growing, with developers increasingly selling Steam keys through third-party platforms like Fanatical and Humble. Valve's Steam platform is projected to generate .8 billion in revenue in 2024, while the Epic Games Store reported .09 billion last year. Developers can request up to 5,000 standard release keys from Valve for sale on other platforms, adhering to pricing guidelines. Marketplaces like G2A mix approved keys and resold keys, while e-stores ensure all keys are legitimate. The grey market refers to the resale of keys that undermines publishers' profits, often due to regional pricing discrepancies. Developers can manage the grey market by monitoring key sales and implementing strategies like region-locking and pricing adjustments.

AppWizard

June 18, 2025

Warner Bros Games has been restructured

Warner Bros. Games is restructuring its operations to focus on its key franchises: DC, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Mortal Kombat. Yves Lachance has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Development, overseeing the Harry Potter and Game of Thrones series. Shaun Himmerick will lead the Mortal Kombat and DC franchises, while Steven Flenory has become Senior Vice President of Central Tech and Services. J.B. Perrette, CEO of Global Games and Streaming at Warner Bros. Discovery, expressed enthusiasm for the restructuring and the potential for long-term franchise development.

AppWizard

June 17, 2025

WhatsApp to introduce adverts as Meta pushes to monetise messaging app

WhatsApp, with nearly three billion monthly active users, is set to introduce paid advertisements for the first time, moving away from its previous ad-free policy. This initiative, led by its parent company Meta, will include ads in the app's "status" section, similar to Instagram Stories, while ensuring that private conversations remain secure and encrypted. Businesses can promote content in the updates tab and charge users for premium content, with WhatsApp taking a 10 percent commission. Limited metadata, such as location and user interactions with ads, will be shared with advertisers, but sensitive information will remain confidential. Users who do not engage with status updates or channels will not see ads in their inbox. Meta's decision comes amid competition from platforms like TikTok and YouTube and regulatory scrutiny, including a lawsuit from the FTC regarding its acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram. The introduction of advertising and subscription features aims to tap into WhatsApp's business potential, although it may face mixed reactions from users concerned about privacy.

Tech Optimizer

June 17, 2025

EDB Postgres AI Accelerates New Era of Sovereign Data and AI for Enterprises, Industries, and Nations

EnterpriseDB has introduced significant advancements to its EDB Postgres AI (EDB PG AI) platform, enabling secure and compliant deployment of AI solutions across Postgres environments. The platform integrates transactional, analytical, and AI workloads into a unified system, featuring automatic pipelines and built-in development tools for data automation. Key capabilities include low-code/no-code simplicity for rapid AI pipeline creation and comprehensive hybrid management for real-time insights across databases. Recent research indicates that only 13% of enterprises have successfully implemented agentic AI applications at scale, with early adopters achieving up to 227% higher ROI. Collaborations with Red Hat aim to provide organizations with solutions for successful AI outcomes. New features include enhanced data security, a purpose-built PG AI Analytics Engine for high-performance queries, and a universal data store for various data models. Performance advantages include six times better total cost of ownership (TCO) compared to SQL Server and up to 150 times faster NoSQL performance than MongoDB. A comparative analysis showed that EDB PG AI reduced overall complexity by 67% and maintenance costs by 38%.

AppWizard

June 17, 2025

Take-Two and NBA form new company as part of licensing extension

Take-Two has established a new entertainment entity called NBA Take-Two Media in collaboration with the NBA, aiming to provide diverse content for fans, including social media, live events, esports, and original programming. This initiative extends Take-Two's partnership with the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) related to the NBA 2K franchise and is set to last multiple years. Take-Two's CEO, Strauss Zelnick, expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration, while NBA Commissioner Adam Silver highlighted the importance of engaging a new generation of basketball fans through this venture.