Haunting PC adventure Dear Esther yesterday recouped the Indie Fund's investment in the game in just five and a half hours. Developers thechineseroom have confirmed that more than 16,000 units were sold following Dear Esther's launch yesterday. More >
1Double Fine head Tim Schafer has said that independent developers are drifting away from the "closed" console download services because of prohibitive costs, claiming that patches alone cost $40,000. Speaking to Hookshot Inc, Schafer said that while Xbox Live Arcade and PSN were genuine options for indies when their host platforms launched, the likes of Steam and the App Store, as well as the Minecraft model, are now much better routes to market. More >
Gabe Newell has admitted t is "probable" that the hackers who recently breached security on Valve's Steam platform made off with customer data. In an email sent to Steam users, reported by CVG, Newell reaffirms that there is no evidence that information held in the main Steam database was compromised. The company believes, however, that a backup file containing information several years old was taken. More >
2Bethesda has released the Creation Kit, a suite of modding tools for the PC version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, along with a high-res texture pack. The Creation Kit lets players create, share and download user-generated content through the Steam Workshop. Bethesda will be releasing a series of tutorial videos, the first of which is below, to help modders of all levels. More >
2Only 13,000 of the 30,000 gamers who signed up fulfilled their pledge to spend the weekend playing Half-Life 2 in protest at Valve's lack of communication about Half-Life 3. Kotaku reports that, while the number of those playing Valve's classic FPS fell far short of what was expected, it still exceeded the game's normal Steam activity by 10,000 players. More >
1The latest patch for the PC version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is now live on Steam, Bethesda has announced. The update, which Bethesda detailed last month, contains a host of quest-specific fixes and adds support for the Steam Workshop, which will host user-generated content when the Creation Kit is released. More >
Indie PSN hit PixelJunk Eden will be released on Steam next week, developer Q-Games has announced. Kotaku reports that Eden will be priced at $9.99 on Steam, and a 17-song soundtrack featuring Japanese multimedia artist Baiyon will also be available, for $5.99. More >
Valve has released a Steam app for iOS and Android devices. The app, which has been released in closed beta, lets users chat with friends, browse community groups and user profiles, and view the latest screenshots and user-generated content. It also contains the latest gaming news and information on Steam sales. More >
4Electronic Arts has confirmed that its PC platform EA Origin will be a mandatory requirement for boxed and digital versions of Mass Effect 3 on PC. In a post on the official BioWare forums, community coordinator Chris Priestly also confirms that Mass Effect 3 will not be available from Steam at launch. More >
2The developer and publisher has released an official statement which, along with highlighting the previously reported record number of concurrent users on Steam, also reveals the continued remarkable growth of its platform. More >
Steam has set a new record after more than five million people were logged in to Valve's PC platform at the same time. Our friends at PC Gamer spotted that Steam passed the milestone yesterday, reaching an all-time high of 5,012,460 concurrent users on January 2. More >
Indie action-RPG Bastion has passed half a million sales, developer Supergiant Games has announced. "Recent holiday sales on Steam and Xbox Live Arcade put us over the top," Bastion writer Greg Kasavin posted on the studio's blog. "We're happy to have this many people playing and to be in a position to make more games on our own terms." More >
Game lawyer Jas Purewal writes an open letter to those who oppose developers taking legal action against pirates.
31
Zynga's success and Team Fortress 2's switch prompted an industry-wide shift to freemium in 2011, but has it paid off?
Bethesda Softworks has shipped more than 10 million copies of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to retailers since its launch on November 11. Parent company Zenimax Media says that translates to around $650 million in revenue - but that assumes that every single copy has been sold for the full, $65 price. On PC, Zenimax says Skyrim outsold all other games by over three to one, with Valve's Jason Holtman calling it "the fastest-selling title in Steam's history." More >
Dear Esther, the haunting adventure first developed as a Half-Life 2 mod at the University Of Portsmouth by Dan Pinchbeck, is now in beta ahead of a commercial release early next year. More >
Stardock has announced that it will release its back catalogue of PC games on Steam following the sale of its Impulse digital distribution service earlier this year. Its 2009 strategy title Sins Of A Solar Empire: Trinity is now available on Valve's distribution service. In a post on the Stardock forums CEO Brad Wardell said the move was a logical consequence of the sale of Impulse to US retailer GameStop in April. More >
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon will be released on Steam before the end of the year, D3 publisher has announced. More >
The number of people playing Team Fortress 2 has increased by a factor of five since it switched to the free-to-play model, according to Gabe Newell, co-founder of developer Valve. Newell revealed the news at a recent conference in Seattle, Geek Wire reports. Valve is also seeing a far higher percentage of players purchasing virtual items through microtransactions than is typical across the industry. More >
In an unexpected move, Double Fine has released a significant update to its much-loved 2005 platformer Psychonauts. The update, available now to Steam users, adds achievements and cloud saving, and makes some subtle tweaks to the notoriously exacting Meat Circus level. More >